ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1, 2018 ‘Off the Beaten Path’ sign popular with thieves JEWEL LEVY jlevy@pinnaclemedialtd.com North Side’s Off The Beaten Path Road sign has often fallen victim to thieves who have claimed the sign as their own over the years. Farmer Adrian Bodden, who owns a farm along the road, has lost count of the number of times he has had to request the National Roads Authority re- place the stolen street sign. Mr. Bodden thinks his road name is so catchy and un- usual, it’s proving irresistible to some people. “When the Off the Beaten Path sign was put up, people stole the sign about five or six times,” he said. To keep the sign in place, he said, the NRA had to attach it with tamper-resistant bolts, which require special tools to re- move, and those have managed to stave off would-be thieves for the past couple of years. “The road is very popular,” Mr. Bodden said, adding that not a day goes by without strangers making their way down the road to see what Off The Beaten Path Road is all about. Mr. Bodden named the road Off The Beaten Path in 1999 because of its remote- ness and inaccessibility after he bought 40 acres of land there. He also likes to call the area “God’s country.” After building the road to his JUDGE STOPS TRIAL, BROTHERS NOT GUILTY CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A judge directed a jury to return not-guilty verdicts on two brothers charged with as- saulting police after finding that police offi- cers’ testimonies in the case were contradic- tory and that one of the defendants had not been arrested. Brothers Aaron Kenroy Solomon, 32, and Jaron Calvin Solomon, 29, were found not guilty last week after they were tried in Grand Court for assaulting police and threatening to kill them. Justice Francis Belle directed the jury to return the not-guilty verdicts after defense attorneys argued there was no case for the brothers to answer when the Crown prose- cutor had presented all of his evidence. The brothers were charged after police went to their East End home on Monday, Feb. 6, 2017, with a search warrant to seize a mo- torbike that allegedly had been ridden ille- gally on a public road the day before. At the close of the Crown’s case, defense U.S. CHARGES DISMISSED IN ‘GUNS IN FRIDGE’ CASE BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com American prosecutors have dismissed criminal indictments against three Cayma- nian men, who authorities had alleged were involved in a 2010-2011 gun smuggling op- eration between south Florida and Grand Cayman, because of a lack of available evi- dence, court records released this month show. Orders of dismissal were issued July 10 for Marvin Matthew Watson, Robert Terry and Kyle Santamaria by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. “The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida hereby dismisses without prejudice the indictment against the above named defendant[s] because the wit- nesses are no longer available,” the court records state. None of the three men who were charged in 2011-2012 in connection with the Florida- to-Cayman gun smuggling probe ever went to the U.S. to face the charges. Minister: Tourism’s record streak set to continue JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com After record-breaking tourism figures in the first half of 2018, Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell expects growth to con- tinue through the end of the year. He said the new daily JetBlue flight from Fort Lauderdale, additional Amer- ican Airlines flights out of Chicago and new capacity on Air Canada flights from Toronto will help fuel even greater in- creases in tourism. The minister also highlighted the growth of Airbnb in Cayman and several new hotel projects in the pipeline as central to the continued long-term growth of the industry. The first six months of the year saw a 20-percent increase in tourism overall and a 16-percent rise in air arrivals – the key metric for gauging the health of the industry. Mr. Kirkconnell said a total of 215,000 extra visitors had brought an addi- tional $60 million in direct spending to is- land businesses. “When you look at this increase in spending, it is something that continues all the way through. It is being felt by every part of our economy,” he said in a video presentation. Mr. Kirkconnell said a bal- ance of new airlift and additional rooms coming online meant the Cayman Islands was PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » Cayman’s beaches are a major attraction to an ever-growing number of tourists. – PHOTO: STEPHEN CLARKE PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » FINANCING How $17B of high-risk financing undid Britain’s hospitals >> PAGE 2 A UG U S T 201 8 • W W W .C A YJO U R N A L. C O M 190 THIS ISSUE: DISASTER MANAGEMENT Hurricanes put Caribbean newsrooms to the test >> PAGE 4 REGULATORY OfReg battles 18 months of challenges >> PAGE 3 MARKET WATCH Is global growth stuttering? >> PAGE 3 Cryptocurrencies no threat to financial stability, yet Gov’t plans public consultation on ‘economic substance’ changes ■■ MICHAEL KLEIN Cryptocurrencies are currently not a threat to financial stabil- ity, according to the Financial Stability Board, a global regulator that advises the G-20 group of countries.In a report delivered to the G-20 fi- nance ministers, the international body of financial regulators said, “While the FSB believes that crypto-assets do not pose a material risk to global financial stability, at this time it recognizes the need for vigilant monitoring in light of the speed of market developments.” To this end, the FSB, together with the Committee on Payments and Mar-ket Infrastructures, developed a frame-work to monitor the financial stabil-ity implications of developments in the crypto-asset markets. The report sets out the metrics that the FSB will use to monitor crypto-asset markets as part of its ongoing assessment of vulnerabilities in the financial system. The monitoring system will help “mitigate risks to con-sumer and investor protection, market integrity, and potentially to financial sta-bility,” the regulator said. The FSB’s monitoring will focus on the price volatility of crypto assets, the size and growth of initial coin of- ferings, the wider use of cryptocur-rencies in payments and the market’s volatility compared to gold, curren-cies and equities. “Monitoring the size and growth of crypto-asset markets is critical to understanding the potential size of wealth effects, should valuations fall,” the FSB said in its report. “The use of leverage and finan-cial institution exposures to crypto-asset markets are important metrics of transmission of crypto-asset risks to the broader financial system.” In March, FSB Chair Mark Car-ney noted in a letter to G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors that crypto-assets raise a host of issues around consumer and investor pro-tection, their use to shield illicit activ-ity and concerning money laundering and terrorist financing. Crypto-assets could pose risks to financial stability, he noted, if they be- came more widely used “without ma-terial improvements in conduct, mar-ket integrity and cyber resilience.” However, at the same time, the technologies underlying crypto-assets have the potential to improve the ef-ficiency and inclusiveness of both the financial system and the economy.The report also highlighted the actions of other standard-setting bodies, including the CPMI’s work on applications of distributed ledger technology and its analysis of pay-ment innovations. The committee advised central banks to “proceed with caution” in the creation of their own cryptocurren-cies. The CPMI plans to survey central banks on the issue later this year.The International Organization of Securities Commissions, meanwhile, has established an initial coin offer- ing consultation network and is de-veloping a support framework to as-sist members in considering how to address domestic and cross-border issues resulting from ICOs that could impact investor protection. IOSCO is also discussing other issues around crypto-assets, including, for example, regulatory issues concerning crypto-asset platforms. The Basel Committee on Bank-ing Supervision, in turn, is assessing the direct and indirect exposures of banks to crypto-assets and how they should be dealt with. Current Basel rules on bank capi-talization make no reference to crypto-assets but once the Basel Committee has collected the data and assessed national rules on crypto-assets, it will “consider whether to formally clarify the prudential treatment of crypto-as-sets across the set of risk categories.” ■■ MICHAEL KLEIN When late last year, Cayman avoided being placed on an EU tax blacklist by commit-ting to remedy, before the end of 2018, what the EU called a lack of economic substance of Cayman-based entities, few knew what exactly the Cayman Islands government had promised to do. Now, with only five months left in the year, little has changed. While the commitment letters of other jurisdictions, like the British Vir-gin Islands, Bermuda, the Isle of Man or Guernsey, can be read on the European Council’s website, Cayman’s letter has not been made public. Like Cayman, these jurisdictions have been accused of violating the EU’s fair tax criterion, which stipulates that jurisdictions should not facilitate off-shore structures that attract profits with-out real economic activity. In a November 2017 letter to the Cay- man Islands government, the EU noted that its concerns relate mainly to a “de facto lack of substance, which may be due to the absence of legal substance requirements.” The letter invited the government to commit to addressing the concerns and discuss with the EU Code of Con-duct Group what steps it should take to “better ensure that businesses have suf-ficient economic presence.” In addition, Cayman was instructed to “abolish or amend legal mechanisms “Monitoring the size and growth of crypto-asset markets is critical to understanding the potential size of wealth effects, should valuations fall.” FINANCIAL STABILITY BOARD REPORT In this Feb. 7, 2018 file photo, a neon sign hanging in the window of Healthy Harvest Indoor Gardening in Hillsboro, Oregon, shows that the business accepts bitcoin as payment. - PHOTO: AP PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 11 » Cayman’s Minister for Financial Services Tara Rivers speaks during a Centre for European Policy Studies seminar in Brussels on May 23. Also speaking were Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, left, and Jeppe Kofod, Member of the European Parliament, right. CEPS’ CEO Karel Lannoom, second from left, moderated. THE CAYMAN ISLANDS JOURNAL Cryptocurrencies no threat to financial stability, yet High of 90 Low of 78 Slight to moderate with wave heights of 2 to 4 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 WORK PERMIT STATS REFLECT CAYMAN’S CHANGING FACE2 LOCAL NEWS WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS • Matinees Daily (matinee price before 6pm) • Seniors $8.00, Mon-Fri Before 6pm • Additional charges apply per 3D/VIP tickets Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 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 - 640-FILM (640-3456) MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT (PG13) 12:30 VIP I 1:00 3D I 3:45 VIP I 4:15 7:00 VIP I 7:30 3D THE EQUALIZER 2 (R) 1:15 I 4:25 I 6:35 I 9:30 HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 (PG) 1:35 I 6:45 INCREDIBLES 2 (PG) 4:00 I 9:10 BLINDSPOTTING (R) 7:20 I 9:40 MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN (PG13) 1:00 I 3:40 I 7:25 I 10:10 VIP SKYSCRAPER (PG13) 1:50 3D I 4:10 I 10:00 We are pleased to announce Dr. Stephen Tomlinson now works exclusively at The Savannah Medical Clinic Countryside Shopping Village Hirst Rd & Shamrock Rd. Monday through Friday Phone 749-6066 for appointments Man in ‘romantic triangle’ denied bail CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A man reportedly involved in “some sort of romantic triangle” was refused bail when he appeared in Sum- mary Court late Monday on charges that included assault and aggravated burglary. Kurt Carter, 28, was repre- sented by attorney Jonathon Hughes, who used the term to explain the background to what the defendant said had happened. Mr. Carter had been out drinking on Wednesday night, July 25. In the early hours of what was by then Thursday, July 26, he decided to visit a woman he had known for some 10 years. He thought he would “check” her and “maybe hook up.” After knocking on a window and receiving no answer, Mr. Carter tried the door and it was open. He pre- sumed he had permission to enter. Inside, he was met by a man and got into a situation that led to self-defense, the attorney said. What allegedly happened next was narrated by Crown counsel Scott Wainwright, who objected to the applica- tion for bail. He said a woman in the Prospect area phoned police and reported that her neighbor had been assaulted and abducted by the defen- dant. Officers went to the scene and heard that the witness had been awakened around 2:30 a.m. by a dog barking, a woman screaming and loud knocking. She saw her neighbor on the ground outside and Mr. Carter was beating her with a broom- stick. She went to intervene and assisted the victim into her home, which was near the victim’s. Mr. Carter then allegedly entered the neighbor’s home as an intruder while carrying the broken broomstick, which resulted in a charge of ag- gravated burglary – entering with a weapon with intent to commit an offense. Inside the house, he reportedly dam- aged one of the neighbor’s possessions, hit the neighbor and called her names, then dragged the victim from the premises into his car and drove off. Mr. Wainwright said that while police were still at the scene, Mr. Carter and the woman returned to the scene, but then drove away. Police went after them using the ve- hicle’s blue lights and siren. The driver stopped at a main road, but then took off again. Officers stopped him later. Mr. Wainwright said the man who was in the house with the female victim had also been attacked. The charges against Mr. Carter were assault causing actual bodily harm, common assault, damage to property and aggravated burglary. This last offense can be tried only in Grand Court, he noted. Mr. Hughes handed up two letters said to have been written by the women in- volved in the matter. He sug- gested that the court should bear their views in mind when deciding on bail. Magistrate Valdis Foldats said that suggesting a “ro- mantic triangle” downplayed the seriousness of the alle- gations. He agreed that the matter had to be dealt with in Grand Court and told Mr. Carter he could apply for bail there. Meanwhile, he re- manded the defendant in custody and set the matter for mention in the higher court on Friday, Aug. 17. The charges against Mr. Carter were assault causing actual bodily harm, common assault, damage to property and aggravated burglary. Family celebrates North Sider’s 92nd birthday A large gathering of family and friends of North Sider Clinton Onslow Whittaker celebrated the retired merchant seaman’s 92nd birthday on Sunday. Mr. Whittaker, who sailed for 22 years with National Bulk Carriers, is father to Handel, Jerry and Archie Whittaker and daughter Shirley-Ann Scott; and is also a grandfather and great-grandfather. – PHOTO: GEORGE NOWAK Immigration Department begins amnesty for overstayers BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Non-Caymanians who have remained in the islands for too long, or whose work permits have expired, will be given a month to turn them- selves in to avoid prosecution. The Cayman Islands Im- migration Department is be- ginning an amnesty program for certain immigration- related offenses during the month of August. The amnesty period will end Aug. 31. The amnesty was re- cently suggested by Magis- trate Valdis Foldats, who pre- sided over a court case where a Jamaican national who had overstayed for six years was sentenced to eight months imprisonment. Crown counsel prose- cuting the matter noted that deportation had been con- sidered, rather than taking on the additional expense of keeping the man in Cayman. Mr. Foldats was con- cerned about the message the court would be sending: “What message does it send to other people if he goes home and says, ‘Hey, I over- stayed for six years and got a free ride home!’ There should be some penalty.” “I think we can all agree there are a number of people who have overstayed and not been caught,” the magis- trate commented later. “There might be an amnesty. People might be encouraged to give themselves up.” Typically immigration amnesties focus on the spe- cific offenses of overstaying and working without a valid permit. However, local em- ployers can also turn in workers who are here il- legally without risk of being prosecuted. The last time the Immigra- tion Department attempted an amnesty was in mid-2010, during which time more than 40 people – ranging in age from six months old to 80 years old – were deported from the islands. At the time, immigra- tion officials were concerned about so-called “work per- mits of convenience” – those for individuals who have no, or irregular, work offered by the permit holder. The Immigration De- partment reported that 336 people were arrested be- tween July 2016 and No- vember 2017 for the offense of overstaying or assisting another person to overstay. Premier Alden McLaughlin said at the time the figures were revealed in the Legisla- tive Assembly’s Finance Com- mittee that those arrests, while of concern, may not receive the public attention previously given to the crime of overstaying. “I think we’re doing more [enforcement] now than ever before,” the pre- mier said. “But I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, sad to say, these offenses are … not making the waves they once did.” Also, many overstaying cases do not come before the Cayman Islands court system, since the Immigra- tion Department was given the ability in recent years to issue administrative fines. In most overstaying matters, in- dividuals pay a sum of money and then voluntarily remove themselves from the islands, eliminating the need for a “prohibited immigrant” order from the Governor’s Office. The Immigration Department reported that 336 people were arrested between July 2016 and November 2017 for the offense of overstaying or assisting another person to overstay.3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1, 2018 ARMOUR EXPO 2018 GRAND CAYMAN MARRIOTT BEACH RESORT WEDNESDAY 12 SEPTEMBER - 2 STAGES, 20+ PRESENTERS 6 CPE NASBA, LIMITED SPACES AVAILABLE - SIGN UP TODAY AI IN FINTECH Finding Fraud with Crypto and Hunting for Fake News Erin Kelly, CEO at Advanced Symbolics INTERNET OF THINGS Understanding and Managing Risks and the Internet of Things Tyson Macaulay, Chief Product Officer at Infosec Global DATA PROTECTION So You Dodged a Bullet On GDPR, Well Here Comes The Cayman Data Protection Law Iain Kenny, Director, Advisory Services at KPMG WWW.ARMOUREXPO.COM CALL 946 3673 INFO@ARMOUREXPO.COM Legislative Assembly meeting heads to Cayman Brac BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman Islands law- makers will hold their next Legislative Assembly meeting at the Aston Rutty Centre on Cayman Brac, starting Sept. 5, Premier Alden McLaughlin confirmed this week. The last assembly meeting held in the Brac was in 2014. Before that, lawmakers had not convened in the Sister Is- lands since 2003. Mr. McLaughlin said Tuesday that his government would like to hold at least one meeting per term away from Grand Cayman as a matter of standard practice. “It gives us great pleasure and satisfaction that while we live in a country that is a global leader in the finan- cial services industry, we re- main small enough to bring the business of the Legisla- tive Assembly to the people who do not live on the main island,” the premier said. The meeting is only ex- pected to last three days, from Sept. 5 to Sept. 7. A Cabinet meeting will also be held in the Brac on Sept. 4, before the start of the assembly. Cabinet typically meets in the Sister Islands about once a year. There are already plans for significant legislation to come before the House during the September meeting, the third one to be held this year. WORC Substantial changes to work permit advertisement and approval processes, as well as the establishment of what is essentially a com- plaints board for local job- seekers who do not get hired, are due to come before the Leg- islative Assembly next month. The newly formed Work- force Opportunities and Res- idency Cayman, or WORC, agency will oversee the new work permit approval pro- cess to ensure confirmation that there is not an avail- able, qualified Caymanian to take a position offered and that the permit approval pro- cess would be “efficient and mindful of the needs of the business” seeking the permit. The WORC agency also seeks to focus on “skills gaps” in the local job market, iden- tifying students who are re- turning home from university or job vacancies in fields that most Caymanians can fill. Premier McLaughlin said earlier this year that the WORC agency would be divided into nine separate but interrelated sections. Those would include: a labor market assessment unit, a training and develop- ment unit, a matching and placement unit (jobs clearing- house), a work permit appli- cation unit (which considers permanent residence and Cay- manian status bids, as well), an appeals unit, an audit unit and a customer service unit. Anti-corruption Investigators working for the Cayman Islands Anti- Corruption Commission will be granted the legal right to carry some weapons and pro- tective gear, if a recently pro- posed bill is approved by local lawmakers. Amendments sought to the Anti-Corruption Law will let investigating officers carry body armor, batons, Tasers, pepper spray, hand- cuffs and other restraints in specific situations. “It is simply about af- fording investigators the same health and safety pro- tections that their counter- parts in other entities such as the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service are afforded, given that they perform sim- ilar duties and have the same powers of arrest,” said Deb- orah Bodden, head of the commission’s secretariat, which manages the Anti-Cor- ruption Commission. Until 2016, the Anti-Cor- ruption Unit was staffed with seconded RCIPS officers, but has been granted the ability to hire its own investigators in recent years. The commission secre- tariat now employs one se- nior investigator and six investigators including one trainee. They are not RCIPS offi- cers, but they are given the same powers under the law in the carrying out of various criminal investigations. Red Cross The legislature will also consider a bill that would establish the Cayman Is- lands Red Cross as a corpo- rate body, a change that has been sought by the agency for some years. The legislation would give the Red Cross the power to sue and be sued in its own name. The amendment bill also seeks to establish a com- mittee to be the governing body of the Cayman Is- lands Red Cross. The bill generally seeks to define the purposes of the Cayman Islands Red Cross, which include working for the improvement of health, prevention of disease and for the prevention and alle- viation of human suffering in the Cayman Islands. Legislators gather for a meeting of the Legislative Assembly at the Aston Rutty Centre on Cayman Brac at the last meeting on the island, in April 2014. - PHOTO: BRENT FULLERThe islands’ most-trusted news source 4 – EDITORIAL – Opinion&Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass office. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com ADVERTISE WITH US: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS DAVID R. LEGGE AND VICKI L. LEGGE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DAVID R. LEGGE EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will findtheirownway” New immigration figures confirm that the Cayman Islands population is not just changing; it has already changed. On many occasions, we have written about the rela- tionship between immigration and economics, typically on the idea that in a small jurisdiction such as Cayman, a country’s immigration policy is its economic policy. Today’s editorial concerns the inverse, but equally true, observation – that Cayman’s economic performance drives demographic shifts. As the Compass reported this week, over the past two years there have been significant increases in the number of Indian and Filipino workers in Cayman, accom- panied by a decline in work permit holders from North America and the United Kingdom. Since 2016, the number of Indian nationals holding work permits in Cayman has increased by 26 percent, and now stands at 1,168. India is now the fourth-most rep- resented country on Cayman’s work permit list, behind only Jamaica (10,924 permits), the Philippines (3,626) and the U.K. (1,798). Two years ago, India was seventh, and in the interim leapt over Honduras, Canada and the United States. In the absence of precise employment figures, we can only hypothesize why so many more people from India are taking jobs in Cayman. To arrive at the most obvious explanation, you only need to turn your gaze to the east, to the flourishing campus of Health City Cayman Islands, where Dr. Devi Shetty’s vision of establishing Cayman as a world-class destination for excellent healthcare continues to progress. In a cycle of symbiosis, growth of the medical center (and its supporting services) engenders a greater demand for workers, both foreign and “homegrown,” bringing an invigorating economic stimulus to the still-sleepy district of East End. While there is no equivalent “point source” for the continuing rise in Filipino workers, overall prosperity and development in Cayman continues to attract workers from the Southeast Asian archipelago. Since 2016, the number of work permit holders from the Philippines has increased by 17 percent. In total, the number of active work permits in Cayman stood at 25,620 in July. Officials say the shifts in national origin are accompa- nied by more subtle demographic changes in Cayman’s expatriate workforce. Although work permit holders continue to be mostly males between the ages of 35 and 50, the expatriate population is now much more likely to be single and working under shorter-term arrangements, and less likely to bring dependents and family members with them to Cayman. The figures, of course, do not include permanent resi- dents or non-Caymanian spouses of Caymanians. As we have written before, although the proportion of Cayma- nians in the country’s population has remained steady over the past 20 years (at about 57 percent), the demo- graphic identity of “locals” has undergone its own evo- lution, as former work permit holders and their children qualify for permanent residence, and eventually Cayma- nian status, and make Cayman their adopted home. Much (too much) political rhetoric focuses on the facile and false dichotomy between the interests of “Caymanians” and “foreigners.” In fact, the fabric of Cayman society is a tapestry of multitudinous interwoven threads, including generational Caymanians (“sons of the soil”), Caymanians by choice (“paper Caymanians”), permanent residents, newly arrived expatriates and work permit holders only planning to stay for the short term. Make no mistake: Cayman’s diversity, and concomitant vitality, is the foundation for the country’s growth and prosperity, in the past, present and future. The proper response to such a phenomenon is popular celebration – not political protectionism. Work permit stats reflect Cayman’s changing face WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS LETTER TO THE EDITOR Why ACC investigators should be armed I write in reply to your editorial of July 30, (“Don’t answer the latest call to arms”) which asks a few questions of me. 1. What is the evidence to support this request? Are there incidents unknown to the general public to sug- gest ACC officers are, or have been, in danger? While information deemed as intelligence cannot be re- leased, the Anti-Corruption Commission (the “Commis- sion”) (made up of Richard Coles (Chairman) along with Members Kenrick Hall, So- phia Harris, Kadi Pentney and Timothy Ridley) can in- dicate that its investigators have not been involved in any situation in which there has been any use of force. Inves- tigators have, however, had to make informed changes to operational plans to mitigate risks which have been identi- fied in advance through intel- ligence gathering. Whilst the editorial classifies all opera- tions of the Commission as “white-collar crimes” there is no evidence to suggest that perpetrators (who come from a wide range of back- grounds) of such crimes pose no danger to the individuals seeking to bring their corrup- tion efforts to an end. Even with comprehensive risk as- sessments, there is always an element of unknown for Investigators. It is for those reasons that investigators not only need to have access to protective equipment but will continue to liaise with RCIPS where necessary for operational purposes, even with what the Commission hopes will be the successful passage of the Anti-Corrup- tion (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (the “Bill’). 2. Who are these offi- cers? What are their back- grounds? What levels of training have they received? As you are aware the Anti- Corruption Law was revised in 2016 in order to enhance the independence of the Com- mission and its operational abilities. Following the pas- sage of this legislation, the Commissions Secretariat suc- cessfully recruited staff that fulfills the roles of Senior In- vestigator, Investigator and Trainee Investigator. The post-holder of Se- nior Investigator is required to have, among other experi- ence and skills, a minimum of 15 years investigatory ex- perience, at least 10 of which must be as a senior investi- gator in anti-corruption re- lated enquiries; while the post-holders of Investigator are required to have, amongst other experience and skills, a minimum of 10 years investi- gatory experience, at least five of which must be as an inves- tigator in serious or complex crime related enquiries. All staff employed in these roles must have de- monstrable experience and ability in the investigation of serious, protracted and often complex criminal of- fenses, with the exception of the Trainee Investigator. At present the Commissions Secretariat employs a Senior Investigator and five Inves- tigators who have between 15 and 40 years’ experience in policing from the U.K. (in- cluding the Met and Scot- land Yard Policing), Grand Cayman, and other coun- tries. All have been Officers with the Royal Cayman Is- lands [Police Force] with ranks of Detective Constable, Detective Sergeant or Detec- tive Inspector. Their experi- ences include conducting in- vestigations in the areas of fraud, organized crime, com- plex crime, intelligence gath- ering, high profile, murder enquiries, corruption, money laundering, terrorist finance, source handling, financial crimes, major incident rooms, serious and violent crimes, serious sexual offences, drug crimes, professional stan- dards, handling and de- ploying covert human intelli- gence sources, etc. Current staff, again with the exception of the Trainee Investigator, have re- ceived numerous trainings over the years on the use and deployment of equip- ment such as batons and pepper spray. With the suc- cessful passage of the Bill, all staff issued with protec- tive equipment will receive the necessary training and refresher courses, and will be subject to appropriate over- sight and reporting. Prelim- inary discussions with the Commissioner of Police re- garding the attendance of the Investigators at RCIPS training courses have al- ready taken place. The editorial also indi- cates that there are other agencies in Cayman with similar powers of arrest which, the editorial pre- sumes, do not already have the powers being requested by the Commission for its in- vestigators. A review of the respective legislation of those agencies named in the ed- itorial shows: Immigration Law (2015 Revision) s.103 – Authorisation to carry arms An immigration of- ficer, with the authority of the Chief Immigration Of- ficer given under and in ac- cordance with the general or special directions of the Governor, is entitled in the performance of his duties to carry arms. “Arms” means firearms as defined in the Firearms Law (2008 Revision), and includes batons and handcuffs. Customs Law (2017 Revision) s.10(1) – Issuance of equipment, etc. The Collector shall have power to provide officers with equipment, clothing, ap- pointments, cleaning mate- rials, insecticides and such other things as may be nec- essary or expedient for the performance of their du- ties and, to this end, may issue to customs officers a double-lock handcuff, 22” to 24” expandable baton and defence spray. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 5 »5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1, 2018 The National Conservation Law, 2013 s.25(4) – Conservation officers A conservation of- ficer, with the written authority of the Di- rector given in accor- dance with directions of the Governor, may in the performance of his du- ties, carry such arms as may be specified in the written authority. “Arms” includes ba- tons, handcuffs and other means of restraint, pro- tective vests, tasers and pepper spray. Port Authority Law (1999 Revision) s.8 – Port officers Port officers, who may be members of the public service on secondment, are officers of the Au- thority and have within a port or port area the powers of constables and may be employed upon a full or part time basis in such grades and at such rates of pay as may from time to time be deter- mined by the Authority. The Commission has a very good relation- ship with the Commis- sioner of Police, and the RCIPS in general, and joint operations will con- tinue to take place where that is considered nec- essary in the particular circumstances. That being said, it is disappointing that the Compass Editorial Board sought to undermine the Commission’s investiga- tors by alluding to them being untrained and unregulated. Such an allusion not only negatively affects the reputation of the Commis- sion but also our anti-cor- ruption and national se- curity efforts. Our investigators must be, and have been (by a member of the judiciary) commended for their me- ticulous work and exem- plary dedication to the anti-corruption efforts in the Cayman Islands. Deborah Bodden Manager, Commissions Secretariat Why ACC investigators should be armed Court hears guns found under ‘shoe’ tree Two on trial for unlicensed firearms CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Trial began in Grand Court this week for two men charged with possession of firearms. Gerald Jaleel Bush and Rico Roy Walton are ac- cused of being in possession of a Colt .45 loaded with six rounds of ammunition and a Trabzon 9mm handgun. The jury of five women and two men heard on Tuesday morning that the guns were found by Deputy Commissioner of Police Kurt Walton around 12:45 a.m. on Sunday, June 25, 2017. Deputy Commissioner Walton told the court that he and a police constable were returning from the Drugs Task Force base via Shamrock Road and South Sound. As a result of what he was hearing over the police radio, they pulled over on South Sound Road near a casuarina tree commonly referred to as the “shoe tree” or “flip-flop tree.” He said he observed a man in a small boat about 25 feet from shore. When he shone his vehicle headlights on the boat, it turned and headed to- ward the South Sound dock. He then got out of his vehicle and walked on the beach to the tree. After searching around the roots of the tree with his flashlight, he saw a black sock and the butt of a gun in the sock. Looking more closely, he saw a second butt of a gun. He said he contacted other officers, including scenes-of- crime and firearms officers and stayed at the scene to preserve it until they arrived. Defense attorney Jona- thon Hughes asked if he had observed how those firearms came to be there. Mr. Walton indicated that he had not. The court also heard from Police Constable Ronnie Pol- lard, tactical flight officer with the Air Operations Unit, which runs the police helicopter. He narrated film footage taken from the helicopter on June 24, 2017, going into the early hours of June 25. He explained that the camera on board op- erated by thermal imaging, which means that the camera can pick up things that emit heat, even if it is dark. Jurors watched the film for about an hour and a half on Monday afternoon. Mr. Pollard said it showed a small vessel outside the reef, then coming through the South Sound channel at three minutes after midnight. The vessel had two individ- uals aboard. It headed to- ward Old Crewe Road, where one person disembarked. The vessel then traveled near the shore. In the area of Cayman Crossing, around 12:38 a.m., a person is seen walking from one tree to another and then back, after which the boat leaves and comes to shore at the South Sound dock. Mr. Pollard said he trans- mitted these movements via radio to police units on the ground. In his opening ad- dress to the jury, Deputy Di- rector of Public Prosecutions Patrick Moran said it was the Crown’s case that the guns were brought to South Sound by the defendants. He said Rico Roy Walton was detained by police at the South Sound dock. Gerald Jaleel Bush was said to be the individual who left the boat earlier. Trial was scheduled to con- tinue with police witnesses. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Another Cuban migrant released from detention center Government has con- firmed that one more Cuban migrant was re- leased from the Immigra- tion Detention Centre on Friday, bringing the total number of migrants on supervised release to six. The migrants are living in the Cayman community while their applications for asylum are processed. The releases come after the Department of Im- migration announced in July that it is “reviewing alternatives” to keeping the 13 asylum-seeking Cuban migrants detained at the Immigration De- tention Centre. Most of the migrants had been detained there for more than a year. Academy students build remote-control aquatic craft Taking a cue from Cay- man’s nautical past, a group of students tackled the challenge of building their own boats at last week’s Minds Inspired Academy Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering camp. The academy is produced in partnership with Webb In- stitute, an undergraduate naval architecture and marine engineering school. Matthew Werner, dean of Webb Insti- tute, led the five-day program. Students learned basic principles of marine engi- neering before designing re- motely operated vehicles. Once they completed the theory and design process, the students built and tested their creations. On the final day of the camp, the students put the watercraft through a series of timed tasks to determine which was best. The tasks in- cluded transporting bricks from one side of a pool to the other, a tug of war and a race to see which boat was fastest. Girl Power, engi- neered by an all-female team, was the winner. “MI Academy is designed to boost student interest in [science, technology, engi- neering and math] through ap- plied theory and hands-on ed- ucational activities,” Glenda McTaggart, education pro- grams manager at Dart, said in a statement. “I was amazed by how engaged the partici- pants were and how well they translated advanced engi- neering concepts into opera- tional devices.” Students that missed this year’s academy can sign up for SeaPerch at their school in the coming term to learn similar marine engineering concepts and build their own remotely operated vehicles. Teams from each school come together every March for the Cayman Islands SeaPerch competition, where the top two teams move on to an in- ternational competition. Students at the Minds Inspired Academy Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering camp.The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS The Royal Cayman Is- lands Police Service has pre- viously confirmed its belief American authorities never sent an extradition request for two of the suspects, Mr. Watson and Mr. Santamaria, and the office of the director of public prosecutions in Cayman does not comment on extradition requests. Mr. Terry, Mr. Watson and Mr. Santamaria were charged along with Mikkyle Brandon Leslie, Alexander Michael Henry (referred to in some records as Michael Alexander Henry) and Tito Bonilla during a period be- tween late 2011 and early 2012. Mr. Bonilla pleaded guilty to one count of con- spiring to transport fire- arms and was deported from the U.S. All charges against Mr. Henry were even- tually dropped. Mr. Leslie pleaded guilty in February 2013 to one of seven counts in a U.S. fed- eral court indictment. He was sentenced in Fort Lauder- dale, Florida, to 46 months in prison, with an additional three-year period of super- vised release. According to count one of the federal indictment, Mr. Leslie “did knowingly and willfully combine, conspire, confederate and agree with persons known and unknown … to knowingly and willfully deliver and cause to be deliv- ered to a common carrier … a package or container con- taining a firearm and ammu- nition without written no- tice to the carrier that such firearm and ammunition was being transported and shipped … and did know- ingly and fraudulently ex- port, attempt to export, and send from the United States to a place outside the U.S., that is, the Cayman Islands, merchandise, articles and objects, that is, firearms and ammunition, contrary to the laws and regulations of the United States ….” In return for the guilty plea to count one of the in- dictment, the U.S. government agreed to dismiss counts two through seven in the charge against Mr. Leslie. Mr. Terry was sentenced in the Cayman Islands on a conviction relating to posses- sion of a weapon that U.S. au- thorities believed to be part of the Florida-Cayman gun smuggling and which was used to fire shots at the home of former Cayman Islands Chief Magistrate Margaret Ramsey-Hale in 2010, court records state. Although some details of the Florida-Cayman gun smuggling operation were re- ported by the Cayman Com- pass as early as 2009, the full extent of the investigation was not known publicly until the newspaper obtained a probable cause affidavit filed by U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, To- bacco, Firearms and Explo- sives investigators in early December 2011. That document, required to be filed so officers could arrest Mr. Leslie, named roughly a dozen other indi- viduals who U.S. authorities believed played some role in the gun smuggling operation. The affidavit does not amount to criminal charges against those named individuals. Sev- eral individuals named in the document have never been charged in either the U.S. or the Cayman Islands. US charges dismissed in ‘guns in fridge’ case CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida hereby dismisses without prejudice the indictment against the above named defendant[s] because the witnesses are no longer available.” U.S. COURT RECORDS property, government up- graded the front part of the road and erected the sign. The Off the Beaten Path Road sign began to attract attention from the first day it was planted there by the National Roads Authority, Mr. Bodden said. What is down the road? “I have about 25 cows, 60 goats, chickens, and a huge assortment of vege- table and fruit trees, such as mangoes, peppers, cal- laloo, sweet potatoes, star fruit, breadfruits, plantains, okra, June plum, pump- kins, avocado and even grapes in God’s country,” Mr. Bodden said. While he does not live there himself, he says he dreams of doing so one day. The National Roads Au- thority was unable to state how many times the road sign had been replaced. “I am not sure if people are taking the signs but if they are disappearing, until someone actually wit- nesses the fact, we at NRA can’t really do anything about it,” said Delroy Myles of the National Roads Authority’s Signs and Lines Department. The price of replacing a street sign varies de- pending on the size, he said, and can cost up to $200. There are no cur- rent regulations pre- scribing penalties for theft or damage to public road signs, he added. ‘Off the Beaten Path’ sign popular with thieves CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The Off The Beaten Path Road sign in North Side has been stolen numerous times over the years by unauthorized sign collectors. - PHOTO: JEWEL LEVY UN calls on neighbors to receive those fleeing Nicaragua PENAS BLANCAS, Nicaragua (AP) – Thousands of people are fleeing political violence and rights violations in Ni- caragua following a violent crackdown on anti-govern- ment protests. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights called on other na- tions Tuesday to help Costa Rica, which has been flooded with thousands of re- quests for asylum. Giulia Mortrones said she had headed by bus to the Costa Rican border because university students like her had become a target for Nica- raguan police. “We were afraid that something would happen to us,” Mortrones said while waiting at Penas Blancas, on the border with Costa Rica. “We are fleeing from there (Nicaragua), from the na- tional police, because they are following all students.” The flight of Nicaraguans has intensified in the past month since Ortega’s po- lice and paramilitary forces worked to clear the last of the barricades that had been knotting the country’s traffic since April. In July, paramilitary forces attacked students who had been holed up at the Na- tional Autonomous Univer- sity of Nicaragua, one of the opposition’s last bastions in Managua. Then a couple of days later, police and armed, masked civilians routed the opposition stronghold of Monimbo in Masaya, about an hour south of the capital. People who observed the barricades in their neigh- borhoods said government informants had been com- piling lists of who was man- ning them or supporting them. People on those lists are now being systemi- cally hunted and arrested, according to Nicaraguan human rights groups. In Masaya last week, sev- eral dozen people, mostly women, waited outside the town’s police station for word of their loved ones. One woman, who declined to give her name because she hoped her son would soon be released, said he had been arrested the week be- fore while trying to flee into Costa Rica. The police had sent him back to Masaya and he was being investigated for his alleged participation in the barricades. Student leader Victor Cua- dras, however, made it to Costa Rica this month. “There’s an arrest war- rant for me because they’re accusing me of terrorism,” Cuadras said by phone. He was working to organize sup- port to pressure Ortega. He had already met with former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias and members of the country’s legislature. “Those who manage to flee cross to Costa Rica or Hon- duras,” Cuadras said. “There are many who have already been taken prisoner.” Journalists saw three young Nicaraguan men or- dered off a bus headed into Costa Rica Tuesday at the Pena Blancas crossing, ap- parently for lack of appro- priate documents. The U.N. office said Costa Rica is receiving about 200 asylum applications per day. Masked women take part in a demonstration supporting journalists recently attacked while covering protests demanding the resignation of President Daniel Ortega and the release of all political prisoners, in Managua, Nicaragua, Monday. - PHOTO: APThe islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1, 2018 Building Tomorrow Today CIBC Cayman Bank Limited Scholarship 2018 CIBC Cayman Bank Limited Invites applications from suitable quali ed Caymanians for an annual Scholarship to pursue an Associates or Bachelor’s degree at a local university. Candidates should have been accepted for the 2018 academic year. Successful candidates should have: • An interest in pursuing a degree in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance, Management, Marketing, IT or Human Resources • A proven academic record (GPA of 3.0 or higher) • Caymanian status or be Caymanian Email: human.resourcescayman@wi.cibc.com to obtain scholarship guidelines and application form Deadline for applications is August 17th, 2018 in good shape for continued growth. He said Airbnb was bringing new and more af- fordable rooms into the market and allowing the Cayman Islands to advertise itself as a destination to a broader demographic. Last year, some 8,600 guests stayed at the 470 Airbnb properties in Grand Cayman, netting a com- bined $3.8 million for prop- erty owners, according to the company. An agreement between government and Airbnb, signed in March, is expected to facilitate further growth in this sector. “Airbnb is an important addition,” Mr. Kirkconnell said. “One of the parts that we really like is that it gives the opportunity for everyone to be involved in tourism.” He said it was a chance to put Caymanians front and center in the industry and allow local entrepreneurs to share in the islands’ success. He also highlighted new hotel developments planned for the next few years as a sign of the health of the in- dustry. A developer has an- nounced plans for a Man- darin Oriental Hotel in Beach Bay, Bodden Town, while Dart has been linked with a Four Seasons Hotel development on Seven Mile Beach and the Howard Hos- pitality Group is involved with a project to bring a Hyatt resort to the old Pag- eant Beach site. Mr. Kirkconnell added, “Airbnb has given us smaller properties and opportunities but we can’t forget the 20 percent room stock coming in the next three years. Some of the hotel brands we are now attracting give us the ability to look from five- star down to where we have a mixed offering, and we try to look at that as an opportu- nity for marketing to a wide range of customers.” The Department of Tourism also announced that it has hired a new creative and advertising company, The Richards Group, based out of Dallas, Texas, to work on its campaigns. attorneys Amelia Fosuhene and Lee Halliday-Davis cited a well-known legal principle: If there is no evidence the de- fendant has committed the crime alleged, the judge will stop the case. The difficulty arises where there is some evidence, but it is of a ten- uous character, for example, because of inherent weak- nesses or vagueness or be- cause it is inconsistent with other evidence. Where the judge comes to the conclusion that the pros- ecution’s evidence is such that a jury could not properly convict upon it, it is his duty, upon a submission being made, to stop the case. That is what Justice Belle did after referring to evi- dence the court had heard. The judge said that when police attended the defen- dants’ home, Jaron Sol- omon attempted to leave through the back door on the motorbike the police were searching for. This resulted in a phys- ical confrontation, which of- ficers described as a tussle or struggle. When offi- cers held on to Jaron Sol- omon, his brother reached for a stone and police used a Taser on him. Officers’ accounts of what happened differed in terms of the sequence of events, where various people were at certain times and what was said by the defendants. Each defense attorney re- ferred to specific conflicts in the evidence. The judge also noted that the evidence indicated that Jaron Solomon was not ar- rested. He said in his ruling that the officers never men- tioned to Mr. Solomon that he was under arrest. The Police Law was clear, he emphasized. Where a person is arrested, he is to be informed 1) that he is under arrest and 2) of the nature of the offense for which he is being arrested “as soon as is practicable” after his ar- rest. This applies “regardless of whether the fact of the ar- rest is obvious.” The Police Law goes on to say that officers are not required to inform the person of the above if the person has escaped from arrest before the informa- tion could be given. The “no case” submission and ruling took place in the absence of the jury. When the jury returned, Justice Belle in- structed them to return not- guilty verdicts. After the jury was re- leased, the judge commented to Crown counsel Kenneth Ferguson: “You can only do the case that you are given.” Mr. Ferguson replied: “And I intend to send out an email to the relevant se- nior officer of the RCIPS to instruct their service offi- cers how to effect an arrest under the existing law of the Cayman Islands.” Minister: Tourism’s record streak set to continue Mr. Kirkconnell said a total of 215,000 extra visitors had brought an additional $60 million in direct spending to island businesses. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Judge stops trial, brothers not guilty CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 India is on the greatest toilet-building spree in human history, and it’s a windfall for companies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s $20 billion “Clean India” mission aims to con- struct 111 million latrines in five years. Besides promising to improve the health, safety and dignity of hundreds of millions of Indians, the na- tional hygiene drive has spurred an 81 percent jump in sales of concrete building materials and 48 percent in- crease in bathroom and san- itaryware sales, according to Euromonitor Interna- tional. That’s benefiting firms from Tata Group, the na- tion’s largest conglomerate, to cleaning-products maker Reckitt Benckiser Group. Almost 80 million house- hold toilets are estimated to have been built since Modi’s 2014 pledge to ensure uni- versal sanitation coverage by October 2019, which will mark 150 years since the birth of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi. The scale- up of latrines and a na- tionwide campaign to en- courage their use is driving a market for toilet-related products and services that is predicted to double to $62 billion by 2021. “It’s the biggest, most suc- cessful behavior-change cam- paign in the world,” said Val Curtis, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s En- vironmental Health Group, who has worked on the pro- gram in India. “Every time I go there, I feel like I can’t sit down for weeks after be- cause I’m excited about what they’re doing. It’s incredible.” Bollywood celebrity Ak- shay Kumar, star of the san- itation-promoting movie “Toilet: Ek Prem Katha” (or “Toilet: A Love Story”), was appointed brand ambassador this month for Harpic, the bowl-cleaner made by Reckitt Benckiser. The Slough, Eng- land-based company, which also sells the disinfectant Dettol, dominates the toilet- care market in India, with sales climbing 11 percent to $105.7 million last year, Eu- romonitor data show. “We are one of the most trusted brands in India, and we’ve always managed to outperform the market with Dettol,” Rakesh Kapoor, Reckitt Benckiser’s India- born chief executive officer, said on a conference call in April. The company has been able to increase awareness of its cleaning products by working with open-defeca- tion-free communities and households to promote sani- tation and hygiene. That is a common theme across suppliers of home- care products, according to Sowmya Adiraju, a research analyst at Euromonitor in Bengaluru. For example, Hin- dustan Unilever Ltd. entered the low-cost toilet cleaner market with a new powdered product, and has been trying to make toilets accessible and affordable through its Domex Toilet Academy. Companies are investing heavily on spreading aware- ness about better hygiene products, aiding the penetra- tion of home care products in India, which is still low by global standards, Adiraju said in an email. The “Clean India” mis- sion has had a “largely posi- tive” impact on suppliers of sanitaryware and tiles, sales of which are predicted to ex- pand about 11 percent annu- ally through 2022, according to Adiraju. The sanitation campaign was anticipated initially to provide a bigger sales boost, but some com- panies have partnered with governments more as a social initiative than a business op- portunity, she said. Before Modi began the Clean India program, known locally as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan mission, the country accounted for more than half of the world’s 1.1 billion people who routinely relieve themselves in fields, beaches and other open spaces. So-called open defeca- tion contaminates food and drinking water, and spreads diarrheal diseases that cause chronic malnutrition and childhood stunting – a burden the World Bank estimated costs India 6.4 percent of its gross domestic product. World’s biggest toilet-building spree is under way in India A toilet block, built by villagers with support from Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, stands on the roof of a house in Hirmtala village, Haryana, India, on Nov. 4, 2015. - PHOTO: BLOOMBERGThe islands’ most-trusted news source 8 BERLIN (AP) – The heat wave gripping large stretches of Eu- rope has already been blamed for deadly forest fires and crop failures. Now freshwater fish could be its next victims. Some regions in Germany sweltered as the mercury hit 39 degrees Celsius (102 F,) and the German Meteorolog- ical Office said the country’s all-time record of 40.3 Cel- sius (104.5 Fahrenheit) could be topped Tuesday. Rivers like the Rhine and the Elbe have soaked up so much heat that fish are be- ginning to suffocate. “I’m expecting a tragedy as soon as next week,” Philipp Sicher from the Swiss Fishery Association told German news agency dpa. In Hamburg, authori- ties collected almost 11,000 pounds of dead fish from ponds over the weekend, dpa reported. Firefighters have started pumping fresh water into some ponds and lakes in a bid to raise oxygen levels. Scientists say the record heat seen in Europe but also North America and parts of Asia this year points to the influence of man-made cli- mate change, and could be- come more common in future. Several of Germany’s nu- clear power stations are re- ducing energy output be- cause rivers used to cool the power plants are too warm. The low water levels have also made shipping more dif- ficult, with a complete ban imposed on boats on the Oder river in eastern Germany. Meanwhile, the coun- try’s Farmer’s Association is asking the government for 1 billion euros (US$1.17 bil- lion) in financial aid to help cover losses from this year’s poor harvest. Association president Joachim Rukwied said German farmers expect the grain harvest to be 20 per- cent smaller than last year, with rapeseed crops down 30 percent, as it has barely rained during the past 12 weeks, dpa reported. A group representing potato farmers said they are expecting har- vests to be 25 percent smaller than last year and warned that the losses may lead not only to more expensive but also shorter French fries – because the spuds are so small this year. The oceans, too, have been affected. Authorities in Po- land last week banned swim- ming at over 50 beaches along its Baltic coast, after hot weather led to the growth of toxic bacteria in the unusu- ally warm sea. Water temper- atures in the Baltic Sea ex- ceeded 73.4 F in some places. Emergency water rescuers told vacationers on hot, sandy beaches – from Swinoujscie in the west to Gdynia in the east – not to enter the sea, where thick, green-brown cyanobac- teria colonies have grown and pose a health threat. Near Wildeshausen, in northern Germany, medics had to attend to a group of about 20 children and teens Monday night after the air conditioning in the bus they were traveling in broke down. Police dogs in the Swiss city of Zurich have been get- ting special shoes to pre- vent them from burning their paws on the scorching streets. Swiss authorities have also canceled traditional fireworks displays in some areas during Wednesday’s national holiday celebrations, citing the high risk of forest fires. Across Europe, forest fires have already caused major damage. Earlier this month, 92 people died in Greece – the deadliest wildfire in recent history. Temperatures of up to 113 F are forecast on the Iberian peninsula from Wednesday and authorities are pre- paring for the mercury to climb even higher through Sunday, increasing the risk of emergencies. In Spain, 27 of the coun- try’s 50 provinces are at “extreme risk” from heat beginning Thursday, the na- tional weather agency said. In neighboring Portugal, the General Directorate for Health warned about dust blowing in from North Africa and authorities said almost 11,000 firefighters and 56 air- craft are on standby to tackle forest fires. On the other side of the continent, Banak peninsula in northern Norway reported temperatures Monday of 89.6 Fahrenheit – highly unusual for the Arctic Circle. Some are benefiting from the simmering heat. Beer brewers in Germany have seen sales rise by 0.6 percent, or 7.92 million gal- lons, in the first half of 2018 compared to the same pe- riod last year. WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS Huge power outage hits Venezuela Most of Venezuela’s capital was without power following a failure at an electrical plant that paralyzed metro lines. Tuesday’s outage left 80 percent of Caracas without electricity. President Nicolas Maduro called the outage an act of ‘sabotage.’ Generals from rival Koreas end talks with no agreement SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – Rare general-level talks between the two Koreas ended with no agreement Tuesday, but the top delegates said they had a meaningful discussion on easing their countries’ de- cades-long military standoff. Experts said it was still unclear whether the rivals can reach any breakthrough agreement on reducing ten- sions in the near future be- cause South Korea, in close consultations with the United States, must link any ex- pansion of ties to prog- ress in North Korea’s nu- clear disarmament. The Washington Post re- ported Monday that U.S. in- telligence agencies have obtained evidence that indi- cates North Korea is building new long-range missiles de- spite ongoing disarmament talks with the United States. It cited anonymous officials “familiar with the intelli- gence” as saying that work on at least one and possibly two intercontinental ballistic mis- siles was under way. Tuesday’s meeting at the Koreas’ shared border vil- lage of Panmunjom was the second such high-level mil- itary contact since the two countries’ leaders held a landmark summit in April and pledged to reduce the danger of another war on the peninsula. The chief South Korean delegate, Maj. Gen. Kim Do Gyun, said the two sides had a common view in principle on disarming a jointly con- trolled area at Panmunjom, removing some guard posts from the Demilitarized Zone that bisects the countries, halting hostile acts along their disputed sea boundary, and conducting joint searches for soldiers missing from the 1950-53 Korean War in DMZ areas. He said the Koreas will continue talks on details of the issues, according to Seoul’s Defense Ministry. Kim described Tues- day’s talks as “sincere” and “candid,” saying he believes the two militaries could con- tribute to establishing a lasting peace between the countries. His North Korean counterpart, Lt. Gen. An Ik San, said the talks were “pro- ductive” and that he also be- lieves many pending military issues can be resolved. During the April summit and a June meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed his com- mitment to the “complete de- nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” But there have been concerns that North Korea hasn’t taken any se- rious disarmament mea- sures since then. North Korea suspended its missile and nuclear tests and shut down its nuclear test site, and recent satellite photos indicate it also began dismantling key facilities at its main rocket launch site. But many foreign experts be- lieve those are not enough to prove it’s serious about dis- armament, saying the North must first submit a list of nu- clear assets to be dismantled. North Korea entered talks with the United States and South Korea earlier this year apparently because it ur- gently needs to revive an economy hit hard by Amer- ican-led U.N. sanctions. Kim has made it clear that he prefers a step-by-step dis- armament process that is matched by reciprocal out- side rewards and conces- sions for each step. Many ex- perts say North Korea merely intends to weaken the sanc- tions and has no intention of fully giving up its nu- clear weapons. Last Friday, North Korea returned what were said to be dozens of remains of American soldiers missing from the 1950-53 Korean War, something Kim prom- ised during his summit with Trump. Trump thanked him for “fulfilling a promise” to send back U.S. remains and said it was a step in the right direction following their summit. In exchange for returning the U.S. war dead, North Korea may demand that the United States agree on a declaration to end the Korean War as a U.S. security guarantee. The Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the pen- insula in a technical state of war. North Korea has long argued its nuclear weapons are a response to U.S. mil- itary threats, and that it wants to sign a peace treaty with the United States to formally end the war. That could then allow the North to demand the pullout of 28,500 U.S. troops deployed in South Korea. The military talks are part of a number of recent steps toward reconciliation by the Koreas that began with North Korea’s participation in the February Winter Olympics in South Korea. The Koreas are to field combined teams in basketball, rowing and ca- noeing during the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia. On Tuesday, North and South Ko- rean athletes trained together in rowing and canoeing in southern South Korea. Generals from the rival Koreas met Tuesday at their shared border for talks meant to ease a decades-long military standoff, Seoul officials said. - PHOTO: SOUTH KOREA DEFENSE MINISTRY VIA AP Animals, crops suffering as Europe’s heat wave hits new highs REPORT: SPY AGENCIES SUSPECT NORTH KOREA BUILDING NEW MISSILES WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. spy agencies suspect that North Korea is building new missiles in the same research facility that man- ufactured the country’s first ballistic missiles ca- pable of reaching the United States. That is ac- cording to a report by The Washington Post, which cited officials who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to describe classi- fied intelligence. These officials say new evidence, including satel- lite photos taken in recent weeks, suggests work is under way on at least one, possibly two interconti- nental ballistic missiles at a facility near Pyongyang. The report casts further doubt on President Donald Trump’s claims of victory last month in disarming North Korea. After the presi- dent met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump declared on Twitter “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.”9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1, 2018 “What cultural aspects of the Cayman Islands should cruise passengers experience?” Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association www.caymanislands.ky All Cayman Islands students aged 16 and under are invited to submit an essay on the topic: Tunisia Barnes, Prizes for Junior and Senior Divisions: First Place: US$3,000.00 Second Place: US$1,500.00 Third Place: US$1,000.00 For full contest guidelines and entry forms contact: tbarnes@caymanislands.ky, tel:244-1252 Deadline for submission: 3 August 2018 FIND YOUR Essay Contest Twin wildfires threaten 10,000 Northern California homes LAKEPORT, Calif. (AP) – Twin wildfires tearing through vineyards and brushy hills threatened some 10,000 homes in Northern Cali- fornia Tuesday – yet another front in the seemingly end- less summer of wildfires that have ravaged some of the most scenic areas of the state. The two fires straddling Mendocino and Lake coun- ties had burned seven homes by Monday night along with some 107 square miles of rural land. About 100 miles north, the so-called Carr Fire that has burned more than 800 homes and killed six people has be- come the ninth most destruc- tive wildfire in California his- tory, said Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. In Lake County, evacuation orders were in effect for the 4,700-resident town of Lake- port along with some smaller communities and a section of Mendocino National Forest. In all, some 10,000 people have been warned to flee, fire officials said. Lakeport, north of San Francisco, is the county seat and a popular destination for bass anglers and boaters on the shores of Clear Lake. But by Monday night it was a ghost town, the main streets deserted. A few miles away em- bers, ash and smoke swirled through vineyards where at least one home had gone up in flames. Firefighters set blazes at the bottom of hills in order to burn up the tinder-dry brush before flames cresting the ridge tops could feed on it and surge downhill. A fleet of aircraft made continuous water and fire retardant drops on the blaze, filling the air with the roar of their engines. But not everyone heeded orders issued Sunday and Monday to evacuate. Farther north, police said five people were arrested on suspicion of entering areas evacuated due to the explo- sive wildfire around Redding. The blaze, which killed two firefighters and four civilians including two children, has now destroyed 818 homes and 311 outbuildings and dam- aged 165 homes, McLean said. More than 27,000 people remained evacuated from their homes although another 10,000 were allowed to return Monday as fire crews rein- forced lines on the western end of Carr Fire. Some 12,000 firefighters were battling the blaze. Fire officials were hopeful that they could make progress containing the blaze, which was 23 percent contained. The fire’s northwestern corner continued to be active. “It’s still putting up a fight,” McLean said. Those fires were among 17 burning across the state, where fire crews were stretched to the limit. Firefighters from 10 other U.S. states are helping to battle the blazes in California, with six more states expected to send firefighting resources to California this week In Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, an arson fire that destroyed seven homes last week was 82 percent contained Monday. Fire crews also have bat- tled numerous small brush- fires this summer, most char- ring only a few acres but still threatening homes in built- up areas along parched foot- hills. A 10-acre fire damaged 13 homes and apartments Monday in Santa Clarita, northwest of Los Angeles, county fire officials said. McLean, the state fire spokesman, said there was no guarantee of safety in a state that has been ravaged by years of drought that has turned trees and brush to tinder. “Anything could happen anywhere. That’s the nature of the beast for all of these fires,” he said. “The vegeta- tion is so dry all it takes is a spark to get it going.” A firefighter monitors a burning outbuilding Monday to ensure flames don’t spread in Lakeport, California. – PHOTO: AP IN PARIS, BRITAIN TRIES TO SELL BREXIT PARIS (AP) – French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian and his newly appointed British counterpart, Jeremy Hunt, held their first working meeting in Paris. Brexit negotiations were high on the agenda Tuesday for Hunt, who was sched- uled later to head to Austria to convince Europe to engage British proposals for a deal. Hunt was appointed after the resignation of Boris Johnson over Prime Minister Theresa May’s white paper detailing a Brexit plan with a close EU relationship. Hunt said “it is time for the EU to engage with our proposals, or we potentially face the prospect of a no-deal by accident.” France’s foreign min- istry said the meeting would cover international issues, in- cluding Iran and Libya. “no- tably Iran, the situation in Libya and the Sahel, as well as trans-Atlantic relations.”Next >