High of 87 Low of 76 M A Y 2015 • W WW .C A YJO U R NAL.CO M 1 51 THIS ISSUE: SPECIAL REPORT HUMAN RESOURCES >>PAGE 13 FINANCE Activist investors How to pro t from their greed >>PAGE 3 MARITIME LOGISTICS Jamaica’s initiative Logistics Hub plans unfold >>PAGE 4 MARKETING Ambush marketing Exclusive sponsors ght back >>PAGE 6 PAGE 13 SPECIAL REPORT May 2015 Journal Special Report A G U I D E T O Human Resources & Succession Planning Economic impact of minimum wage uncertain CHARLES DUNCAN A 10-month study of Cayman’s lowest-paid workers, which rec-ommends setting a $6 an hour minimum wage and a $4.50 an hour mini-mum for workers who receive tips, room and board or other in-kind benefi ts, sets out various scenarios for how such a move would impact Cayman’s economy. The Minimum Wage Advisory Committee report estimates the minimum wage would apply to almost 6,000 employees in Cayman, 2,600 of whom are domestic workers. The direct costs for employers would be $17.6 million annually at current prices and employment levels. Households employing domestic help would bear the brunt of this cost, with an estimated $10 million added to the payroll for domestic workers. Businesses, and especially small companies with fewer than fi ve employees, would see an almost $7.6 million increase in payroll liabilities.With the added cost, the committee estimated between 545 and 600 jobs would be lost – about 1.5 percent of the labor force, with a $6 an hour minimum wage. A third of those jobs would be domestic workers and the rest would come from businesses. Anticipating concerns over higher Caymanian unemployment, committee chair Lemuel Hurlston said, “It is assumed that these job losses will exclusively affect work permit holders, rather than Caymanians and permanent residents, although of course the employers of persons losing jobs will be, in many cases, Caymanians or permanent residents.” There are a number of economic factors at play when estimating the potential impacts on economic growth: how much of the additional costs are passed on to consumers; how many layoffs; and whether the people who get raises from the minimum wage spend the money locally or send it overseas as remittances. The report lays out several scenarios for how the minimum wage would increase gross domestic product in the Cayman Islands, ranging from no layoffs and having all new earnings spent locally, Dart, beyond Camana Bay ALAN MARKOFF In the 20 years since Kenneth Dart bought the land that has become Camana Bay, Dart Realty (Cayman) Ltd. and its associated companies have also been involved in many other real estate and development activities on Grand Cayman.Camana Bay, already impressive with some 600,000 square feet of residential, offi ce, retail and other built-out space, is now poised for an extensive US$1.3 billion expansion over the next 10 to 15 years. However, that isn’t the extent of the Dart group’s planned development activities on Grand Cayman in that time frame. Dart Realty CEO Mark VanDevelde spoke about some of the development plans and possibilities, starting with the company’s extensive land hold- ings on the northern part of the Seven Mile Beach corridor. Those lands include the 300-plus acres Dart bought from developer Stan Thomas in 2011, of which the Courtyard Marriott hotel was a part. That hotel was eventually demolished and Dart is now building a new one – the 263-room Kimpton hotel, along with 56 for-sale condominiums – which is scheduled for a late-2016 opening. VanDevelde calls the lands acquired in the northern Seven Mile Beach corridor the “690 lands” because that’s roughly how many acres Dart has amassed in the area.“When you factor it all, it’s a little bit more than that, but at some time someone calculated 690 and the name stuck,” he said. In addition to the Kimpton property, the “690” lands include 50 acres north and south of the Kimpton along Seven Mile Beach, the Cayman Islands Yacht Club, the Salt Creek subdivision and large chunks of undeveloped land abutting the North Sound. More recently, Dart also acquired the North Sound Golf Club and part of the proposed Dragon Bay subdivision just north of The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman. Although the Dart Group hasn’t decided what it will do with most of the “690” an d Dragon Bay lands, there will be some development in the near future on some of it. Building lots Dart Realty’s fi rst for-sale land development was Salt Creek, just north of Vista del Mar and the Cayman Islands Yacht Club in the northern Seven Mile Beach corridor. All but one of the original 23 Salt Creek lots have been sold and VanDevelde said there’s a Phase 2 coming. “I think in the near term we’ll be looking at a second phase of Salt Creek... in keeping with the fi rst phase, just around the other side of the basin,” he said. “So I think we well be coming to market with some similar, higher-end residential lots in that area.”In addition, VanDevelde said Dart would continue to enhance the Cayman Islands Yacht Dart will continue to improve the Cayman Islands Yacht Club property, including offering residential lots for sale. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 9 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » the cayman islands journal Dart, beyond Camana Bay Editorial | pagE 4 ‘A house divided’: A unified vision for the CAymAn islAnds estaBlished 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – WednesdAy mAy 6, 2015 Online government services progressing ChArles dunCAn cduncan@pinnaclemedialtd.com A new steering committee hopes to launch an Internet portal this year that would move many Cayman Islands govern- ment services online. Several government depart- ments are ahead of the curve. Drivers can renew licenses on- line; people can order birth cer- tificates and file company docu- ments with the General Registry; the Planning and Lands and Survey departments have nu- merous services already avail- able online. Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, a co-chair on the committee, which met for the first time last month. said, “This program will go forward. There’s been tremendous buy-in from elected officials.” Ian Tibbetts, government’s new director for e-government, said the committee’s job now is to “develop and maintain a plan that takes us from where we are now to where we want to go.” The steering committee has several goals, but primarily the idea is to bring all online ser- vices into one portal on the gov.ky website. The new on- line system will minimize or stop departments from dupli- cating efforts on data collec- tion and storage, according to a statement from the govern- ment. It will also automate some processes and reduce time and Modest savings expected froM governMent Merger Brent fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com A Cabinet proposal to merge the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Complaints Commissioner’s Office won’t save government much money or significantly re- duce staff numbers if it is implemented. Premier Alden McLaughlin said in April that the “collective view” of the Progressives-led administration was that the combination of the Information Commissioner’s Office, which handles open records request disputes, and the Complaints Commissioner’s Office, which acts as Cayman Islands government ombudsman, was something government should pursue. “I’m not sure, structurally, how it will all work,” Mr. McLaughlin said. “We’re seeking to avoid duplication or replication of functions.” While the government’s proposal is not to eliminate the two offices, a cost comparison sheds some light on any potential savings. An examination of government budget records for the current 2014/15 fiscal year reveals that if both offices were eliminated, about $1.5 million would be shaved from the annual spending plan. A total of 12 jobs – 11 of which are currently filled – would be cut. The $1.5 million, representing the entire budget for the complaints commissioner and the information commissioner combined, is less than 0.3 percent of the central govern- ment’s estimated operating expenses, which Premier McLaughlin stated would be approxi- mately $529.7 million at the end of the budget year in June. The total 12 staff positions represent 0.2 percent of an entire public sector staff, in- cluding statutory authorities and-owned Cayman Airways forecasting improvement in finances Still receiving $18M from gov’t, but no net loss projected JAmes WhittAker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman Airways is projecting that it will end the current financial year without a net loss for the first time on record. A rise in tourism, falling oil prices and the purchase of three jets, previously on lease, have all contributed to an improved financial picture for the island’s national airline. The calculation does not include the al- most- $18 million in payments the airline receives from government, which it treats not as a subsidy, but as a purchase of ser- vices to support the tourism industry and domestic travel to the Sister Islands. Government also makes an annual $5.1 million “equity injection” to pay off the air- line’s historical debt, which is also not in- cluded in the annual revenue and expendi- ture calculations. Fabian Whorms, CEO of Cayman Airways, said the results for 2014/15 came against the backdrop of improving perfor- mance over the last few years. According to the airline’s 2012/13 financial statements – the most recent publicly avail- able accounts – laid before the Legislative Assembly last month, the airline incurred losses of nearly $7 million in that year, Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick, in his notes on those statements, pointed out Mr. Manderson PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » Increased passenger volumes are driving up revenues, Cayman Airways’ CEO says. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » Moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 feet.2 Wednesday May 6, 2015 • Cayman Compass REGIONAL www. REGmovies.com SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any lm starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. © Warner Bros. Pictures y x AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON 3D (PG13) 12:30 I 1:00 2D I 3:35 I 4:10 2D I 6:40 I 7:20 2D I 9:45 FURIOUS 7 3D (PG13) 12:45 I 3:45 2D I 6:45 I 9:45 2D AGE OF ADELINE (PGI3) 1:20 I 4:20 I 7:00 I 9:40 UNFRIENDED (R) 7:30 I 9:50 PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 (PG) 1:00 I 4:00 *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. - WEDNESDAY - $8.00 www.tonymosleylifeinsurance.com Contract battle brewing over $14M Blackbeard ‘treasure’ RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Nearly 300 years after the pirate Blackbeard’s flagship sank off the North Carolina coast, a shipwreck-hunting com- pany and the state are bat- tling over treasure linked to the vessel – but they’re fighting with legal filings, not cutlasses, and the treasure is $14 million in disputed rev- enue and contract violations. The Florida-based com- pany, Intersal Inc., found little loot when it discovered the Queen Anne’s Revenge almost 20 years ago, but it eventually gained a contract for rights to photos and videos of the wreck and of the recovery, study and preservation of its historic artifacts. The state, meanwhile, has created a tourist industry around Blackbeard and his ship since the vessel’s dis- covery in 1996. That in- cludes exhibits at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort, which attracts about 300,000 visitors a year, according to the Queen Anne’s Revenge website. The artifacts, such as a 2,000- pound cannon, also go on tour to other state museums. The state also posts photos and videos on websites and social media sites. Intersal Inc. says the state is violating the contract by displaying media of artifacts from the ship on websites other than its own without a time code stamp or water- mark. In its petition in the state Office of Administrative Hearings, it seeks $7 million for the alleged misuse and $7 million in lost revenue from the state Department of Cultural Resources. “The actual ship itself, which is the treasure that re- mains, is now in contention,” said John Masters, chairman of the board of Intersal. “We found a little bit of treasure – gold dust, silver – but the real treasure is the ship itself.” A spokeswoman for the state Department of Cultural Resources declined com- ment. In its response to the petition, the state denies Intersal’s allegations. When Blackbeard captured the vessel in the fall of 1717 in the Caribbean, it was French slave ship called La Concorde. Blackbeard renamed it the Queen Anne’s Revenge and made it his flagship. Blackbeard, an Englishman whose real name may have been Edward Teach or Thatch, held onto the ship for only a few months. He was sailing north from Charleston when it went aground in May 1718 in what’s now called Beaufort Inlet. The pirates likely had time to haul away most of the valuables, nautical ar- chaeologists have said. Five months later, members of the Royal Navy of Virginia killed Blackbeard at Ocracoke Inlet. This marks the second time in two years that the state and Intersal have been at loggerheads. They reached a 15-year agreement in 1998 but ended up in mediation in 2013 before signing another deal. Now Intersal and the state must return to media- tion by June 29. “We believe this is an im- portant case for the people of North Carolina for us to win because otherwise, it’s going to have a chilling effect on business in North Carolina,” Masters said. Masters said his father searched for Blackbeard’s ship for 20 years before finding it. While the state and a shipwreck company might typically split the proceeds of a shipwreck, a different deal was reach for Blackbeard’s vessel, which had little mon- etary treasure. Instead, the 1998 con- tract gave Intersal multiple media rights. Intersal accepted that agreement as part of an overall deal involving another shipwreck, the El Salvador, which sank in a 1750 hur- ricane. Treasure is thought to remain with that wreck, which likely is spread across the ocean floor, Masters said. The company’s petition includes complaints about the permit for searching for the El Salvador. Intersal contends its business has been harmed by the violations, “some of which harm may be irrep- arable,” says the petition, filed in April. In its response, the state said it “categorically denies” the allegations and says that it’s legally obligated to “promote and encourage throughout the state knowl- edge and appreciation of North Carolina history and heritage” through different methods, including the dis- play and interpretation of historical materials. Masters said the company believes it has suffered $7 million in damages from im- ages that breach the contract, based on $3,000 per violation. It arrived at that valuation based on the 2013 contract, when Intersal’s designated video company received $15,000 for five violations. It believes it would have received another $7 mil- lion from those images plus revenues related to tours of the artifacts recovered from the ship and other commercial ventures. An artifact from Blackbeard’s ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge on display at the North Carolina Maritime Museum. Blackbeard, an Englishman whose real name may have been Edward Teach or Thatch, held onto the ship for only a few months.3 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Wednesday May 6, 2015 OTHER BANKS up to $538 per month RBC ROYAL BANK approx. $394 per month OTHER BANKSRBC ROYAL BANK Same car, same price. Just a lower monthly payment at RBC. Spot the difference: Call or visit any RBC Royal Bank branch or go online at rbc.com/caribbean NO Pay me nts for 60 da ys! Keep more cash in your wallet with financing options from RBC Royal Bank ™ that lower your monthly payments with very competitive interest rates and terms! You will enjoy: > Up to 100% financing** > Up to 7 years to repay > Pre-approval for easy car shopping > Fast turnaround on your application The car you want can be yours with a little help from RBC Royal Bank. 6 FREE car payments* 1st year’s insurance* Weekly prizes* WIN Calculations based on a $30,000 new vehicle at 90% financing at current competitive terms and conditions. Each approved applicant will get a chance to win. Winners will be chosen by random draw. *One Grand Prize winner: valued up to $3,000 *One insurance winner: valued up to $1,500 *Each week one (1) approved applicant will be chosen for a special prize **Special conditions apply. Subject to normal lending criteria. The cost of borrowing will be made available upon application. Campaign ends May 31st, 2015. ®/TM Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under licence. Carol Winker cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A visitor pleaded guilty in Summary Court on Monday to possession of an unli- censed firearm – a single .45 round – found in his jacket pocket as he was leaving the island on May 1. After hearing facts and mitigation, Magistrate Valdis Foldats ordered the man to pay $1,000 as the costs of prosecuting the charge. He accepted defense attorney Prathna Bodden’s submission that no conviction be recorded. In summarizing facts leading to the charge, Crown counsel Greg Walcolm said the visitor was departing the island from Owen Roberts International Airport when, during the X-ray process at the security screening area, an object was observed that appeared to be a bullet. A search of the man’s jacket revealed the single round of live ammunition. When interviewed, the man explained that he had gone to a firing range prior to his trip to Cayman; he thought he had removed all ammunition from his pockets. Mr. Walcolm said the man held a lifetime firearm permit in his home jurisdiction. Ms. Bodden said the defen- dant had been required to re- main in Grand Cayman over the weekend, which was a sub- stantial financial burden, while his wife and friends went on to Cuba. On his way to Cayman, he had been through two air- ports in the U.S. The bullet had been lodged in the lining of the jacket pocket and his pre-trip search obviously had not been thorough enough. The defen- dant apologized. Cayman’s laws on firearms are quite different from those in the U.S, the magistrate indi- cated: “We do not want people to have unlicensed firearms.” He pointed to mandatory minimum sentences of seven and 10 years. “That shows you how seriously our legislature takes the offense.” Sadly, he noted, the courts see many cases like this, in- volving even a single round. He accepted that the man had brought the bullet un- intentionally. “Our system is obviously top-notch,” he said, commending officials for their continued vigilance. The defendant’s guilty plea gave the court more op- tions, so the magistrate said he was able to enter an abso- lute discharge, with no con- viction recorded. He ordered that the bullet be forfeited and destroyed. Since not recording a con- viction is meant to protect a defendant’s good name, the Cayman Compass is not identifying the man. Single bullet coStS $1,000 British Overseas Territories passport process changes As of Friday, May 8, the local Passport and Corporate Services Office will no longer accept the current C1 and C2 appli- cation forms for Cayman Islands passports. The Passport and Corporate Services Office is responsible for the collec- tion, vetting and approval of passport applications. Once this process is complete, the passports will be printed by Her Majesty’s Passport Office in the U.K., then re- turned to the local Passport Office for distribution. Premier Alden McLaughlin said his Ministry of Home Affairs, which is responsible for the P&CSO, thanked the public for its understanding during this period of transition. “While this process was started before this adminis- tration took the helm of gov- ernment,” he said in a press release, “I am happy that we have been able to have good, frank discussions with the U.K. about our own unique needs and desires for a Cayman Islands passport.” He added: “One of our concerns was keeping within our own house the ability to approve or deny passports and the distribution of docu- ments, and we have been suc- cessful in that regard.” To assist with this pro- cess the Passport Office closed briefly for training on May 1 and will close again on Wednesday, May 6. Janice McLean, head of Passport and Corporate Services, noted that local ap- plicants can expect some important changes to the process: ■■ New form: To print passports on behalf of the British Overseas Territories, Her Majesty’s passport application system requires infor- mation to be submitted in a specific layout. The local passport office now accepts the new British Overseas Territories forms. These are avail- able on the Department of Immigration website: www.immigration.gov. ky. Meanwhile, the local Passport Office will ac- cept current C1 or C2 application forms until May 8, at which point they will be discontinued. Customers should note that these passports will be machine read- able and not biometric. ■■ Processing times: Customers are asked to allow a four-week window for pro- cessing, as passports will now be printed in the United Kingdom. ■■ Emergency and ur- gent travel: A policy on what constitutes urgent travel has been com- piled and will be imple- mented uniformly across the overseas territories. Centralized printing will be phased in for all British Overseas Territories during May and June. The move to centralize British Overseas Territories passport production was in part to ensure that all British nationals have access to the latest biometric passports that feature internationally recognized security stan- dards, according to the gov- ernment press release. Printing passports in the U.K. also removes the need to deliver blank passports across the world, thereby helping to ensure the integrity and se- curity of the British biometric passport, the government said in a statement. Last year, the premier was given assurances by U.K. officials that following repatriation to London of responsibility for the issuance of Overseas Territories passports, those issued to Cayman Islands residents will continue to bear the country’s name.The islands’ most-trusted news source 4 – EDITORIAL – Opinion&Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass office. Please allow me space in your newspaper to write my thoughts on certain issues: First, I would like to write about the dark tint on vehicles. Just after the passing of my grandson, Jeremiah Barnes, the police were very active in removing the dark tint from vehicles. Since then, there seems to be more and more vehicles with the dark tint. This is very dangerous to the public and it only con- tributes to more crime. For such a small island we need to eliminate crime and not encourage it. If people want to say that the tint keeps the interior of their vehicles in better condition, they should know that there are items that they can purchase for this purpose and sometimes the insurance companies pro- vide them as well. All our vehicles, in years gone by, had clear glass and everyone in the vehicle was visible. What is so different with the sun today? The dark tint needs to go! It’s not good for our islands. Another issue is that of speeding. If you notice vehicles speeding on the roads and wonder why; it could be be- cause the drivers do not know what the speed limit is. I have not noticed any on the inner roads of the district of West Bay. There used to be speed limit signs posted throughout the district but they have disappeared. I think it would be a good idea to put them back up. Concerning signs, it would also be a good idea to place “No Littering” signs and to post the “Littering Fine” signs on our roads. Our streets are becoming overwhelmed with garbage. This is not a beau- tiful picture! Another Issue on my mind is that of the Human Rights Commission. It is my understanding that murderers are to be re- leased back into our society after a certain number of years. This could never be! How could humans have rights if they do not have the right to live. If innocent persons are murdered, how in the world can the mur- derers enter back into so- ciety. The innocent person cannot be here with us so there is no way that a mur- derer should be allowed to live amongst us. The convicted murders cannot reside on the island anyway and it will only cost us more to have them live “the good life” in other parts of the world. The Human Rights Commission needs to rethink this part of their program/portfolio because this does not reflect well on human rights at all! If this is so, it is total madness! Homosexuality in the Cayman Islands: This is a definite no! No! We must never encourage or promote this type of behavior. It is very sad to know that some individuals were not born to be normal, even though sometimes, I believe this type of behavior can be acquired. After a recent meeting with the premier, it is my under- standing that homosexuals can hold hands, hug, and kiss in the public but there is no allowance for same sex mar- riages in our islands. It is my opinion that this type of ac- tivity must not be permitted in public places. Our chil- dren must not be made to believe that this is OK. Not because it is happening in other parts of the world do we need to do it as well. This type of behavior in public is totally unacceptable! Another issue which is of concern to me is that of healthcare and unemployment benefits for Caymanians. If a Caymanian is in need of medical assistance but does not have the money to pay for the services, it is my understanding that the individual needs to make an appointment with the government’s Needs Assessment Unit (946- 0024) and once proven to be medically indigent will be provided with the required services free of cost! However, I need to follow up on unemployment benefits for Caymanians. Caymanians are not being treated fairly and we need someone in government who cares about the Caymanian people. We need policies in place to protect us. The poli- cies which are currently in place are of no assistance to the majority of Caymanians. Not only are we out-num- bered – thanks to government – but it seems that a very high percentage of persons (Caymanians) are abusing the system; these persons are receiving all kinds of as- sistance and there are others who need it more but are not getting any. Many non-Cay- manians are also receiving assistance and our own people are being turned away. Our government needs to start showing more interest in its own people. In closing, I will note that since elec- tion time, I have not seen or heard anything about our MLAs, particularly in the district of West Bay, vis- iting the people, finding out how “life” is for them; how they can help the people that voted them into office etc. There seems to be absolutely no concern about the wel- fare of Caymanians and their living conditions. We need representatives who care! Thank you for letting me share my thoughts with Cayman and the rest of the world. Dora A. Ebanks Wednesday May 6, 2015 • CAymAn COmpAss ‘A house divided’: A unified vision for the Cayman Islands The most serious flaw of “one man, one vote” as it is being articulated in the Cayman Islands is that it has been welded to the concept of carving up the country into 18 different “single-member districts,” each con- taining about 1,000 voters apiece. Framed in this fashion, the conversation about redistricting and voter equality in Cayman is, in a word, too “divisive.” Our country’s outsize role in the international sphere — in terms of finance and tourism — should remain at the forefront of the minds of our leaders, who, in order to build upon the “Cayman miracle” of the past half-century, must increasingly orient them- selves toward the outside world, as opposed to within their individual historical districts. Our representatives in the Legislative Assembly should be discussing plans that promote the well-being of Cayman as a whole, not pushing (or suppressing) proposals to the benefit of one district at the expense of others (i.e., “No Dump in Bodden Town”). In the longer run, the best public policies for Cayman cannot be tailored to West Bay or George Town, Bodden Town or East End, North Side or the Sister Islands — the best policies for Cayman are for the people of Cayman, who are one body, indivisible by geographical lines, natural or man-made, seen or unseen. We are an insular country, bounded by the seas, not by irreconcilable distinctions of culture, history or race. The ideal political system for Cayman should reflect the intimacy and cohesiveness of our popula- tion. That implies fewer, larger voting districts — not more numerous, smaller ones, where campaigns could be dominated by parochial appeals, nuances between neighborhoods, or the relative distributions of specific last names; and where election results could be deter- mined by a few well-placed investments from a few well-funded political kingmakers. The road upon which the Cayman Islands Boundary Commission has embarked, at the direction of the Pro- gressives government, leads in the wrong direction. Rather than breaking up Cayman into 18 (or maybe 19?) tiny districts, the commission should be tasked — if anything — with exploring the merger of the existing six districts, and reducing the number of legislators, many of whom (due to the nature of our parliamentary democracy) serve nary a practical function. We’re not just talking about East End and North Side, though electoral arithmetic demands they be the first candidates for amalgamation. While some may bandy about the specter of “revolution,” we are speaking seriously about an “evolution” of mind-set and perception. During a Boundary Commission meeting last week, Bodden Town resident Mary Lawrence (a former Speaker of the House) opposed the idea of allocating an additional legislative seat to the George Town area, saying, “I’m not prepared to give George Town anything. The population is moving out to this area. People are moving out of George Town and West Bay. So, if anyone is going to get another member, it should be us.” Not only is the basis for Ms. Lawrence’s protesta- tion factually untrue (indeed, all three of Cayman’s large districts are growing), but her “us versus them,” “district against district” mentality is precisely what our country needs to evolve away from. When discussing redistricting, a guiding concept is the preservation of “communities of interest” — groups of people with similar characteristics and goals who would benefit from having unified political representation. When it relates to the common future of the 58,000 people who live here, Cayman does not have 19 distinct “communities of interest,” nor 18, nor nine. Cayman should not be assessed as a composition of six separate districts, or as an archipelago of three individual islands. We are one people, living in one country. In the purest sense of the term, the Cayman Islands has only one “community of interest” — that is, of course, the Cayman Islands. Writer: Window tint and other issues Printed and Published by: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town send us yOur VieWs Or neWs: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com adVertise With us: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS daVid r. legge and Vicki l. legge EdITOR-In-CHIEf daVid r. legge A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will find their own way”5 LOCAL&REGIONAL Cayman Compass • Wednesday May 6, 2015 Thursday May 28th, 2015 - 6:00 pm Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort & Spa admin@pensions.ky • www.chamberpension.ky • 345-745-7630 • /ChamberPensionPlan ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING All Chamber Pension members are invited to attend the Annual General Meeting Presentation by Mercer Investment Consulting In the event you are unable to attend the AGM in person, we request that you appoint a proxy (a representative or a Member) to vote in your place. Please visit our website for more information or to print your proxy form www.chamberpension.ky. Completed proxy forms are due NO LATER THAN MONDAY MAY 25TH, 2015. YOUR PLAN GET TO KNOW Light food and refreshments will be served. CCMI chief gets prestigious Fulbright scholarship Research will focus on how reefs can protect against sea-level rise James Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com The head of a Cayman Islands marine research center has been granted the prestigious U.S. Fulbright Scholar Award to study the potential of coral reefs in protecting small island na- tions against the impact of climate change. Carrie Manfrino, who heads Little Cayman’s Central Caribbean Marine Institute, said her work would examine the threat of rising sea levels to coastal communities in tropical regions and the potential for healthy coral reefs to buffer these threats. She was awarded the scholarship through the South and Central Asia Research Program and her study will focus primarily on the Indian Ocean chain of the Maldives. Started in 1946, the Fulbright Program is the flagship international edu- cational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. gov- ernment for the exchange of students in education, culture and science. Ms. Manfrino said it was an honor to be a Fulbright scholar. She said her work would build on years of study on coral reefs off Little Cayman and the results would be internationally relevant. “The effects of cli- mate change and sea level rise are global issues not only impacting far away places, but also relevant to all coastal communities,” she said in a statement through CCMI. Ms. Manfrino will work with the Maldives National University to explore “Coral Reefs as Prospects for Protecting the Republic of the Maldives from Sea Level Rise.” According to CCMI, “Nature-based solutions to climate change impacts may prove to be the most economically effective strategy for reducing risk.” The statement added, “The research will explore some of the most remote atolls in the Indian Ocean and builds on 15 years of Caribbean research dem- onstrating an unusual posi- tive trajectory for corals at Little Cayman.” The work will examine “physical, ecological, and societal interactions” that are critical to maintaining healthy coral reefs, which researchers say can be a natural line of defense for coastal communities. The research team will also examine coral skel- etons, which they believe hold the key to under- standing historic climate change events. “We are interested in detecting globally rele- vant climate change events in the skeletons of corals from the Indian Ocean (Maldives) and Caribbean Sea (Little Cayman Island),” said Ms. Manfrino. “Coral core samples will be taken from long-lived massive-growing corals, which preserve the history of growth and seawater conditions in their skele- tons for several centuries. The information from coral skeletons can help detect human influences on coral regeneration and on ocean- ographic processes.” VE Day to be observed in Cayman Victory in Europe Day, marking the end of World War II, will be observed Friday night in Cayman with a public bonfire at the sea- side of the Turtle Farm. The beacon at the special ceremony will burn from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m.. The Cayman Islands’ beacon – and more than 200 others beacons throughout the hemisphere – will com- memorate the 70th anniver- sary of VE Day when Allied forces accepted the formal surrender of Nazi Germany. Friday evening’s celebra- tion will include Cayman Islands Veterans Association officials, led by President Dale Banks, a former cap- tain in the U.S. Air Force, as well as CIVA members and relatives. They will be joined by Governor Helen Kilpatrick, Premier Alden McLaughlin and other government and community leaders. To mark the anniversary, large fires, or beacons, will be lit on mountaintops, town and village greens, country parks and estates, farms, and, on islands, along beaches and shorelines, according to a government press re- lease. These were also lit in Britain during wartime, and are a long-standing tradition for occasions such as Royal Jubilees, weddings and cor- onations, the government statement said. In times of war these bea- cons served as warnings and were the responsibility of the armed services, which will also receive recognition as part of Friday’s festivities. Many young men from the Cayman Islands fought alongside Allied forces from the United Kingdom and the United States. Most joined the Trinidad Royal Navy Volunteers and served in ac- tive duty, protecting the oil resources around that island. In addition to Atlantic Sea conflicts, German ships and submarines also targeted ves- sels in the Caribbean, espe- cially near oil-rich Trinidad, but also around the northern Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Cayman Islands. A local Home Guard unit received military training, manned watchtowers con- structed at strategic locations around the Islands, and were responsible for the mainte- nance of warning beacons. National Gallery seeks intern applicants The National Gallery of the Cayman Islands is accepting applications for two internships for local students pursuing a career in the arts and creative industries. The Gallery is ac- cepting applications for the 2015/16 yearlong NGCI Deutsche Bank Internship, in addition to the shorter NGCI Summer Internship program, which runs from June through August. The successful appli- cants will learn about all aspects of museum and gallery management in- cluding marketing, educa- tion, curating exhibitions, event planning, operations and retail administration, according to a press re- lease from the National Gallery. Students will also be able to meet and work with local artists. In addition, for stu- dents looking for a shorter introduction to the museum world, the Gallery regularly takes on more than 20 volun- tary work experience stu- dents annually as part of NGCI’s extensive Creative Careers program. Janet Hislop, chief country officer at Deutsche Bank, said, “I am delighted that Deutsche Bank main- tains its support of an ini- tiative that consistently opens up exciting oppor- tunities for local students, and that it retains such a positive relationship with the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands.” Applications dead- line for the NGCI Summer Internship is May 15. The deadline for the 2015/16 NGCI Deutsche Bank Internship is May 31. NGCI Education Coordinator Kerwin Ebanks said, “If we are unable to place a student with a paid internship, we will strive to match the student’s skills and avail- able time with a voluntary project that will add value to their resume. He encourages anyone who is interested in a career in the arts to get in touch with the National Gallery. For application forms, visit www.nationalgallery.org.ky. For additional information about the program, email education@ nationalgallery.org.ky or call the National Gallery on 945-8111. “The effects of climate change and sea level rise are global issues not only impacting far away places, but also relevant to all coastal communities.” Carrie Manfrino Warrantless cellphone tracking not illegal MIAMI (AP) — Investigators do not need a search war- rant to obtain cellphone tower location records in criminal prosecutions, a fed- eral appeals court ruled Tuesday in a closely watched case involving the rules for changing technology. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, overturning a three-judge panel of the same court, concluded that authorities properly got 67 days’ worth of records from MetroPCS for Miami robbery suspect Quartavious Davis using a court order with a lower burden of proof. In its 9-2 decision, the 11th Circuit decided Davis had no expectation of pri- vacy regarding historical re- cords establishing his loca- tion near certain cellphone towers. The records were key evidence used to convict Davis of a string of armed robberies, leading to a 162- year prison sentence. Davis’s attorney called the decision “breathtaking.” The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 Wednesday May 6, 2015 • Cayman Compass companies, that now employs more than 5,800 people. The Cayman Compass reported last August that both Acting Information Commissioner Jan Liebaers and former Complaints Commissioner Nicola Williams were concerned about the merger diluting the independence and effective- ness of their respective offices. The initial proposal was to merge the two and add a third complaints element – an appointed police com- plaints commission to handle civilian complaints against police officers. In addition to the as-yet unformed police review com- mission, the information commissioner was slated to receive additional responsi- bilities following the govern- ment implementation of a Data Protection Law. Proposals for the new data protection regime, which is being drawn up to safeguard personal privacy with regard to data handled by public and private sector entities, were delayed once in 2012 and have come under scru- tiny again following a crit- ical review of the proposed law by the Cayman Islands Human Rights Commission. The new Data Protection Bill has not been put before the Legislative Assembly. All of these responsibili- ties, under the initial merger plan, would be under the purview of a new department head described as a “super ombudsman” who would handle the entire operation, including police complaints, public complaints, open re- cords request appeals and data protection functions. Whether all these areas might be handled with fewer than the current comple- ment of a dozen staff posi- tions in the information com- missioner and complaints commissioner’s offices was considered questionable by Ms. Williams. “Splicing together dis- parate bodies with com- pletely different functions whose only common thread is oversight is not, in my opinion, good governance,” Ms. Williams said prior to departing Cayman for a new ombudsman’s post in the U.K. this year. Mr. Liebaers, whose cur- rent government contract expires at the end of this month, was asked about the merger idea last year. “What I said to them – al- though I’m not American, I did an American quote – ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ I think Freedom of Information right now in Cayman … works very, very well and I would hate to see anything interfere with that, “ Mr. Liebaers said. Internationally, there are widely varying views on combining Freedom of Information functions with data protection and/or om- budsman’s duties. David Banisar, a senior lawyer with the U.K.-based Global Campaign for Free Expression in London, has written re- search papers on the topic for the World Bank, among other international agencies. “There is nothing intrin- sically wrong with the idea, but in practice, they have found a number of practical problems, mostly relating to finances,” Mr. Banisar said. “There tends not to be a lot of cost savings, so there is a fight for resources if the budgets are reduced when agencies are combined. Although there are some synergies between data protection and open re- cords, for instance, Mr. Banisar said the culture sur- rounding the two tend to be “rather different.” “In the U.K. … there was such a strong culture of data protection that information commission functions were underfunded in comparison,” he said. “Even to this day, I’m not confident that the two have the same level of power in the office.” Mr. Banisar was also wary of anything to do with investigating police com- plaints being attached to an ombudsman or information commission function. “I just cannot imagine anything good happening by combining [those offices] with the one on police com- plaints,” he said. “They have a radically different culture, usually staffed by ex-police for one thing, and are not about promoting openness. “It’s just a fundamen- tally bad idea unless your point is to kill the right to information.” The right to information is protected under the Cayman Islands Constitution Order, 2009, but the order does not constitutionally guarantee that there will be an infor- mation commissioner’s po- sition. Similarly, the position of the local ombudsman is referenced in the constitu- tion, but the governing doc- ument does not expressly state that there shall be a complaints commissioner. Some legislative changes would be required in the local Complaints Commissioner Law and the Freedom of Information Law, if govern- ment was to proceed with combining the two offices. Modest savings expected from government merger costs for services. The idea for the over- hauled government web- site, Mr. Manderson said, is to make it a one-stop shop to pay government fees and submit applications online. There has been talk of moving government ser- vices online for the better part of a decade. “There’s no one reason it’s taken so long,” Mr. Manderson said. Mr. Tibbetts said there are “hidden gems” of government services online. He pointed to new services such as paying driving fees online. As the new e-gov di- rector, hired in December, Mr. Tibbetts said his job is about communication and talking to government employees about how to move the e-gov- ernment initiative forward. “The civil service needs to be- lieve in this,” he said. “People have got to see it and feel it for staff to buy into it.” “Now,” he said, “I’m fo- cused on things that are going to be needed anyway.” He said the work now is to lay the building blocks for future online development in government. Wesley Howell, a member of the committee and deputy chief for the Ministry of Home Affairs, expressed con- cerns last year about the pri- vacy and security of moving payment processing and data storage overseas. “I’m uncom- fortable with anything that creates a risk,” he said. Mr. Howell pointed to po- tential issues with human rights and data protection. Moving some services to offshore servers or al- lowing the data to pass through those servers opens it up to potential intercep- tion by hackers. Intelligence agencies in the United States and the U.K., for instance, have documented histories of gathering masses of data that pass through the Internet. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Online government services progressing CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Ten Commandments on display in Israel JERUSALEM (AP) — The world’s oldest complete copy of the Ten Commandments is going on rare display at Israel’s leading museum in an exhibit tracing civiliza- tion’s most pivotal moments. The 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scroll, from a collection of the world’s most ancient biblical manuscripts dis- covered near the Dead Sea east of Jerusalem, has never before been publicly dis- played in Israel and has only been shown in brief exhibits abroad, said Pnina Shor of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The manuscript is so brittle that it will only be on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem for two weeks before it is returned to a se- cure, pitch-black, climate-con- trolled storage facility there. It is one of 14 ancient ob- jects displayed in “A Brief History of Humankind,” an exhibit of historical objects spanning hundreds of thou- sands of years. “When you are thinking about universal law, the uni- versal principle of ethics, … this is the first law that comes to your mind,” exhibit curator Tania Coen-Uzzielli said. The exhibit includes tools used in an elephant hunt from 1.5 million years ago, the oldest known re- mains of a communal bon- fire from 800,000 years ago, skulls from the oldest re- mains of a family burial and the world’s oldest complete sickle – a 9,000-year-old ob- ject that represents the tran- sition from hunter-gath- erers to settled civilization working the land. These objects, framed in dramatically lit cases in a dark exhibition hall, all were discovered in the Holy Land, a testament to the region’s central role in human history. The museum is mounting the exhibit to mark its 50th anniversary. “After only 50 years, we may be one of only a very few museums worldwide that can tell such a broad story from its own hold- ings,” museum director James Snyder said. A 5,000-year-old Mesopotamian tablet on loan to the museum and 2,700-year- old coins from what is now Turkey, are also on display. An original handwritten man- uscript of Albert Einstein’s groundbreaking theory of rel- ativity caps the exhibit. The world’s oldest complete copy of the Ten Commandments, written on one of the Dead Sea Scrolls. - Photo: AP Queen meets lAtest Addition to fAmily LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II arrived at Kensington Palace on Tuesday to meet three-day-old Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. The daughter of Prince William and his wife Kate is the queen’s great-grand- daughter. The latest addi- tion to the royal family is now fourth in line for the throne after Prince Charles, William and her older brother, 21-month-old Prince George. Her middle name was chosen to honor the queen and her third name pays tribute to her grandmother, the late Princess Diana. The name Charlotte is the feminine form of Charles and is seen as a gesture toward her grandfather Charles. The royal couple Tuesday registered Charlotte’s birth with officials who came to Kensington Palace. William listed his oc- cupation as “Prince of the United Kingdom” and Kate listed hers as “Princess of the United Kingdom.” Jury deciding cAse of JAmAicAn lottery scAm BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal jury in North Dakota on Tuesday started deciding the fate of a man accused in a Jamaican lottery scam that authorities say cost victims around the country millions of dollars. Attorneys gave closing arguments Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court in Bismarck in the case of 25-year-old Sanjay Williams of Montego Bay, Jamaica, after about a week of tes- timony. He’s charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering. He faces up to 40 years in prison. Prosecutors said the case came to light four years ago when Edna Schmeets, 86, of Harvey, North Dakota, received a call from a man who told her she had won $19 mil- lion and a new car. She just needed to pay taxes and fees. The process dragged out until the widow’s sav- ings were wiped out, a sum of about $300,000. Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare Hochhalter told jurors that the subsequent investi- gation identified more than 70 people – mostly elderly and vulnerable citizens – who were scammed out of more than $5.2 million. About a dozen of the vic- tims testified during the trial in Bismarck, by video and in person.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 Cayman Compass • Wednesday May 6, 2015 KIRK MOTORS LTD AUTO CARE CENTER Auto Care Center diagnose the problem and fix it right the first time. We have certified licensed technicians. We diagnose and test your vehicle so we will NOT charge you for a FULL SERVICE if its not needed - NO HIDDEN FEES. FREE QUOTE. FREE SHUTTLE SERVICE. 100% Customer Satifaction OPEN 6 DAYS A WEEK FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE Mon-Friday 7:30am - 5pm Saturday 9am -12pm. • Oil & Filter Service $54.95 • 2 or 4 wheel Alignment starting at $80.00 • Diagnostic Scan Test $59.95 • Full A/C Service $85.00 • Shuttle Service to your Home or Office in the George Town area $FREE www.napacayman.com www.facebook.com/napacayman that government was the air- line’s biggest customer, with its payments accounting for a quarter of the airline’s revenue. He cautioned that without those government payments, the airline would be unable to continue in its current form. Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell said record tourism arrival figures for 2014 showed that govern- ment’s payments to the air- line were justified. “We have always said that Cayman Airways is im- portant to the country be- cause it is the tool we use to drive tourism and to ben- efit our tourism product. It gives us a competitive edge over other regional small- island nations.” CAL has previously had issues paying bills to the Cayman Islands Airports Authority, including the pas- senger facilities charge which feeds the fund that will be used to rebuild the Owen Roberts International Airport. Mr. Kirkconnell said CAL is now paying those bills as well as addressing debt owed to the CIAA. Mr. Whorms said in- creased passenger volumes are driving up revenues. “This year, Cayman Airways will carry 60,000 more passengers than it did five years ago and 120,000 more passengers than it did 10 years ago,” he said. For the first nine months of the current financial year, Mr. Whorms said, the airline carried 16,000 more passen- gers compared to the same period last year. Mr. Whorms said a deci- sion to purchase three of the four 737-300 jets as well as a spare 737-300 engine actually helped reduce the airline’s operating expenses. Previous reports sug- gested that the US$7.9 mil- lion purchase would save the airline an estimated $19 mil- lion over the next five years, set against a US$5.9 million annual leasing cost. However, the fleet will likely need to be replaced after that time, meaning CAL’s expenses would increase again. Recent reductions in oil prices have also had an im- pact on the airline’s bottom line, though Mr. Whorms said this was relatively minor and was offset by the increased amount of fuel required to carry a growing number of passengers. There is also less space on inbound flights to “tanker” fuel into Cayman, meaning the airline is often required to buy its fuel on island at a higher cost, “The net effect is that while the reduction in oil prices have helped our finan- cial performance, the per- centage reduction in fuel costs at Cayman Airways is far less than the percentage reduction in world fuel prices or the fuel price reductions being experienced by over- seas-based airlines.” He added, “From all of the preceding, CAL is projected to close this fiscal year without a net loss and with its reve- nues in excellent alignment with expenses.” Mr. Whorms said govern- ment’s contributions to the airlines are classified as a purchase of services to sup- port the tourism industry, rather than as a grant. In the last budget, gov- ernment allocated $2.85 million to CAL to run the Sister Islands routes and $14.96 million to run what are described as “stra- tegic tourism” routes. “Both of these amounts are treated as revenue once the contracted services are delivered by Cayman Airways,” Mr. Whorms said. The modus operandi of the airline when it comes to its “strategic tourism” routes – Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas, New York – is to guar- antee airlift and prevent for- eign carriers from gaining monopolies. Flights to the island without this option would be prohibitively ex- pensive or nonexistent, offi- cials believe. “These output payments are made to Cayman Airways for the provision of strategic and essential air services consistent with the govern- ment’s socioeconomic poli- cies,” Mr. Whorms added. He said the level of gov- ernment payments to CAL in future would depend on which routes it wants the air- line to operate. He added. “The cost to provide airlift services can also vary significantly from year to year because of the airline industry’s constantly changing commercial oper- ating environment.” Cayman Airways forecasting improvement in finances Ex-IRA man linked to slaying shot dead DUBLIN (AP) — A former Irish Republican Army com- mander linked to one of the outlawed group’s most no- torious killings was shot dead at close range Tuesday morning on a street near his home in Belfast, residents and police said. No group claimed re- sponsibility for killing Gerard “Jock” Davison, 47, in Belfast’s Markets neighbor- hood. It was the first fatal shooting in Northern Ireland in more than a year. Officers ordered an im- mediate increase in vis- ible street patrolling, in- cluding road checkpoints, to deter what they called a rise in attacks by IRA diehards in the run-up to Thursday’s United Kingdom general election involving Northern Ireland, which has 18 seats in the House of Commons in London. Small IRA factions who reject their side’s 1997 cease-fire and subsequent efforts to govern Northern Ireland in a spirit of com- promise have planted several bombs in the past two weeks, none of which caused signifi- cant damage. But the policeman leading the Davison murder investi- gation, Det. Chief Inspector Justyn Galloway, said he doubted that an IRA splinter group was responsible. He also dismissed involvement by extremists from Northern Ireland’s British Protestant majority, meaning that his killers more likely had a criminal or personal motive. “This was a cold-blooded murder carried out in broad daylight in a residential area and it has no place in the new Northern Ireland,” Galloway said. The relative rarity of Tuesday’s killing underlined how much has changed in Northern Ireland from the bloodiest years of its four-de- cade conflict that left more than 3,600 dead in a British territory of 1.8 million. Negotiators delivered a 1998 peace accord that forged a Catholic-Protestant government with the IRA- linked Sinn Fein party at its heart. British troops have been off the streets for nearly a decade, Protestant militants who used to kill Catholic ci- vilians at random in retali- ation for IRA attacks have stuck to truces, and the once Protestant-dominated police force has become increas- ingly Catholic in membership. Sinn Fein voted in 2007 to start cooperating with British law and order, a stun- ning U-turn reflected in the party’s appeals Tuesday for Markets residents to tell de- tectives what they knew about the killing. It’s a rich irony, given that IRA veterans like Davison long enforced the opposite policy, particularly when it concerned their own mem- bers’ crimes. As the top- ranking IRA figure in the Markets, he wielded an au- thority that included the right to shoot criminal op- ponents in the limbs and to use intimidation to shield the IRA’s own members from ar- rest – including by killing any local identified as a police informer. Davison in 2005 alleg- edly ordered IRA comrades to attack a Catholic civilian, Robert McCartney, at a pub near the Markets following an exchange of insults. Nobody was ever success- fully prosecuted for the fatal stabbing, which happened in front of dozens of witnesses. Defying the IRA’s code of silence, McCartney’s widow, his mother and four sisters took their demands for justice all the way to the White House, winning support from Hillary Clinton and the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Their un- precedented campaign helped spur the dominant IRA branch, the Provisionals, to renounce violence and disarm later that year, followed by Sinn Fein’s vote to accept the legitimacy of Northern Ireland’s criminal justice system. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 Wednesday May 6, 2015 • Cayman Compass We Buy Gold!We Buy Gold! Cash For Gold Silver, Coins and Broken Jewelry Cash Paid on the Spot! Call 927-8565 Cash For Gold • Shedden Road Skills for a brighter future ASBAT / NCTVET Certifi cation ASBAT an accredited School of Cosmetology The Heart Trust NTA National Training Academy School of Cosmetology Cayman’s fi rst Government- approved School of Cosmetology REGISTRATION STARTS NOW! Limited space available!!! Classes Start JUNE 1, 2015 Call 917-9951, 949-8668 or visit 71 Trinity Square, Eastern Ave opposite Popeyes Annie’s School of Beauty Art & Technology In British election campaign, the center cannot hold LONDON — About 30 mil- lion British citizens will venture out on Thursday to crumbling town halls and soaring medieval churches, set stubby pencils to paper and take part in a hallowed ritual: They will vote. But for all the orderli- ness and timeless quality of Election Day, politics in Britain has rarely been as fractured as it is today. The two-party system that dom- inated the 20th century has collapsed, and no one quite knows what will replace it. For a country as old as Britain, this spring’s cam- paign has laid bare a set of existential questions: Is it one nation or four? Is it part of Europe or not? Is it the fore- most U.S. ally, or just another middling Western power? None of those questions will be on the ballot. But the answers will be profoundly shaped by the choices voters make. The fissures in British politics have been amply ev- ident on the campaign trail, where the competition is no longer just between the long-dominant Conservative and Labour parties. Both are now fighting multi-front wars against challengers on the right and left. If once they were considered fringe players, these smaller par- ties now have the potential to play an instrumental role. Although the Labour and Conservative parties prob- ably will still sweep up about two-thirds of the vote, the passion and the growth clearly lie with the insur- gents. These other parties are poles apart on many specific issues, but through appeals to nationalism and a shared contempt for the London establishment, they have tapped into a widespread sense of grievance across the political spectrum. The extent of Britain’s fragmentation probably will become even more stark Friday, when politicians at- tempt to make sense of the electoral verdict. Either Tory incumbent David Cameron or Labour challenger Ed Miliband will almost cer- tainly emerge as prime min- ister. But neither has any realistic hope of securing a majority for his party. Forming a government will mean cultivating support among smaller parties that the politicians have spent years belittling. “Whoever wins will not have a clear mandate,” said Peter Riddell, director of the London-based Institute for Government. “It will be very halfhearted.” Britain’s deepening cleavage along nationalist lines has been perhaps the most dramatic feature of the campaign. Only eight months after Scots deci- sively rejected independence, they are expected to deliver a resounding victory to the Scottish National Party (SNP), which continues to champion the country’s partition. The predicted tri- umph will come at a deep cost to Labour, which has dominated Scottish poli- tics for decades. The surge by the SNP has happened with stunning swiftness, catching the political es- tablishment by surprise. Projections show that, on Thursday, the SNP could vir- tually wipe out the Labour Party in Scotland. The loss of that many seats would leave Labour well short of an overall majority and could put the left-leaning SNP in a kingmaker role. The fires of English na- tionalism also have been stoked in this campaign. The U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), which has ridden the issue of immigration to prominence, is almost cer- tain to win its highest-ever share of the vote with a mes- sage that plays in part on re- sentment among English cit- izens toward the Scots for receiving what is considered a disproportionate share of government services. If UKIP backers take um- brage at the Scots, they loathe continental Europe. UKIP has pressed relent- lessly for Britain to exit the European Union, arguing that membership is at the root of the country’s struggles with immigration. Party backers could get their wish if Cameron makes good on a promise to hold a referendum on the European Union by 2017 should he win re-election. Such a refer- endum could further splinter the Conservatives, offering no good scenario for party leaders on how to wage such a campaign without potentially empowering UKIP even more. Owing to the rise of the SNP, UKIP and the Green Party, this year’s campaign has turned on its head long- standing assumptions of how elections are won. “The truth is this is not an election that is going to be won in the center ground of British politics,” John Curtice, a professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said at a recent election forum in London. Throughout the campaign, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has called on voters to turn away from the pol- itics of “grievance” offered by the extremes, and come back to the middle. But the appeals have done little to boost the Liberal Democrats’ dismal prospects. Once the undisputed alternative to the two main parties, they are on course to lose about half their 56 seats in the 650-member Parliament. The breakup of a system dominated by two main par- ties has been a long time coming, but it was masked by the ability of either the Conservatives or Labour to command significant ma- jorities in the 1980s, 1990s and into the first part of this century. © 2015, The Washington Post Either Tory incumbent David Cameron or Labour challenger Ed Miliband will almost certainly emerge as prime minister. But neither has any realistic hope of securing a majority for his party. Dramatic video shows plight of migrants during rescue CATANIA, Sicily (AP) — Dramatic footage emerged Tuesday of a Mediterranean Sea rescue showing migrants on a sinking rubber boat des- perately clambering up ropes and a ladder onto a cargo ship that came to their aid. Five bodies were recovered and survivors reported many others drowned. The video was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press from a crew member of the cargo ship Zeran, which rescued two migrant boats over the weekend. The footage shows migrants jumping off their deflating dinghy to catch life preservers tossed into the water by Zeran crew mem- bers. Other migrants empty jerry cans of gasoline to use as floats. A crew member is heard begging them to keep calm, saying “Easy! Easy!” Five bodies were recov- ered and were brought ashore Tuesday along with the sur- vivors to the port in Catania, Sicily. Save the Children said survivors had reported “dozens” of people died in the rescue Sunday between Libya and Sicily. Giovanna di Benedetto of the aid group Save the Children said the exact toll wasn’t known but that survi- vors, in their first interviews with aid groups, reported sev- eral people fell into the sea and couldn’t swim. The weekend saw a dra- matic increase in rescues as smugglers in Libya took advan- tage of calm seas and warm weather to send thousands of would-be refugees out into the Mediterranean in overloaded rubber boats and fishing ves- sels. The coast guard reported that nearly 7,000 people were rescued in the three days ending Sunday. The deaths come on top of the estimated 800 migrants who are believed to have drowned last month when their boat capsized off Libya with hundreds of passengers locked in the hold by smug- glers. A few days earlier, a fur- ther 400 people were feared drowned in another capsizing. After the deaths, the European Union held an emer- gency summit and agreed to contribute more boats and pa- trol aircraft to Mediterranean rescue efforts. Even with the increased EU response, commercial cargo ships are increasingly being called on by Italy’s coast guard to respond to migrants in need, as required by the law of the sea. Catania pros- ecutor Giovanni Salvi com- plained last month that some- times these commercial crews aren’t trained or equipped to conduct rescues and that lives can be lost when mi- grants suddenly shift places on their unseaworthy boats as they try to get off. Salvi later backtracked and praised the work and commit- ment of the commercial vessel King Jacob, which had come to the aid of the boat in which the 800 passengers were trapped in the hull and capsized during the rescue. In addition to commercial vessels, aid groups are pitching in: The Phoenix, a 130-foot re- fitted yacht, arrived in Pozzallo, Sicily, on Tuesday with 369 mostly Eritrean migrants who were rescued by the crew of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station. The arrivals are stretching Italy’s already overtaxed mi- grant reception centers, with new arrivals being sent in- land to be screened for asylum or in many cases, to continue on their journeys north unofficially. “We are about to reach the limit of our capacity to ac- commodate them,” said the Rev. Vincenzo Federico, di- rector of the Caritas Catholic aid group in Salerno, where 652 migrants from Ghana, Nigeria and Gambia arrived on Tuesday aboard the Italian navy ship Bettica. Volunteers and medical personnel at the port donned medical garb to welcome the migrants because many are suffering from scabies. MOAS reported it also treated some migrants for injuries suf- fered during beatings and at- tacks – a reference to the vio- lent treatment the migrants suffer in Libya at the hands of their smugglers. Nigerian troops kill dozens of civilians Nigerian troops have killed dozens of civilians and razed scores of homes to avenge the deaths of six soldiers, community leaders and residents of Plateau state charged on Sunday.9 WORLD&REGIONAL Cayman Compass • Wednesday May 6, 2015 Canadian judge delays bail decision for ex-Gitmo inmate EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — A Canadian judge said Tuesday she needs more time to make a decision on whether a former Guantanamo Bay in- mate should be released on bail while he appeals his conviction for war crimes in the United States. Court of Appeal Justice Myra Bielby is expected to announce her decision Thursday morning. It fol- lows a last-ditch attempt by the Canadian government to keep Omar Khadr behind bars. The government is seeking an emergency stay of a lower court judge’s deci- sion to grant Khadr bail. Toronto-born Khadr spent a decade in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Since 2012 he’s been held in a Canadian prison, serving out an eight-year sentence handed down by a U.S. military commission in 2010. He was convicted of five war crimes, including throwing a grenade when he was 15 years old that killed a U.S. Army sergeant in Afghanistan during a 2002 firefight. Khadr, once the youngest detainee at Guantanamo and now 28, has since said he only agreed to a 2010 plea deal to get out of Guantanamo and return to Canada. Canadian government lawyers argued Tuesday that releasing Khadr on bail would jeopardize the repatri- ation of other Canadian pris- oners and damage Ottawa’s relations with Washington. But U.S. State Department Acting Deputy spokesman Jeff Rathke said it is up to the Canadian courts to de- cide whether Khadr should be released. A lower court judge granted Khadr bail last month while he appeals his war crimes conviction in the United States. That judge’s bail conditions are set to be released later Tuesday. Defense attorneys say Khadr was pushed into war by his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, an alleged senior al-Qaida financier whose family stayed with Osama bin Laden briefly when the young Khadr was a boy. His Egyptian-born father was killed in 2003 in a Pakistani military operation. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has long refused to support Khadr, reflecting ambiva- lence in Canada over the Khadr family. Khadr’s long-time lawyer Dennis Edney and wife have offered to take him into their home. Edney said the govern- ment wants to drag it out even more. “Why? Just because they can’t stand to see that young Muslim boy out there,” Edney said. He was convicted of five war crimes, including throwing a grenade when he was 15 years old that killed a U.S. Army sergeant in Afghanistan during a 2002 firefight. 60 bodies recovered in Nepal valley hit by quake, mudslide Quake toll at more than 7,500 KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Emergency workers have recovered the bodies of 60 people – including nine for- eigners – who were killed when Nepal’s earthquake trig- gered a mudslide that buried a village in the scenic Langtang Valley popular with tourists. Residents of the village, also called Langtang, said Tuesday that as many as 200 people could have been killed by tons of earth and mud unleashed in the devas- tating April 25 quake. “The entire village was wiped out by the mudslide. There were some 60 houses there, but they were all buried under rubble. It will be im- possible to recover all the bodies,” said Gautam Rimal, the top government official in the Rasuwa district. The Langtang Valley, about 35 miles north of the capital, Kathmandu, is now about a two-day hike from the nearest town because the landslide has blocked nearby roads. While helicopters allow easy access, they remain in short supply because of aid missions across parts of Nepal. The April 25 earthquake killed more than 7,500 people and injured more than 14,000 as it flattened mountain vil- lages and destroyed build- ings and archaeological sites in Kathmandu. Authorities say up to one- third of Kathmandu’s res- idents have left since the quake. In the first days, bus stations were jammed with people fearing aftershocks or trying to get home to rel- atives in devastated villages. On Tuesday, there were still people waiting for buses to leave. “I stayed back here to help out my neighbors and clean up the neighborhood,” said Surya Singh, who was at a large bus station. But now he wants to see the damage in his home village, although with many roads still blocked by land- slides, he was unsure if he could get all the way by bus. Kathmandu police say nearly 900,000 people have left in the past 10 days. The population of Kathmandu valley – including the city of Kathmandu and the smaller towns of Lalitpur and Bhaktapur – is 2.5 million. Life has been returning to normal in Kathmandu. Schools are to remain closed until May 14, but some markets are open and trucks have been bringing in fresh food daily. Foreign aid is expected to play a big role in re- building the impoverished nation after the quake. On Tuesday, USAID an- nounced $11 million in assis- tance for emergency shelter materials, medical supplies, safe drinking water, improved sanitation and hygiene kits for the most critical districts. The American aid agen- cy’s acting administrator, Alfonso Lenhardt, is vis- iting earthquake-hit areas and said the additional aid brings the total U.S. commit- ment to about $26 million. The U.S. also has sent air- planes with relief materials and rescue workers. The spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, told re- porters that logistical hubs are being set up in five ad- ditional districts to sup- port the delivery of humani- tarian aid. “The distribution of more than 2,000 tons of food has also begun across 15 districts,” he said. The World Health Organization says temporary field hospitals have been set up in five locations in Kathmandu and in five loca- tions outside the capital. A man reads a newspaper in Kathmandu’s Durbar Square, damaged in the April 25 earthquake. - Photo: AP French lAwmAkers APProve controversiAl surveillAnce bill PARIS (AP) — France’s lower house of Parliament has ap- proved a bill aimed at legal- izing broad surveillance of terrorism suspects that has drawn an outcry from advo- cates of civil liberties. The bill was passed Tuesday with 438 votes in favor and 86 against. Lawmakers from both the Socialist majority in Parliament and the conser- vative opposition supported the bill, which will now move to the Senate for fur- ther discussion. The bill was proposed long before the January Paris attacks by Islamic extremists to update a law left essen- tially untouched since 1991. But the government has said it has become more urgent with each person who has become radicalized. The new law would en- title intelligence services to place cameras and recording devices in suspects’ homes and beacons on their cars without prior authorization from a judge. Instead, they would need to request authorization from an independent nine- person panel composed of magistrates, lawmakers and a communication expert – with exceptions in cases of special threats. One of the most sensi- tive measures would force communication and Internet firms to allow intelligence services to install electronic “lock-boxes” to record meta- data from all Internet users in France. The metadata would then be subject to al- gorithmic analysis for poten- tially suspicious behavior. The data would be anon- ymous, but intelligence agents could follow up with a request to the indepen- dent panel for deeper sur- veillance that could yield the identity of users. Either the panel or people who believe they are unfairly under surveillance could ap- peal to administrative judges. Opponents say the bill le- galizes highly intrusive sur- veillance methods without guarantees for individual freedom and privacy. A protest called by a group of privacy advo- cates, human rights groups and unions to denounce “highly intrusive surveillance methods” gathered hundreds of people Monday near the National Assembly. Reporters Without Borders said the bill “poses a grave new threat to the con- fidentiality of journalists’ sources” and pointed out that it “contains no safeguards for protected professions, in- cluding journalists.” Lawmakers from both the Socialist majority in Parliament and the conservative opposition supported the bill, which will now move to the Senate for further discussion.Next >