ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – THURSDAY JUNE 29, 2017 High of 90 Low of 77 Slight with wave heights of 1 to 3 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF OFFSHORE CENTERS IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY SPORTS | PAGE 17 CAYMAN JUNIOR GOLFERS HEAD TO CARIBBEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS Personal Insurance Save up to $400 with home and car insurance Your first BritCay’s buildings insurance policy comes with a $250 gift certificate and a 10% discount on car insurance. With the lowest standard deductible at $200, you also save when you claim. Ask for a quote! BRITISH CAYMANIAN INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED BritCay House, 236 Eastern Avenue, George Town, P.O. Box 74, KY1-1102 Tel. 949-8699 www.britcay.ky A member of Colonial Group International Ltd. : insurance, health, pensions, life Call 949-8699 www.britcay.ky FREE $10 Million ASSET PROTECTION! with motor cover* *private car insurance cgigrp Roundabout slated for busy junction KAYLA YOUNG kyoung@pinnaclemedialtd.com Road construction will begin Tuesday at the intersection of Crewe and Smith roads in George Town as the National Roads Au- thority places a new roundabout at the junc- tion near the edge of the airport runway. Construction is planned throughout July and August “to increase safety for road users and reduce the operational speed of the junc- tion while setting clearer vehicle priorities at each approach,” the NRA said in a statement. Since several schools are located along Crewe, Smith and Walkers roads, the NRA is scheduling the work during summer break. The work is scheduled to be completed be- fore the beginning of the new school year. Motorists approaching the junction from the north and traveling eastbound, who in- tend to travel along Agnes Way, will keep right and must negotiate the mini round- about. Those approaching the junction from the north and traveling eastbound onto Crewe Road will keep left to avoid the roundabout and continue onward, ac- cording to the NRA. Work will also begin on street grading, paving, concrete curbs, and road widening to accommodate drainage. Another Crewe Road project will widen the street from the Silver Oaks roundabout to Navis Close to accommodate a center turn lane, creating a three-lane road. A two-lane entry to the Silver Oaks roundabout will be included to ease eastbound traffic flow. Work on this portion of the road will also include street grading, drainage and curbs. A sidewalk is planned for the northern side of Crewe Road. The NRA has notified landowners and businesses in the affected areas of the proposed changes. Anyone with questions or feedback can email edison.jackson@nra.ky. CAL EMPLOYEES LOSE JOBS OVER ‘SMUGGLING’ CASE No charges filed BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Three Cayman Airways employees who were arrested in early August 2015 on “suspi- cion of human smuggling” have lost their jobs. Airline spokesperson Olivia Scott Ramirez confirmed Wednesday that the three “are no longer employed by Cayman Airways.” However, nearly two years after their ar- rest in connection with the alleged smug- gling of undocumented Cuban migrants into the U.S., no charges have been filed in the case, Royal Cayman Islands Police Service officials have confirmed. All three airline employees were released on police bail and nothing further was said publicly regarding the investigation, either by the RCIPS or by the Cayman Islands Immigra- tion Department. A statement from the RCIPS in response to questions from the Cayman Compass about why the investigation appeared to have gone silent, said, “The investigation has been pro- gressed and a file was submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for re- view. Recommendations were received and en- quiries are continuing. The investigation has not been closed.” The smuggling scheme, as described to the Compass by a number of sources, alleg- edly involved the suspects accepting pay- ment in exchange for helping Cuban nationals reach the U.S. The Cubans involved were in Cayman le- gally, either as visitors or on work permits, Sargassum seaweed floods Cayman’s coastline Seaweed “mats” seen from East End to South Sound BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com It’s back. Grand Cayman’s coastline, from far- thest east to the southwest, was awash in seaweed “mats” – known as Sargassum – following windy weather that hit the is- land in mid-June. Department of Environment Deputy Di- rector Tim Austin said the island’s western and northern coasts appear to have been largely spared in the latest weed invasion, prompted by southerly winds pushing it up from South America. Cayman saw similar influxes during the latter half of 2015 and 2016, although Sargassum seaweed’s “peak season” occurs in summer. “The eastern Caribbean usually suffers worse than us, but we get our fair share,” Mr. Austin said. “There has just been more of it in recent years because of warmer ocean temperatures.” Clean-up efforts were under way in some parts of the island this week, with most par- ticipants engaging in the back-breaking work of raking up the Sargassum or just picking it up by hand and shoving it into garbage bags. Mr. Austin said the department is urging residents not to use heavy equipment to re- move the seaweed from the beaches, partly because turtle nesting season is under way and partly because of the damage backhoes and bulldozers can cause. “For every bucket of weed, you get half a PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » Sargassum seaweed lines the shore along South Sound on Wednesday. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY2 LOCAL&REGIONAL THURSDAY JUNE 29, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS Daily Matinees Every Day $8.00 Seniors, Mon-Fri Before 6pm Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 - THURSDAY - SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any film starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. 640-FILM (640-3456) CARS 3 3D (G) 1:15 I 3:55 2D I 6:30 2D I 9:05 THE MUMMY 3D (PG13) 4:25 I 5:40 2D I 10:00 2D VIP TRANSFORMERS: LAST KNIGHT 3D (PG13) 1:30 2D I 5:20 I 6:45 2D VIP I 8:30 2D I 9:15 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES (PG13) 1:00 I 4:00 I 7:00 I 9:50 WONDER WOMAN 3D (PG13) 12:50 I 2:20 2D I 7:20 LESF GYM AND SAUNA IS FOR YOU! INFOLIFEEXT@GMAIL.COM Workout and feel sexy! John Gray High School math teacher Edward “Ted” Todd is returning to Turkey this summer to work with Syrian refugees. To help raise money for refugee charity Small Projects Istanbul, Mr. Todd is hosting a trivia night at Fidel Mur- phy’s on Thursday, June 29. Small Projects Istanbul provides lan- guage training, community projects and scholarships to assist Syrian refugees displaced by their country’s conflict to remain self-sustainable in the city. This will be Mr. Todd’s third visit to the refugee camps on the border of Syria and Turkey. He first volunteered with Small Projects Istanbul in 2014. That summer, during the school break, he packed a van with $2,000 worth of educational and medical supplies and drove from the U.K. to Turkey to deliver the items. This year, he said, he has been amazed by the level of support from the Cayman Islands community. “I really appreciate the way the Cayman community has reached out – the businesses and the schools and ev- eryone else. I’ve just been humbled by the support.” Several businesses have donated prize items for the quiz, and schoolchildren and teachers in a number of schools, in- cluding John Gray, St. Ignatius, Clifton Hunter and Cayman International School, as well as Rotary International have been fundraising to help the cause. So far, more than $10,000 has been raised. Mr. Todd will set out for Turkey on July 14 for two-and-a-half weeks. The money raised will buy educa- tional and medical supplies for Syrian refugee children in the camps. Mr. Todd will also buy supplies in England, en route to Turkey. The fundraising quiz will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 29, at Fidel Murphy’s on West Bay Road. Each team can have up to six people, and there is an entry fee of $10 per person. To book a table, call the restaurant on 949-5189. “I really appreciate the way the Cayman community has reached out – the businesses and the schools and everyone else. I’ve just been humbled by the support.” EDWARD TODD, John Gray High School teacher Quiz night to help raise money for Syrian refugees Ted Todd, left, meets some Syrian refugee children at a camp on the border of Syria and Turkey on an earlier trip to Turkey. Police arrested a pawn shop burglary suspect early Wednesday shortly after he fled the scene of the break- in in George Town. Police said three men were spotted running from a pawn shop on North Church Street around midnight, shortly after the break-in was reported, along with a fourth man riding a bicycle. Officers said a 57-year- old man was arrested on suspicion of burglary. One of the pawn shop’s windows was broken and some jewelry was taken. JEWELRY TAKEN IN PAWN SHOP BREAK-IN Police are offering to return stolen items found during a June 18 search at a George Town home. The Royal Cayman Is- lands Police Service said a “large number” of stolen goods were recovered during the search and a 47-year-old man was ar- rested and charged in the incident. Items taken include computer tablets, lap- tops, stereo speakers and construction tools, in- cluding power tools. The RCIPS asks anyone who may have been the victim of a burglary or theft recently and who had these items taken to con- tact Detective Sergeant An- drew Graham at 926-3070 or Detective Constable Devon Bailey at 925-1153 to set up an appointment to view the items. Police recover dozens of stolen items SPENCER FORDIN fordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com A man was sentenced to 15 months in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to more than 10 charges, including as- sault, driving under the influ- ence and taking marine life from a replenishment zone. Arick Williams, appearing in front of Acting Magistrate Angelyn Hernandez, was also sentenced to 160 hours of community service and or- dered to enroll in an alcohol and drug treatment program. Williams, who has already been in custody for more than a month, will be cred- ited for time served. Magistrate Hernandez noted that one of Williams’s two arrests for driving under the influence came just five days after she had issued him a suspended sentence on an unrelated matter. “How are we supposed to help you if you don’t help your- self?” she asked Williams. “You didn’t make some wise choices at all, Mr. Williams. You didn’t help yourself one bit.” Williams was sentenced for three charges of posses- sion of an unlicensed spe- argun and for four counts of marine crime. He pleaded guilty to taking specimen from a protected area, taking conch above the prescribed limit and two counts of taking marine life from a replenishment zone. John Furniss, attorney for Williams, referred to his cli- ent’s crimes as “rape and pil- lage” of the environment. The magistrate told Williams that the replenishment zones are there to protect the environ- ment “from us and for us.” “Why do you keep doing these marine offenses? You hold a good job,” she said to Williams, who works as a mechanic. “If we don’t allow [life] to naturally replenish in a protected zone, we won’t have any.” Williams was also sen- tenced for two assault charges and two charges of failing to surrender to cus- tody. Williams will have his driver’s license disqualified for two years and was given a six-month suspended sen- tence that could be activated if he offends again upon being released from prison. Magistrate Hernandez ruled that Williams will be tested for alcohol and drugs every two weeks and that he should be ordered to at- tend any other suitable pro- gram suggested by proba- tion officers. Upon his release, Williams will have a year to finish his sentence of 160 hours of community service. “How are we supposed to help you if you don’t help yourself?” ACTING MAGISTRATE ANGELYN HERNANDEZ Man sentenced to 15 months for assault and marine crimes MIAMI (AP) – A top Colom- bian anti-corruption offi- cial and a lawyer are facing U.S. money laundering-con- spiracy charges in an al- leged bribery scheme. Acting Miami U.S. At- torney Benjamin Green- berg said Tuesday that Luis Gustavo Moreno Rivera and Leonardo Luis Pinilla Gomez were both arrested in Colombia. Moreno is na- tional director of anti-cor- ruption in Colombia and Pinilla is the attorney. A Drug Enforcement Ad- ministration affidavit says Moreno and Pinilla sought to obtain thousands of dol- lars in bribes from a former Colombian regional governor who was under a separate corruption investigation. COLOMBIANS CHARGED IN U.S. WITH MONEY LAUNDERING3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • THURSDAY JUNE 29, 2017 Everyone is welcome to join the party. 2 large swimming pools with beach lounge chairs Free Admission Open from 11:30 a.m. to 12 midnight Come celebrate Canada’s 150th Birthday at Hemingway’s with DJ Matt spinning your favorite Canadian tunes. Fun for the whole family - Fireworks at 8:30 p m. . CC, Crown Royal, Caesars, Poutine, BBQ, Etc. Everyone is welcome to join the party. 2 large swimming pools with beach lounge chairs Everyone is welcome to join the party. 2 large swimming pools with beach lounge chairs Everyone is welcome to join the party. Everyone is welcome to join the party. Everyone is welcome to join the party. Celebrating Canada’s 150th Birthday SATURDAY, JULY 1st Canada Day In conjunction with the Canada Club Of Cayman Fun for the 406679.INDD 16/23/2017 4:14:39 PM OfReg to analyze 6-year contracting process for Cayman’s first solar plant The Utility Regulation and Competition Office will be conducting a “rigorous” anal- ysis of the process that led to the contract for Cayman’s first commercial-scale renew- able energy plant. The 5-megawatt solar farm opened in east Bodden Town on June 20, six years after the Caribbean Utilities Company first issued a re- quest for expressions of in- terest in the project. J. Paul Morgan, chief ex- ecutive officer of OfReg, said in a press release Wednesday that his team hopes to as- certain what the process got right and what can be im- proved, and he wants to streamline the process of Cayman attempting to ful- fill the government’s Na- tional Energy Policy goal of achieving 70 percent renew- able energy in the public electricity supply by 2037. “This has been a long journey that began six years ago when [Caribbean Utilities Company] issued its Request for Expressions of Interest,” Mr. Morgan said in an official statement. “Despite a number of setbacks over the years, the process and negotiations con- tinued to the point where our predecessor – the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) – was able to approve the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and Interconnection Agreement that was signed by CUC and Entropy in 2015. “Now, as the regulator, it is our responsibility to do a postmortem on how we got to this point in anticipation of the next round of solicita- tions, and also to ensure that consumers’ benefits and wel- fare are maximized.” Mr. Morgan suggested that one option may have been to cancel the procure- ment when the process seemed to be taking too long. That is one element that will be looked at during the “post- mortem,” he said. He said that he had re- ceived many expressions of concern over the contracted price of US$0.17 per kilowatt hour that CUC will be paying Entropy for the energy de- livered from the solar plant. That price, he said, is due to the fact that Cayman is ex- perimenting with a new form of renewable energy. “We cannot compare Cayman to the U.S. or any other country for that matter, even other islands in the Ca- ribbean,” he said. “There are significant costs to doing business in the Cayman Is- lands. From legal fees to shipping costs to the price of land; all these factors im- pact the bottom line and would have been taken into consideration when set- ting the price. “However, we don’t expect this price to remain fixed, and part of the analysis we are going to do involves de- termining how we can con- tinue to bring the price down to a point that will sat- isfy both the consumer and the provider.” When Cayman reached its deal regulating the price of solar energy, Mr. Morgan said, the Jamaica utilities regulator had recently concluded a sim- ilar price for its renewable en- ergy facility. Grenada, mean- while, was paying between US$0.21 and US$0.44 per kilo- watt hour for its own experi- ment with solar energy. Jamaica has since an- nounced a new deal at US$0.084 per kilowatt hour and the island of Kauai in Hawaii is trading at US$0.11 per kilowatt hour, albeit with significant subsidies factored into the price. “While we must be careful to always compare apples with apples, the lessons from this, as well as the reality, is that the costs of renewables, in particular solar, are falling rapidly,” said Mr. Morgan. “The falling costs of bat- teries as storage is also rede- fining the renewables land- scape and proposition as a provider of firm capacity. At the same time, genera- tion from wind is increas- ingly proving to be competi- tive with conventional fossil fuels. This means there is room for growth in the in- dustry here in Cayman and clearly for more competi- tive pricing.” Rotary Sunrise raises $80,000 for charities Rotary Sunrise raised more than $80,000 in its fun- draising raffle this year, with proceeds going to support various projects, including Stop Now And Plan (SNAP), Reading Recovery literacy intervention, Drug Rehabili- tation Court, Literacy Is For Everyone (LIFE), Feed Our Fu- ture, Share The Road safety campaign, Cecile Crighton Spotts Newlands Community Park, Rotaract, Early Act and the Women’s Crisis Center. Raffle winners’ prizes included a car, airline flights and free gas. Su Tummala won a 2017 Audi TT after buying five tickets for $100. She was in a mall in Philadelphia when she received the call telling her about her win. On Tuesday afternoon, she drove off from the Audi showroom in Camana Bay in her new car. Second-place winner of a flight for two anywhere in the continental U.S. that Delta flies was Ranfor Welcome. According to organizers, he purchases tickets every year. This year when he bought three tickets for $65 at A. L. Thompson’s, he said “Will you sell me the winning ticket?” In third place was Kara Phillips, who won $1,000 worth of gas from Walkers Road Rubis, Eastern Avenue Rubis and Savannah Rubis. Fourth-place winner of $500 worth of gas from the same Rubis sponsors was Ray Northover. Tony Catalanotto, Ro- tary Sunrise’s car raffle chairman, thanked sponsors for their generosity. From left, second-place winner Ranfor Welcome, past Rotary President Tony Catalanotto, Audi winner Su Tummala, incoming President Deirdre McFarlane, President Dawn Cummings and third-place winner Kara Phillips. The solar farm in Bodden Town began operating this month.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. The crucial role of offshore centers in the global economy Industry representatives in the British Virgin Islands are shouting it from the rooftops: BVI’s financial services sector is a boon to the global economy. A recently released economic impact report com- missioned by BVI Finance shows: • 417,000 companies are registered in BVI • The companies have US$1.5 trillion in global assets • The sector supports 2.2 million jobs worldwide. Impressive as the results are from our British colonial cousin (applause, applause), we are certain that a similar analysis of the Cayman Islands’ global impact would yield similar – perhaps larger – figures. As a matter of fact, we happen to have at hand one such study, which was conducted by University of Amsterdam researcher Jan Fichtner, who wrote about his findings in the latest issue of our sister pub- lication Cayman Financial Review (CFR), and which we also referred to in a story in the most recent issue of another Pinnacle Media publication, Grand Cayman Magazine. If, as we would hope, local industry group Cayman Finance (our country’s counterpart to BVI Finance) is considering trumpeting the success of our all-impor- tant financial services sector, here are a few bullet points from Mr. Fichtner’s research that are well worth highlighting: • Cayman is home to US$4 trillion in investments from abroad • More than US$2.6 billion of that is in foreign port- folio investments, notably hedge funds • Cayman is not only a vital conduit to invest in U.S. financial markets, but also acts as a mechanism for “round-tripping” for U.S. investors who use Cayman-based funds to buy U.S. securities. As Mr. Fichtner wrote in CFR, “In fact, when excluding U.S. long-term debt, of which the central banks from both Japan and China hold more than $1,000 billion each, Cayman is the largest holder of U.S. securities in the world.” “Cayman is not a random exotic small island finan- cial center but a key component of contemporary global finance,” he said. “Hedge fund managers are extremely concentrated in New York and London, while most funds are legally domiciled in the Cayman Islands,” Mr. Fichtner wrote. “Actually, in this respect Cayman could be seen as a branch of or a special bookkeeping device for Wall Street and the City of London.” During the span of two generations, Cayman’s finan- cial services sector has transformed our islands from a forgotten (or never discovered) Caribbean backwater to a cosmopolitan destination, and propelled our standard of living from “subsistence-based” to “first-world.” As our readers well know, the “Cayman miracle” has yielded innumerable benefits at home, including well-paying jobs, a robust economy, limitless oppor- tunities for our young people and an enviable quality of life. Our country’s financial services sector has also been advantageous to people who have never taken a single step on our beautiful beaches, who might not be able to locate Cayman on a map, or who may even be vociferous critics of so-called “offshore tax havens.” Frankly speaking, if professional detractors such as the Tax Justice Network or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development got their way and pulled the plug on offshore financial centers such as ours, the gears of the global economy would grind to a halt. That’s a message Cayman should be proactively projecting to the rest of the world. The report from BVI Finance is important because it offers a counter-narrative to the tired old stories speculating about tax evasion, money laundering, terror financing, “unfair business practices” or “income inequality.” Instead of shrinking from the negative rhetoric peddled by ignorant or agenda-driven foreign officials, advocacy groups and many media outlets, Cayman should take pride – publicly – in the vital role our country plays in international finance. We are good at what we do. And what we do is good. Jurisdictions such as Cayman (and BVI, and Bermuda) are the hubs around which the global economy rotates. That’s a story that needs telling. THURSDAY JUNE 29, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS A bull market, but few new finance jobs BARRY RITHOLTZ Today, we are going off the beaten path with an in- teresting look at an aspect of employment data that was a bit surprising. The subject of Wall Street employment came up via my colleague Josh Brown, who mused that this may be the first bull market when Wall Street jobs didn’t grow. Finance, of course, is more than just Wall Street: it is a large and diverse industry, encompassing many dif- ferent occupations. Thus, we begin our search at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS has 26,709 em- ployment-related data se- ries; I refined and elimi- nated all but 27 subsectors, keeping only those job categories that are fi- nance related. I removed all of the ob- vious subsectors as well as real estate, auto leasing/ rental and other such seg- ments. I left out some in- surance occupations, but I did include insurance jobs that appeared to be related to investing. The list is admittedly im- perfect, but it gives a pretty good sense of finance-in- dustry employment back to the start of the Great Re- cession in December 2007. The big takeaway is that since then, this finance-re- lated group has dramatically lagged the overall economy in job creation, growing just 0.7 percent. Compare that to total private-sector employ- ment gains during that pe- riod of 6.6 percent. Not surprisingly, the job gains and losses tracked broader changes in the economy, from automa- tion to the responses to the credit crisis. But the devil is in the de- tails, and in the data. It re- veals quite a few surprises. Let’s start with the out- liers: the largest job declines were among “savings institu- tions,” with a drop of 43 per- cent; the biggest gainer was “investment advice,” with a 42 percent gain. If I had to guess, job losses at savings institu- tions were a result of auto- mation and technology. But one must also surmise that a decade of zero percent in- terest rates is pressuring customers to look elsewhere to park their money. I was more surprised at the gains in investment ad- vice — not so much the di- rection, but the magnitude. I would guess that the un- derlying reasons for this big increase can be traced to three forces. First, after the financial crisis, more people decided they were better off having a professional to speak to, hold their hand and otherwise as- sist in financial decisions. Second, there has been a general shift toward the registered investment ad- viser and away from the broker-dealer. Third, the move to passive indexing tends to favor asset allocators, who I believe are included in this category. Another surprising loser was “monetary authorities and central banks.” For all of the activity by the Fed- eral Reserve during and after the financial crisis, employ- ment declined 5 percent. Here again, we might be able to lay off some of this on tech- nology and automation. “Commercial banking” also had a decline, though at 3 percent it’s almost a rounding error. “Credit card issuing” is actually pretty surprising, with a 20 percent decline, despite more Americans than ever charging it. Again, I have to think automation is a big factor. And yet there’s “fi- nancial transaction pro- cessing and clearing,” with a 21 percent gain. That’s big, considering the decrease in bond trading and the general shift toward passive index investing. On the other hand, I imagine there has been a big increase in fintech, which hardly ex- isted a decade ago and still isn’t an employment subcat- egory in the BLS data. Finally, there’s “other fi- nancial activities, including funds and trusts,” which came in with a 26 percent gain. Intuitively, I have to think this reflects wealth inequality and efforts to transfer assets to heirs and limit exposure to the taxman. Similarly, the 19 percent gain among “insurance, brokerage and related services” and the 15 percent rise among “insur- ance agencies and broker- ages” is likely a result of es- tate planning. These numbers give us some clues about how fi- nance is changing. It isn’t so much that there have been layoffs — of course, there have been; it’s that we are in the midst of a wholesale re- structuring of how financial services are provided. I rarely make many fore- casts, but I will venture one here: More changes are coming to financial sector employment and probably in ways that will continue to surprise us. Barry Ritholtz is a Bloomberg View columnist. He founded Ritholtz Wealth Management and was chief executive and director of equity research at FusionIQ, a quantitative research firm. He blogs at the Big Picture and is the author of ‘Bailout Nation: How Greed and Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy.’ © 2017 Bloomberg View. If I had to guess, job losses at savings institutions were a result of automation and technology. But one must also surmise that a decade of zero percent interest rates is pressuring customers to look elsewhere to park their money. 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 EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will find their own way”5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • THURSDAY JUNE 29, 2017 Please be advised there will be no newspaper on Monday, July 3rd, Constitution Day (Public Holiday) Constitution Day PUBLIC HOLIDAY Monday, July 3rd PUBLICATION DEADLINES: Celebrate (345) 949-5111 • sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com EDITION BOOKING DEADLINE Monday July 3rd No Publication Tuesday July 4th Thursday June 29th Wednesday July 5th Friday June 30th Thursday July 6th Friday June 30th Friday July 7th Tuesday July 4th Educational mangroves website launched Cayman’s teachers and students can now talk with students all over the man- grove world, thanks to a new interactive website launched by the Mangrove Action Project. Marvellousmangroves.org has been several years in the making, according to the project’s education director, Martin Keeley. “We have just spent the last couple of weeks working with Year 5 students at Edna Moyle Primary School in North Side to iron out the bugs and make sure the site is up and running,” he said. The site is an extension of the Marvellous Mangroves ed- ucation program, which was introduced into Cayman’s schools in 2001. The sub- ject has been taught to every Year 5 at every school, where it is part of the science/social studies curriculum. It is cur- rently being taught by Cathe- rine Childs, education director of the National Trust, and is sponsored by Caribbean Util- ities Company. Worldwide program Since its introduction, the program has been trans- lated and adapted for use in 13 countries. The primary purpose, ac- cording to Mr. Keeley, is to allow teachers and students around the world “to explore the wonderful world of man- groves in their own country in their own language.” Mr. Keeley is also the Uni- versity College of the Cayman Islands’ Brac campus di- rector and founder of the Mangroves and Reefs Edu- cation Project. “The site was designed under the supervision of the Mangrove Action Proj- ect’s IT whiz, Leo Thom, and follows the same five-sec- tion structure as the Mar- vellous Mangroves teachers guide,” he said. “Teachers and students will not only be able to ex- plore mangrove ecology in their own countries – where the site allows teachers to pose questions and stu- dents to answer them and record their own findings – it will [also] enable them to find out what their counter- parts in other countries are doing and seeing.” Online interaction, outdoor trips “This Marvellous Man- groves program is so worth- while,” said Janice Brown, Year 5 teacher at Edna Moyle Primary, whose class pi- loted the project. “It not only teaches students about the values and vital need to protect the mangroves, [it also] involves the students learning in an interactive way through the website and through fascinating outdoor field trips.” The students were intro- duced to the world of man- groves through classroom activities by the Trust’s Ms. Childs, who also posed sev- eral skill-testing questions on the new site. Classroom activities were followed by a field trip to the Central Man- groves run by Sea Elements and a final classroom follow- up when students wrote and drew their impressions and entered them on the class- room’s smartboard. “Recording on the web- site took a little getting used to,” Ms. Brown said, “but once they did, the stu- dents were able to transfer their findings from their notebooks to the site. The Marvellous Mangroves pro- gram, whether it’s the ac- tual hands-on exploration or the new website … fa- cilitates the use of different learning skills in a way that is very valuable.” How to use the site Students and teachers register online and can add their observations and find- ings, including photographs and data, once approved by a moderator. Another envi- ronmental educator, Marnie Laing, then posts the in- formation on the site. Ms. Laing taught the program for several years before Ms. Childs took over. “We live in a world where the internet and so- cial media are dominating factors,” said Mr. Keeley, “but what we tend to forget is that many students and teachers in other mangrove countries don’t even have science labs – often not even reliable electricity. “Marvellous Mangroves bridges that gap by pro- viding hands-on science ac- tivities. We also give many schools studying man- groves light source micro- scopes and magnifying lenses to help them set up Mangrove Clubs. “These, in turn, provide the core for science labs to be established.” The site is an extension of the Marvellous Mangroves education program, which was introduced into Cayman’s schools in 2001. The Marvellous Mangroves program encourages students to use their five senses when on field trips. Students use binoculars to get closer views of the mangroves and the wildlife that lives in them. Cayman Brac residents and visitors will have a chance to help improve the environment this weekend and do some rock climbing as part of a new beach cleanup initiative organized by Rock Iguana climbers. The Clean & Climb Fest starts at 2 p.m. Saturday along the southeast side of the island. For every bag of garbage collected, volunteers will get one free climb, ac- cording to Angel Robledo, founder of Rock Iguana Ltd. Volunteers can drive to the end of South East Side Road and take a 10- to 15-minute walk east down the beach. Ms. Robledo said guides from Rock Iguana will have a top rope set up on the cliff for climbers, and all equipment is included – “you just need comfortable clothing, closed- toe shoes and good vibes.” Participants are advised to bring sunscreen, water and a hat. Anyone age 8 and over is welcome, and no climbing experience is required. “If you can climb a ladder, you can climb a rock face,” Ms. Robledo said. For more information, email info@climb.ky or call 936-BRAC (2722). The Clean & Climb Fest starts at 2 p.m. Saturday along the southeast side of the island. Cayman Brac to host Clean and Climb Fest Garbage covers a beach in the shadow of the Bluff on Cayman Brac. This weekend, volunteers can help clean up a beach and then go rock climbing on the Bluff.The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 Community CALENDAR ■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR is published TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS. It is available to charitable or nonprofit organizations. Items should be submitted at least three working days before publication. Information must include name of sender, signature and contact number. ■ Items may be faxed to 949-2662, brought to the Cayman Compass office on Shedden Rd. or emailed to cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com at least three days in advance of publication. THURSDAY JUNE 29, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS THURSDAY, JUNE 29 QUIZ NIGHT: Fidel Murphy’s will hold a fundraiser for local teacher Edward Todd, who will be flying to Turkey to support the education and welfare of Syrian refugee children and their families. Six people per team and $10 a person. Quiz night begins at 7:30 p.m. Contact Fidel Murphy’s at 949-5189. FRIDAY, JUNE 30 BUSINESS SEMINAR: Business incubation and innovation – a nexus for small island countries. 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Free. Government Administration Building, Room 2112. Register online at www.caymanchamber.ky. SATURDAY, JULY 1 COMMUNITY SUMMER SALE: Eastern Avenue, 6-9 a.m., in parking lot next to Mandy’s Linens. All are invited to make extra cash from unused clothing, toys, books, electronics and more. Contact bigheartscayman@ gmail.com or call 324-7724 to arrange collection or to register for a place. $25 per space, with all proceeds for community projects. Sellers may bring their own tables, chairs, tents or rugs, but these items can be provided for a fee. SUNDAY, JULY 2 GRADUATES’ SERVICE: Boatswain Bay Presbyterian Church invites all to the graduates’ service at 7 p.m. MONDAY, JULY 3 CHURCH FAIR: Gun Bay United Church Fair will be held at the Elliott Conolly Civic Centre from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Lots of food, including heavy cakes and homemade ice cream on sale. All are invited. FISHING TOURNAMENT: Burnis Ebanks Memorial Barkers Bay Fishing Tournament, catch & release. No registration fee, but bring your own fishing lines/bait along with chair or beach towel. Fishing starts 9 a.m. Break/refreshments, 10:30 a.m. Tournament finishes 11:30 a.m. Prizes at noon. All are invited to come and enjoy a day of reminiscing, refreshments and relaxation. For more information contact Eziethamae, 929-9932. WEDNESDAY, JULY 5 DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND INVESTMENT: DCI, including the Business Licensing Counter on the first floor of the Government Administration Building, will close at 3 p.m. for a staff meeting. The main office will reopen at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, and the Business Licensing Counter will reopen at 9:00 a.m. For more information, call 945-0943 or email info@dci.gov.ky. JULY 23-28 GOSPEL MEETING: West Bay Church of Christ presents “Jesus Is The Answer” with guest speaker J.K. Hamilton from Mountain View Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas. Sunday at 7 p.m., Monday to Friday at 7:30 p.m. SUMMER CAMPS, VBS YOUTH RUGBY: July 4-7. For ages 6-16. Half day, 8 a.m. to noon, $125. Full day, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. $250, includes lunch. Venue is CRFU/Beach. Contact edward.westin@ caymanrugby.com. YOUTH SERVICES UNIT: Two camps offered. Learn to Cook, July 4-7. Ages 11-17. John Gray High School Cooking Classrooms. Cost is $50. Teen Summit – Coat of Arms, July 10-14. Ages 13-17. Visit iconic sites and take part in competitions to foster civics and celebrate diverse culture. Cost is $50. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at UCCI. To register or for more information, contact James Myles, 943-1127 or james.myles@gov.ky. TEEN CHALLENGE: Red Bay Church of God (Holiness) holds a Teen Challenge, Rome, Paul and the Underground Church, for ages 13-19, July 3-7, 6:30-9:30 p.m. Bible lessons, games, snacks, and lots of activities. All free. For more info, call 925-2509 or 326-7867. LEARNING CABOOSE: Offered through Church of God Chapel. July 3-28. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For ages 5-13. Cost is $250. Activities include arts and crafts, glass bottom boat, fishing, sports. Call 929-9222 or 949-1794. SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAM: Light of the World Christian Fellowship is offering tutorial programs in Literacy and Mathematics this summer with side focus on arts and crafts, educational games and field trips. Lunch and two snacks served daily. July 4-28. 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Call 926-1541 or 947-1949. KIDS ABILITY: Preschool and Kindergarten Readiness for ages 2.5 to 4.5. 8:30-11:30 a.m. July 4 to Aug. 11. $275 per week. Social skills camps for ages 5-7, 7-11. Weekly themed camps, July 4 to Aug. 11. Also baby play times. Contact info@kidsability.ky. IMMERSE: The Cayman Islands National Museum on the waterfront is holding a camp to brief children on the region’s rich maritime history. Cost is $100. Ages 9-11 for session running from July 17-21; Ages 12-14 for session running from July 24-28. VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL: Red Bay Church of God (Holiness) holds Vacation Bible School for ages 3-12. July 10-14. 6:30-9 p.m. Lots of fun activities, craft, bible lessons, snacks and prizes. All free. For more info, call 925-2509 or 326-7867. ACTING CAMPS: Organized by Cayman Drama Society at Prospect Playhouse. 8-11 years, July 24-28. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. $300 the week. 12-16 years, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. $325 for the week. Email training@cds.ky to book. HORSE CAMP: Coral Stone Stables, West Bay. For ages 7-16. July 4-28. 8 a.m. to noon. $250 per week; $50 per day. Children must be physically fit; no experience necessary. Contact Noland at 916-4799 or coralstonestables@gmail.com. GENERAL INTEREST CELEBRATING FATHERS: The Family Resource Centre has launched a Responsible Fatherhood “Be a Dad Daily” campaign to celebrate good fathers throughout the rest of June. Children are invited to either email the Family Resource Centre or log on to its Facebook page to write about the ways in which their dads are there for them, using the hashtag #beadaddaily. Alternatively, participants can email or upload a picture with a caption of these doting dads. The best responses will receive a prize. To enter, send submissions either to frc@gov.ky or post them on www.facebook.com/ familyresourcecentre. HUMANE SOCIETY THRIFT SHOP: The shop has moved to Venetia Plaza, next to China Village. The thrift shop is open Tuesday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., closed on Sunday and Monday. Phone 945-5596. DVDL REPLACES TEMP PLATES: The Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing is replacing all Temporary Registration Plates. Customers who have been contacted by the department are asked to collect their new registration plates. They are reminded to bring the temporary registration plates, windshield coupon (if not expired) and log book. CONTRACTORS REGISTRATION: The deadline for residential and building contractors is June 30; trade contractors’ deadline is Aug. 31. BETHESDA COUNSELLING CENTRE: Caters to all who seek help. Open Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 68 Mary St. Appointments available Saturdays and late evenings. Owned and operated by the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Call 946-6575. LOST DOGS: The Department of Agriculture and veterinary students of St. Matthew’s University provide an online list of dogs housed at the Department of Agriculture Animal Rescue Shelter in Lower Valley. Anyone missing a dog can check www.smustudents.webs.com. HUMANE SOCIETY BOOK LOFT: North Sound Road. Open Monday 12:30-4 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday 5:30-7:30 p.m. Volunteers needed for front desk a few hours per week. Email humanesocietybookloft@ candw.ky or call 946-8053. Donations of books, games, CDs, stationery, DVDs, cards etc., in good condition always needed. RED CROSS THRIFT SHOP: The Thrift Shop opening hours are Tuesday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. Friday hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and closed evenings. Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. SPECIAL OLYMPICS: Volunteers are needed. Tuesdays at the Truman Bodden Complex at 5:30 p.m. for track/field, football and bocce. No experience necessary, just a smile and patience. Wednesdays at Lions Pool 10:15–11 a.m. You do not have to swim, just be able to walk in water chest-deep. Thursdays at First Baptist Church for basketball, 5:30–7 p.m. Saturdays, volunteers needed for Adult Special Olympic swim conditioning at CIS pool 9:30–10:30 a.m. Deck support and in-water swimming assistance needed. For more information, contact Penny McDowall at 516-2578 or pjmcdowall@gmail.com. OPEN STUDIO: Every Thursday 10 a.m. till noon and every Monday 1-4 p.m. at Watler House Studio on grounds of Pedro Castle. Offered by Visual Arts Society to adults/youth who want to work independently in an inspiring atmosphere. Contact info@visualartcayman.com. COMMUNITY CHESS: Tuesdays 5-8 p.m., West Indies Wine Company. Join the Cayman Chess Club for a complimentary chess class and open challenges weekly. Anyone can learn to play and enjoy chess, even beginners. ARTISANS MARKET: Camana Bay every Wednesday, noon till 8 p.m. Visual Arts Society artists display arts, crafts, paintings, prints, hand-crafted jewelry and ceramics for sale. Email info@visualartcayman.com. OPEN CANVAS: Wednesdays. Visual Arts Society supports this event at KARoo Restaurant in Camana Bay. 7-11 p.m. No fee, easels provided. Contact info@ongart.com or jar.was@gmail.com. MUSEUM TOURS: The National Museum provides guided tours for students and school groups free of cost. Students will gain an understanding of Cayman’s geological formation, flora and fauna, seafaring and rope-making heritage, political history and more. Contact the museum to book a tour in advance at 949-8368 or email info@museum.ky. CLUBS, ORGANIZATIONS ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: Meets daily to help with drinking problems. For more information, call 926-9044 or visit www.caymanaa.org. NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS: Is available for substance abuse help. Call the info line at 929–NANA (6262). AL-ANON GROUP MEETING: Are you troubled by someone’s drinking? Al-Anon Family Groups can help. Call 928-8843 or email caymanalanon@gmail.com for meeting times. OVERCOMERS OUTREACH: A Christ-centered 12-step recovery group addresses addictions and those affected by them. Meetings at Cayman Islands Baptist Church, Pedro Castle Road, Mondays, 7 p.m. For details, contact Virginia Castillo at 946-2422, or visit www.overcomersoutreach.org. DEMENTIA/ALZHEIMER’S SUPPORT GROUP: This group meets on the last Wednesday of each month at the Catboat Club clubhouse, North Church Street. All are invited to attend. For more information, call 924-4170 or email info@adacayman.com. For more Community Calendar events, visit www.caymancompass.com/events. The Cayman Islands National Museum is holding a camp to brief children on the region’s rich maritime history. See calendar listing for details.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • THURSDAY JUNE 29, 2017 bucket of sand,” he said. If heavy equipment is needed, Mr. Austin said, the department asks that prop- erty owners consult with environmental officials be- fore using it. Although Sargassum can be unsightly, and smelly if it is left in the sun, Mr. Austin said it is often easier to let it lie on the beach for several days and “dry out,” making it lighter and easier to remove. What is Sargassum? Sargassum is a type of algae that floats in the ocean, typically after becoming dis- lodged from seabeds or coral – although two known spe- cies can reproduce without ever touching the sea floor. The “Sargasso Sea” within the Atlantic Ocean gets its name from the weeds that grow there in abundance. Mr. Austin said the summer months, which bring warmer ocean tem- peratures, will often cause a proliferation of the sea- weed, and strong currents or high winds disperse it throughout the Americas and the Caribbean. This is not an unusual event, he said. However, in recent years the amount of Sargassum floating in the Atlantic and eastern Carib- bean, in particular, has in- creased markedly. “It doesn’t always happen on this scale,” he said. While Sargassum is prob- lematic for residents and vis- itors who want to enjoy Cay- man’s white sand beaches, the Department of Environ- ment points out that it serves an important purpose as a nursery habitat for sea tur- tles and fish. Such large deposits of coastline Sargassum were unheard of in the Caribbean before 2011, according to re- searchers who discussed the issue last year during an agriculture conference in Grand Cayman. One researcher who spoke at the conference said the recent influxes of Sar- gassum across the Carib- bean are likely to become “the new normal.” sources said. Once they arrived in the U.S., the former immigra- tion policy there known as “wet-foot, dry-foot” gave the Cubans preferential treat- ment. The policy meant Cu- bans who reached U.S. ter- ritory would get a “green card” – permanent resi- dence – after a year and a day. The policy was re- scinded in early January 2017 by outgoing U.S. Presi- dent Barack Obama. “This investigation in- volves foreign nationals who were legitimately here in Cayman and whose de- parture was facilitated with the use of false iden- tities,” an RCIPS statement from 2015 said. Human smuggling is defined by the Immigra- tion Law as facilitating or helping with “the transpor- tation, harboring or move- ment into or out of the Is- lands,” of someone without permission to be here. If convicted, a human smug- gling charge can result in up to seven years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Cayman Airways, in a statement released fol- lowing the arrest of two of its employees, said an internal investigation by the airline “resulted in CAL identifying and re- porting to the relevant authorities, certain pas- senger movements which appeared to have been contrary to Immigration regulations.” The statement con- tinued, “Since that time, CAL has been fully coop- erative and transparent with the relevant authori- ties as they conducted their investigations.” Cayman Airways employees lose jobs over ‘smuggling’ case Sargassum seaweed floods Cayman’s coastline Cayman saw similar influxes during the latter half of 2015 and 2016, although Sargassum seaweed’s “peak season” occurs in summer. Sargassum seaweed piles up on a North Side beach. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Police urge businesses to defend against ransomware No law enforcement complaints filed in Cayman Islands KAYLA YOUNG kyoung@pinnaclemedialtd.com A self-replicating ransom- ware outbreak similar to the WannaCry attack in May dis- rupted businesses across the globe Tuesday, including ship- ping giant Maersk and law firm DLA Piper. While no official com- plaints about the so-called Petya attack were filed in the Cayman Islands, the po- lice service advised systems administrations to take pre- cautions against the malware and address potential holes in their security plans. “Organizations should take all steps necessary to patch these vulnerabilities and ensure that their fire- wall and antivirus subscrip- tions are up-to-date,” a Royal Cayman Islands Police Ser- vice spokesperson said. Analysis from Deloitte’s risk advisory team in Grand Cayman indicated the at- tack reached users in Brazil, Canada, the Ukraine, Russia, Spain, Belarus, Germany, Italy, France, Poland, India and the Netherlands. Maersk confirmed its IT systems were taken down Tuesday by the attack, af- fecting multiple locations and confusing port activity across continents. Other impacted busi- nesses included drug-maker Merck, U.K. advertising firm WPP and food company Mondelez International. Like WannaCry, Petya uses the U.S. National Security Agency’s EternalBlue exploit leaked earlier this year by the “Shadow Brokers” group. The malware takes advantage of remote execution vulnerabil- ities in older Microsoft sys- tems to spread from com- puter to computer. Unlike WannaCry, Petya does not contain an obvious kill-switch. The attack sur- passed WannaCry in sophis- tication in several aspects. It incorporates another NSA ex- ploit, EternalRomance, and a hacking tool used to ex- tract passwords from infil- trated networks. While Microsoft has re- leased patches for both ex- ploits, systems that have not or cannot be updated re- main vulnerable. RCIPS encouraged busi- nesses to report attacks to enable law enforcement to track threats. The ser- vice did not offer advice as to whether hacking victims should pay ransoms. The Petya attack de- manded users pay US$300 in bitcoin to recover encrypted files. The email address pro- vided for payment was shut after several hours, however, indicating that many victims who paid the ransom could not retrieve their data. Following the attack at DLA Piper, the law firm no- tified the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations and the UK National Crime Agency. A Deloitte risk advisory manager indicated Petya is just one of many recent ran- somware alerts. Other recent programs include SamSam, Locky, a new TeslaWare virus, and Shifr program, currently in development. Small shipping company Karatzas Marine Advisors, with business ties in Grand Cayman, said the attack did not disrupt its service but did prompt concern about the vulnerability of mari- time operations. “I do think that shipping necessarily was the target. They seem to hit different industries, and definitely Maersk is a very visible target in the shipping industry,” CEO Basil Karatzas said. He pointed to other at- tacks directed at the shipping industry, including hacks into the navigation equipment of super-yachts and com- mercial vessels. “It’s a concerning devel- oping overall for our society, and not [just] necessarily for shipping. However, with ship- ping, it could easily have huge impact on everyday life,” he said. For more on the cyberattack, see page 8. “Organizations should take all steps necessary to patch these vulnerabilities and ensure that their firewall and antivirus subscriptions are up-to-date.” RCIPS S. Korean leader aims to reconcile differences with Trump WASHINGTON (AP) – South Korea’s new leader, on a four- day visit to Washington, was aiming to reconcile differ- ences with President Donald Trump after advocating a softer approach to North Korea and delaying U.S. plans for the full deployment of a missile defense system in his country. President Moon Jae- in was elected last month after his conservative pre- decessor – who, like Trump, took a hard line toward the North – was impeached in a bribery scandal. Moon, set to arrive on Wednesday afternoon, has long favored engaging North Korea despite its rapidly ad- vancing nuclear capability. Nevertheless, the North’s rapid tempo of missile tests has continued on Moon’s watch. The talks between Moon and Trump come amid intense wrangling over North Korea. China is pushing the United States to start nego- tiations with the North. That prospect appears to be re- ceding as Trump grows frus- trated over Beijing’s level of economic pressure on the North, its wayward ally. North Korea shows no sign of wanting to restart talks on abandoning its nu- clear weapons program, which may be only years away from the capability to strike the U.S. mainland. Moon was hoping to forge a bond with Trump that most foreign leaders are empha- sizing these days as they beat a path to the White House. Trump and Moon were to have dinner Thursday night and hold formal talks Friday. On the face of it, there’s little in common between the brash American-tycoon- turned-populist-president, and a former human rights lawyer who received an elite education but opted for grassroots activism. Moon’s past close asso- ciation with Roh Moo-hyun, the South Korea’s leader who pursued a “sunshine” policy of diplomatic and economic outreach toward the North a decade ago, raises the pos- sibilities of fresh U.S.-South Korean strains. To symbolize his com- mitment to the U.S. alliance, Moon planned for first stop on Wednesday to honor Ma- rines who helped evacuate to safety tens of thousands of Korean civilians after one of the fiercest battles of the Ko- rean War. Moon’s own par- ents were among them. He was scheduled to lay a wreath at a new memorial at a Marine base in Quantico, Virginia, for the 1950 Battle of Chosin Reservoir.The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 THURSDAY JUNE 29, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS US envoy meets with Raqqa officials The top U.S. envoy for the international coalition combatting the Islamic State group has met with members of a local council expected to administer the city of Raqqa in Syria following its capture from the militants. Companies struggle to recover after massive cyberattack MOSCOW – Companies worldwide struggled to re- cover Wednesday after wave of powerful cyberattacks crippled computer systems in Europe, Asia and the United States with a virus sim- ilar to the global ransom- ware assault in May that in- fected computers. Researchers at Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research and Analysis Team in Russia said Wednesday that a regional Ukrainian website had been hacked and used to distribute the ransomware to visitors. Kaspersky estimated that there had been more than 2,000 attacks, linked to a version of malware called Petya – 60 percent of them in Ukraine and 30 percent in Russia, including the coun- try’s largest oil company. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “no se- rious problems” had occurred as a result of the cyberat- tacks. Speaking on a confer- ence call Wednesday, Peskov also said he had no accu- rate information on the origin of the attacks. But the damage was worst in Ukraine, and some Ukra- nian officials had initially ex- pressed suspicions that the attacks originated in Russia. The hacks targeted govern- ment ministries, banks, utili- ties and other important in- frastructure and companies nationwide, demanding ran- soms from government em- ployees in the cryptocur- rency bitcoin. The virus even downed systems at the site of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, forcing scien- tists to monitor radiation levels manually. On Wednesday, Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller- Maersk said that it was working to restore its opera- tions a day after being hit by the cyberattack. “We have contained the issue and are working on a technical recovery plan with key IT partners and global cy- bersecurity agencies,” Maersk, which handles one in every seven containers shipped worldwide, said in a stock ex- change announcement. The Copenhagen-based group said its APM Terminals were affected “in a number of ports,” but said that its ves- sels with Maersk Line were “maneuverable, able to com- municate and crews are safe.” Cyberattacks also spread as far as India and the United States, where the pharmaceu- tical giant Merck reported on Twitter that “our company’s computer network was com- promised today as part of global hack.” The New Jersey- based company said it was investigating the attack. France’s biggest bank, BNP Paribas, said on Wednesday said that its real estate unit, which provides services to corporations around Europe, had been hit in the attack. “The international cyber- attack hit our non-bank sub- sidiary, Real Estate. The nec- essary measures have been taken to rapidly contain the attack,” the bank said in a statement to Reuters on Wednesday. Cyber researchers say that the virus used an “ex- ploit” developed by the Na- tional Security Agency that was later leaked onto the in- ternet by hackers. It is the second massive attack in the past two months to use pow- erful U.S. exploits in attacks against the IT infrastructure that supports national gov- ernments and corporations. The onslaught of ransom- ware attacks may be the “new normal,” said Mark Graff, the chief executive of Tellagraff, a cybersecurity company. “The emergence of Petya and WannaCry really points out the need for a response plan and a policy on what companies are going to do about ransomware,” he said. WannaCry was the ransom- ware used in the May attack. “You won’t want to make that decision at a time of panic, in a cloud of emotion.” The attack mainly tar- geted Eastern Europe but also hit companies in Spain, Denmark, Norway and Britain. Victims included the British advertising and mar- keting multinational WPP. India’s biggest container port was also crippled when a Maersk-run terminal in Mumbai was hit. The scale of the hacks and the use of ransomware re- called the massive cyberat- tack in May, in which hackers possibly linked to North Korea disabled computers in more than 150 nations using a flaw that was once incor- porated into the National Security Agency’s surveil- lance tool kit. Cyber researchers have tied the vulnerability ex- ploited by virus to the one used by WannaCry – a weak- ness discovered by the NSA years ago that the agency turned into a hacking tool dubbed EternalBlue. Variants of Petya, like WannaCry, is a worm that spreads quickly to vulnerable systems, said Bill Wright, se- nior policy counsel for Sy- mantec, the world’s largest cybersecurity firm. Its perva- siveness is what makes it dif- ficult to control – or to aim at anyone in particular, he said. “Once you unleash some- thing that propagates in this manner, it’s impossible to control,” he said. Although Microsoft in March made available a patch for the Windows flaw exploited by EternalBlue, Petya and its variants use other techniques to infect systems, said Jeff Greene, Symantec government af- fairs director. “It’s a worm that has multiple ways to spread,” he said, which could explain why there are victims who applied the EternalBlue patch and still were affected. Variants of Petya differ from WannaCry in that it does not appear to reach out to the internet and scan for vulnerable systems, said Paul Burbage, a malware re- searcher with Flash point, a cyberthreat analysis firm. It limits itself to the computers linked to the same router. He said the variant of Petya used in the attacks is called GoldenEye, which was sold on underground fo- rums used mainly by Rus- sian-speaking criminal hackers, he said. The ransomware hit Eu- rope in the early afternoon Tuesday. In Ukraine, breaches were reported at computers governing the municipal en- ergy company and airport in the capital, Kiev, the state telecommunications company Ukrtelecom, the Ukrainian postal service and the State Savings Bank of Ukraine. Grocery store checkout machines broke down, ATMs. demanded ransom payments, and the turnstile system in the Kiev metro reportedly stopped working. The mayhem reached high into the government. Ukrai- nian Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko on Tuesday tweeted a picture of a com- puter screen warning in Eng- lish that “one of your disks contains errors,” then adding in all capital letters: “DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR PC! IF YOU ABORT THIS PRO- CESS, YOU COULD DESTROY ALL YOUR DATA!” “Ta-Dam!” he wrote. “It seems the computers at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine have been ‘knocked out.’ The network is down.” His spokeswoman published a photograph showing de- mands for a ransom in bit- coin to release data en- crypted by the virus. Suspicions in Ukraine quickly fell on Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014 and has been blamed for several large-scale cyberattacks on Ukraine’s power infrastruc- ture. But no proof of the at- tack was presented, and Russian companies, like the oil giant Rosneft, also com- plained of being hit by a “powerful hacking attack.” Photographs leaked to the news media from a Rosneft- owned regional oil company showed computers displaying ransomware demands sim- ilar to those in Ukraine. © 2017, The Washington Post Researchers estimate that there were more than 2,000 attacks, linked to a version of malware called Petya – 60 percent of them in Ukraine and 30 percent in Russia, including the country’s largest oil company. People queue for their turn to pay at a slowly working cash desk in a building supermarket in Kiev, Ukraine, on Wednesday. The cyberattack on Tuesday hit Ukraine the hardest. - PHOTO: AP Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Wednesday that it was working to restore its operations a day after being hit by the cyberattack. - PHOTO: BLOOMBERG9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • THURSDAY JUNE 29, 2017 ‘Enigma Network’ roils Hong Kong’s stocks with 90 percent plunges It sounds straight out of Le Carre: “The Enigma Network.” But suddenly that phrase is sending shock waves across Hong Kong equities, in an unexpected culmination of one man’s campaign to train a spotlight on the market’s darkest corners. His name is David Webb – and if investors ig- nored him until now, they’re paying the price. Six weeks ago, Webb, a former director of the Hong Kong stock exchange, issued a report titled “The Enigma Network: 50 stocks not to own.” His argument: the com- panies were entwined in a complex web of cross-share- holdings that had pushed their valuations to unsus- tainable levels. On Tuesday, seemingly without warning, many of those small-cap shares abruptly plummeted, some by more than 90 percent. The turmoil once again un- derscored how the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and its sibling, the Growth Enter- prise Market, have become a breeding ground of wild vol- atility. The phenomenon has raised red flags for the city’s regulators, who have warned small-caps can be black boxes and, at times, subject to manipulation. Webb, an activist investor who’s been a vocal critic of the Hong Kong exchange since he quit the board in 2008, called on authorities to do more to protect investors. “What this really points to is the ongoing problems with our legal and regula- tory system for listed com- panies,” he said in an inter- view on Tuesday. Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission said it could not comment on whether it is pursuing any investigations. But the reg- ulator noted that Tuesday’s biggest decliners tended to have characteristics con- ducive to extreme volatility and market misconduct: multiple relationships be- tween different companies and listed brokerage firms, high shareholding concentra- tions, low volume and small public floats. Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., which pro- posed sweeping changes to its small-cap market ear- lier this month to revive confidence in the venue, said it could not explain Tuesday’s moves. While the stocks high- lighted by Webb barely budged when he released his report in May, they ac- counted for all but three of Tuesday’s 20 biggest losers in Hong Kong. Among the decliners were China Jicheng Holdings Ltd. and GreaterChina Profes- sional Services Ltd., which both fell more than 90 per- cent. Even as traders strug- gled to nail down a trigger for the moves, many pointed to links between the compa- nies and Lerado Financial Group Co., a brokerage that was under regulatory inves- tigation. Lerado had previ- ously disclosed an invest- ment in China Jicheng and had an underwriting role on a GreaterChina share placement in 2015. Lerado said it sold 1.48 billion shares of China Ji- cheng on Tuesday at an av- erage price of HK$0.0169 per share, according to a state- ment to the Hong Kong stock exchange. China Jicheng ended the day at HK$0.016. Thirty-eight of the 50 stocks flagged by Webb fell on Wednesday. The S&P/HKEX GEM Index dropped 0.8 per- cent at the close, following Tuesday’s 9.6 percent rout. Webb also has a history with Lerado. The activist was named as a substantial shareholder as far back as the company’s 2008 interim report and has been one of the firm’s biggest critics. Le- rado has made a series of “highly questionable transac- tions” that diluted net-asset value per share, Webb wrote in March 2016, calling on the SFC and the stock exchange to require more disclosure from the company. The SFC suspended trading in Lerado’s shares from June 6, saying a com- pany circular dated Oct. 26, 2015, included “materially false, incomplete or mis- leading information.” In that 2015 document, Lerado outlined plans to raise money for the margin lending business of its unit Black Marble, and said that Black Marble was planning to underwrite a placement for GreaterChina Profes- sional and an open offer for China Investment & Finance Group Ltd. China Investment fell as much as 94 percent Tuesday, before paring its loss to 50 percent. Calls to Lerado and Great- erChina Professional were not answered. The person who answered the phone at China Jicheng said they weren’t aware of the share price decline and could not comment. China Investment did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Whatever the catalyst for the selloff, investors cannot say they were not warned. As Webb flagged six weeks ago and reiterated on Tuesday: “A lot of the stocks were very overvalued.” © 2017, Bloomberg US to seek more security on international flights WASHINGTON (AP) – The Homeland Security Depart- ment is set to announce new security measures Wednesday for international flights bound to the United States, which could lead to a lifting of a ban on laptops and other electronics from passenger cabins from cer- tain airports. Industry and U.S. of- ficials briefed on the an- nouncement said airlines flying directly to the United States will be required to implement the enhanced measures. If they do not, their passengers may be barred from carrying lap- tops and other large elec- tronics in passenger cabins. Such a laptop ban has been in place at 10 airports in the Middle East and Af- rica since March amid con- cerns about an undisclosed threat described only as so- phisticated and ongoing. The ban applies to nonstop flights to the United States from Amman, Jordan; Ku- wait City, Kuwait; Cairo; Is- tanbul; Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The roughly 50 affected flights are on foreign airlines. The new policy will pro- vide a roadmap for airlines and airports that could lead to those bans being lifted. Neither official pro- vided a time line for com- pliance. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not au- thorized to discuss the changes publicly before the government announcement Wednesday afternoon. The government had been considering expanding the laptop ban to include some European airports. The new measure side- tracks those plans, though they could resurface if air- lines do not comply with the new guidelines. The changes comes after the Transportation Secu- rity Administration said this month that it is testing computed-tomography, or CT, scanning at one check- point at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The technology is al- ready used for screening checked luggage, but the cost and larger size of the CT scanners has held back their use for carry-on bags. TSA had expected to begin testing CT scanners for carry-on luggage by the end of 2016. CT scanners create a 3-D image that can be rotated to give screeners a better look. Suspicious bags can be pulled aside and opened by screeners. American Airlines, which is participating in the test, said the technology could let passengers leave lap- tops, liquids and aero- sols in their carry-on bags, speeding up the trip through the airport. The test comes as U.S. officials scramble to deal with potential new threats, including reports that ter- rorists are developing bombs that can be dis- guised as laptop batteries. The ban on laptops in the cabin is based on the belief that a bomb in the cargo hold would need to be bigger than one in the cabin, and capable of re- mote detonation. Plus, checked luggage already goes through computed-to- mography screening while carry-on bags do not. Webb, an activist investor who’s been a vocal critic of the Hong Kong exchange since he quit the board in 2008, called on authorities to do more to protect investors. POUND RISES FOLLOWING RATE HIKE REMARKS FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – The battered British pound rose sharply after the head of the Bank of England made re- marks that could be seen as bringing an interest-rate in- crease closer. The pound traded 0.9 percent higher on the day at $1.2934. The pound’s value against the U.S. dollar jumped after the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, said in remarks prepared for a conference in Sintra, Portugal that as the economy improves the central bank would be less tolerant of above-target inflation. Cen- tral banks use rate hikes to fight inflation. He also said “some re- moval of monetary stimulus is likely to become necessary” as growth reduces spare ca- pacity in the economy. Carney said that the bank’s rate-setting committee would debate the issue “in the coming months.” The pound has sagged since Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, boosting inflation by raising import prices. The Bank of England cut its official bank rate to 0.25 percent on Aug. 4, 2016. The bank rate had been at 0.50 percent since 2009. The jump in the pound comes a day after European Central Bank head Mario Draghi sent the euro higher against the dollar by indicating the ECB could slowly withdraw some of its monetary stimulus measures as the economy improves. Mark Carney Investor David Webb If airlines flying directly to the U.S. do not implement enhanced measures, passengers may be barred from carrying laptops and other large electronics. - PHOTO: APNext >