ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – Wednesday July 22, 2015 sports | page 18 cayman’s spirit shone through U-17 girls in World Cup qualifiers High of 91 Low of 79 Smooth to slight with wave heights less than 2 feet. editorial | page 4 special olympics athletes make cayman proud Publicity cited in raPist’s aPPeal carol Winker cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Jeffrey Barnes, sentenced in September 2013 to life imprisonment for rape, appeared in court Tuesday to appeal his conviction and sentence. Barnes’s counsel, Michael Wood, argued in the Court of Appeal that his client was unable to have a fair trial because of prejudicial pub- licity before his trial in March/April 2013. He noted that senior police officials had named Barnes and described him as special olympians on their way ron shillingford rshillingford@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman Islands athletes left on Tuesday for the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Los Angeles in high spirits and expecting to enjoy a wonderful sporting experience. A delegation of 55, including 28 Special Olympics athletes, departed Owen Roberts International Airport for the Games, which run from Saturday until Aug. 2. Cayman is competing in aquatics, basket- ball, bocce (Italian lawn bowling) and football. In addition to the athletes, the team in- cludes nine “unified partners,” five head coaches, 10 assistant coaches, two heads of delegation and one medic. Unified partners is a new concept at the Games, allowing regular athletes to help the special athletes learn more skills in team sports. The Special Olympics will bring 6,500 athletes and 3,000 coaches, representing 165 countries, along with 30,000 volunteers and an anticipated 500,000 spectators, to Los Angeles, making the 2015 Games one of the largest sports and humanitarian events any- where in the world this year. Antoinette “Toni” Johnson, head of del- egation, said, “This is just the beginning of PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » Cayman’s Special Olympics delegation gathers outside Owen Roberts International Airport Tuesday afternoon as they get ready to board their flight to Los Angeles. - PHOtO: taneOs raMsay Overseas Territories leaders meet in Bermuda Premier Alden McLaughlin will be in Bermuda this week for a meeting with all Overseas Territories heads of government to exchange views on political and constitutional issues as they relate to the U.K.’s relationship with Overseas Territories. The pre-joint Ministerial Council meeting from July 22 to 24 is held annually ahead of the Joint Ministerial Council later in the year. The meeting will focus on social and economic develop- ment, financial services, envi- ronmental and security matters and the relationship between the Overseas Territories and the United Kingdom. “It is an important gathering because the Overseas Territories are diverse,” Mr. McLaughlin said in a press release. “Through this meeting we will come to a consensus on the way forward to strengthen our collective po- sition at the full JMC meeting.” Heads of government from the British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, Montserrat and Bermuda will also attend. Representatives from Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena and Pitcairn will respond remotely. According to the gov- ernment press release, Mr. McLaughlin will be joined by a delegation that includes Cabinet Secretary Samuel Rose, sherpa Jason Webster, Councilor Roy McTaggart and Senior Political Adviser Roy Tatum. Bermuda Premier Michael Dunkley will chair the meeting. The Cayman Islands hosted last year’s pre-joint Ministerial meeting. Premier McLaughlin2 LOCAL&REGIONAL Wednesday July 22, 2015 • Cayman Compass Boost your TV & Internet experience by signing up for any Logic Fibre Bundle starting at $99 and get one month free service including the HBO premium pack. Contact a Customer Care Representative today or visit logic.ky for promotion details. 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. ANT MAN 3D (PG13) 1:40 I 4:30 2D I 7:20 I 10:00 2D MINIONS 3D (PG) 1:20 I 4:10 2D I 7:10 I 9:30 2D TERMINATOR GENISYS (PG13) 12:50 I 3:40 I 6:55 I 9:40 TRAINWRECK (R) 1:30 I 4:20 I 7:10 I 10:05 INSIDE OUT (PG) 1:10 I 3:40 I 7:15 I 9:50 JURASSIC WORLD (PG13) 1:00 I 3:45 I 6:30 I 9:15 *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. - WEDNESDAY - $8.00 Majority of Americans favor diplomatic ties with Cuba WASHINGTON (AP) – Nearly three-fourths of Americans think the United States should have diplomatic ties with Cuba, but they’re not sure how far to go in lifting sanctions, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll re- leased Monday as full dip- lomatic relations between the two countries were formally restored. “Relations between Cuba and the U.S. I think are long overdue. There’s no threat there,” said Alex Bega, 30, of Los Angeles. “I think the sanctions we have on them are pretty much obsolete.” The resumption of normal ties ended decades of acri- mony between the two na- tions that was hardened when President John F. Kennedy and Cuba’s Fidel Castro fought over Soviet ex- pansion in the Americas. The new diplomatic status, how- ever, does not erase lingering disputes, such as mutual claims for economic repara- tions, Havana’s desire to end a more than 50-year-old trade embargo and the U.S. push for Cuba to improve human rights and democracy. The new poll also found that 58 percent of Americans approve of President Barack Obama’s handling of the U.S. relationship with Havana while 40 percent disapprove. By contrast, only 39 percent approve of his handling of the U.S. role in world affairs more generally, while 59 per- cent disapprove. “I just disapprove of his politics in general,” said Julie Smith, 40, a univer- sity administrator from Bowling Green, Kentucky. “I just don’t think that us trying to improve relations with Cuba is beneficial to the United States.” Respondents were split on what to do about the sanctions on Cuba. Forty- eight percent thought they should be decreased or elim- inated entirely while 47 per- cent favored keeping them at their current level or in- creasing them. Five percent didn’t answer. The story was different when it came to Iran. Seventy-seven percent said they thought sanctions on Tehran should be kept where they are or increased, according to the poll, which was conducted just days be- fore the U.S. signed an agree- ment to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for eco- nomic sanctions relief. Under the agreement, Iran’s nuclear program will be curbed for a decade in exchange for po- tentially hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of relief from international sanctions. Mary Barry, 57, of Arlington, Texas, is happy that the Obama administra- tion opened diplomatic ef- forts with both Cuba and Iran, but is wary about lifting sanctions on the two countries. “I think we need to have diplomatic relations with Iran and monitor their nu- clear weapons,” said Berry, who works producing and staging corporate business meetings. But, she said: “I think we need to keep the sanctions in place on Iran to make sure they’re doing what they’ve promised they’re going to do because I think Iran is a country that you can’t really trust.” On Cuba, she thinks it’s “just time” to restore diplo- matic relations. But she fa- vors a gradual lifting of sanc- tions on Cuba. “I don’t think they should be lifted immedi- ately,” she said. There is some momentum in Congress, however, to lift the trade embargo. Objects in water prOmpt marine pOlice searches Cayman Islands Marine Police conducted two search operations last Wednesday off Seven Mile Beach after they received reports that some- thing resembling human bones was seen in the water. The search operations were conducted in the same area where scuba divers ear- lier found handcuffs attached to a cement block, which was brought ashore early last week. Police said a member of the public reported that while snorkeling he had seen some- thing on the sea floor hat looked resembled a human skull or bones, although he wasn’t sure, and the object could have been something like brain coral instead. In re- sponse to the report, a marine unit conducted two searches but did not find anything. Police have not determined what, if anything, had been attached to the handcuffs, or any information related to the cement block and the handcuffs. A police press re- lease describing the find last week stated that one ring of the handcuffs was cuffed to a metal bar at the top of the concrete block, while the other ring was attached to a jagged, flat piece of metal. Police Public Relations Officer Jacqueline Carpenter said there have been no other developments in the matter. Woman robbed on Crewe Road A woman was robbed outside the Crewe Road Mini Mart shortly before noon on Monday, according to a police report. She was approached around 11:45 a.m. by a masked, shirtless man who demanded money while pointing an object con- cealed in a white cloth at her, police said. Police said the woman had just placed her bag in- side her vehicle, which was parked at the side of the mini mart. “The man went into the bag and re- moved five one-dollar bills before running off in the general direction of the Cayman Clinic,” police said in a statement. The robber is described as having a dark com- plexion, slim build, and about 5 feet, 10 inches tall. He used a striped green T-shirt to cover his face. Anyone with information is asked to call George Town Police Station at 949-4222, or to contact Cayman Crime Stoppers on 800-8477(TIPS). hOuse fire in east end Fire Services are inves- tigating a house fire on Sunnyfield Road in East End. No injuries were reported. According to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, officers on patrol saw flames in shrubbery along the Queens Highway at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday and discovered the house fire. Emergency services and the owner of the house were alerted. No one was in the house at the time, police said. The search operations were conducted in the same area where scuba divers earlier found handcuffs attached to a cement block, which was brought ashore early last week.The islands’ most-trusted news source 3 Cayman Compass • Wednesday July 22, 2015 UPGRADE TO 4926 LIME - BIG Data - Racers - Full Page Ad - CMYK - 10.33 x 15.97 - 22 June 2015 LIME Terms & Conditions Apply BIG DATA DATA Get rolling with a Samsung S6 or iPhone 6 for just $24.99 a month. We’ll throw in 3 months of mobile data for free. You also get Deezer Premium+ music absolutely free. It’s kind of a big deal. Visit any LIME store today. BIG YOUR LIFE. BIG YOUR DATA WITH LIME. $ 2499 MONTHLYThe 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. Wednesday JuLy 22, 2015 • Cayman COmpass Special Olympics athletes make Cayman proud “In ancient Rome, the gladiators went into the arena with these words on their lips: ‘Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.’ “Today, all of you young athletes are in the arena. Many of you will win, but even more important, I know you will be brave, and bring credit to your parents and to your country. Let us begin the Olympics.” With the utterance of those words, Eunice Kennedy Shriver opened the first Special Olympics games, held in 1968 in Chicago. Yesterday, a delegation of 55 people departed the Cayman Islands for the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Los Angeles, empowered by the legacy of Mrs. Shriver’s work and the spirit of her remarks. This year, 28 athletes (supported by unified partners, coaches and others) will represent Cayman at the games, in areas such as aquatics/open water swim, athletics, bas- ketball, bocce and football. Televised on ESPN, the Summer Games kick off with an opening ceremony Saturday 8 p.m. Cayman time and run throughout the week, until the closing ceremony on Sunday, Aug. 2. The Special Olympics athletes competing for Cayman include Orden (Kevin) Anglin, Albert Bodden, Kanza Bodden, Tyrese Brown, Tyler Castillo, Alec Cox, Devon Ebanks, Jaheim Ebanks, Mark Ebanks, Matthew Ebanks, Shaun Ebanks, Jharran Greenidge, Lizzie Hoptroff, Jazlyn Hydes, Anna Jackson, Kathryn Kleinworth-Whorms, Jomani Lee, Keanu McKenzie, Jordan McLean, Anechell Newman, Junior Peart, Andrew Smilley, Beaver (Julius) Smith, Mitchell (Mackie) Smith, Tessa Terry, Jamar Timothy, Cindy Whittaker and Hamish Wood. While all of Cayman’s athletes have put in the hours of hard work, concentration and effort to prepare for the games, the star of Cayman’s team is Mr. Smilley, an accomplished swimmer who won gold in the 800 meter freestyle at the Special Olympics World Aquatics Invita- tional in Puerto Rico in September 2012, and also won gold in the 1,500 meter open water swim during the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens in 2011, in addition to accolades garnered in local competi- tions and races. Mr. Smilley has captured the attention of ESPN pro- ducers, who sent a crew to Cayman last December to film and interview the Caymanian athlete as one of 40 “Up Close and Personal” segments about athletes at the Special Olympics games. A one-minute video of Mr. Smilley is already on the ESPN.com website, and his profile will be aired on ESPN during the opening ceremony or the nightly show “Special Olympics World Games LA 2015.” In addition to the official delegation, several dozen family members, fans and guests will also travel to Cali- fornia to cheer on Cayman’s team from the stands of first-class venues, including the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, University of Southern California’s Uytengsu Aquatics Center, USC’s Loker Stadium/Cromwell Field, USC’s Galen Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center. Open water swimming will be held at Alamitos Beach in Long Beach. The sponsors of this year’s Special Olympics team also merit recognition, including the Flowers Sea Swim, Deputy Governor’s 5K, Butterfield/Grand Cayman Beach Suites Irish Jog, Cayman 27, Maples, Deutsche Bank, Harneys, Cayman National Bank, Foster’s Food Fair, Cayman Water Company, Carey Olsen, Wendy’s, AL Thompson, CITCO, Kirk Motors, Global Captive Manage- ment, CIBC Trust, Mourant Ozannes, Water Authority, IMS Ltd. and Queensgate. To our athletes in Los Angeles, know that we back home in Cayman are proud of you. We trust that you, through your actions on and off the fields of competition, will bring further credit to your families and your country. US diplomats in Cuba ought to focus on human rights Washington Post Editorial Board President Barack Obama’s opening to Cuba is based on the hope that, after more than a half-century of hos- tility from the United States, a surge of commerce, in- formation and travel will somehow erode the rigid au- thoritarian state built by Fidel Castro and now pre- sided over by his brother, Raúl. The assumption is questionable: The opening, including Monday’s rees- tablishment of embassies, could well enhance rather than undermine the regime. The United States has dip- lomatic relations with many authoritarian governments that flout human rights, in- cluding China, Saudi Arabia and Russia. What will matter with Cuba is not the raising of flags in Washington and Havana but how the United States applies its influence. Negotiations that led to this point included “a pretty robust conversation” about the abysmal human rights situation in Cuba, a senior administration official told reporters last week. Cuba has released some political pris- oners. But frequent reports from the island make it plain that routine harassment con- tinues of dissidents and those who speak out. Short- term detentions and beat- ings are common, especially when the courageous Ladies in White, a group of wives and female relatives of jailed dissidents, take to the streets after Sunday Mass. The opening of embas- sies upgraded the status of U.S. officials in Havana, who will now be full-fledged dip- lomats, with freedom to move around Cuba. Perhaps they should skip a diplomatic re- ception or two and use this newfound access to examine one of the most unsettling chapters in the history of the Castro dictatorship. Three years ago Wednesday, on July 22, 2012, the Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá was riding in a car with an associate, Harold Cepero, and two foreign visitors, from Spain and Sweden. The Spaniard, Ángel Carromero, a leader of the youth wing of Spain’s ruling party, was driving the blue rental car down a remote country road on the way to visit activ- ists in Mr. Payá’s Christian Liberation Movement. The car crashed, killing Mr. Payá and Mr. Cepero. Mr. Carromero was ac- cused of vehicular homicide and jailed after a show trial in Havana where he was pressured into saying that the car had crashed because of his reckless driving. Mr. Carromero was later released to Spain, and has since de- clared, in an interview with us and in a book, that the car was forced off the road by another vehicle bearing Cuban government license plates. His statements sug- gest that Mr. Castro’s goons caused the crash that killed Mr. Payá and Mr. Cepero. Unfortunately, no govern- ment or international institu- tion has carried out a credible investigation of Mr. Payá’s death. On Wednesday the Human Rights Foundation of New York will publish a re- port highlighting many legal and factual questions that linger. Then there is the po- litical legacy: More than a decade ago, Mr. Payá’s Varela Project received thousands of signatures for a petition calling for a referendum on legal reforms that would liberalize Cuba’s political system. Now that he’s gone, others are carrying on the fight inside Cuba, and suf- fering for it. They, rather than the Castro regime, should be the focus of U.S. diplomacy. © 2015, The Washington Post Questioning DPP job ads I saw in another paper two government advertise- ments that appear to be tailor-made for the present work permit holders. One is for three positions for Crown Counsel (Criminal) and one is for Senior Crown Counsel. They are all excellent paying positions that would normally attract some ex- cellent minds, except that the advertisements state that only attorneys-at-law who have been called to the Bar of the Cayman Islands are eligible for the job. I believe this is wrong and the positions should be opened up to attorneys who have the experience. They can go through the process of being called to the Bar if their application is accepted. Surely, fresh new eyes would be of great ben- efit to the Department of Public Prosecutions. Lorraine Ebanks 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” [F]requent reports from the island make it plain that routine harassment continues of dissidents and those who speak out.The islands’ most-trusted news source 5 Cayman Compass • Wednesday July 22, 2015 6 LOCAL NEWS Wednesday July 22, 2015 • Cayman Compass New airport road opens James Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A new stretch of road has opened connecting the airport directly to North Sound Road, bypassing Industrial Park. Plans for the short con- nector road were gazetted more than a decade ago. The work, which began in late May, was completed this month. A new mini-round- about has been built out- side the airport, along with a 2,000-foot stretch of new pavement linking up with Red Gate Road, close to the Water Authority headquarters. Edison Jackson, senior engineer with the National Roads Authority, said the new road would help im- prove traffic circulation within Industrial Park. “It is one of those proj- ects that we had on the back burner for some time but did not have the funds to go ahead,” he said.The new road connects the airport to North Sound Road. - PHOTO: JEWEL LEVY Lawmakers to review Builders Law James Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A law requiring builders and tradespeople to be li- censed will go to the Legislative Assembly next month. The proposed Builders Law aims to introduce a new regulatory regime that construction industry leaders say will help im- prove standards and protect Caymanian jobs. The bill, which will be debated at the next ses- sion of the assembly com- mencing Aug. 12, is an up- date of the law passed in 2007 but never brought into force. A list of amendments to the 2007 law were pub- lished in government’s offi- cial gazette on Monday. Heber Arch, president of the Cayman Contractors Association, said the in- dustry was 100 percent in support of the legislation. “The main purpose of the law is to ensure that anyone doing construction work is properly qualified for the job they are being paid to do,” he said. Mr. Arch said the law would help protect con- sumers from unskilled or unqualified contrac- tors and would ensure con- tractors have the relevant liability insurance. He said most businesses operating in Cayman would have no problem meeting the requirements of the planned law. Sliding scale The bill and accompa- nying regulations create different categories of reg- istration, from general con- tractors to sub trades such as plumbers, roofers and masons, with a sliding scale of requirements and fees. At the top end, general contractors – businesses qualified to engage in con- struction, and civil contrac- tors – businesses that build roads, docks, bridges and utilities infrastructure, must meet the strictest criteria for experience and qualifi- cations. Smaller or less ex- perienced businesses can apply for a separate cate- gory of “building contractor” for construction of commer- cial, industrial or residential buildings less than 25,000 square feet or three stories. A fourth category of “resi- dential contractor” is for businesses that construct or renovate buildings com- prising four homes or less. The proposed law seeks to establish a Builder’s Board which will be respon- sible for maintaining a reg- ister of business entities and qualified individuals in the construction field. Businesses will be re- quired to prove they have the necessary number of qualified individuals on staff to qualify in the cat- egory for which they are applying to be registered. Individual contractors and tradesmen will be required to demonstrate they have necessary qualifications be- fore they can be licensed. Premier Alden McLaughlin previously said the law would help provide reassurance to consumers. “Once the law is passed,” he said, “it will guarantee that plumbers are plumbers, electricians are electricians; carpenters are carpenters.” The bill, which will be debated at the next session of the assembly commencing Aug. 12, is an update of the law passed in 2007 but never brought into force.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 Cayman Compass • Wednesday July 22, 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 our adventure. Everybody is favorite to get medals be- cause they’re all going to do their best. I’m not thinking about the amount of medals [we might win]. … We’re going to do well.” Ms. Johnson added that the athletes are “thrilled and excited.” She said, “They have been working exceptionally hard and they’re looking for- ward to showing off their good work.” Swimmer Andrew Smilley is the outstanding ath- lete in the party. He regu- larly finishes in the top 10 in Cayman’s open water swims and has attracted interna- tional media attention over the years. ESPN, an American TV sports channel, came to Grand Cayman last December to do a feature on Smilley. The crew filmed him during an early morning swim session at the Lions Aquatic Centre and at the af- ternoon beach training. Ms. Johnson said, “Andrew is one of our elite athletes who has been doing a lot of really hard work. As a matter of fact, he was training up to this morning.” She added that she expects him to do well at the Games. At the last Special Olympics Games in Athens, Greece, in 2011, Cayman brought home several medals with a much smaller squad, so expectations are high. But Ms. Johnson em- phasized that it is not only about podium finishes be- cause these Games were designed to help special- needs athletes develop in many ways. Penny McDowall, head coach of aquatics, said Cayman has a swimming relay team for the first time, two open water swimmers and a unified swimmer. Smilley is in the 1,500- meter open water swim and the 800m freestyle in the pool. “I expect great things from Andrew; I always do,” Ms. McDowall said. “He is going to do his best and we’ll see what happens.” She added, “Kanza Bodden is in her first open water swim competitively and she’s made a huge gain in her swimming. She dropped eight minutes in her Flowers Mile Sea Swim last month. “She’s done very well in the past year and she’ll be swimming with a uni- fied partner, and in the 800m she’ll be by herself in the pool.” Ms. McDowall said that in Athens the swimmers won seven medals, and hope to do as well this time. Mr. Smilley, 25, said that in the open water swim “I’ll try to win.” Special Olympians on their way Mr. SmilleyMs. Johnson A delegation of 54 – including 28 Special Olympics athletes – left Owen Roberts Airport Tuesday for the Games which run from this Saturday until Aug. 2. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Iran lawmakers saId to need ‘at least’ 60 days for nuke deal TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s parliament will need “at least” 60 days to review a proposed final deal with world powers over its contested nuclear program, a prominent law- maker said Tuesday, giving legislators in the Islamic Republic about the same time as the U.S. Congress to examine the proposal. But while hard-liners in Iran’s parliament could vote against the deal struck last week in Vienna, their num- bers wouldn’t be enough to derail a proposal already backed by the country’s su- preme leader. That’s even with an influential member of the country’s Revolutionary Guard expressing concerns over the deal. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who headed the Iranian negoti- ating team, formally sub- mitted the deal Tuesday to parliament. Hours later, the official IRNA news agency reported lawmakers formed a 15-member special com- mittee to review the deal. Under Iran’s constitution, parliament has the right to reject any deal – even one negotiated by the Foreign Ministry. But committed hard-liners in the Iranian parliament hold only about 60 of the body’s 290 seats, the rest belonging to conserva- tives and a handful of pro-re- form lawmakers. While hard-liners have drawn other lawmakers over to their side in pre- vious votes, that appears unlikely in this case as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has endorsed the work of the nuclear deal negotiators. The lawmakers’ special committee may prove to be an olive branch to hard- liners – allowing them to vent their frustrations against world powers, especially the U.S., while parliament ulti- mately approves the deal. It’s not clear whether Iranian lawmakers will dis- cuss and vote on the deal in an open session. State-run television and radio stations have carried previous votes on contentious issues live. Hossein Naghavi, spokesman for the influential parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, told The Associated Press that “the parliament needs at least 60 days to re- view the deal.” “The formation of the spe- cial committee and the process of reviewing [the deal] requires this amount of time,” Naghavi said. However, he stressed “there is no official deadline” for finishing the review. That means the Iranian lawmakers could have their vote after the U.S. Congress. U.S. President Barack Obama already has pledged to veto any American bill rejecting the agreement. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, which moderate President Hassan Rouhani heads, also is re- viewing the deal. Under the agreement, Iran pledged to curb its nuclear pro- gram for a decade in exchange for potentially hundreds of bil- lions of dollars worth of relief from international sanctions. Many penalties on the Iranian economy, such as those related to the energy and financial sec- tors, could be lifted by the end of the year.The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 Wednesday July 22, 2015 • Cayman Compass violent and dangerous in October/November 2011. In early March 2013, an er- roneous television news story had aired. Mr. Wood told the court that Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryll Richards had written to the station about the inaccura- cies and possible prejudice against Barnes in light of his forthcoming trial and the offending material was taken down. However, other of- fending material re- mained on various web- sites, he said. “We cannot understand why possibly prejudicial material was taken down while undoubtedly prejudi- cial material was not taken down,” Mr. Wood said. The court and the pros- ecution should have en- sured that all the articles were taken down until pro- ceedings concluded, he ar- gued. Unlike print jour- nalism, which has a “fade factor” of days, online jour- nalism can be accessed continually, he said. He said it was not nec- essary to prove that the material had been preju- dicial; the concern was to avoid the risk of prejudice. He referred to one media site that published a comment in which the writer wished that Cayman still had the death penalty, and there were 138 com- ments in agreement. He argued that the pub- lishers of all of the local news websites should have prevented access to the prejudicial material. Mr. Wood was con- tinuing his presenta- tion at Cayman Compass press deadline, discussing the trial judge’s direc- tions to the jury regarding the Internet. Before the appeal against conviction began, Ms. Richards raised a pre- liminary point about the appeal against sentence, which was to be presented by attorney Nicholas Dixey. The question was whether a discretionary life sentence under the Penal Code was incompat- ible with the Bill of Rights, which has been part of Cayman’s Constitution since 2012, specifically, Article 3 of the Bill of Rights. It states, “No person shall be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Since it was a constitu- tional question, she asked whether Attorney General Samuel Bulgin should be involved. Court president Justice Elliott Mottley said he, Justices Sir Richard Field and Dennis Morrison would proceed to hear the appeal against convic- tion first, and then the ap- peal against sentence if that stage were reached. He commented that the arguments in the appeal against sentence would be more involved than in the appeal against conviction. Publicity cited in rapist’s appeal CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Court overturns some Blagojevich Senate-seat convictions CHICAGO (AP) – A federal appeals court Tuesday over- turned some of the most sensational convictions that sent former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich off to a lengthy stint in prison, ruling that the Democrat did not break the law when he sought to secure a Cabinet position in President Barack Obama’s administration in exchange for appointing an Obama adviser to the president’s former U.S. Senate seat. The unanimous ruling from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago means the 58-year-old – cur- rently Inmate No. 40892-424 in a Colorado prison – could end up serving less than his original 14-year sentence. He has served more than three years behind bars so far. The three-judge panel dis- missed five of the 18 counts Blagojevich was convicted of. It offered a ray of hope for the ex-governor by ordering he be resentenced, although it suggested the original sen- tence wasn’t necessarily ex- treme, even when factoring in the newly tossed convictions. The ruling addressed a key question in the Blagojevich case: Where is the line between legal and il- legal political wheeling and dealing? The panel’s answer: When it came to Blagojevich’s attempt to land a Cabinet seat, he did not cross line. His attempts to trade the Senate seat for campaign cash, however, were illegal, the court concluded. Blagojevich wanted a Cabinet job in exchange for appointing Obama friend Valerie Jarrett to Obama’s vacant Senate seat. After Blagojevich’s arrest, the seat went to Roland Burris, who served less than two years before a successor was chose in a special election. In its ruling, the ap- peals courts pointed to how President Dwight Eisenhower named Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court allegedly after Warren offered Eisenhower key political support during the 1952 campaign. “If the (Blagojevich) pros- ecutor is right, and a swap of political favors involving a job for one of the politicians is a felony, then if the stan- dard account is true both the President of the United States (Eisenhower) and the Chief Justice of the United States should have gone to prison,” the ruling says. Still, the ruling wasn’t a resounding win for Blagojevich. The appellate judges upheld allegations that he sought to sell the Senate seat. He had argued that he didn’t break the law because he never stated ex- plicitly that he was willing to trade an appointment to the seat for campaign cash. “Few politicians say, on or off the record, ‘I will ex- change official act X for pay- ment Y,’” the opinion says. “Similarly persons who con- spire to rob banks or dis- tribute drugs do not propose or sign contracts in the statu- tory language. ‘Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, you know what I mean’ can amount to ex- tortion … just as it can fur- nish the gist of a Monty Python sketch.” Prosecutors could appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court or could choose to retry Blagojevich on the dropped counts, though pros- ecutors often decline to retry a case if most of the counts are upheld. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon declined to discuss the ruling, including prosecutors’ next moves. The two-term governor proclaimed his innocence for years on talk shows, on NBC’s “The Apprentice” re- ality show and while imper- sonating Elvis – his idol – at a block party. Taking the stand at his decisive retrial in 2011, a sometimes-tearful Blagojevich said he was a flawed man but no criminal. Jurors eventually con- victed him of 18 counts; 11 dealt with charges that he tried to swap an appointment to the seat for campaign cash or a job, once musing about becoming ambassador to India. Blagojevich was also con- victed on other play-to-pay schemes. They include the at- tempted shakedown of the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago for a contribution to Blagojevich’s campaign. The 14-year term was one of the longest for corruption in a state where four of the last seven governors have gone to prison. After his arrest on Dec. 9, 2008, Blagojevich became the butt of jokes on late-night TV, including for his well-coiffed hair and his foul-mouthed rants on FBI wiretaps. The most notorious excerpt was one where he crows about the Senate seat, “I’ve got this thing and it’s f––– golden. And I’m just not giving it up for f––– nothing.” Lawyer: Tennessee shooter’s uncle detained in Jordan CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) – An uncle of the man who killed four Marines and a sailor in attacks on Tennessee military sites has been in custody in Jordan since a day after the attack, a lawyer said Tuesday. Abed al-Kader Ahmad al- Khateeb told The Associated Press that he was barred from seeing his client and that family members were also prevented from visiting the detainee. Al-Khateeb identified his client as Asaad Ibrahim Asaad Haj Ali, a maternal uncle of the Chattanooga attacker, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez. A Jordanian government official said Tuesday that some of Abdulazeez’s rela- tives in Jordan were being questioned as part of an in- vestigation into his stay in the kingdom. He would not elaborate on the probe. The official said he was sure the uncle and “other rel- evant people” are being ques- tioned, but that he did not know whether he was in de- tention. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not autho- rized to discuss the case with the media. Abdulazeez spent several months in Jordan last year under a mutual agreement with his parents to help him get away from drugs, alcohol and a group of friends his relatives considered a bad in- fluence, according to a person close to his family. That person also spoke on condi- tion of anonymity out of con- cern it would have business repercussions. An FBI spokesman has declined to comment on that information. Jordan is one of the most Westernized countries in the Middle East, with al- cohol sold openly. However, the kingdom has also seen the spread of Islamic mili- tant ideas in recent years, es- pecially following the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011. In the U.S., authorities are struggling to under- stand Abdulazeez’s motive. Investigators have described their search through the rem- nants of his life as a domestic terrorism investigation, but nothing about his comings and goings had caught their attention before the rampage Thursday morning. A U.S. official familiar with the investigation said inves- tigators have found writ- ings from Abdulazeez that reference Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in September 2011 and who American officials believe played an important role in encouraging and inspiring at- tacks on the homeland. The official was not authorized to discuss by name an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. However, investigators have said they have not found evi- dence that Abdulazeez was spe- cifically directed by someone to carry out the attacks. Adding to the muddled picture, many who knew him have described a clean- cut high school wrestler who graduated from college with an engineering degree and at- tended a local mosque. “Everything seemed fine. He was normal. He was telling me work was going great,” said one of the friends, Ahmed Saleen Islam, 26, who knew Abdulazeez through the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga and saw him at the mosque two or three nights before the attacks. But the person close to the family talked about a darker side of Abdulazeez. He was first treated by a child psy- chiatrist for depression when he was 12 or 13 years old. Several years ago, relatives tried to have him admitted to an inpatient program for drug and alcohol abuse, but a health insurer refused to ap- prove the expense. Court records point to a volatile family life. His mother filed for divorce in 2009 and accused her hus- band of sexually assaulting her and abusing their chil- dren. She later agreed to rec- oncile. A year after grad- uating from college with an engineering degree, Abdulazeez lost a job at a nu- clear power plant in Ohio in May 2013 because of what a federal official described as a failed drug test. Recently, Abdulazeez had begun working the night shift at a manufacturing plant and was taking medication to help with problems sleeping in the daytime, the person said, and he had a prescrip- tion for muscle relaxants be- cause of a back problem. Abdulazeez was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence April 20. He told a Chattanooga police officer he was with friends who had been smoking marijuana. The report said Abdulazeez, who had white powder on his nose when he was stopped, told the officer he also had sniffed powdered caffeine. The arrest was impor- tant because Abdulazeez was deeply embarrassed and seemed to sink further into depression following the ep- isode, the person said. Some close relatives learned of the charge only days before the shooting. Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez In this Dec. 7, 2011 file photo, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, left, speaks to reporters as his wife, Patti, listens at the federal building in Chicago, after Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years on 18 corruption counts. - PHOTO: APThe islands’ most-trusted news source 9 Business Cayman Compass • Wednesday July 22, 2015 GM ignition-switch deaths total 124 General Motors’ faulty ignition switches were responsible for at least 124 deaths and 269 injuries, according to a fund set up to compensate victims. DARSCO provides all clients with a superior and marketable product by o ering informed choices right from the start of every project. By integrating Safety, Aesthetics, E ciency & Ergonomics into your designs we ensure lower long and short-term costs. • CONSULTING • MEP DESIGN • ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION • EMERGENCY AND BACK/UP POWER • QUALITY ASSURANCE & CONTROL • SERVICE CONTRACTS Electrical Services “Right from the start” Unit B11, Kingbird Warehouses Kingbird Dr, Industrial Park Tel: 345-945-1108 Cell: 345-926-1108 darsco@candw.ky Like us on Facebook 20% O select products for the month of July select products for the Captive numbers fall nearly 5 percent, fund registrations reverse decline Michael Klein mklein@pinnaclemedialtd.com The number of captive insurance companies in the Cayman Islands has dropped from 727 to 691 between the first and second quarter of this year. The number of all Cayman Islands insurance licensees, including tradi- tional insurers, fell from 760 to 721. Cayman Islands Monetary Authority regis- tration figures show that the 4.95 percent decline brought the usually stable captive in- surance numbers to levels last seen in 2003. In the second quarter, there were 26 fewer cap- tives and 10 fewer segre- gated portfolio companies, lowering the total number to 562 and 129, respectively. Kieran O’Mahony, chairman of the Insurance Managers Association of the Cayman Islands said the re- duction in licensee numbers was not unexpected by IMAC members. Lower numbers reflected a number of in- dustry challenges in terms of a “soft” traditional insurance market, increased domicile competition, particularly from the many onshore cap- tive domiciles in the U.S., as well as mergers and acquisi- tion of captive parent orga- nizations brought about by the effects of the Affordable Care Act in the U.S., he said. In addition, CIMA had undertaken a catch-up in re- gards to its house cleaning with licenses that have been surrendered recently. “On a positive note, I’m pleased to state that Cayman has added 13 new licenses during the first six months of 2015, representing the suc- cessful efforts of 10 Cayman insurance managers,” Mr. O’Mahony said. “This puts us on par with last year’s total of 23 new formations and is reflective of the un- derlying resilience of the Cayman market, medium to long term, despite some year-on-year fluctuations.” Captive registrations in Cayman peaked in the first quarter of 2009 with 661, and segregated port- folio companies reached their maximum number in the second quarter of 2014 at 149. The current total number of captives, including SPCs, is about 12.2 percent below the 2009 maximum of 787. In comparison, Bermuda, the world’s largest domi- cile for captives, reported 11 new captives in the first half of this year compared to seven during the same pe- riod last year. Shelby Weldon, the Bermuda Monetary Authority’s director of li- censing and authorizations, said new companies covered predominantly the risks of Latin American companies and Canadian captives cov- ering property and general liability risks. “The Authority is pleased to see that the jurisdiction’s efforts to promote Bermuda’s captive sector – particu- larly in growth regions of Latin America and Canada – have resulted in an increase in new captives registered during the first six months of 2015,” Mr. Weldon said. Fund registrations up In the second quarter of the year, fund registra- tions reversed their re- cent decline. More than 300 new registered funds repre- sented an increase of 2.85 percent. This included 97 more master funds and 209 more registered, adminis- tered and licensed funds. The total number of CIMA- registered funds also ex- ceeded the final quarter of 2014, with 11,061. Fund numbers peaked in 2013 at 11,379. Cayman added one more Class B bank during the same period and main- tained the number of Class A banks. There are 196 banks in total in Cayman. The number of registered trust companies jumped by four to 144, while private trust company numbers in- creased by seven to 107. Apple has cash cow in iPhone even as overall phone industry slows SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Smartphone sales may be slowing for some tech com- panies, but not for Apple. Analysts expect another powerhouse performance from the California tech giant in its quarterly financial re- sults, which were to be re- leased Tuesday. Apple’s signa- ture iPhones remain popular, even as other smartphone makers are seeing demand slow down. Wall Street analysts es- timate Apple will report a hefty $10.3 billion in profit after selling $49 billion worth of iPhones, iPads, Mac computers and other prod- ucts during the April-June quarter. That’s an increase of more than 30 percent in both revenue and profit from the same period a year earlier. Apple has said it won’t release sales figures for the new Apple Watch, though some analysts believe de- mand has fallen since Apple introduced the wearable gadget three months ago. But it almost doesn’t matter: As in other recent quarters, Apple will reap its biggest re- wards from its smartphones, especially the new, big-screen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models introduced last fall. Bigger screens are popular People use smartphones for social networking, playing games, looking at pictures – far more than they use them to make calls. And for those activities, many users prefer a bigger screen. Several analysts say their studies confirm Apple CEO Tim Cook’s claim that many recent iPhone buyers are people who switched from Android phones. Some consumers were drawn to Android devices in recent years because they had bigger screens, but Apple’s deci- sion to increase the iPhone’s screen size is persuading many Android owners to de- fect, said Ryan Reith, who tracks smartphone sales for the research firm IDC. Apple likely sold about 47 million iPhones during the most recent quarter, or 34 percent more than a year earlier, according to analysts polled by FactSet. iPhones are hugely popular At an average selling price of more than $600 in the U.S., before carrier subsi- dies, Apple’s phones are more expensive than many com- peting Android models, but they also provide more profit. While Apple doesn’t break out the numbers, Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley estimates that during the first three months of 2015, Apple reaped 92 per- cent of the $16.6 billion in operating profit generated from smartphones by compa- nies around the world. Samsung sold more phones than Apple during that period, but many of them were lower-priced models, giving Samsung only about 15 percent of the industry’s op- erating profits, according to Walkley. He estimates other companies operated their smartphone businesses at a loss or broke even. Rivals face challenges Apple sold about 18.2 per- cent of all the smartphones worldwide in the first quarter of 2015, while Samsung had 24.5 percent of the market, ac- cording to IDC. But Samsung has said it expects a drop in profit for the April-June quarter, apparently because sales of its new Galaxy S6 models fell short of expectations. Apple CEO Tim Cook takes a photo with an employee during the launch of the new iPhone 6 last September at an Apple store in Palo Alto, California. - Photo: APNext >