ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 11, 2017 High of 90 Low of 79 Slight with wave heights of 1 to 3 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 A NOBEL PRIZE FOR NORMAL PEOPLE WORLD | PAGE 8 TRUMP URGED TO GO ON ATTACK AGAINST MUELLER PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE HEARING Public health board ‘reluctant’ to forego unpaid patient debts BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands Health Services Au- thority Board has been “reluctant” to write off tens of millions of dollars in uncollected debts during recent years, leading to the accumula- tion of $94.5 million in bills that are unlikely to be paid but which remain on the govern- ment’s books, legislators heard Tuesday. The Legislative Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee heard from HSA Chief Financial Officer Heather Boothe that attempts made during 2012-2016 to collect more than $4 mil- lion in unpaid hospital bills ended up with a 3 percent success rate. Now, the HSM law firm has been hired in order to take healthcare debtors to court if they do not pay, but Ms. Boothe said govern- ment officials are still negotiating with the HSM partners regarding the methods they will use in collections. Auditor General Sue Winspear told the committee that the $94.5 million in bad debts represented more than three-quar- ters of the total receivables due to the public hospital system as of June 2016. “It is worth noting that the HSA has gen- erated accumulated [operating] deficits of $70.4 million since it came into existence [in 2002] and … its ability to continue operating reflects the significant equity injections of $138.3 million over the [15] years,” Ms. Win- spear said. Those equity payments were made by the government. Public Accounts Committee members pressed Ms. Boothe for answers on why the health authority was continuing to attempt to collect debts that were more than a year old, if it believed those were largely not collectable. Committee Chairman Ezzard Miller asked whether HSA finance staff made recommen- dations to the board to write off certain debt amounts. Ms. Boothe replied that there had been rec- ommendations made, but they were not al- ways accepted. “You didn’t collect it for a whole year … why is it not written off?” Mr. Miller asked. “Why aren’t you making a recommendation to the board to write it off instead of letting it AMID HURRICANE DEVASTATION, TOURISTS DIVERT TO CAYMAN JAMES WHITAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com In normal circumstances, an influx of 250,000 additional tourists would be cause for celebration. But Grand Cayman’s windfall comes at a cost to its Caribbean neighbors. The island will be inundated with cruise passengers over the next six months, with multiple ships diverting from hurricane rav- aged islands in the eastern Caribbean. Around 70 additional cruise calls are ex- pected in George Town between now and April, according to the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands. A new schedule, through the end of De- cember, shows at least seven days when six ships will be in port at one time. The busiest single day will be Nov. 14, when 21,084 pas- sengers will arrive in George Town. Hurricane Irma and Maria devastated the tourism infrastructure of some of the most popular islands in the eastern Caribbean, in- cluding Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. With the recovery effort expected to take months, if not years in some cases, several major cruise lines have rerouted ships through Cayman and Jamaica. Poppy pinning kicks off fundraising drive for veterans KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com “Veterans, attention!” Cayman Islands Veterans Association President Andrew McLaughlin said as Governor Helen Kil- patrick walked into the lobby of the Gov- ernment Administration Building on Tuesday morning. The group of veterans snapped a brisk salute to Ms. Kilpatrick as U.S. Ma- rine Corps veteran Shadden McLaughlin reached for a poppy pin. “On behalf of the Cayman Islands Vet- erans Association, we thank you for being our patron,” said Ms. McLaughlin as she pinned the poppy on the governor’s lapel. With Ms. Kilpatrick leaving office next year, 2017 is her last year as the Veterans Association patron. Mr. McLaughlin said she was the best patron the 54-year-old vet has seen. “Our patron has been a great patron. Of all the patrons we’ve had, she’s given us the most of her time,” he said. “She came and sang with us at our Christmas party, and she’s been at the gala when we’ve invited her.” Ms. Kilpatrick said she always is happy PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » Shadden McLaughlin, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, pins the first poppy on Governor Helen Kilpatrick. – PHOTO: KEN SILVA PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 »2 LOCAL&REGIONAL WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 11, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS I Daily Matinees Every Day $8.00 Seniors, Mon-Fri Before 6pm Cayman Cinema @cbcinema6cbcinema6 *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. 640-FILM (640-3456) 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. - WEDNESDAY - BLADE RUNNER 2049 3D (R) 12:25 2D VIP I 12:30 I 6:35 2D VIP 6:55 I 9:20 2D LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE 3D (PG) 12:50 2D I 4:15 I 10:25 2D KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE(R) 12:30 I 3:40 I 6:40 I 9:40 AMERICAN MADE (R) 3:50 I 6:55 I 10:05 IT (R) 12:45 I 3:20 I 7:00 I 9:50 THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US (PG13) 1:20 I 3:55 VIP I 4:00 I 6:40 I 10:05 VIP In Loving Memory Of Anthony James Connor Fourth Anniversary in heaven January 3,1981 ~ October 11,2017 My dear son it broke my heart to lose you, but you did not go alone a part of me went with you, a million times I’ve cried, if loving you could have saved you, You would have never died. I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU SON. From your broken hearted mother SANDRA CONNOR RIP SON Mexican man gets 430 years for murders of 11 women MEXICO CITY (AP) — Prose- cutors in the northern border state of Chihuahua have won a 430-year prison sentence against a man convicted of killing 11 young women be- tween 2009 and 2012 near Ciudad Juarez, an area that over the years has been noto- rious for femicides. The prosecutors’ of- fice said Monday that Pedro Payan Gloria drugged the women, forced them to pros- titute themselves and sell drugs and then killed them when they were no longer of use. Their skeletal remains were found in early 2012 in fields in the Juarez Valley, a largely agricultural region east of the city. More than 100 women have been slain in the area across the border from El Paso, Texas, since 1993, although many serial or copycat killings appear to have tapered off by late 2004 or early 2005. Vic- tims have often been young, slender factory workers who are abducted, sexu- ally abused and stran- gled before their bodies are dumped in the desert. Few of the early cases have ever been properly investigated. Activists and mothers of the victims of the re- cent killings, however, say they pressured investigators and provided information that led to the suspects. Two other people have been con- victed in the case. In 2013, the state prose- cutors’ office said suspects in custody at the time ran a modeling agency, clothing store and small grocery and lured women with offers of employment. COMMUNITY MEETING CALLED FOR SAVANNAH AND NEWLANDS Anthony Eden and Alva Suckoo, the Members of the Legislative Assembly for Sa- vannah and Newlands, re- spectively, have invited their constituents to a commu- nity meeting that will be held Wednesday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. in the Savannah Pri- mary School Hall. Ezzard Miller, the elected representative for North Side and the leader of the oppo- sition, will make an opening address at the community meeting. Policing and safety, district councils and the po- tential upcoming pension exodus will be among the subjects discussed at the meeting, organizers said. There will be a question- and-answer session as part of the community meeting. For more information, call 945-8087 or send an email to savnewoffice@gmail.com. SAO PAULO TRIES TO END ‘CRACKLAND’ DRUG MARKET SAO PAULO (AP) – Every day, the addicts who oc- cupy “Crackland,” a square in the center of Sao Paulo where drugs are sold and smoked in broad daylight, pick up their blankets and tents and move across the street to let city sanitation workers clean the area. And then every day, the group returns. All the while, police look on. This daily ballet per- sists four months after authorities launched a major operation to end Crackland for good, ar- resting scores of dealers and sealing off abandoned buildings they had occu- pied – sometimes using rubber bullets and tear gas in clashes in the area. For the two decades that this city within a city has existed, politicians have been trying to get rid of it: first by brute force and more recently with a pro- gram that offered addicts housing and cash handouts in hopes of helping them kick their addiction and leave Crackland. Mayor Joao Doria, a media magnate and polit- ical newcomer who took office in January, changed course again, with a pro- gram that focuses on of- fering drug users inpatient treatment coupled with the police raid in May in which he declared Crackland was “finished” and “would not come back.” Yet it persists, and experts say there is no simple way to get rid of it. “Any mayor or any pres- ident or anyone can say that the situation will be solved overnight, but this is not true,” said Francisco Inacio Bastos, a researcher at the Fiocruz institute who led the last national crack study. “Without sustained action, everything will come back again.” Kittiwake a threat to coral reef, DoE says Site declared safe for divers, but poses threat to coral JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com The popular USS Kitti- wake shipwreck has been deemed safe for divers, but concerns persist about the threat it now poses to nat- ural coral reef. The wreck toppled in heavy seas and now lies on its side, wedged against a section of reef, close to another dive site known as Sand Chute. A chunk of reef was chipped off as the 2,200- ton wreck shifted posi- tion, reigniting fears that it could move again in future storms causing more signif- icant damage. The Department of En- vironment said in a state- ment that the impact from the recent incident was min- imal and it would not seek compensation. But previous storms have shifted the wreck more than 50 feet from its original resting place on a shallow sandy bottom off Seven Mile Beach and it now poses a much greater threat to the reef. “Movement such as has been observed at the Kitti- wake is not completely unex- pected during a storm event,” the Department of Environ- ment said in a statement. “This is why the DoE has consistently recommended against the placement of ar- tificial wrecks and other ob- jects on the seabed around the Cayman Islands as our extremely narrow marine shelf makes it is very diffi- cult to place these structures at any safe distance from living reef.” Further damage to the reef is likely and it would be futile to seek to restore the damaged section, which was confined to a 5 by 3 meter area, the statement indicates. “Although no longer touching the reef, the ship currently lies very close to it and future contact with the reef can be expected with other large storm events. This suggests that repair of the identified damage is not ad- visable at this stage.” The Department of Envi- ronment said it would work with the Cayman Islands Tourism Association to mon- itor the site. CITA advised Tuesday that it had commissioned an ex- amination of the wreck and given the all-clear for water sports operators to resume snorkel and dive trips. “The official assessment report as at Monday after- noon, indicates that moor- ings are safe for boats to tie up to, and visitors are still able to see the entire wreck from the surface, hence making for a visible and in- teresting snorkel spot,” CITA, which manages the site, said in a statement. The association is ad- vising scuba dive operators to ensure their staff dive the site first, without customers, to get used to the new layout before guiding visitors. Jo Mikutowicz, owner of Divetech, which led Monday’s assessment of the site, said it was still just as accessible as it had been previously. She said, “It is still the same Kittiwake, it is just lying on its side. I went through the wreck and took the same route. It was a little bit different, obviously, but it can still be fully penetrated. It is definitely safe for divers.” She said the wreck was well embedded in the sand and it would take a severe storm to shift it. She said Divetech had advised CITA there was a possibility that further storms could push it on to the reef, however. The Kittiwake now lies closer to the reef following the passage of Hurricane Nate. - PHOTOS: TONY LAND, DIVETECH A diver inspects the USS Kittiwake for damage after the ship toppled onto its side over the weekend.The islands’ most-trusted news source 3 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 11, 2017 Exploring the Relationship BETWEEN NUTRITION And Health Registration Open www.healthcareconference.ky The Ritz Carlton, Grand Cayman 19th – 21st October 2017 MINISTRY OF HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT CULTURE & HOUSING OCTOBER 19TH - 21ST, 2017 DR. RAVI KISHORE Health City Cayman Islands DR. LILI WAGNER Infinite Mindcare DR. KALILA BODDEN Healthy Life Hack MAUREEN CUBBON Bestlife DR. SONALI RUDER The Foodie Physician DR. WAEL BARSOUM Cleveland Clinic Florida DR. TROY GATCLIFFE The Miami Cancer Institute at Baptist Health South Florida LOUISE FITZROY From Paddock to Plate DR. CAMILLE WILLIAMS Questions 4 Cancer Doctors OPEN TO ALL AND FREE TO ATTEND. CME CERTIFICATES WILL BE AVAILABLE. MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, YOUTH, SPORTS, AGRICULTURE AND LANDSThe 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 OCTOBER 11, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS “In order to do good economics, you have to keep in mind that people are human.” – Richard Thaler, winner, 2017 Nobel prize in eco- nomics Amid a characteristically erudite field of academics, thinkers, and scientists, University of Chicago econ- omist Richard Thaler may be the most “relatable” scholar in this year’s class of Nobel prize winners. All of the awardees have made important contri- butions to the advancement of human understanding, and are deserving of their laurels. That being said, “cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution” and “uncover[ing] the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world” don’t exactly make for compelling conversation around the dinner table. (In most circles, holding forth on the molecular mechanisms controlling circadian rhythms of fruit flies is a surefire way to put your guests to sleep.) Mr. Thaler’s work, meanwhile, not only makes for good talk at dinner, but has incorporated behavior observed at dinner parties. In a column we published on Monday’s opinion page, Cass R. Sunstein (a collabo- rator of Mr. Thaler’s) wrote, “Who else would develop a theory of human behavior by observing how, at a dinner party, supposedly rational economists gobble up cashews before dinner – and are immensely grateful when the host takes the half-eaten bowl away?” More specifically, Mr. Thaler’s Nobel award was attributed to “his contributions to behavioral eco- nomics” – which can be boiled down to the investiga- tion of why people do irrational things. For example, a gambler on a “hot streak” will continue to place big bet after big bet. Similarly, investors will keep putting their money on soaring stocks, even while a price collapse seems inevitable, and then after shares plummet, will demonstrate a reluctance to “cut their losses” by selling. Pool sharks, payday lenders and blackjack dealers have made small fortunes by capitalizing on these human foibles. Mr. Thaler is a leader in the species of economists who seek to explain how people depart from “rational” behavior as predicted by standard economic theories – and also, how that “irrationality” isn’t unpredictable or necessarily bad, merely “human.” In terms of impact on people’s everyday lives, Mr. Thaler’s work has assisted in the promotion of “auto- enrollment” savings plans for retirement, for example. (As we in the Cayman Islands know, with our manda- tory pensions schemes, many people won’t “opt-in” to savings plans … but also, many people won’t bother to “opt out” of those same plans.) In the Summer 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review, CEO Michael D. Harris explores the split per- sonalities in people’s emotional subconscious, calling them “Mr. Intuitive” and “Mr. Rational.” Mr. Harris writes that we, who as rational beings of course identify with Mr. Rational, tend to dismiss Mr. Intuitive as being irrational and irresponsible. But perhaps somewhat counterintuitively, Mr. Intui- tive often proves to be a superior decision-maker to Mr. Rational, particularly in complex matters. The advantage is this: “[U]nconscious decisions follow their own logic. They are based on a deeply empirical mental processing system that effortlessly filters millions of bits of data without getting over- whelmed. Our conscious mind, on the other hand, has a strict bottleneck, because it can process only three or four new pieces of information at a time due to the limitations of our working memory.” Mr. Harris cites a study, involving the selection of used cars, that in simple situations with only four vari- ables, “rational” deciders were 15 percent better than choosing the best car than “intuitive” types. But when the number of variables was increased to 12, intuitive deciders were 42 percent better than rational deciders. This is all to say that, many times in your life (actually many times a day), you will find yourself making decisions without the luxuries of attention, clarity and time that would be necessary to make a “rational” judgment as prescribed by standard econo- mists in their sanitary ivory towers. In those circumstances, you can be comfortable “going with your gut” instead of your head, and getting on with living your life, leaving it to behavioral econo- mists such as Mr. Thaler to figure out the fine print. A Nobel prize for normal people Merkel wins while disappointing everyone LEONID BERSHIDSKY By accepting an upper limit to the number of immigrants Germany will accept for hu- manitarian reasons, German Chancellor Angela Merkel made one of her trademark compromises: No one is happy, but her solution will work well enough for now. Forming a gov- erning coalition in the next few months will require a few more of these. On Monday, Merkel and Ba- varian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer, who leads the Chris- tian Social Union party, an- nounced that they had agreed to keep the number of asylum seekers, their family members, and other foreign humani- tarian cases to 200,000, barring emergency situations. An im- migration ceiling is something Seehofer and the CSU have demanded since 2015, when more than a million asylum seekers reached Germany, but Merkel has always refused to contemplate it. It was politically tricky back then: Merkel’s Christian Demo- cratic Union, the CSU’s federal sister party, governed in co- alition with pro-immigration Social Democrats (SPD), and Merkel knew that while she was likely to keep Seehofer’s support in any case, the So- cial Democrats’ backing was not assured. When a reporter asked Merkel at the press con- ference with Seehofer why she wouldn’t set a limit earlier, she shrugged and said, “Everything in its own time.” That was, de- spite its seeming evasiveness, a straight answer. In the September elec- tion, the CSU did badly in Ba- varia, losing 10.5 percentage points compared with its 2013 result. Seehofer, who has al- ways backed Merkel, sud- denly felt shaky; immediately after the election, he talked about “closing the right flank,” which he felt was open to the nationalists of the Alterna- tive for Germany (AfD) party. He needed something to show the party rank and file and the disappointed voters back home, so he reminded Merkel that the CSU was also a coali- tion partner that could make demands. She played along by agreeing, for the first time, to a specific humanitarian immi- gration target. In practical terms, the limit means little. For one thing, the German federal migra- tion agency received 135,000 first-time asylum applica- tions in January through Au- gust, suggesting that the total number for the year is likely to be about 200,000 anyway. Besides, there’s always some emergency situation or another. And finally, there’s no legal way Germany can turn away a legitimate asylum seeker be- cause he’s number 200,001. As SPD legislator Frank Schwabe tweeted late on Sunday, when news of the deal first leaked: “Either the upper limit agree- ment is fake or it’s against in- ternational law. Such sym- bolism politics is silly.” The AfD declared the com- promise meaningless. “A lim- itless limit changes nothing,” it trumpeted on its Facebook page. “It’s not worth the paper it’s written on.” The AfD de- mands negative net migration – something no mainstream party wants even to discuss. Merkel, however, is giving the anti-immigrant conserva- tives something specific, too. The compromise with the CSU envisages building “decision and return” centers, in which asylum seekers will be forced to wait for their decisions and from which they will be de- ported if their applications are denied. If Merkel keeps this promise, ordinary Germans’ contact with incoming refu- gees – before they acclimatize themselves and acquire some language skills – will be se- verely limited. Even now, new refugees are all but invisible as the increasingly efficient re- settlement machine spreads them throughout Germany; if the “decision and return cen- ters” come into being, conser- vative voters may not even re- member in four years what the AfD could be talking about. Of course, even the soft deal between Merkel and Seehofer is worrying to the Greens, whom the chancellor must draw into the ruling co- alition to make it work. Party leader Simone Peter has con- demned the humanitarian im- migration ceiling as “totally arbitrary” and “purely ideolog- ical.” But it’s no deal-breaker; prominent Green legislator Ka- trin Goering-Eckardt has de- scribed it as a “formal compro- mise” in which “Mr. Seehofer gets his 200,000 and Mrs. Merkel makes sure no one is turned away at the border.” The Greens will use the issue to bargain with the CDU, but it won’t decide the success or failure of the coalition talks. Merkel has disappointed everyone: Seehofer, who would have preferred a hard limit; the AfD, which she cannot please no matter what she does; the Greens, who don’t want any immigration ceiling; the SPD, which is bitter about her trans- parent politicking. But so far so good: The chancellor is still on track to make a viable coalition deal with the Greens and the liberal Free Democratic Party, which believes professional im- migration is preferable to the humanitarian kind. This is just the beginning of an extended political master class we’ll see from Merkel as she works on the new govern- ment and the detailed, binding policy agreements on which its authority will rest. Tax, for- eign policy and environmental matters, on which the poten- tial coalition partners differ, will require as much or more of her skill to sort. Everyone will grumble. But the Merkel Mer- cedes will keep gliding down the bumpy road. Bershidsky is a Bloomberg View columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru. © 2017, Bloomberg 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”The islands’ most-trusted news source 5 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 11, 2017 www.cimpa.ky AWARDS CEREMONY Join us for a night of inspiration and celebration! The Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort Friday, November 3rd 2017 6:30 pm for cocktails, followed by a 3-course gala dinner and awards ceremony Tickets $150 | Tables $1250 (for tables of 10) Email: events@cimpa.ky for details and sponsorship opportunities6 LOCAL&REGIONAL WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 11, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS Children urged to stand up against bullying SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Family Resource Centre will host the Stood Up Fair 2017 this month, which aims to present a united front against bullying in all its forms. The fair will take place at the Arts and Recreation Centre in Camana Bay on Oct. 21, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Children in two age brackets – ages 10-12 and 13-16 – will have the chance to showcase their creativity and ingenuity in bringing awareness to the social ef- fects of bullying in school and beyond. Participants are encouraged to use a wide va- riety of mediums to convey their message, including but not limited to posters, display boards, sculptures, paintings, PowerPoint presentations, poems and photography. Erin Hislop of the Family Resource Centre said the anti-bullying campaign has been going on for quite some time, but this is the first year that it is holding a fair as a focal point. The Family Re- source Centre hopes to en- gage as many children as possible, and the event should take on the feel of a science fair, she said. “Kids will get to come in and create a project, but in- stead of a science project, they’re completing an anti- bullying project,” said Ms. Hislop. “We’ve got ages 10-12 and 13-16 competing against each other, and they’re going to come up with a category that has an anti-bullying theme, and come up with a project that speaks to that theme. Maybe it’s identi- fying the different types of bullying or how to address bullying safely. We’ve got an option for them to come up with an anti-bullying policy for their school. It’s just trying to get kids thinking about how they can be a so- lution to this problem.” The competition is open to students from any local school, and Ms. Hislop hopes the general commu- nity will come in and walk around and take a look at the different projects that are on display. The Family Resource Centre hopes to get as many as 50 children involved in the project. All contestants must submit a project pro- posal by Oct. 16, and all sub- missions must contain inof- fensive language and include positive and safe messages with a clear anti-bullying message. The 10-12 year-old age bracket must pick one of the following themes: Be A Buddy, Not A Bully; Bul- lyproof Your School; or The Bully Impact. The 13-16 age bracket’s messages must address one of the following topics: Don’t be Mean Behind the Screen; Bullyproof Your School; or Don’t Bully, Be CaymanKind. Ms. Hislop said that in the past, people have been excited about demonstrating against bullying. “The anti-bullying cam- paign is definitely one of our more popular cam- paigns,” she said. “We re- ally get a lot of community buy-in through participa- tion in Pink Shirt Day. We have our pink shirts that say ‘Stood Up,’ which means ‘I Stood Up To Bullying’ in rec- ognition of the campaign. … We’ve had a big increase in companies and schools organizing a dress-down day to wear those shirts. I know there’s awareness of the issue. There’s also still the prevalence of the issue, and people think it’s impor- tant to address.” The project is sponsored by Dart, Hurley’s Media, Ro- tary Sunrise and local au- thor Paul Schreiner, and it hopes to embolden students to find things in common and stand united against social cruelty. “Paul Schreiner is a huge supporter of anti-bullying,” said Ms. Hislop. “And he’s do- nated the funds from the sale of his book, ‘Rudolph Dis- covers the Cayman Islands,’ to the Family Resource Centre in support of the anti- bullying campaign. We’re using his funds directly to fund the campaign.” All students are free to register by sending an email to frc@gov.ky or calling the Family Resource Centre at 949-0006. Two admit importing 461 pounds of ganja Third defendant has previous convictions CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Two Jamaican nationals pleaded guilty on Tuesday to possession and impor- tation of 461.74 pounds of ganja last month. Leroy Johnoton Morgan, 31, and Demarco Deinton Cunningham, 37, admitted importing the ganja on Sept. 14. They pleaded not guilty, however, to a charge of il- legal landing. Defense attorney Jonathon Hughes said the Crown was being asked to review the il- legal landing charge. Initial reports of the offense indi- cated that the two men and Derrick Anthony Adlam, 53, were on a boat off East End when they were intercepted by the Joint Marine Unit around 11 p.m. Officers re- covered numerous packages and brought the men ashore. Adlam attended court on Tuesday also, but did not enter any pleas. His attorney was off island, so he was given another mention date. Adlam has previous convic- tions for importing ganja. The maximum sentence for a first offense is seven years. The maximum for a subsequent offense is 15 years. Magistrate Valdis Foldats ordered social inquiry reports for Morgan and Cunningham and set their sentencing for Dec. 11. Mr. Hughes repre- sented Morgan and attorney Margeta Facey-Clarke repre- sented Cunningham. All three men had their re- mand in custody continued. Man admits using Pine-Sol on dog Not guilty pleas to other cruelty charges CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A West Bay resident pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one charge involving cruelty to an animal, but not guilty to two others. Desland St. Aubyn Bailey, 33, said guilty to the charge of willfully or without rea- sonable cause or excuse ad- ministering a poisonous or noxious substance to a dog called Rufus. The substance was Pine- Sol and the offense occurred on or before Aug. 8 this year. He pleaded not guilty to unreasonably omit- ting to seek medical at- tention for Rufus, thereby causing unnecessary suf- fering to the dog. The final charge, which Bailey also denied, was ill treating the dog by allowing it to be underweight and in- fested by fleas and ticks. The defendant, who was not represented by an at- torney, told Magistrate Valdis Foldats that he had gone to the Humane So- ciety “on Thursday before” but the person he expected to see was not there. He started to explain further, but the magistrate stopped him, explaining that the Crown needed to decide if they will proceed on the charges to which he had pleaded not guilty. Crown counsel Eleanor Fargin gave Bailey copies of the papers in the case and suggested he study them, especially the report from a veterinarian. She said the Crown’s position was that the defendant had left it too long before he sought ap- propriate medical attention. The matter was set for mention again on Thursday, Nov. 2. The staff of the Family Resource Centre, from left, Racquel Duhaney, Charmaine Miller, Jessica Smith, Brenda Dawkins, Miles Ruby and Erin Hislop, urge people to stand up against bullying. Children in two age brackets – ages 10-12 and 13-16 – will have the chance to showcase their creativity and ingenuity in bringing awareness to the social effects of bullying in school and beyond. UN: COLOMBIAN POLICE FIRED ON MISSION SENT TO PROBE SLAYINGS BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) – The United Nations denounced Colombia’s anti-narcotics police on Monday for firing on a humanitarian mis- sion it led to investigate the murder of several coca growers during clashes with security forces. The mission, comprised of observers from the U.N. as well as the Organiza- tion of American States and church groups, were at- tempting Sunday to reach a remote outpost where the killings took place when they were stopped in their tracks by four exploding stun grenades as well as tear gas and the sound of gunfire, according to the U.N.’s human rights of- fice in Colombia. The confusing inci- dent is the latest embar- rassment for President Juan Manuel Santos’ gov- ernment as it struggles to implement a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia while trying to get a grip on booming coca produc- tion dominated by criminal gangs filling the void left by retreating rebels. The problems in the turbulent municipality of Tumaco began on Thursday when several hundred farmers clashed with police as they at- tempted to eradicate illegal coca crops. At least six farmers were killed. Initially the govern- ment blamed the murders on a dissident faction of the now demobilized FARC, saying they had fired home- made mortars on the very same farmers the guerrillas had ordered to confront police in order to protect their coca crops. But eyewitness accounts verified by Colombia’s om- budsman’s office point to the police as the ones be- hind the slayings. As a re- sult the government has since backtracked and on Monday the police sus- pended four officers ac- cused of opening gunfire as a fuller investigation is carried out. The U.N. human rights office in a statement ex- pressed alarm that po- lice with whom it had been in constant commu- nication and authorized their movements had im- peded their probe. Vice President Oscar Naranjo met with represen- tatives of the U.N. and apol- ogized for the police offi- cers’ behavior, saying they had acted “irregularly.” Despite the tragedy in Tumaco, Santos said se- curity forces will not ease their campaign to root out drug trafficking in long-ne- glected rural areas. “We won’t permit law- less organizations to intim- idate or pressure communi- ties,” Santos said.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 11, 2017 accumulate to this level?” “The board might be reluctant to write off the debt; they prefer to try to see if there’s anything collectable,” Ms. Boothe said. “We want to reassure the board that we have done abso- lutely everything to collect it be- fore it’s written off,” HSA Chief Executive Lizzette Yearwood told the committee later in the day. Mr. Miller asked why, if the hospital system thought the money was collectible, it was being classed as a “bad debt.” “You say all of this is bad debt, but you hope to collect it,” he said. Bodden Town West MLA Chris Saunders noted that there was a large jump in accounts receiv- able [amounts due] to the HSA be- tween 2014 and 2016 that seemed to be unexplained. “It took 12 years [2002-2014] to accumulate $69 million in ac- counts receivable, but it took us two years to increase that amount by $53 million [to $122 million],” Mr. Saunders said. Ms. Boothe said there had been difficulties with adjudi- cating healthcare claims with one of the hospital system’s major in- surance companies during that period, which caused the un- paid bills to increase. She did not name the company. Ms. Yearwood later identi- fied the company as government- owned Cayman Islands National Insurance Company (CINICO), which was in the process of switching its third-party insur- ance provider at the time. “If the accounts aren’t being adjudicated, obviously they aren’t being paid,” Ms. Yearwood said. Ms. Boothe also told the com- mittee that the number of unpaid debts amassed annually by the hospital system had dropped by about half from $15 million for 2015/16 to $7 million in 2016/17. Mr. Saunders was incredulous. “These numbers aren’t adding up,” he said. [The] confidence level for me has not been met.” NO ANTI-FRAUD POLICY YET FOR PUBLIC HOSPITAL BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Recommendations that the Cayman Islands public hospital system imple- ment an anti-fraud policy have not been fully followed several years after the in- vestigation into the CarePay hospital swipe-card system. Public Accounts Committee member, Prospect MLA Austin Harris, noted that the Auditor General’s Office had recom- mended that the hospital system put in place the policy and questioned staff if that had been done. “A fraud policy has been developed,” HSA Chief Financial Officer Heather Boothe said. Mr. Harris asked whether that meant the policy had been implemented. “No, sir,” Ms. Boothe said, adding that the staff was awaiting a review by a hos- pital board subcommittee before pro- ceeding with implementation. Former HSA Board Chairman Canover Watson was convicted in February 2016 of defrauding the public hospital system via the CarePay contract agreement and sen- tenced to seven years in prison. A spokesperson for the Port Authority said it was in- creasing security staff to cope with the additional demand. Businesses along the George Town waterfront are already starting to see an impact. Luigi Moxam, who owns Cayman Cabana, said the bar was busier than usual for this time of year. “It is a little bit surreal, because we are very con- scious and aware of what those other islands are going through. It is bittersweet, to be honest,” he said. “We are appreciative of extra busi- ness but we always keep in mind why that is and we are trying to do our best to aid the relief efforts and do what we can for our friends in other islands. I am happy to see what people in this com- munity are doing to reach out and assist.” On Thursday, the streets of George Town were thronged with tourists, ducking into shops and bars to escape the intermittent showers. Many of them had arrived on the Carnival Splendor, initially destined for St. Maarten, Grand Turk, St. Thomas and St. Kitts. “We figured we wouldn’t be going to those islands unless it was some kind of humanitarian mission,” said one couple, from Ohio, who gave their names as Ken and Sherri. They were officially in- formed of the ship’s new route days before departure. Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Lines have all announced changes to their itineraries, through to the end of the year at least, as a result of hurricane damage. A spokesman for Car- nival told the Cayman Compass there would be several additional calls scheduled in Cayman over the coming months. Robert Hamaty, owner of the Tortuga Rum Company, said his business was seeing the impact of the influx in both Cayman and Jamaica. “You never like to prosper from someone else’s despair, but it has picked up signifi- cantly,” he said. “I am sure the cruise ships will go back to those islands as soon as they can. They have in- vested heavily in the eastern Caribbean and as soon as they start to recover, they will go back. “The hurricanes have had a big impact on those is- lands and it is very sad. It is what it is and we are pre- pared for it and hoping we don’t end up with any late storms ourselves.” The Port Authority says it is equipped to handle the in- flux of additional ships. “With deep compassion for the affected islands, the Port Authority is in support of the wider Cayman Islands Government’s aid and re- covery efforts to help these islands recover and become operational as soon as pos- sible. Meanwhile, Cayman Port is happy to be able to offer our islands as an al- ternative destination for cruise calls, and our com- munity is equally com- mitted to showing its Cay- mankind hospitality,” the spokesperson said. The Cayman Islands suf- fered a dip in cruise arrivals immediately after Hurricane Ivan, but cruise companies were credited with bringing the first tourists back to these shores as the recovery began to take effect. to participate in the Poppy Appeal and other events that provide assistance to the vet- erans, who hail from roughly 12 countries, including Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Germany, according to Mr. McLaughlin. “It’s a brilliant chance to remember everyone who served their countries, and it’s great for children. And, of course, all of the money in the Poppy Appeal goes to sup- port veterans, many of whom are still suffering many years after they served,” he said. The ceremonial pinning kicked off the Veterans Associ- ation’s annual Poppy Appeal, where people can make dona- tions to the group and receive poppy pins through Remem- brance Day on Nov. 13. All proceeds will stay in Cayman to go toward helping aging vets who live here, said Mr. McLaughlin. With the average age of Veterans Association mem- bers being well over 70, Cayman vets need all the help they can get, he said. Unfortunately, “We’ve had people say that they helped us in the past but can’t help this year because of the hurricane relief efforts,” he said. “But help has to start at home.” To that end, he said, the annual fundraising gala will be held on Oct. 21 at the Mar- riott Beach Resort, and that tickets are still available by calling 926-5189. Amid hurricane devastation, tourists divert to Cayman Cruise ships moor off George Town earlier this year. Some 70 cruise visits to the Cayman Islands have been added to the schedule over the next six months. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY Businesses along the George Town waterfront are already starting to see an impact. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE HEARING HSA board ‘reluctant’ to forego unpaid patient debts The Health Services Authority, which runs the Cayman Islands Hospital, is owed $94.5 million in unpaid medical bills. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Poppy pinning kicks off fundraising drive for veterans The group of veterans snapped a brisk salute to Ms. Kilpatrick as U.S. Marine Corps veteran Shadden McLaughlin reached for a poppy pin. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 11, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS From your loving sisters Ginny and Fiona plus your family and friends worldwide Remembering the rock star of our family – Rocky We celebrate the day of his birth on 10th October 1963 and we mourn the day we lost him on the 11th October three long years ago. Life will never be the same without you, but we honour your memory by trying to live life to the fullest as you always did. “Say not in grief he is no more But live in the thankfulness that he was” Goodyear’s new airship on maiden voyage Goodyear says the second of three semi-rigid airships replacing its original blimps has left the company’s hangar in Ohio for California. Although the tire maker calls the new airships blimps, purists say they are semi-rigid dirigibles with a fixed structure holding the balloon in place. Trump urged by some to go on attack against Mueller WASHINGTON (AP) – Even as President Donald Trump’s advisers encourage him to accept the realities of spe- cial counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, longtime friends and allies are pushing Trump to fight back, citing concerns that his lawyers are naive to the existential threat facing the president. Trump supporters and as- sociates inside and outside the White House see the con- ciliatory path as risky to the maverick president’s tenure. Instead, they want the street- fighting tweeter to criticize Mueller with abandon. The struggle between sup- porters of the legal team’s steady, cooperative approach, and the band of Trump loy- alists who yearn for a fight, comes as the Mueller probe begins lapping at the door of the Oval Office. Mueller, who is investigating the firing of former FBI director James Comey and other key actions of the Trump administration, has signaled that his team intends to interview multiple current and former White House officials in the coming weeks and has requested large batches of documents from the executive branch. In private, Trump remains relatively calm for now, but that does not mean he thinks the Russia probe is legiti- mate, and he could return to fighting Mueller at any mo- ment, according to a group of about 15 Trump allies, ad- visers and former campaign aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak can- didly about private conversa- tions with the White House. The president still peri- odically flashes his anger, blasting the Senate intelli- gence committee’s investiga- tion in a tweet last Thursday and urging them to investi- gate journalists instead of his campaign and family. And in a private dinner with so- cial conservatives last month, Trump expressed frustra- tion over Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal, which helped pave the road to Mueller’s appointment. “The president respects what Bob Mueller is doing and has fully cooperated and asked everyone around him to fully cooperate with Bob,” said Trump’s attorney, John Dowd. “And as a result,” he added, there has been for months “a very productive, professional relationship.” Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer responsible for re- sponding to Mueller’s infor- mation requests, said it’s im- portant to Trump “and the country to get this behind us.” “The White House is working diligently in full co- operation with the special counsel to complete the re- sponses to all pending re- quests, and the president’s frustration does not extend to the special counsel person- ally in any way,” he added. Lawyers have been gath- ering documents requested by Mueller’s investigators – which include records about the brief tenure of ex-na- tional security adviser Mi- chael Flynn – and working to schedule interviews with aides. In recent weeks, they have also discussed a legal defense fund that could cover the cost of lower-level White House officials who may get wrapped up in the probe, and about the possibility of a single “pool counsel” to repre- sent some aides. But the question of coop- eration is far from settled for Trump’s allies, many of whom are pressing him to fight Mueller more aggressively. That tension was apparent at a private dinner of close to a dozen conservative leaders with Trump and his top aides on Sept. 25, though accounts of the gathering vary. In one version, one guest peppered Trump with ques- tions about what he was going to do about the spe- cial counsel’s investigation. While Trump was dismis- sive, the president said he was keeping his head low and such questions should be posed to Sessions him- self, according to two people who were present and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private dinner. But a third person in the room said that Trump was visibly angry with Sessions and made a flippant remark about the attorney general’s decision to recuse himself from overseeing the federal Russia probe. One former Trump cam- paign aide in contact with the president said Trump’s feelings about Sessions have evolved in the last few months. Trump believes Ses- sions hurt him by not dis- closing his interactions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the vetting process for attorney general. Sessions should have been upfront with Trump and alerted him to those en- counters rather than waiting for word of them to become public, the former campaign aide said. But the president’s anger with Sessions also has diminished greatly in recent months, the same aide noted. Supporters of Trump’s legal team and the disci- pline imposed by Chief of Staff John Kelly are hoping that Trump will remain even-keeled and not jeopar- dize himself with public out- bursts. They consider Muel- ler’s appointment the product of the most serious of self- inflicted wounds – Trump’s firing of Comey – but are con- fident Trump will survive the investigation. President Donald Trump South Korean lawmaker says North Korea hacked war plans SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – A South Korean lawmaker said Tuesday that North Korean hackers may have stolen highly classified mil- itary documents that in- clude U.S.-South Korean war- time “decapitation strike” plans against the North, ac- cording to South Korean media reports. Rep. Lee Cheol-hee, a law- maker for the ruling Demo- cratic Party, cited uniden- tified defense officials as saying the hackers stole the plans last year, according to the reports. Neither Lee nor Defense Ministry officials responded to attempts late Tuesday to confirm the sto- ries. Defense officials refused to comment when reached by other media. If confirmed, such a hack would be a major blow for South Korea at a time when its relations with North Korea are at a low point. The South has taken an increasingly ag- gressive stance toward the North’s belligerence amid back-and-forth threats of war between North Korea and U.S. President Donald Trump. Among the classified plans allegedly stolen from the South were said to be blue- prints for targeted attacks by Seoul and Washington to eliminate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if a crisis breaks out or appears imminent. Kim is the third generation of his family to rule North Korea. The South’s Yonhap news agency quoted Lee as saying that 235 gigabytes of mili- tary documents were taken. While nearly 80 percent of the documents had not yet been identified, they report- edly included contingency plans for South Korean spe- cial forces and information on military facilities and power plants, it said. Yonhap said South Ko- rean defense officials said in May that North Korea may have hacked a crucial South Korean military on- line network but did not say what was stolen. Seoul says North Korea has repeatedly staged cy- berattacks on South Korean business and government websites. North Korea rou- tinely denies responsibility. IRANIAN NUCLEAR CHIEF WARNS US: DON’T UNDERMINE NUCLEAR DEAL ROME (AP) – The head of Iran’s nuclear agency warned the United States on Tuesday against under- mining the 2015 nuclear deal, saying international nonproliferation efforts as well as Washington’s in- ternational standing would suffer as a result. Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi told an international confer- ence on enhancing nu- clear safety that Washing- ton’s recent “delusionary negative postures do not augur well” for keeping the deal intact. He said Iran did not want to see the deal un- ravel but that “much more is at stake for the entire international community than the national inter- ests of Iran.” U.S. President Donald Trump is set to deliver a speech on Iran this week in which he is expected to decline to certify Iran’s compliance in the land- mark 2015 agreement, re- ferring it to Congress, and perhaps targeting the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard with new sanctions. Salehi praised the progress that had been made since the 2015 deal, saying nonprolifera- tion and disarmament ef- forts had benefited world- wide. He called it “simply too precious to be al- lowed to be undermined or weakened.” “The failure of the nu- clear deal will undermine the political credibility and international stature of the U.S. in this tumultuous political environment,” Salhehi warned. He concluded that he hoped “common sense shall prevail.” The U.S. administration has faced two 90-day cer- tification deadlines to state whether Iran is meeting the conditions needed to continue enjoying sanc- tions relief under the deal and has both times backed away from a showdown. But Trump more recently has said he does not ex- pect to certify Iran’s com- pliance with the October deadline looming. On Monday, the Euro- pean Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogh- erini, praised the 2015 deal as a “win-win” solution that was working. “We settled a mile- stone for nonproliferation and we prevented a dan- gerous devastating mili- tary escalation,” she told the conference via video message, adding that the International Atomic En- ergy Agency had certified Iran’s compliance with the deal, including via inspec- tions, eight times since it was signed. She warned that with rising nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula, “We have an interest and a re- sponsibility and a duty to preserve the nuclear deal with Iran” and strength- ening, not weakening the nonproliferation regime. Among the classified plans allegedly stolen from the South were said to be blueprints for targeted attacks by Seoul and Washington to eliminate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if a crisis breaks out or appears imminent. Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi Mueller has signaled that his team intends to interview multiple current and former White House officials in the coming weeks and has requested large batches of documents from the executive branch.9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 11, 2017 Say yes to even more cash back NOW UP TO *Conditions apply. Subject to change without notice. Subject to credit approval. You will earn 4% cash back for a maximum cap of USD$600 (or equivalent in local currency) spend annually at qualifying gas stations and grocery stores. This 4% cash back applies at merchants which are classified in the MasterCard network as Grocery Stores & Supermarkets, Service Stations and Automated Fuel Dispensers (Merchant Codes: 5411, 5541 & 5542). You will earn 2% cash back for a maximum cap of USD$400 you spend annually at qualifying drug stores and pharmacies. 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EN H A N C E D C H I P S E C U R IT Y #SayYesToMore Tickets available from resellers, A.L. Thompson, Funky Tang and ONLINE At www.extravaganza.ky Campaigning kicks off in Japan as voters evaluate Abe’s half decade in power Official campaigning for the 48th general election of the House of Representatives kicked off on Tuesday, with the biggest issue being how to evaluate Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s nearly five-year administration. Three major forces – the ruling bloc of the Liberal Dem- ocratic Party led by Abe as party president and its partner Komeito; Kibo no To (Party of Hope) and Nippon Ishin no Kai; the Japanese Communist Party, the Constitutional Dem- ocratic Party of Japan and the Social Democratic Party – are vying for seats in the 12- day campaign period for the Oct. 22 election. In the election, a total of 465 seats – 289 in single-seat constituencies and 176 in pro- portional representation blocs – are up for grabs, down 10 seats from the previous lower house election in 2014. A ma- jority in the lower house is 233. A total of 1,180 candidates registered to run in the race. In the previous election, 1,191 candidates registered. The leaders of each party made their first speeches, in- cluding stump speeches, on Tuesday morning. In a pastoral suburb of Fu- kushima, Abe strongly called for strengthening pressure on North Korea, which is con- tinuing provocations with its nuclear tests and ballistic mis- sile launches. “We must co- ordinate with the interna- tional community to counter the North Korean threat,” the prime minister said. Abe also vowed to proceed with such policies as making preschool education free of charge by changing the allo- cation of the increased rev- enue accrued from a consump- tion tax rate hike to 10 percent planned in October 2019. “The consumption tax will be used to support the child-rearing generation,” he said. During her stump speech near the west exit of JR Ike- bukuro Station in Tokyo, Kibo leader Yuriko Koike stressed her party’s plan to postpone the tax hike and to compen- sate for the decrease in rev- enue by drastically reviewing expenditures. Koike said: “The wave of super-aging society is right in front of us. That’s why we need to change the system. It won’t be enough just to raise the con- sumption tax rate to 10 per- cent and change the alloca- tion [of the tax]. We will begin with postponing the tax hike,” the Tokyo governor said. She also clearly expressed her stance of confronting Abe, saying, “Let us end the Abe- dominant politics.” Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi was outside JR Iwamizawa Station in Hok- kaido, where he emphasized the plan to change the use of the revenue from the consump- tion tax hike. Yamaguchi said: “We’ll realize a reduction in the burden of educational costs by significantly changing the use of consumption tax and pro- moting free-of-charge educa- tion for preschool children. We’re in support of young gen- erations,” he said. Meanwhile, JCP Chairman Kazuo Shii called for abol- ishing the existing policy framework, including the se- curity-related legislation, in front of JR Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. Shii said: “The big- gest issue in the election is whether it is OK to continue Abe’s out-of-control politics. The [government’s] power has begun to run out of control, ig- noring the Constitution.” CDPJ leader Yukio Edano made his speech outside the Sendai city government building. Edano said: “Is it democracy when a handful of people are imposing their values? Let’s transform it to politics based on the people’s grassroots voices. We want to take a first step forward to realize it.” © 2017, The Japan News/Yomiuri Political party leaders seek support Tuesday from audiences on streets across Japan after official campaigns for the House of Representatives election kicked off. Clockwise from top left: Kibo no To leader Yuriko Koike; Liberal Democratic Party President Shinzo Abe; Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi; Japanese Communist Party Chairman Kazuo Shii; Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Edano; and Nippon Ishin no Kai leader Ichiro Matsui. – PHOTO: JAPAN NEWS/YOMIURINext >