ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – Wednesday July 15, 2015 sports | page 15 game birds flying high after dousing flames Roller hockey finals roundup High of 90 Low of 79 Moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 feet. editorial | page 4 the Wheels on the bus go round and round … but not all around CUC files lawsuits against cable firms Charles dunCan cduncan@pinnaclemedialtd.com Caribbean Utilities Company filed two writs late last week accusing Logic and C3 of using its utility poles to hang cable lines without permission, according to court documents. CUC wants a restraining order to stop WesTel, Logic’s parent company, and Infinity Broadband, which operates as C3, from attaching cable equipment to the elec- tric company’s utility poles. Randy Merren, CEO at C3, said he had not seen the writ as of Tuesday, but con- firmed his company was in a dispute resolution process with CUC through the Information and Communications Technology Authority. Logic and CUC declined to comment on the dispute. Logic and C3, along with LIME, are working to roll out fiber Internet and tele- vision lines across Grand Cayman. The new fiber lines can move more data, whether traditional television or streaming Netflix, at faster speeds. All three service providers had been granted permission earlier to use CUC’s network of poles. C3 filed a complaint with ICTA in October, accusing DataLink, which manages the line placement on the poles for CUC, of giving Logic a better po- sition on the poles that made it easier and safer for the competing company to put up fiber lines. The dispute boils down to where each company can attach its equipment. The C3 complaint argues that the company has to install its lines higher than the others and closer to lines carrying electricity, re- quiring more work to get each pole ready. The complaint accuses DataLink of put- ting the cost of work to get the poles ready on C3 and Logic. DataLink, responding to the ICTA com- plaint, argues that there is no “worst posi- tion” on a pole as C3 maintains, and that covering the costs to prepare the poles de- pends on when each company applied to use the pole. If C3 is the first company to apply to use a pole, it is required to pay to prepare that pole, the response states. But DataLink said it supports sharing the costs among the companies that want space on the poles. Pan am Games blocks cayman athletes ron shillingford rshillingford@pinnaclemedialtd.com Several Cayman Islands athletes were left disappointed after being dropped on short notice from competing at the Pan American Games now under way in Canada. Sprinters Tyrell Cuffy, Karim Murray, Jerome Bodden and Perry Anglin, who had been preparing for months for the Games in Toronto as a 4x100m relay team, were told they would not be making the trip, when they returned from the Island Games last week. The Pan Am Games started last Friday and run until July 26. The organizers could accommodate only 10,000 athletes from 41 countries, but many more qualified, Dalton Watler, president of the Cayman Islands Amateur Athletics Association, said. Competitors from the smaller nations like Cayman were cut, whereas the United States and Jamaica were not affected. The Cayman Islands Amateur Athletics Association was informed which athletes would not be going to the Pan Am Games when they were at the Island Games. In order to avoid distracting them and affecting their performances, they were not told until they re- turned home on July 6. Only seven Cayman athletes made the trip: 100-meter sprinter Kemar Hyman and 110m hurdler Ronald Forbes, beach volley- ball players Chante Smith-Johnson and Illean Powery, gymnast Morgan Lloyd and swim- mers Brett Fraser and Lara Butler. Mr. Watler said the quota at the Games had to be reduced because it was oversubscribed. NRA cites concerns with Dart road plan application Issue involves southern section of Esterley Tibbetts Highway alan markoff amarkoff@pinnaclemedialtd.com The National Roads Authority says it is concerned traffic delays on the Esterley Tibbetts Highway abutting Camana Bay will shift to the Lawrence Boulevard round- about after the Dart Group widens the road through its development if the section south of the roundabout is not widened to four lanes as well. Cayman Shores Development Ltd., a Dart Realty (Cayman) Ltd. subsidiary, has submitted an application to the Central Planning Authority seeking approval to re- align the section of the Esterley Tibbetts Highway between the Lawrence Boulevard roundabout and the Galleria roundabout, widen it to four lanes, and construct an en- closed underpass for a portion of road. The application was reviewed by the Planning Authority on June 10 and again on July 8. At the Planning Authority meeting of June 10, a number of issues and con- cerns of the National Roads Authority with regard to the proposed underpass PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » The National Roads Authority is concerned that the Lawrence Boulevard roundabout near Camana Bay will become a traffic bottleneck. - Photo: taneos Ramsay2 LOCAL&REGIONAL Wednesday July 15, 2015 • Cayman Compass www. 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As part of the organiza- tion’s community service ini- tiative, 12 members recently donated blood in response to an appeal by the Health Services Authority. “We heard about the ap- peal for donors … and we de- cided to step up to the chal- lenge,” said Phil Jackson, past president of the organization. According to Mr. Jackson, two of the group’s youngest members, Reuben Powell, 19, and Jon Michael Rankin, 20, were among those who participated. Mr. Rankin said the media often reports the neg- ative things young men do, but there are also some who want to have a positive im- pact in their community. “We are a Christian men’s organization and believe Jesus gave his blood for us, so we took this as a great opportunity to give back and have a direct im- pact on someone’s life,” he said. “We hope this will en- courage other organizations and challenge men to donate something that is free but could help save lives.” The 1000 Man March orga- nization describes itself as a nondenominational kingdom- building group of men, started in 2010 to mentor and in- spire young men by changing their mind-set in order to strengthen families and mar- riages, and for men to play an active role in their families and community. For more information, email 1000manmarchoutreach@gmail.com or visit 1000manmarch.com. Students at Triple C High School are celebrating a 100 percent pass rate in their Advanced Placement cal- culus exam. This means the students will be exempt from taking calculus 1 when they start university. To prepare for the exam, in addition to attending class, each student put in many hours out- side of the regular school day. “I am happy that the hard work the students and I put in paid off,” said Sonia Gordon, AP calculus teacher. She said students met at the school several days over the holiday periods and used so- cial media as means to study. “I must admit, I did work a lot more closely with this group due to the intensity of the course, and the students were allowed to WhatsApp questions that they were working on. I would then give them immediate feedback.” Samuel Larson, a grade 12 student, was happy he passed the exam, “I love math, but it was a lot of hard work,” he said. Samuel passed at the highest level with a range five. Robert Lankford, Triple C’s vice principal of sec- ondary education, social and personal development, said the school is exceptionally proud of the students for the efforts they made to achieve these results. “We hope this will encourage other organizations and challenge men to donate something that is free but could help save lives.” Phil Jackson, 1000 Man March Men step up and donate blood Triple C students score 100 percent in AP calculus Samuel Larson passed AP Calculus at the highest level with a range five. Members of the 1000 Man March organization are proud of their commitment. Auto sAfety chief: floridA At risk for fAulty Air bAgs ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – The head of the federal government’s auto safety agency says around three-quarters of ruptured air bags the agency has tested come from Florida. National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Mark Rosekind said at a news con- ference Tuesday that Florida drivers are particularly at risk from defective air bags recalled by manufacturer Takata. Takata has recalled al- most 34 million air bag infla- tors in the United States.3 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Wednesday July 15, 2015 CAMANA BAY / ROYAL PLAZA / COUNTRYSIDE UNLIMITED TEXTS UNLIMITED DIGI TO DIGI CALLS UNLIMITED FOR 3 MONTHS DATA BREAK FREE GO UNLIMITED TALK AND TEXT ALL YOU WANT WITH DIGICEL’S NEW PREPAID AND POSTPAID PLANS British Navy ship visits Cayman By Kelsey JuKam kjukam@pinnaclemedialtd.com British Navy support ship the RFA Lyme Bay is sched- uled to arrive Wednesday in Grand Cayman for five days. The ship is part of the Royal Navy’s Atlantic Patrol Tasking North opera- tion, which provides year- round humanitarian aid and disaster relief to the Caribbean, in addition to conducting counter-narcotics operations in the region. Making its way to the Cayman Islands from Bermuda, the ship traveled along the north coast of Cayman Brac and along the south coast of Little Cayman Tuesday afternoon. While in Grand Cayman, the ship’s disaster relief teams will exercise their contingency plans. According to Royal Navy Lt. Max Cosby, public relations officer for the RFA Lyme Bay, they will conduct reconnaissance by air and sea of poten- tial landing sites and trans- port routes in the event the ship would have to dispatch supplies and equipment to remote locations around the island in the event of a disaster. The teams will then re- hearse disembarking and transporting equipment from the ship’s internal dock to the shore on a Mexeflote landing raft. Once ashore, the teams will give local agencies a demonstration of the their deployment capabilities. “My ship’s company and I are very much looking for- ward to the visit and to making and remaking rela- tionships whilst being able to liaise with disaster man- agement authorities re- garding our capabilities,” Capt. Kim Watts, the ship’s commanding officer, said in a press release. Captain Watts will host an onboard reception and will visit with Premier Alden McLaughlin and Governor Helen Kilpatrick. The gov- ernor will receive a new flag car, which the ship brought from the U.K. The ship’s company will also participate in a football match against Northward Prison on the prison grounds Saturday morning. RFA Lyme Bay, a Bay- class auxiliary landing ship dock, is part of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service, a flo- tilla of 13 naval support ships which support U.K. and allied armed forces around the world. RFA ships were known for their participation in the Falklands War in 1982. Bay-class ships were de- veloped in the early 2000s and are capable of offloading troops in rougher weather than previous ships. They deliver troops, but also ve- hicles, supplies and ammu- nition required to launch an assault from the water. The ships are 579 feet long, have a beam of 285 feet and a draught of 19 feet. The RFA Lyme Bay, which was entered into service in 2007, has been a part of mine-hunting exercises in the Mediterranean, sup- ported allied and Iraqi Navy mine-hunters from 2009 to 2012, and was used for counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia. The ship carries 165 sailors, 97 of whom are Royal Fleet Auxiliary sailors – British civilians trained to Merchant Navy Standards and to operate alongside the Royal Navy. There are also 23 Royal Naval personnel aboard for helicopter op- erations, 18 Royal Logistic corps soldiers, and 27 Royal Marines and Royal Engineers in the Humanitarian and Disaster Relief Troop. A Royal Navy Lynx Mk8 helicopter is onboard for the deployment in counter-nar- cotics operations and to help with surveillance, stores de- livery and search and rescue operations. The next stop for RFA Lyme Bay will be Anguilla. The RFA Lyme Bay departing Bermuda for Grand Cayman. - Photo: Lt Max Cosby, RoyaL Navy The Royal Navy Lynx crew conduct search and rescue training. - Photo: Po MaRCo aMato, RFa atteMPted bReak-iN at PoLiCe evideNCe CoNtaiNeR Police reported an at- tempted break-in Monday night at a container storing drugs awaiting disposal and old evidence behind the George Town police station. The padlocks were broken on the container, but nothing was missing, police said. “Police have processed the scene and determined that nothing was taken from the container, possibly because the culprit(s) were interrupted by security checks of the grounds,” police said in a statement.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. 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 findtheirownway” What is money? The coin and currency that you have in your pocket? The balances you have in your checking, money market or savings ac- count? How about the value of your stocks and bonds? The government (mainly the Federal Reserve) provides numbers about the money supply – M1, M2, M3 and M0, which only goes to show that there is no simple definition on which all agree. The economist-technol- ogist-philosopher George Gilder, who has written many bestselling and provoca- tive books, including “Wealth and Poverty,” “Microcosm,” “Telecosm,” “Sexual Suicide” and “Knowledge and Power,” has now produced a remark- able essay titled, “The 21st Century Case for Gold: A New Information Theory of Money.” In sum, Mr. Gilder argues that money is information, and that at some point a bitcoin- like non-government money will emerge on the Internet whose price will merge with that of gold, becoming bitgold. Mr. Gilder notes that there are seven international units and measures, all grounded in basic constants of physics. These metrics are the second of time, the meter of extent, the kilogram of weight, de- grees Kelvin of absolute tem- perature, the ampere of elec- tric current, the mole of molecular mass, the candela of luminosity. These units cannot float because the met- rics provide the basis of all industry and construction. He argues “the second of time” is the most basic because it is immutable and irreversible. This leads him to then argue that: “Money as the metric and information bearer can be reliable to the extent that its value is also rooted in time.” As with most other things that the government touches, it has managed to make a mess of money. The American Founders had intended money to be gold and silver coins, and the extremely stretched tie with gold did remain until 1971. The U.S. dollar, the euro, the yen and all other major currencies no longer have any tie with gold (or any other commodity). Mr. Gilder and others argue that only gold is rooted in time. (Justice cannot be done with this argument in a short piece such as this.) The major central banks of the world have increas- ingly drifted away from pro- viding “sound money” for their citizens and are increas- ingly focused on using mone- tary policy to provide cheap financing for government def- icits – by artificially holding down interest rates which, in turn, is a non-legislated tax on savers. Governments have also become increasingly in- trusive in monitoring all fi- nancial transactions under the guise of “fighting money laundering,” while their real motivation is to extort more taxes and exercise more con- trol over the citizens. Those who love liberty and economic growth and oppor- tunity have been for many years seeking private solu- tions to get around the abuses by government of its mo- nopoly on money. The most promising technology for the individual to free himself from the government mone- tary shackles has been the de- velopment of bitcoin, which allows largely anonymous transactions directly from peer to peer, without going through the banking system. Those in government hate the idea of bitcoin and its newer competitors because it largely destroys their global power to monitor and extract tribute from transfers of goods and services, and wealth. This past week, the an- nual FreedomFest conference, attended by several thou- sand people, was held in Las Vegas. Among the speakers were Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, John Stossel, Steve Forbes and many other well- known business leaders and economists, including George Gilder. At one of the sessions, Mr. Gilder spoke about the future of bitcoin and its dig- ital cyberspace competitors. All of those on the panel and most of those in the tightly packed room were enthu- siastic about the future of bitcoin (which is still an emerging and ever-improving technology). I share their goals and hopes because to the extent they succeed, they will greatly reduce transac- tion costs, thus increasing prosperity, and have put a brake on ever-expanding gov- ernment power and abuse. But – and this is a big “but” – 16 years ago, I wrote a book, “The End of Money and the Struggle for Financial Privacy,” in which I discussed the po- tential of private digital money. At the time, Milton Friedman told me that though he agreed with my thesis, it would be much longer in coming than I expected, and that govern- ment would put many more obstacles in place. Friedman was right in that I had under- estimated what the govern- ment would do to stifle and destroy any attempt to com- pete with its monopoly on money, no matter how incom- petently the government man- aged it or how much they interfered with basic civil lib- erties. Citizens who wish to free themselves from the tyr- anny of government money and the Big Brother intrusions into their financial affairs should let their elected repre- sentative know that they will look unkindly on attempts to stifle the new global monetary experimentation. Richard W. Rahn, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth, is on the Editorial Board of Cayman Financial Review. © 2015, The Washington Times Wednesday JuLy 15, 2015 • Cayman COmpass It’s happened to many of us at some point in our lives: You wake up at the crack of dawn, get dressed and rush out the door to the car. Halfway to work, a warning light on the dashboard flickers on, the car begins to shake, and then … you’re stranded, on the side of the road – forced to hitchhike or walk the rest of the way, then explain to your boss why you’re late, angry and perspiring. Now, imagine the above occurring on a regular basis. Too often that’s the scenario facing Cayman Islands residents who rely on the bus system to get them to and from work in the outer districts. But, instead of mechanical malfunctions or fuel failures, the reason for drivers’ impromptu terminations of bus routes has been, in the words of one local bus rider, “when there aren’t enough passengers or they don’t feel like it, they just don’t go.” We won’t pass judgment on the actions of individual bus drivers, most of whom perform their demanding duties in a punctual and professional manner, while maintaining a friendly rapport with passengers. Our concern over the existence of unreliable, incon- siderate or outright lazy bus driving is more funda- mental. That is, this kind of behavior is enabled by the way Cayman’s bus system is set up – as one of those ever-dangerous quasi-governmental models that is neither “public” nor “private,” which doesn’t possess the advantages of either, but demonstrates the disad- vantages of both. For example, if Cayman’s bus system were purely “public,” then passengers could report any inadequa- cies of drivers to their superiors in government, with repercussions to follow. If the bus system were purely “private,” then bus companies would be free to adjust their service according to customer demand, while passengers could exercise their discretion as to which bus company they patronize. (An alternative scenario would be where the government chooses, through a competitive bidding process, a single private con- tractor to manage and operate the public bus system.) As it now stands, individual bus drivers apply for permits to drive routes, under the aegis of the Public Transportation Board, amid an atmosphere heavy in regulations but light in enforcement. The result is a bus system that is both inconsistent and unaccount- able, and that is not tailored to serve either the bus operators or the passengers. Much of the above could also be said about Cayman’s network of taxis, which are also licensed by the same Public Transportation Board. In North America, Europe, Asia and elsewhere, technology has brought about disruptive change to public transit, most notably the conventional model of taxi dispatching. Companies like Uber and Lyft have been able to leverage the Internet and smartphones to construct webs of independent contractors who carry passengers from Point A to Point B at a fraction of the fares charged by traditional taxis. The “secret ingre- dient” to the success of Uber and Lyft, in our opinion, is not so much their respective “apps,” clever as they are, as it is their avoidance of the often-extortionary regulations and fees with which governments burden taxi companies’ bottom lines. The lesson here is that there are several models of public transportation available that would, in theory, work better for Cayman than our existing system, at least in terms of getting people to work and back, on time, every time. The wheels on the bus go round and round … but not all around Citizens in search of sound currency RichaRd W. Rahn Those who love liberty and economic growth and opportunity have been for many years seeking private solutions to get around the abuses by government of its monopoly on money.5 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Wednesday July 15, 2015 ON PREPAID FOR A WEEK GO UNLIMITED CAMANA BAY | GEORGE TOWN | COUNTRYSIDE BUY ANY SMARTPHONE & GET A UNLIMITED PLAN WORTH LTE ALCATEL POP S3 $99 $15 7 DAY HURRY WHILE STOCKS LAST IN STORE NOW Ministry of Health passes audit for first time Charles DunCan cduncan@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Ministry of Health for the first time received an unqualified opinion from the Office of the Auditor General on an audit, which covered the ministry’s 2012-2013 fiscal year. Despite the clean books, auditors were still critical of the ministry for how long it took to get the financial re- ports in order. “A balance needs to be struck between the credi- bility of the information con- tained in the financial reports and the timeliness of its availability for use by deci- sion makers and other stake- holders,” an official with the Office of the Auditor General told the Cayman Compass. He said, “Government needs to consider whether the appropriate balance was achieved by issuing these fi- nancial statements nearly two years after the year end, and whether this pro- vided effective accountability and useful information to decision makers.” An unqualified opinion means that the ministry’s books fairly represent its fi- nancial situation. The Ministry’s Chief Officer Jennifer Ahearn, in a statement released Monday, said, “I’m very grateful to our Chief Financial Officer Nellie Pouchie for her hard work and the dedication that was required to achieve this un- qualified result.” She added, “I believe this result is testament to the ef- fectiveness of the policies and procedures that have been put in place by Ms. Pouchie and her predecessor Mr. Cooper.” Ms. Ahearn, who did not respond to questions about the delays, said in the release that ministry staff took feed- back from the auditors and had to reevaluate fixed assets, like buildings and equipment, to determine the actual worth. The official from the au- ditor general’s office said fi- nancial reports should be delivered to auditors within six months of the end of the fiscal year. He said, “Audited financial reports are prepared by public sector entities to provide accountability for the use of funds and for making decisions around spending going forward. In order for financial statements to meet these objectives, accounting standards require financial reports to meet certain cri- teria, which include being is- sued in a timely manner.” According to the au- ditor general’s most recent report, six audits from the 2012-2013 year are still in progress, including those from the Ministry of District Administration, Ministry of Education, Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs, Cayman Islands Airports Authority and the Tourism Attractions Board. The Children & Youth Services Foundation has out- standing audits from 2011- 2012 and 2012-2013. Of the 32 government au- dits for the 2012-2013 year, 26 have been completed. The Office of the Auditor General issued unqualified opinions in 12 of those reports. US scientists land in Little Cayman Researchers from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory are presenting a series of lectures in Little Cayman this summer. The talks will be for the Central Caribbean Marine Institute’s staff and under- graduate students partici- pating in summer research at the institute’s Little Cayman Research Centre. Every summer, CCMI hosts undergraduate stu- dents who work with men- tors to conduct research projects relating to topics such as coral reef stress, cli- mate change, ocean acidifica- tion and coral reef resilience and restoration. The aim of the lecture se- ries, which began at the end of June and runs through Aug. 7, is to assist students to develop and implement their own research projects, orga- nizers said. Topics in the se- ries include “Interactions between ocean health and human health,” “Science to in- form ecosystem-based man- agement” and “Sloshing and mixing between reef and ocean: Physical processes impacting connectivity and thermal biogeochemical vari- ability for Cayman corals.” The visiting researchers will also work with CCMI scientists to study reefs sur- rounding Little Cayman, collecting data that could help monitor environmental threats to the reefs. The data will also assist other research projects on the Little Cayman reefs, including those focused on constructing a global cli- mate record using core sam- ples, connecting water con- ditions to algal growth on the reefs, and investigating why some reefs are more resilient than others over small distances. According to a CCMI press release, the reefs on Little Cayman are particularly im- portant to coral reef scien- tists because they are largely untouched and unaffected by human development. The visiting researchers will also work with CCMI scientists to study reefs surrounding Little Cayman. Researchers are giving lectures on oceanographic subjects at the Central Caribbean Marine Institute’s Little Cayman Research Centre.The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 Wednesday July 15, 2015 • Cayman Compass “Most of the athletes are not traveling to Toronto be- cause the organizers had is- sues with the numbers,” he said. “We are upset, having made all the arrangements for them and then, at the last minute, the organizers pulled the plug.” The association did not lose any money as the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee was provided the money for the athletes from the International Olympic Committee’s Solidarity Fund. “The CIOC paid for ev- erything, so we didn’t have to absorb the costs,” Mr. Watler said. Mr. Cuffy, 26, was es- pecially disappointed be- cause he was in fine form having won the 100 me- ters and 200m at the Island Games in Jersey a couple of weeks ago. “It hurts,” Mr. Cuffy said. “I have a bunch of friends from other countries who qualified too who were dropped as well.” He said that they all took to social media to express their disappointment. “Coach Kenrick Williams had me on a very strict pro- gram,” Mr. Cuffy added. “Although my 100m time at the Island Games was slow, there were many reasons for that. But I still got the gold.” He said he is now focusing on his next major meet, the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) championships in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Cayman Islands Olympic Committee did not respond to requests for com- ment by press time Tuesday. Pan Am Games blocks Cayman athletes CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Tyrell Cuffy is upset. Mr. Watler Iran nuclear deal: Fine ‘new chapter’ or ‘historic mistake’? VIENNA (AP) — Iran, the United States and other world powers struck a historic deal Tuesday to curb Iranian nu- clear programs and ease fears of a nuclear-armed Iran threatening the volatile Middle East. In exchange, Iran will get billions of dol- lars in relief from crushing international sanctions. The accord, reached after long, fractious negotiations, marks a dramatic break from decades of animosity between the United States and Iran, countries that have labeled each other the “leading state sponsor of terrorism” and “the Great Satan.” “This deal offers an oppor- tunity to move in a new direc- tion,” President Barack Obama declared at the White House in remarks that were carried live on Iranian state televi- sion. “We should seize it.” In Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said “a new chapter” had begun in his nation’s relations with the world. He main- tained that Iran had never sought to build a bomb, an assertion the U.S. and its part- ners have long disputed. Beyond the hopeful proc- lamations from the U.S., Iran and other parties to the talks, there is deep skep- ticism of the deal among U.S. lawmakers and Iranian hardliners. Obama’s most pressing task will be holding off efforts by Congress to levy new sanctions on Iran or block his ability to suspend existing ones. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, predicted the deal would embolden Iran and fuel a nuclear arms race around the world. It will be difficult for congres- sional Republicans to stop Obama, however, because of his power to veto legislation. Israel, which sees Iran as a threat to its existence, strongly opposes leaving the Islamic republic with its nuclear infrastructure in place. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has furiously lobbied against a deal, called the agreement a “stunning historic mistake.” In a phone call Tuesday, Obama sought to reassure Netanyahu that the agreement doesn’t diminish U.S. concern about Iran’s threats toward Israel and its support for ter- rorism, the White House said. Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister told Obama the deal will allow Iran to ac- quire nuclear weapons as well as more money to use in men- acing Israel. Economic effects could be substantial for both Iran and the world. In trading Tuesday, bench- mark U.S. crude oil prices were volatile, falling quickly then rising. Iran is an OPEC member, but its oil production has been affected for years by sanctions over its nuclear pro- gram. Any easing of the sanc- tions could see Iran sell more oil, which could bring down crude prices. That doesn’t au- tomatically mean lower gaso- line prices, however. Iran also stands to receive more than $100 billion in as- sets that have been frozen overseas and an end to var- ious financial restrictions on Iranian banks. The nearly 100-page ac- cord announced Tuesday aims to keep Iran from pro- ducing enough material for an atomic weapon for at least 10 years and imposes new provisions for inspections of Iranian facilities, including military sites. With Obama’s final term ending in January 2017, the long-term agreement is sure to be a hot topic for the many candidates vying to take his place. Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton praised the deal and declared herself ready to en- force it “vigorously, relent- lessly” as president. As a pres- idential candidate in 2007 and 2008, Clinton criticized Obama’s willingness to nego- tiate with Iran. As secretary of state in 2012, she helped ini- tiate secret talks with Iran. Republican Jeb Bush is- sued a denunciation, saying the deal only delays the danger and “over time it paves Iran’s path to a bomb.” The deal was finalized after more than two weeks of furious diplomacy in Vienna. Negotiators blew through three self-imposed dead- lines, with top American and Iranian diplomats both threatening at points to walk away from the talks. Secretary of State John Kerry, who did most of the bargaining with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said persistence paid off. “Believe me, had we been willing to settle for a lesser deal we would have fin- ished this negotiation a long time ago,” he told reporters. The breakthrough came after several key compromises. Iran agreed to the con- tinuation of a U.N. arms em- bargo on the country for up to five more years, though it could end earlier if the International Atomic Energy Agency definitively clears Iran of any current work on nu- clear weapons. A similar con- dition was put on U.N. re- strictions on the transfer of ballistic missile technology to Tehran, which could last for up to eight more years, ac- cording to diplomats. Washington had sought to maintain the ban on Iran importing and exporting weapons, concerned that an Islamic Republic flush with cash from sanctions relief would expand its military as- sistance for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and other forces opposing America’s Mideast allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel. Iranian leaders, backed by Russia and China, in- sisted the embargo had to end as their forces combat re- gional scourges such as the Islamic State. Another significant agree- ment will allow U.N. inspec- tors to press for visits to Iranian military sites as part of their monitoring duties, something the country’s su- preme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had long vowed to oppose. However, access isn’t guaranteed and could be delayed, a condition that critics of the deal are sure to seize on. Under the accord, Tehran would have the right to chal- lenge U.N requests, and an arbitration board composed of Iran and the six world powers would then decide on the issue. The IAEA also wants the access to complete its long-stymied investigation of past weapons work by Iran. The U.S. says Iranian coop- eration is needed for all eco- nomic sanctions to be lifted. IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said Tuesday his agency and Iran had signed a “roadmap” to resolve outstanding concerns, hopefully by mid-December. The deal didn’t come to- gether easily, as tempers flared and voices were raised during debates over several of the most contentious mat- ters. The mood soured par- ticularly last week after Iran dug in its heels on several points and Kerry threatened to abandon the effort, ac- cording to diplomats involved in the talks. They weren’t au- thorized to speak publicly on the private diplomacy and de- manded anonymity. But by Monday, the re- maining gaps were bridged in a meeting that started with Kerry, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Zarif later joined the meeting, and shortly thereafter, the ministers emerged and told aides they had an accord. The deal comes after nearly a decade of interna- tional, intercontinental di- plomacy that until recently was defined by failure. Breaks in the talks some- times lasted for months, and Iran’s nascent nuclear pro- gram expanded into one that Western intelligence agen- cies saw as only a couple of months away from weapons capacity. The U.S. and Israel both threatened possible military responses. The accord, reached after long, fractious negotiations, marks a dramatic break from decades of animosity between the United States and Iran.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 Cayman Compass • Wednesday July 15, 2015 in particular were presented. The July 8 meeting minutes indicate that on June 16, the National Roads Authority met with Cayman Shores repre- sentatives and its engineers, APEC, to address the issues. The roads authority set several conditions for its approval of the plan, and Cayman Shores agreed to the conditions. However, the July 8 min- utes also indicate the roads authority subsequently made some lengthy com- ments with regard to the traffic impact assessment conducted by the U.S. firm VHB. Although the roads au- thority called the traffic im- pact assessment “quite com- prehensive,” it noted that the study area was confined to assessing impacts on the Esterley Tibbetts Highway between the Galleria and Lawrence Boulevard round- abouts, as well as a section of West Bay Road. “[The National Roads Authority] is of the view that the study limits for the [traffic impact assessment] should have included the [Esterley Tibbetts Highway] section south of Lawrence Boulevard and also includes the Butterfield roundabout as part of the analysis, and the proposed Airport Connector Road.” The roads authority com- mented that the traffic im- pact assessment demon- strated that widening the two-lane section of the Esterley Tibbetts Highway to four lanes would elimi- nate many of the current travel delays. However, it added that it was “genu- inely concerned that the delay conditions currently experienced along [Esterley Tibbetts Highway] through Camana Bay (where two southbound travel lanes are narrowed down to one travel lane) will simply be relocated to the Lawrence Boulevard roundabout ….” Cayman Shores noted that the terms of reference for the scope of the traffic impact assessment were re- viewed and approved by the Roads Authority on July 3, 2014, and noted that in December 2014, it stated that “in hindsight, [National Roads Authority] staff think it would have benefited us to include analysis of the con- ditions at Butterfield round- about and the future Airport Connector Road,” and that “perhaps we can discuss with VHB the possibility of [National Roads Authority] funding an expanded review of the study to include the aforementioned items.” Although it suggested it could discuss widening the scope of the assessment with VHB, the roads authority was adamant that the expanded assessment be a condition of its approval to Cayman Shores’ proposal. “We feel it is impera- tive that the widening of the [Esterley Tibbetts Highway] from the Lawrence Boulevard roundabout to the Butterfield roundabout should be a project that is carried out in parallel with the pro- posed relocation of the [Esterley Tibbetts Highway] through Camana Bay,” the National Roads Authority said. “Our provisional en- dorsement of this applica- tion is based strictly on the premise that this should be considered before final ap- proval is entertained.” Cayman Shores said it had no objection to the wid- ening of the road south of Camana Bay being carried out in parallel with its pro- posed roadworks, but that it did not feel “that it is a rea- sonable condition for the [Central Planning Authority] to impose since it is not within [Cayman Shores’] or the [Central Planning Authority’s] control and it is not a part of [Cayman Shores’] application be- fore the [Central Planning Authority],” it said. “[Cayman Shores] does not believe its application’s approval should be conditioned, re- fused or adjourned as a re- sult of something outside the scope of this application. The improvement of the road south of Camana Bay is not in [Cayman Shores’] remit.” In an article that ap- peared in the Cayman Islands Journal in May 2015, Dart Realty CEO Mark VanDevelde said the Dart Group had discussed with government the possibility of getting involved in wid- ening the section of the Esterley Tibbetts Highway south of Lawrence Boulevard to four lanes and in cre- ating the roundabout that would be necessary to con- nect it to the planned Airport Connector Road. “We understand that it [would cost] about $10 mil- lion, plus or minus, to com- plete the four-lane road, and that would probably be a bare bones four lanes with a divider,” he said in the in- terview, noting that he did not think government would have $10 million in its near- term budget for the project. However, he said, there were some ways Dart could re- cover the expenditure if it were to partner with govern- ment on the project. He said government has expressed openness to dis- cuss the possibilities. “They really want us to do it, or want it to get done, so it’s their approach,” he said. “We certainly see it as a ben- efit [for] safety and traffic- related issues ….” The Cayman Shores appli- cation for construction of the underpass, the road realign- ment and its widening will ultimately be decided by the Central Planning Authority and not the National Roads Authority, although the Planning Authority considers input from all relevant gov- ernment bodies. Dart Realty said it hopes to hear a decision on the application soon. Once ap- proved, the infrastructure project, estimated to cost US$40 million, is expected to take 12 months to complete. “We are hopeful of a pos- itive response to the appli- cation heard by the Central Planning Authority Board and look forward to receiving official communications on approvals and any associated conditions,” Dart Realty said in a statement on Tuesday. NRA cites concerns with Dart road plan application CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Dart intends to widen the road that passes its Camana Bay development. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAYThe islands’ most-trusted news source 8 Business Wednesday July 15, 2015 • Cayman Compass Match Group buys PlentyofFish The Match Group, the New York-based company that owns dating websites Match.com, OkCupid and Tinder, said Tuesday that it has purchased dating website PlentyofFish for $575 million. Optional EU regulatory regime sought for Cayman funds MiChaEl KlEin mklein@pinnaclemedialtd.com Government has re- leased two bills that enable Cayman-based funds and managers connected with the European Union to elect a re- gime of prudential regula- tion consistent with the EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. The bills, which amend the Mutual Funds Law and the Securities Investment Business Law, may mean that the Cayman Islands quali- fies for a so-called “third country passport” under the European directive. The passport would allow Cayman funds to be mar- keted to professional inves- tors across the EU, rather than through private place- ment in each EU member state individually. The European Securities and Markets Authority will assess Cayman’s regulatory regime and its supervisory cooperation with EU regula- tors to provide advice to the European Commission by July 22 on which jurisdic- tions should be considered for a “third country passport.” Opening European markets The proposed amend- ments of the Mutual Funds Law introduce the concept of a “regulated EU connected fund” which is either man- aged from or marketed in a member state of the European Economic Area and elects to fall within the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority’s regulated EU connected fund regime. The AIFMD regime applies to both open and close ended funds. The bill amending the Securities Investment Business Law creates the “EU connected manager” designa- tion for individuals who fall within the existing scope of the law, who conduct man- agement, marketing or depos- itary activities as defined by the EU directive and who vol- untarily decide to fall within CIMA’s new EU connected manager regime. EU connected funds and EU connected managers that opt in to the AIFMD regimes will be subject to CIMA’s en- forcement powers under the respective amended laws. Non-EU connected funds or managers will not be af- fected should the bills be- come law because the AIFMD regimes are optional. Cayman Finance believes there is a compelling case for European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Union to consider extension of the AIFMD pass- port to the Cayman Islands. “The AIFMD regimes, com- bined with the long-standing reciprocity of access for EU funds and managers to inves- tors in the Cayman Islands, will put Cayman in an excel- lent position to secure an ex- tension of the AIFMD pass- port to the Cayman Islands,” Cayman Finance said in a statement. “This will be of par- ticular interest to those seeking to market Cayman funds in the EU whether using existing na- tional private placement re- gimes or, once extension to Cayman is approved, the AIFMD passport mechanism.” The organization added it would be of significant ben- efit to EU investors, given that the vast majority of non-European top man- agers are using Cayman vehi- cles in their fund structures and that Cayman is home to 11,000 investment funds. Cayman Finance CEO Jude Scott said, “The Cayman Islands government, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and the Cayman Islands financial services in- dustry all recognize Cayman’s important role in the global investment funds market, and these new AIFMD re- gimes are the latest example of the jurisdiction continuing to evolve its legislation and regulation in a balanced and robust manner to meet the needs of investors and man- agers around the world.” The bills are expected to be passed into law in August. The detailed compliance ob- ligations for EU connected funds and managers under the revised laws will be de- tailed in regulations set to be issued shortly after the laws come into force. However, the compliance requirements are not antic- ipated to be more onerous than the ones the vast ma- jority of Cayman Islands in- vestment funds are subject to. The European Union will decide within three months after European Securities and Markets Authority’s recom- mendations which jurisdic- tions will be granted “third country passports.” It is hoped that the bills … will mean that the Cayman Islands qualifies for a so- called “third country passport” under the European directive. Mr. Scott Hedge fund performance dips in June MiChaEl KlEin mklein@pinnaclemedialtd.com The hedge funds industry posted its first monthly loss of 2015 in June. The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index was down 1.26 per- cent – the worst monthly performance within the last two years. However, hedge funds still comfortably outperformed underlying markets, such as the MSCI World Index which declined 2.88 percent during the month. Eurekahedge’s prelimi- nary figures for June show performance-based losses of US$18.9 billion, while net in- vestor flows were positive at US$3.7 billion. The stock market down- turn in Europe and China con- tributed to the performance decline which lowered gains for the first six months of the year to 3.31 percent, com- pared to 3.11 percent during the same period in 2014. Funds investing in Asia, excluding Japan, lost 1.67 percent and recorded US$1 billion worth of performance- based losses based on pre- liminary numbers in the worst month for regional managers since 2013. Japan-mandated funds were the only developed market showing a posi- tive performance in June, up 0.37 percent for the month and 5.34 percent for the year to date. European managers were down 1.11 percent in June but managed to outperform the MSCI AC Europe Index by 3.71 percent. After hefty losses of 2.63 percent in June, CTA/man- aged futures funds are the only hedge fund strategy with a loss for the year, down 0.20 percent. Long/short equity funds are up 6.32 percent for the year, well above the perfor- mance of 2014 with 3.35 per- cent and exceeding under- lying equity markets such as the MSCI AC World Index which is up 3.71 percent in the first half of 2015. Cayman hosts Burger King’s first regional summit Burger King Cayman Islands hosted the first Burger King Regional Summit on July 6 and 7, giving Caribbean franchise owners fresh insight on the latest marketing, operations and development tools in the industry, as well as a rare franchise owner net- working opportunity. Burger King Cayman Islands was recognized for being one of the top per- forming countries in the region and as a result, se- lected as the destination for the inaugural summit. The Cayman franchise, which has been in operation in the islands since 1982, gained a top “AAA” restau- rant rating for overall per- formance in brand stan- dards, with three out of four restaurants in Cayman making the top grade. Gary Rutty, Cayman Islands franchise owner, said, “It takes an en- tire team of fantastic em- ployees to gain such a high recognition.” With the first summit hosted by local franchise owners Gary and Angel Rutty, the event will be held in a different island in the Caribbean each year to update the region on Burger King’s brand direc- tion, marketing and oper- ational activities, and to give franchise owners the opportunity to tour and dine in the local Burger King restaurants. “It was our pleasure to welcome the other Caribbean franchise owners to tour our restaurants and our island, and to share our experiences with them,” Mr. Rutty said. Cayman franchise owners Angel and Gary Rutty and General Manager Fred Dallas, on the right, share notes and burgers with Jose Almirall and Amelia Riba from Burger King’s head office. UK inflation rate edges bacK down to zero LONDON (AP) – The U.K. in- flation rate dropped to zero in the year ending in June, of- fering a boost to consumers at a time of when household wages are growing. The Office of National Statistics said Tuesday that the rate fell slightly – com- pared to 0.1 percent in the year to May – amid declines in food and clothing prices, and rises in airfares last year. While low inflation is good in the short term, experts worry about the trend lasting too long. A downward price spiral hurts the economy, as people defer spending, particu- larly on larger items. Burger King Cayman Islands was recognized for being one of the top performing countries in the region.9 BUSINESS Cayman Compass • Wednesday July 15, 2015 168876-Ad-QP-S2S-Showcase.indd 17/9/15 12:03:47 PM Internet flooded with tributes to Nintendo chief TOKYO (AP) – Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata’s death from an illness at the age of 55 is being mourned by video game fans around the world. They’re sharing Iwata Mii avatars, cre- ating pictures with farewell messages on the Nintendo drawing game Splatoon and sending Tweets with “#ThankYouIwata” hashtags. A petition is circulating, amassing thousands of sig- natures, urging Nintendo to create an “amiibo” figurine in the likeness of Iwata. The small dolls packed with sen- sors, which already come in Nintendo characters such as Super Mario and Kirby, are used to play games. “Even if the amiibo itself lacks in- game functionality, it serves as a small reminder of Iwata’s legacy and accomplishments,” the petition says. Nintendo had no comment. Iwata, who led Japanese video game company Nintendo Co. through years of growth with its Pokemon and Super Mario franchises, died Monday after a lengthy illness. Among the tributes for Iwata as a person dedicated to entertaining others, fans on Twitter thanked him for childhood memories and for bringing families to- gether. On some Internet sites, an image of the flag in the Super Mario game was flying at half-staff. Nintendo America announced it was suspending social media ac- tivity for the day in remem- brance of Iwata. “He didn’t just create tech- nology. He created a whole culture,” said Nobuyuki Hayashi, a consultant and technology expert. “It wasn’t just a consumer product that he had delivered. He brought to people something that’s eternal, what people remember from when they were kids. He was special.” Iwata, president from 2002, died at Kyoto University Hospital. He had not been seen recently at game events, such as E3 in Los Angeles, where he was usually a participant. Iwata led Nintendo’s de- velopment into a global com- pany, with its hit Wii home console and DS handheld, and also through its recent troubles caused by the popu- larity of smartphones. His replacement was not immediately announced, but the company said star game designer Shigeru Miyamaoto will remain in the leader- ship team along with Genyo Takeda, who is also in the game development field. Iwata had been poised to lead Nintendo through an- other stage after it recently did an about-face and said it will start making games for smartphones, meaning that Super Mario the plumber would soon start arriving on cellphones and tablets. The falloff in appetite for game machines in the past few years was partly be- cause people are increas- ingly playing games or doing social media and other ac- tivities on smartphones. Nintendo has repeatedly had to lower prices on gadgets to woo buyers. The company re- turned to profit in the fiscal year ended March 2015 after several years of losses. Until the recent shift in strategy, company officials in- cluding Iwata had repeatedly rejected the idea of developing games for mobile devices, a market that they brushed off for years as irrelevant. In March, Nintendo an- nounced an alliance with Japanese mobile game com- pany DeNA Co. to develop games for mobile devices. Nintendo pioneered game machines since the 1980s, de- veloping one of the first ma- chines and the hit Game Boy hand-held device. In this 2008 file photo, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata appears at a news conference where Nintendo unveiled an enhancement for its Wii Remote controller and new games, at the E3 Media and Business Summit. – Photo: AP Comcast offers online video service for Internet customers NEW YORK (AP) – Comcast, the country’s largest cable company, is offering its own online video alterna- tive as people spend fewer hours watching live TV and more time using tablets and phones for entertainment. The new service, called Stream, will be available to Comcast’s Internet cus- tomers and will cost $15 a month. For now, it will in- clude only broadcast net- works like FOX and NBC in addition to HBO, but no cable channels like AMC or TNT. Anyone can watch broadcast networks for free on a TV with an antenna, which costs about $20 and up. And HBO already sells a stand-alone streaming ser- vice for $15 a month. Comcast has ambi- tions to offer more TV on- line, however. It wants to add cable channels over the next year so that online TV subscribers have “access to any of the content we have available” for traditional cable customers by the end of March in 2016, said Marcien Jenckes, Comcast Cable’s executive vice presi- dent for consumer services. Prices will be similar to tra- ditional cable, he said. Comcast’s service, which is only for its customers, follows the launch earlier this year of Dish Network’s nationwide Internet TV service, Sling TV, which sells for $20 a month and includes cable channels like ESPN, AMC and Food Network. You can also add on HBO. A slew of Internet TV options have come in the past year as many cable and TV companies think younger customers prefer to watch TV online, without paying for a full bundle that can easily top $70 a month. The ability to smother competitors’ online TV ser- vices was a major reason why regulators were con- cerned about Comcast’s bid to buy Time Warner Cable. It would have created a TV and Internet behemoth that would serve more than half of the country’s high-speed Internet customers, as calculated by the government. The deal never went through. Comcast dropped its bid in April. Comcast Corp., which is based in Philadelphia, said Monday that it will launch the service in Boston at the end of the summer, followed by Chicago and Seattle. It plans to make it available to all its Internet service customers by early 2016. Jenckes declined to say how many customers Comcast hoped to win online. Comcast had more than 22 million Internet cus- tomers at the end of the first quarter. The Stream ser- vice has limitations. You can watch live TV at home but there are rights restrictions for a lot of live content if you want to watch on your phone outside your home network. It will work on com- puters, tablets and phones but won’t work directly on TVs. Instead, users can log in to HBO’s app and other channel apps through TV- connected gadgets like an Apple TV or Roku, for ex- ample. Stream does come with a DVR service that can store 20 hours of video. Many young people like sharing passwords for on- line TV accounts with their friends. Stream allows only two streams on separate de- vices at the same time. Like with Dish’s Sling TV, Stream customers could sign up online and disconnect the service at any time. A major complaint about cable ser- vice is contracts that are dif- ficult to escape and having to drop off set-top boxes and other equipment after can- celing service.Next >