ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 High of 90 Low of 78 Moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 HEALTH CITY DEMONSTRATES HEALTHY PROGRESS LOCAL | PAGE 5 CCMI OFFERS ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIPS FOR TEENAGERS Minister Rivers to meet EU officials on tax blacklist MICHAEL KLEIN mklein@pinnaclemedialtd.com Minister of Financial Ser- vices Tara Rivers will meet EU officials in Brussels this week to continue government’s discus- sions about the EU’s list of non- cooperative tax jurisdictions. To avoid a blacklisting, Cayman last year committed to addressing concerns that it vio- lated the EU’s fair tax criterion. According to the EU, jurisdictions should not facilitate offshore structures that attract profits without having real economic ac- tivity, like staffed offices or the presence of key decision-makers. The Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man face similar accusations. They consulted local businesses last month on their views on proposed new legislation that will require certain tax-resident companies to demonstrate they have sufficient substance. The legislative proposals vary depending on the industry, but suggest that key management decisions must be taken locally through a physical presence. Ms. Rivers noted that the ministry will launch a similar public consultation within the PERJURY CLAIM DELAYS WONG CASE KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com Senior Immigration Officer Garfield (Gary) Wong was scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday in relation to his convictions last month for careless driving and leaving the scene of the accident in the early hours of Dec. 27, 2013, after his truck was in a collision with a car on Shamrock Road, in the vicinity of Hi- biscus Gardens. However, his attorney, Dennis Brady, said at the beginning of the hearing that he had re- cently come across a recording that may con- tain evidence of perjury having been com- mitted during Mr. Wong’s trial. Mr. Brady did not go into detail about the contents of the recording or the allegations of perjury, but he asked for a three-week ad- journment to determine what actions he will take in light of his recent finding. Mr. Brady also stated that he had filed appeals against Mr. Wong’s convictions. ROYDELL CARTER RETIRES FROM CIVIL SERVICE JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com After nine months on required leave for unspecified reasons, Roydell Carter, di- rector of the Department of Environmental Health, has chosen to “retire” from the civil service, according to a statement from gov- ernment Tuesday. Mr. Carter has been absent from his role at the helm of the department, which is re- sponsible for the landfill and roadside waste collection, since last December. His depar- ture coincided with an internal government inquiry over the management of overtime in his department. The results of that inquiry by the Internal Audit Service have not yet been revealed. Jennifer Ahearn, chief officer in the Min- istry of Health, released a brief statement Tuesday confirming Mr. Carter’s permanent departure from the role. “Mr. Roydell Carter has opted to retire from the civil service. The current Acting Director Richard Simms will continue to PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » Treats back home, two years after fire With a sweet offering of pastries and cakes, Treats became something of an institution in Grand Cayman, where it opened its doors just months after Hurricane Ivan in 2004. That was until a fire ripped through the establishment, forcing business partners Raj Kasthuri and Raj Kumar to close shop. Now, after two years of work, Treats is back at its old location at West Shore Center. Pictured are Mr. Kasthuri, left, and chef Henry Reid, serving up a cake Tuesday for a customer. See page 6 to read more. - PHOTO: MATT LAMERS Minister Tara Rivers “This visit allows important face-to-face dialogue with EU officials about their concerns, and Cayman’s efforts to date to develop proposals and appropriate legislation to address these concerns.” TARA RIVERS, Minister of Financial Services2 LOCAL&REGIONAL WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 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) A SIMPLE FAVOR (R) 1:15 VIP I 4:30 I 7:10 I 9:30 VIP THE NUN (R) 2:00 I 4:20 VIP I 7:00 VIP I 10:00 PEPPERMINT (R) 4:20 I 9:15 CRAZY RICH ASIANS (PG13) 1:30 I 4:15 I 7:00 I 9:45 FINAL SCORE (R) 2:15 I 5:00 I 7:30 I 10:00 CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (PG) 1:50 I 6:45 THE MEG (PG13) 1:00 I 3:40 I 7:15 I 9:50 Government plans switch to electric vehicles JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Government plans to con- vert at least 10 percent of its fleet to electric vehicles over the next five years, ac- cording to Infrastructure Minister Joey Hew. Mr. Hew, speaking at the Caribbean Transitional En- ergy Conference in Grand Cayman last week, said the government was doing its part to meet commitments outlined in a 2017 National Energy Policy. That document set the ambitious target that 70 per- cent of the electricity gener- ated on the islands should be derived from renewable sources within the next 20 years. Currently Cayman gets less than five percent of its energy from renewables. James Whittaker, presi- dent of the Cayman Renew- able Energy Association and one of the speakers at last week’s conference, welcomed government’s commitment, but said it would need to “act aggressively” on renew- ables in the coming years to meet that target. A mix of projects in the pipeline, including a waste- to-energy plant that is part of the new waste management system, are expected to im- prove the renewables ratio in the coming years. Government’s policy also calls for an increase in the use of electric and hy- brid vehicles. Mr. Hew said: “Govern- ment is attempting to lead by example and has committed to converting 10 percent of its fleet to electric vehicles over the next five years. Sev- eral electric cars are already in service and the infrastruc- ture to support them – such as charging stations – are planned for installation at various locations.” He said greener vehicles was one of several initiatives government is planning to aid the conversion to cleaner energy sources. He also highlighted plans to install renewables on sev- eral government buildings and said government was working with the Caribbean Utilities Company to change street lighting to more energy efficient LED lights. The broader challenge facing policymakers is to move away from fossil fuels. CUC still generates almost all of the island’s electricity from fossil fuels, primarily diesel. Mr. Hew highlighted the potential of ocean thermal conversion technology – a technique which harnesses the solar energy in tropical coastal waters to create elec- tricity – as one possible future energy source for Cayman. OTEC Cayman is in the development stages of a plan that ultimately hopes to use the technology to provide around 25 megawatts of en- ergy from a series of floating power platforms off North Side. Mr. Hew said CUC and government were looking at all options for future energy production and said the 70 percent target was “realistic and achievable.” He added, “The very char- acteristics that have made the Cayman Islands a desir- able destination, namely our sun, sea and tropical breezes, also hold the potential to service the energy needs of our population … “Moving to a low-carbon future is both an over- whelming moral imperative, and a substantial opportu- nity. I consider such a tran- sition to be one of the most important issues not just of our time, but of any time, and I am proud to be part of a Government that has the vi- sion and ambition to make it our reality.” Mr. Whittaker said he was encouraged by Mr. Hew’s re- marks at the conference and looked forward to working with the minister to hit that target. He said Cayman would need to add an av- erage of around 10 mega- watts of renewables per year for the next 20 years to hit 70 percent by 2037. “Currently less than five percent of energy is renew- able, so we still have a long way to go, but a relatively short time to get there.” James Whittaker, the pres- ident of the Cayman Renew- able Energy Association, is no relation to James Whittaker, the writer of this article. A mix of projects in the pipeline, including a waste-to-energy plant that is part of the new waste management system, are expected to improve the renewables ratio in the coming years. CUC breaks ground on $14M substation The Caribbean Utilities Company has broken ground on a $14 million substation, which CUC touted as infra- structure that will increase the capacity to generate electricity in the Seven Mile Beach area, and will provide backup to West Bay. The substation is being built behind Burger King and the H&B Esso Sta- tion on West Bay Road. CUC stated that the project’s con- tractor is Siemens, which will also be working with local contractors. The new substation, which will be completed next year, will be placed 12 feet above sea level with modern archi- tecture that will offer sig- nificant hurricane resilience, CUC stated. The substation will also be CUC’s first to in- corporate “medium voltage (MV) GIS technology,” which CUC stated will further in- crease safety and system re- liability, and will accommo- date load growth within the Seven Mile Beach area for de- cades to come. “With the new Foster’s Food Fair supermarket being built next door and the Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa and Camana Bay expanding, this new substation will in- crease our capacity to serve the central Seven Mile Beach area and provide load relief and backup to the Hydes- ville Substation in West Bay,” said CUC Senior Project Man- ager Jason Burke. The new Seven Mile Beach substation is scheduled for completion by the third quarter of 2019. CUC currently has seven substations within the areas of North Sound, South Sound, Frank Sound, Prospect, Bodden Town, Rum Point and West Bay. Caribbean Utilities Company officials Sacha Tibbetts, Jason Burke and Richard Hew, as well as Siemens engineer Hans Czeslik, participate in a groundbreaking ceremony for CUC’s new substation. - PHOTO: CUC ARGENTINA’S FERNANDEZ CHARGED, ARREST SOUGHT BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) – A federal judge indicted former President Cristina Fernandez on Monday and asked for her arrest for al- legedly heading a cor- ruption scheme that col- lected bribes from business leaders in exchange for public work contracts. The decision by Judge Claudio Bonadio published by Argentina’s official judi- cial news agency asked that Fernandez be taken into custody and for authorities to seize about $100 million from the former leader. Bonadio said Fernandez committed crimes that in- cluded “being the boss of an illegal association” and taking bribes between 2003 and 2015. The period in- cludes her two terms as president as well as the presidency of her late hus- band and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner. Fernandez’s office said she had no immediate com- ment, but she has previ- ously denied any wrong- doing. She calls Bonadio “an enemy judge” who she says is working with the administration of conser- vative President Mauricio Macri to persecute oppo- nents and distract from Ar- gentina’s economic crisis. Fernandez, 65, is cur- rently a senator, a post that grants her immunity from arrest but not from prosecution. That immu- nity could be lifted only by a vote of two-thirds of the country’s senators. The judge also indicted more than 40 former busi- ness leaders and former government officials, in- cluding ex-Planning Min- ister Julio de Vido. “There was a collu- sion of officials and busi- nessmen who made this scheme work, which took out with rigged proceedings money from the national state to the detriment of ed- ucation, health, pensioners, which left the people poorer without sewage, ser- vices, safe transportation,” Bonadio wrote. “And all of this was done to distribute bribes to corrupt officials.” More than a dozen people have been ar- rested in the case. They in- clude business leaders and former officials who served in Fernandez’s 2007-2015 administration. Known as the “note- books case,” the investiga- tion is based on a probe by the newspaper La Nacion into alleged corruption over more than a decade during the governments of Fer- nandez and Kirchner. The notebooks kept detailed re- cords of bags of cash that were allegedly delivered to several addresses, in- cluding Fernandez’s apart- ment in Buenos Aires. It began after authori- ties received copies of note- books with detailed infor- mation, photographs and video taken by a chauffeur of the planning ministry who is thought to have testified as part of a plea bargain. Several former business leaders and ex- government officials have also spoken under plea bargains, but the details have not been made public.3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 c Impact Windows and Doors Superior protection without compromising design and architecture. Extremely strong and durable options in aluminium and vinyl-frame impact windows. Protection from the devastating effects of high winds, plus the added benefits of increased energy efficency and noise reduction. Terms and conditions apply. 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Rivers found guilty of Super C murder JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A West Bay man who shot and killed another man in the doorway of a busy res- taurant was found guilty of murder on Monday. Ian Rivers never denied that he killed Mark “Hubba” Seymour outside Super C Restaurant in January last year. But his legal team had sought to prove that he was suffering from “diminished responsibility” because of mental illness at the time of the killing, and was therefore guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. The six-man, six-woman jury rejected that claim Monday, taking around three hours to return a verdict of guilty on the charge of murder. Justice Frank Williams or- dered a social inquiry report and a victim impact report and set a date of Oct. 26 for a sentencing hearing. Under Cayman Islands law the sentence for murder is life in prison, with a tariff of 30 years, which can be increased or reduced de- pending on the circum- stances of the crime. During a two-week trial the court heard that Mr. Rivers had ridden up to the West Bay restaurant on his bicycle before shooting Mr. Seymour multiple times from close range. He fired further shots as he fled the scene and even fired on the po- lice helicopter, according to one witness. He later disappeared into his home, opposite the res- taurant, where he spent some time with his family before giving himself up to police, who had surrounded the building. The jury in the trial heard medical evidence from experts for both the defense and prosecution who testified to Mr. Rivers’s state of mind at the time of the murder. Based on their testimony, Director of Public Prosecu- tions Cheryll Richards told the jury in her summary that Mr. Rivers had been found to be aggressive, irritable, ma- nipulative and impulsive. “He has an antisocial per- sonality disorder which did not substantially impair his mental responsibility for his act,” she said, concluding this personality disorder was not a disease of the mind. The jury also heard evi- dence that Mr. Rivers had been drinking heavily and told police he had not slept for five days before the crime. He was depressed be- cause he was unemployed and not able to provide for his family and was upset by people telling him that his wife had asked for money from Mr. Seymour, who was an ex-boyfriend. Ms. Richards said these were problems faced by many other people and did not amount to a “li- cense to kill.” Crister Brady, repre- senting Mr. Rivers, said in his closing argument that Mr. Rivers’s behavior leading up to the crime was abnormal. He said his client was de- pressed and had been using cocaine and ganja. “No one knows when an acute stressor might push just enough to get a person who is psychotic over the edge,” he said. During a two-week trial the court heard that Mr. Rivers had ridden up to the West Bay restaurant on his bicycle before shooting Mr. Seymour multiple times from close range. At least four vehicles were broken into Monday morning, all in the Fairbanks area of George Town. Police are reminding the public to ensure that valu- ables are not left inside vehi- cles, especially overnight. The first break-in oc- curred at an address on Outpost Street. One of the rear windows of the vehicle was broken and a bag containing per- sonal items was stolen. The break-in was discovered shortly after 6 a.m. Another vehicle in the complex had also been en- tered and ransacked. A report of a break-in at a separate address on Outpost Street was also received. This break-in was discovered at about 6:30 a.m. A rear window of the vehicle was broken and a bag with personal items was taken. The fourth vehicle was broken into at an address off Fairbanks Road. The break- in was discovered at about 7 a.m. andnothing was re- ported stolen. These incidents are currently under police investigation. Police respond to string of car break-ins BOAT STOLEN FROM CANAL POINT DRIVE A boat docked at a resi- dence on Canal Point Drive was reported stolen to police late Monday morning. The gray, 19-foot-long Ri- beye A600 rigid inflatable boat has an attached 115 horsepower Yamaha engine. It was last seen at 6 p.m. on Sept. 16. Anyone with information regarding a stolen boat from Canal Point Drive is asked to call 911 or the George Town Police Station. Anonymous tips can be provided directly to the RCIPS via the Confidential Tip Line at 949-7777. Tips can also be submitted via the Miami-based call centre of Crime Stoppers at 800-8477(TIPS). 345.945.7447 www.caymanhospicecare.kyThe 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. On Tuesday on this opinion page we published a column by economist Richard W. Rahn on the U.S. media landscape, titled, “Bad news sells, but optimism wins.” File the subject matter of today’s editorial – Health City Cayman Islands – under the heading of “good news.” Journalists, even hard-nosed ones, can recognize a positive trend when we see one, such as the steady stream of success stories that has been emanating from the East End health facility colloquially known as the Shetty Hospital. Taken individually, the announcements rarely qualify as Page One material. But considered collectively, the cases of saved lives, repaired limbs and mended hearts weave into a single important narrative for our country: Health City’s steady progress toward its goal of estab- lishing Cayman as a destination for world-class, afford- able healthcare. Let’s step back about a decade or so. When the initial announcements were made that globally renowned Indian surgeon Dr. Devi Shetty (Mother Teresa’s physi- cian, dubbed “The Henry Ford of Heart Surgery” by the Wall Street Journal), intended to build, right here in Grand Cayman, a cutting-edge specialty hospital with few peers on the planet, it seemed too good, perhaps too strange, to be true. Today, Health City is an established part of our land- scape and our economy. The doctors, nurses and support staff either come from or have blended into our commu- nity, and are recognizable as friends and neighbors, that we chat with after church, in grocery stores, at school functions or during social events. In fact, one of the medical center’s recent success stories began in just that manner. At church, Cayman Islands national rugby player Edward Westin and Health City Chief Orthopedic Surgeon and Joint Replacement Specialist Dr. Alwin Almeida began talking about Mr. Westin’s shoulder, which had been seriously damaged through years of repeated injuries. “I have dislocated my shoulders multiple times over the last few years, and he said whenever I have a break in my playing just to get ahold of him and come down to Health City and get them checked out,” Westin said. Earlier this month, the hospital announced that its orthopedic surgical team, under Dr. Almeida’s direc- tion, had used a rare procedure to repair successfully Mr. Westin’s damaged shoulder. It was almost certainly the first time the cutting-edge technique (a minimally invasive adaptation of a commonly used surgical procedure in orthopedics and sports medicine) was performed in the Caribbean, according to Health City. Dr. Almeida is one of only a few surgeons in the world who have been trained to perform it. And this is only one of several announcements Health City has issued in recent months detailing ground- breaking treatments. The news releases from Health City that regularly hit our email inboxes describe life-changing episodes for patients and families, and, in the accumu- lation, track the “game-changing” growth of medical tourism in Cayman. Next year’s addition of a multimillion-dollar cancer treatment center, the completion of residential units adjacent to the hospital, as well as long-overdue changes to local legislation to facilitate human tissue transplants, represent some of the next steps in Health City’s growth and development. As a reminder, while Health City’s business model is to be a destination for medical tourists from overseas, Cayman’s residents reap two sets of benefits. First, the hospital increases local options for excellent and afford- able healthcare (no plane tickets, hotel rooms or long-dis- tance calls needed). Second, the hospital creates jobs and provides knock-on economic impacts, importantly centered on the less-developed eastern half of Grand Cayman. We expect word to continue to spread across the world about the good work being done at Health City. That is good news for all of us. (Disclaimer: Pinnacle Media publisher David R. Legge formerly consulted with the communications team for Dr. Shetty and the Health City developers. Before pur- chasing the Compass in 2013 with wife and co-publisher Vicki Legge, Mr. Legge ended all consultancy contracts, including with Health City, along with any arrangements that might present conflicts of interest with the news- paper and other publications.) Health City demonstrates healthy progress WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS In Texas, a template for victory in 2020 HOUSTON – Nationally, the Democratic Party, which gave indispensable assistance (“Basket of deplorables!”) to the election of today’s pres- ident, seems intent (“Im- peach!”; “Abolish ICE!”; “Free stuff!,” “I am Spartacus!”) on a repeat performance. Here, however, in the 7th Con- gressional District, in what might turn out to be the year’s most instructive House race, Democrats seem se- rious about winning, and if they do with Lizzie Fletcher, they will have a template for 2020 nationally. One of her handouts in- explicably describes her as a “fierce advocate,” as though Americans are experiencing a fierceness deficit and pine for a ferocity infusion. Ac- tually, she speaks with the measured precision of an at- torney who has worked at a major law firm (Vinson & El- kins) and who is fluent in the business school patois of her corporate clients. The ginger group Our Revolution, which is a residue of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, supported a candi- date to her left in the seven- candidate primary, perhaps because Fletcher would not genuflect at the requisite al- tars: She has endorsed nei- ther a single-payer health- care system nor Medicare for all nor putting lipstick on so- cialism, least of all a ban – this is Texas, for Pete’s sake – on offshore drilling. In New York and then in Massachusetts, two 10-term House incumbents, both males, have been defeated in primaries by females running to the incumbents’ left in safe Democratic districts. Here, in a district held by Republi- cans for the past half-cen- tury, a woman is not far be- hind – in some polls, within the margin of error – the Re- publican incumbent. A fifth-generation Hous- tonian, Fletcher is striving to become just the fourth person to represent the cur- rent iteration of the 7th dis- trict, which she describes as “leaning purple but still light pink.” It was reconfigured in 1966, when it was won by 42-year old George Herbert Walker Bush, who still lives in it. After his two terms, it was held for 15 terms by Bill Archer, who rose to the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee. His successor, John Culberson, 62, wants to “let Texans run Texas” but is not a conscien- tious objector to non-Texas money he can send home from his perch on the Appro- priations Committee. In 2009, Culberson co-sponsored a “birther” bill that would have required presidential candi- dates to prove that they are natural-born citizens. A legis- lative lifer, Culberson won the first of seven two-year terms in the state House in 1986 at age 30. He won his 2016 con- gressional re-election with 56 percent of the vote. If the best kind of generals are lucky ones, Fletcher, 43, is that kind of candidate. The tight Senate race between in- cumbent Ted Cruz and Dem- ocratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who has already visited all 254 Texas counties, is apt to energize Democratic turnout statewide. Culberson per- haps did nothing untoward when he sold a biotech stock – the one concerning which Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., has been indicted for insider trading – 10 days before the shares lost 99 percent of their value, but the optics are not optimal. And while their city was still prostrate from Hurricane Harvey, Housto- nians heard the president’s stupefying statement that the Coast Guard had had to save 16,000 people because they “went out in their boats to watch the hurricane.” It has been a while since Texas was, in Gene Au- try’s lyric, “Where the long- horn cattle feed/On the lowly gypsum weed.” It is the 15th- most urban state, with the na- tion’s fourth-, seventh-, ninth-, 11th- and 15th-most popu- lous cities. Hillary Clinton mopped the floor with Donald Trump in nearly all, which is one reason Trump carried 21 states by larger margins than his 9 percentage-point vic- tory in Texas. A Fletcher victory might be an early tremor of a polit- ical earthquake. In presiden- tial politics, Democrats have three large, safe states – Cal- ifornia, New York and Illinois – with a combined 104 elec- toral votes, 38.5 percent of 270. Texas, the Republicans’ only such state, today has 38 electoral votes and after the 2020 census will have two, perhaps three more. If it turns purple, every year divisible by four will be, for Republicans, a year of living dangerously. Nationally, Fletcher’s party seems determined to emulate Yasser Arafat’s de- scription of the PLO: They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Here the party seems serious about winning. George Will’s email address is georgewill@washpost.com. © 2018, Washington Post Writers Group GEORGE F. WILL A Fletcher victory might be an early tremor of a political earthquake. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com ADVERTISE WITH US: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS DAVID R. LEGGE AND VICKI L. LEGGE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DAVID R. LEGGE EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will find their own way”5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 A DIVISION OF sales@tomlinsonfurniture.ky | www.tomlinsonfurniture.ky 9 Walkers Road | Tomlinson Building | At the 4-Way Stop by GT Hospital Fall into this deal and treat yourself to a NEW SOFA! SUPER SOFA SAVINGS! SUPER SOFA SAVINGS! Sofa only2pc. Sofa Sets (Sofa and Loveseat) $ 999 $ 599 3pc. Coffee Table set $ 450 (2 styles available – walnut or honey oak) 599 A DIVISION OF sales@tomlinsonfurniture.ky | www.tomlinsonfurniture.ky 9 Walkers Road | Tomlinson Building | At the 4-Way Stop by GT Hospital Fall into this deal and treat yourself to a NEW SOFA! SUPER SOFA SAVINGS! SUPER SOFA SAVINGS! Sofa only2pc. Sofa Sets (Sofa and Loveseat) $ 999 $ 599 3pc. Coffee Table set $ 450 (2 styles available – walnut or honey oak) THEY ARE HERE! HURRY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! THEY ARE HERE! HURRY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! CCMI offers academic scholarships for teenagers interested in ocean science The Central Caribbean Marine Institute is investing in the future. For the first time, the or- ganization has developed and funded academic scholar- ships for youth as young as 14, giving them the opportu- nity to gain experience with CCMI until they graduate from university. The Ocean Science Scholars program includes two internship awards per year for students about to embark on their de- gree studies in a related ocean science field, and five more annual scholar- ships for the Marine Ecology Camp for 14 to 18-year-olds, held each summer. The internships are being funded via a three-year grant the CCMI secured from the Edmund F. and Virginia B. Ball Foundation, which was set up to support young local scientists, CCMI said in a press release. Kate Holden, CCMI ad- vancement director, said the new funding is crucial for identifying local stu- dents with a talent and pas- sion for ocean science at the beginning of their aca- demic careers, offering them a pathway right through to graduation. “Most importantly, these courses are free, and the in- ternship award includes a stipend and room and board, so the financial as- pect of studying with us in Little Cayman isn’t a bar- rier,” she said. “What is different is we are putting a stronger focus on academic achievement and we have the awards funded by one amazing foundation, so we can provide sustain- ability across the program, as well as providing a mentor- ship framework for students who need our support in the early stages of their science careers,” Ms. Holden said. CCMI has run marine ecology courses in local schools for grades 5-7 as part of their commitment to ocean literacy. The organization also runs the Marine Ecology Camp and internships. Its first multi-year grant from the Edmund F. and Vir- ginia B. Ball Foundation came in 2007 to support the camp, which has engaged hundreds of local students during their summer break. Local scientist Kelly For- sythe has been working with CCMI for the last four months. She said the Ocean Sci- ence Scholars program fos- ters an interest in marine sci- ence in youth. “Working for CCMI here in Little Cayman has been transformative for my ca- reer as a marine scientist but also as a local of the Cayman Islands,” she said. “During my time here, I have been gifted with the op- portunities to observe some of the world’s best reefs right here on my doorstep, and to work on research projects that have challenged my existing outlook and al- lowed me to adapt and learn as a researcher. As an early- career scientist I would en- courage all individuals who are interested in marine sci- ence to intern with CCMI, as you will gain the necessary skills to further your sci- entific career. “The lessons you’ll learn, marine creatures you’ll see and the people you’ll meet will all be unique experiences that can only be found here in Little Cayman.” For more information on CCMI’s Ocean Science Scholars, see their Facebook page www.facebook.com/ reefresearch and CCMI’s website, www.reefresearch.org. “Working for CCMI here in Little Cayman has been transformative for my career as a marine scientist but also as a local of the Cayman Islands.” KELLY FORSYTHE, local scientist Conch and lobster recovered off Barkers Conservation officers re- covered dozens of conch and some lobsters that were ille- gally taken from Cayman wa- ters over the weekend. Officers recovered a total of 43 conch and seven lob- sters, all of which were taken out of season. Two men were warned for intended prosecution. During an operation off Barkers in West Bay, Depart- ment of Environment Of- ficers had noted two men on board a vessel offshore who appeared to be acting suspiciously, and inter- cepted the men when they came on land. Under the National Con- servation law, anyone who takes lobster, conch and whelks out of season faces high fines, imprisonment and possibly forfeiture of their vessel, vehicle or equipment used in commis- sion of the act. Cayman’s lobster season begins on Dec. 1 each year and closes March 1. Conch and whelk season opens Nov. 1 and closes May 1. The seized conch and lob- ster were donated to The Pines Retirement Home, con- servation officers said. The Department of En- vironment would like to re- mind the public that the closed seasons for various marine species coincide with each species’ peak repro- ductive season. The closed season is put in place to allow each spe- cies the time to reproduce, in an effort to ensure a healthy population of each species for future generations. Central Caribbean Marine Institute interns learn in the field. - PHOTO: SUBMITTED Lobsters taken during Sunday’s operation. Conch recovered during Sunday’s operation.The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS Crown counsel Scott Wainwright said that any findings made by Mr. Brady should be handled by the appeals court, but Magis- trate Grace Donalds never- theless adjourned her sen- tencing until Oct. 24, and extended Mr. Wong’s bail until then, too. Tuesday’s hearing marked four years and eight months since Mr. Wong was arrested in Dec. 2013, and was the thirteenth time Mr. Wong’s matter has been be- fore Magistrate Donalds. At his trial, Mr. Wong said he was driving west toward his home when his cellphone fell from the seat to the floor of the truck. He said he checked his rear-view mirror and the road ahead, did not see anything, and then bent down to pick up the phone, taking his eyes off the road in the process. Magistrate Donalds said during her verdict last month that Mr. Wong had shown a lack of critical judgment and he had failed to conform to the stan- dards of a reasonable and prudent driver. Questioned by Crown counsel Scott Wainwright, he had agreed he was driving without due care and attention. Mr. Wong had also told the court that as he picked up his phone, he felt a bump and heard a thump. He said he thought he had hit a pothole. Photos of the two vehi- cles showed considerable damage to both of them. The force of the impact must have been significant, the magistrate commented during her verdict. The noise should have alerted Mr. Wong that he had been in an accident and the final resting place of the other vehicle should have made him aware of the collision, she said at the time. Mr. Wong was also charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, but was found not guilty of that charge last month. According to evidence produced at the trial, a breathalyzer test given to Mr. Wong at the Bodden Town Police Station after the accident produced a reading of .184. The legal limit in Cayman is .100. However, the arresting officer said he could not confirm whether he was in the room for the test. Magistrate Donalds said during her verdict that the inability to unequivocally confirm the officer’s pres- ence raised a doubt: It ap- peared that there may not have been strict compliance with the law, so the breath- alyzer certificate should not have been admitted into evidence. The Traffic Law states that the constable oper- ating an alcohol-in-breath measuring device shall do so in the presence of an- other constable and the re- sult of the breath test is to be signed by him and “countersigned by the con- stable in whose presence it was made …” Without evidence of the alcohol-in-blood level, the magistrate found Mr. Wong not guilty of this charge and acquitted him. ‘This is our life’; Treats reopens after two challenging years MATT LAMERS mlamers@pinnaclemedialtd.com Raj Kasthuri was on vaca- tion in India when his busi- ness partner, Raj Kumar, reached him on the phone to deliver the news: A fire had ripped through their popular restaurant Treats. “I was shocked. Days later we learned there was more damage than expected,” Mr. Kasthuri said. No one was injured in the August 2016 incident, but the damage was severe enough to force the closure of the busi- ness that employed 15 people. Now, after two trying years, Treats has reopened at its original location in West Shore Center on West Bay Road. A soft opening was held Monday, Sept. 10, and a grand opening is still being planned. Mr. Kasthuri said that walking through the doors last Monday was one of the best days of his life. But it was a long road. “Every day was a chal- lenge. We never thought it would be a long process to reopen the restaurant like this. We were thinking we could move back in six months,” he said. Weeks turned into months, and months into years. After the insurance settle- ment was finally paid to the landlord in December 2017, construction started on the extensive repairs. Since then, hurdles came one after another: Planning approval was needed; there were construction delays; plumbing had to be redone; new floors installed, walls and ceilings erected. “It’s completely brand new,” said Mr. Kasthuri, who moved to Cayman in 2006. All that was salvaged from the original location were kitchen equipment, ta- bles and chairs. After the fire forced Treats to close its doors at West Shore Center, the owners se- cured a temporary location down the street. From that location on Lawrence Boulevard, Messrs. Kasthuri and Kumar were able to keep their whole- sale business and a “sim- pler,” scaled-down ver- sion of the retail business going, but it meant working days and nights. “We never stopped the business. This is our life,” he said. “The hardest part was not knowing when we could reopen.” Treats originally opened its doors three months after Hurricane Ivan devastated Cayman in 2004. Since then, it has been something of an institu- tion on the island, offering up cakes for weddings and birthdays, along with a wholesale business catering to restaurants and hotels. Despite the frustrations, Mr. Kasthuri never doubted that Treats would reopen. “We always had the con- fidence in our business and customers. We’ve built our reputation since 2004,” he said. Henry Reid, a chef, has been part of Treats since day one. “We were away for two years. But now we’re back, and I couldn’t be any hap- pier,” he said. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Perjury claim delays Wong case Raj Kasthuri, co-owner of Treats, gets his store ready for customers. - PHOTO: MATT LAMERS “We always had the confidence in our business and customers. We’ve built our reputation since 2004.” RAJ KASTHURI, Treats restaurant co-owner Florence evacuees cannot return home yet WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) – Hun- dreds of people waited in long lines for water and other essentials Tuesday in Wilm- ington, still mostly cut off by high water days after Hur- ricane Florence unleashed epic floods, and North Caro- lina’s governor pleaded with more than 10,000 evacuees around the state not to re- turn home yet. The death toll rose to at least 34 in three states, with 26 fatalities in North Car- olina, as Florence’s rem- nants went in two directions: Water flowed downstream to- ward the Carolina coast, and storms moved through the Northeast, where flash floods hit New Hampshire and New York state. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper warned that the flooding set off by as much as 3 feet of rain from Flor- ence is far from over and will get worse in places. “I know for many people this feels like a nightmare that just won’t end,” he said. Addressing roughly 10,000 people who remain in shelters and “countless more” staying elsewhere, Cooper urged residents to stay put for now, particularly those from the hardest-hit coastal counties that include Wilm- ington, near where Florence blew ashore on Friday. Roads remain treach- erous, he said, and some are still being closed for the first time as rivers swelled by tor- rential rains inland drain to- ward the Atlantic. “I know it was hard to leave home, and it is even harder to wait and wonder whether you even have a home to go back to,” Cooper said. In Wilmington, popula- tion 120,000, workers began handing out supplies using a system that resembled a giant fast-food drive-thru: Drivers pulled up to a line of pallets, placed an order and left without having to get out. A woman blew a whistle each time drivers were supposed to pull forward. Todd Tremain needed tarps to cover up spots where Florence’s winds ripped shin- gles off his roof. “The roof is leaking, messing up the in- side of the house,” he said. Others got a case of bot- tled water or military MREs, or field rations. An olive- drab military forklift moved around huge pallets loaded with supplies. Brandon Echavarrieta struggled to stay composed as he described life post- Florence: no power for days, rotted meat in the freezer, no water or food and just one bath in a week. “It’s been pretty bad,” said Echavarrieta, 34, his voice breaking. Nearby, about 200 people lined up to buy 40-pound bags of ice as quickly as a Rose Ice and Coal Co. could produce it. Supplies have been brought into the city by big military trucks and helicop- ters, which also have been used to pluck hundreds of desperate people from atop homes and other structures. Mayor Bill Saffo said two routes were now open into Wilmington, which had been completely cut off by flood- waters, but those roads could close again as water swells the Cape Fear River on the city’s west side. “We still are encouraging or asking folks not to come home,” said Woody White, chairman of the New Ha- nover County commissioners. “We want you here. We love you. We miss you. But access to Wilmington is still very limited and is not improving as quickly as we would like.” A resident surveys a road inundated by water in Lumberton, North Carolina, Tuesday, following flooding from Hurricane Florence. – PHOTO: APThe islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 For more information contact: ntp@caymanislands.ky or call 949-0623 CAYMAN ISLANDS National Tourism P aln 2018-23 N P PUBLIC CONSULTATION Tourism impacts us all. Log on to Share your feedback on the draft National Tourism Plan 2018-2023. between 22 August - 26 September to make your opinion count. caymanNTP.ky next few months, after draft legislation has been prepared. “This visit allows im- portant face-to-face dia- logue with EU officials about their concerns, and Cay- man’s efforts to date to de- velop proposals and appro- priate legislation to address these concerns,” Min- ister Rivers said. Cayman and the other ju- risdictions aim to have leg- islation in place by the end of 2018 that will address the EU’s concerns. Although the EU Code of Conduct Group did not issue further guidance until June 2018, the ministry said it had engaged with both local and EU stakeholders since December 2017. “The Ministry has been working steadily with finan- cial services industry repre- sentatives, international legal counsel, and Government enti- ties including the Cayman Is- lands Monetary Authority and the Ministry of Commerce, in preparation for our legislative proposals,” Minister Rivers said. “I thank all of the partic- ipants for continuing to pro- vide input into this process.” Accompanying Minister Rivers to Brussels is the De- partment of Financial Ser- vices Policy and Legislation’s Director Michelle Bahadur, and the department’s spe- cial projects coordinator Anna Goubault. act in that role while we undertake the process to identify a new Director for DEH,” she said. She did not respond to further questions on whether his departure was connected to the audit, to any disciplinary action or even to say how long Mr. Carter had been with the civil service. She did not re- spond to questions about whether there was any fi- nancial settlement involved or the cost of paying out pension and healthcare benefits to Mr. Carter. The Cayman Compass has also requested this informa- tion through an open re- cords request. In January, Ms. Ahearn denied that Mr. Carter’s un- scheduled absence from work was connected to disciplinary action after a news report suggested he had been suspended. “Contrary to reports in the media, DEH Director Roydell Carter has not been suspended and there are no funds unaccounted for at DEH. Mr. Carter is currently on leave,” she said at the time. The department came under pressure over Christmas after late pickups left garbage lining the roads in some dis- tricts. Several residents also raised concerns about the number of derelict cars dumped on the roadside. In an earlier state- ment to the Compass, late last year, Ms. Ahearn com- mented on issues around the management of over- time in the department. “There is a need for the Department of En- vironmental Health to be more judicious with their use of overtime in the coming months as we are approaching finan- cial year-end and, as is the usual situation, tight budgets are becoming in- creasingly tighter and need to be carefully man- aged,” she said. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Minister Rivers to meet EU officials on tax blacklist Roydell Carter retires from civil service CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Mr. Carter has been absent from his role at the helm of the department, which is responsible for the landfill and roadside waste collection, since last December. Trial for murder of Honduran environmental activist delayed TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) – Honduras’ supreme court in- definitely suspended the start of a trial Monday of eight men charged in the 2016 killing of prize-winning Hon- duran indigenous and en- vironmental rights activist Berta Caceres. Judiciary spokesman Melvin Duarte said five re- lated filings in the case have to be resolved first. Caceres’ family and the organization she led said in a statement Monday that the court where the trial was to be held had not guaranteed the rights of the victims or the accused and that it would not be impartial. They peti- tioned that the case be moved to another court. “We seek justice amid ad- verse circumstances and even there find a criminal structure behind the death of Berta,” her family said in a statement. Prosecutors said in a statement that the scien- tific evidence collected would be the key to convicting the suspects. Caceres was shot to death inside her home in La Esperanza in western Hon- duras on March 2, 2016, one year after winning the Goldman Environmental Prize for her leadership against a dam project. Two of the accused worked at one time for De- sarrollos Energeticos SA, the company behind the hydro- electric project that Caceres and her group Copinh had battled against for years. Ca- ceres had reported death threats from both of them. Another defendant was an active-duty military member, supporting asser- tions by Caceres’ family that there was collusion between the company and state se- curity forces. “The board of directors of DESA planned the killing of my mother,” charged Ol- ivia Zuniga, one of Ca- ceres’ daughters. Roberto David Castillo Mejia, who was executive president of DESA when Ca- ceres was killed, was ar- rested last March in the killing, though he is not part of the suspended trial. Pros- ecutors allege he was in charge of handling logistics for the killing. The company said Castillo and its other employees were “totally un- connected” to the murder. Caceres had been threat- ened before and as early as 2009 the Inter-American Com- mission on Human Rights had ordered protective mea- sures for her safety. Other members of Copinh had also been killed. The gunmen who killed Caceres also wounded Mexican activist Gustavo Castro Soto, who was at the home that night. Last year, a team of law- yers published a report after studying the case. They said it was a carefully planned ef- fort and “there is evidence to link high-level state and non- state officials to the murder.” The Honduran govern- ment has been under signifi- cant pressure from abroad to solve the killing in a country where impunity runs high. The group of independent experts warned of irregular- ities and sloppiness in the investigation. Last week, Caceres’ daughter Berta Zuniga said in an interview with local radio that authorities want to limit the trial to the killing itself, but the family wants a broader airing of the years of harassment that Caceres suf- fered because of her opposi- tion to the dam. “It is impossible, truly, to understand the crime against Berta Caceres without un- derstanding what was hap- pening in the community of Rio Blanco with the hy- droelectric project Agua Zarca,” Zuniga said. The men accused in the killing of prize-winning Honduran indigenous and environmental rights activist Berta Caceres enter the court room Monday in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. – PHOTO: APThe islands’ most-trusted news source 8 WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS No pardon for da Silva if successor wins The presidential candidate who has taken the place of barred former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says he will not pardon the ex-leader if he wins election. Fernando Haddad’s adversaries had accused him of planning to absolve da Silva if he wins the October election. Korean leaders meet in Pyongyang for potentially tough talks PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) – South Korean Presi- dent Moon Jae-in began his third summit with North Ko- rean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday with possibly his hardest mission to date – brokering some kind of com- promise to keep North Ko- rea’s talks with Washington from imploding and pushing ahead with his own plans to expand economic cooperation and bring a stable peace to the Korean Peninsula. Kim gave the South Ko- rean president an exceed- ingly warm welcome, meeting him and his wife at Pyong- yang’s airport – itself a very unusual gesture – then riding into town with Moon in an open limousine through streets lined with crowds of North Koreans, who cheered and waved the flag of their country and a blue-and- white flag that symbolizes Korean unity. The made-for-televi- sion welcome is par for the course for Moon’s summits with Kim. Hours after his ar- rival, Moon began an offi- cial summit with Kim at the ruling Workers’ Party head- quarters. The two were joined by two of their top deputies – spy chief Suh Hoon and presidential security director Chung Eui-yong for Moon, and Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, and se- nior Workers’ Party official Kim Yong Chol for the North Korean leader, according to Moon’s office. At the start of their meeting, Kim thanked Moon for brokering a June summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. “It’s not too much to say that it’s Moon’s efforts that arranged a historic North Korea-U.S. summit. Because of that, the regional political situation has been stabilized and more progress on North Korea-U.S. ties is expected,” Kim said, according to South Korean media pool reports and Moon’s office. Moon responded by ex- pressing his own thanks to Kim for making a “bold deci- sion” in a New Year’s speech to open a new era of detente and send a delegation to the South Korean Winter Olym- pics in February. Even though tens of thou- sands of people had wit- nessed Moon’s drive into the city with their leader, the ar- rival was not broadcast or even mentioned on the eve- ning and night news on North Korea’s central television net- work. The North often holds off reporting stories until it has had time to review and edit the video for maximum propaganda impact. The results of the talks were not immediately avail- able. Seoul officials earlier said they would focus on how to achieve denuclear- ization of the Korean Penin- sula, decrease military ten- sions along their border and improve overall ties. The North’s media said the talks would reaffirm their commit- ment to Korean peace, unity and prosperity. During a conversation at the Paekhwawon guest- house where Moon was to stay, Kim said North Koreans hope diplomacy will yield positive results. “I think it was our people’s wish that we come up with good re- sults as fast as we can,” Kim said, according to the media pool reports. Moon responded that “Our hearts are fluttering, but at the same we have heavy hearts,” and added, “We have built trust and friendship between us, so I think all will be well.” The two are to meet again on Wednesday. More than in their pre- vious encounters, when the mere fact of meeting and re- suming a dialog was seen as a major step forward, Moon is under pressure to leave Thursday with some concrete accomplishments. One of Moon’s objectives – and one that also inter- ests Kim – was clear from the people he took with him. Traveling on Moon’s govern- ment jet was Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong and other busi- ness leaders, underscoring Moon’s hopes to expand cross-border business proj- ects. Currently, however, all major joint projects between the Koreas are stalled be- cause of U.S.-led sanctions. But the nuclear issue was sure to cast a shadow over negotiations on joint projects. Before leaving Seoul, Moon vowed to push for “ir- reversible, permanent peace” and for better dialogue be- tween Pyongyang and Washington. “This summit would be very meaningful if it yielded a resumption of North Korea-U.S. talks,” Moon said Tuesday just before his de- parture. “It’s very important for South and North Korea to meet frequently, and we are turning to a phase where we can meet anytime we want.” But as Moon arrived, the North’s main newspaper lobbed a rhetorical volley at Washington that could make Moon’s job all the more del- icate, blaming the United States alone for the lack of progress in denucleariza- tion talks. “The U.S. is totally to blame for the deadlocked DPRK-U.S. negotiations,” the Rodong Sinmun said in an editorial, using the initials of the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Re- public of Korea. It said Washington is “stubbornly insisting” that the North dismantle its nuclear weapons first, an approach “which was rejected in the past DPRK-U.S. dialogues,” while failing to show its will for confidence-building “in- cluding the declaration of the end of war which it had al- ready pledged.” While signaling his will- ingness to talk with Wash- ington, Kim’s strategy has been to try to elbow the U.S. away from Seoul so that the two Koreas can take the lead in deciding how to bring peace and stability to their peninsula. North Korea main- tains that it has developed its nuclear weapons to the point that it can now defend itself against a potential U.S. attack, and can now shift its focus to economic devel- opment and improved ties with the South. Rarely do the North Korean official media even mention the word denuclearization. Talks between the United States and North Korea have stalled since Kim’s meeting with Trump in Singapore in June. North Korea has taken some steps, like dismantling its nuclear and rocket-en- gine testing sites, but U.S. of- ficials have said it must take more serious disarmament steps before receiving out- side concessions. Trump has indicated he may be open to holding another summit to resuscitate the talks, however. For Kim, the timing of this week’s summit is good. North Korea just com- pleted an elaborate cele- bration replete with a mili- tary parade and huge rallies across the country to mark its 70th anniversary. China, sig- naling its support for Kim’s recent diplomatic moves, sent its third-highest party official to those festivities. That is important because China is the North’s biggest economic partner and is an important political counterbalance to the United States. Experts air new concerns about UN response to Myanmar crisis GENEVA (AP) – U.N.-backed investigators who exam- ined a bloody crackdown by Myanmar security forces that caused hundreds of thou- sands of Rohingya Muslims to flee to neighboring Ban- gladesh issued a searing cri- tique Tuesday of the United Nations’ own response to the human rights crisis. In a 432-page report, the members of a fact-finding mission on Myanmar fleshed out preliminary findings and recommendations released in a shorter version three weeks ago. “With a heavy heart and deep sadness, we have drawn conclusions, on the basis of the facts, that we never ex- pected would be as grave as they are,” team chairman Marzuki Darusman said he presented the report to the U.N.-supported Human Rights Council. “What we have found are not only the most serious human rights violations, but crimes of the highest order under international law,” he said. The team reiterated that some top Myanmar military leaders should be prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Rohingya during a deadly crackdown that erupted in August 2017 fol- lowing militant attacks on se- curity posts in Rakhine state. In a rare rebuttal by Myanmar’s government, its new ambassador in Ge- neva lashed out at what he called a “one-sided” report. The team has said Myan- mar’s government had not re- sponded to its report or hon- ored requests for access to violence-hit regions. “The way the report por- trays … the national races of Myanmar is misleading,” the ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, told the 47-member body. “It also undermines the govern- ment’s effort to bring peace, national reconciliation and de- velopment to the entire nation.” South Korean President Moon Jae-in, second from right, is greeted by North Koreans as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, watches during a welcoming ceremony Tuesday at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang in North Korea. - PHOTO: AP In this Oct. 2, 2017, file photo, newly arrived Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar prepare to leave a transit shelter in Shahparirdwip, Bangladesh. A team of independent investigators examining alleged violence and killings that caused hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to flee their homes have issued a searing critique of the United Nations’ own operations in Myanmar just as bloodshed erupted in August 2017. - PHOTO: AP9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 Trump: Declassified Russia probe papers expose ‘bad things’ Russia blames Israel for plane shot down by Syrian missile MOSCOW (AP) – A Russian reconnaissance aircraft was shot down by a Syrian missile over the Mediterranean Sea, killing all 15 people on board, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday. It blamed Israel for the crash, saying the plane was caught in the crossfire as four Israeli fighters attacked targets in northwestern Syria. The Russian military said the Il-20 electronic in- telligence plane was hit 22 miles offshore late Monday as it was returning to its home base nearby. “The Israeli pilots were using the Russian aircraft as a shield and pushed it into the line of fire of the Syrian defense,” said Russian De- fense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called his Is- raeli counterpart, Avigdor Li- eberman, later Tuesday to say that Israel is “fully to blame” for the deaths, the ministry said. The military said Israel did not warn it of its operation over Latakia province until one minute before the strike, which did not give the Russian plane enough time to escape. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, struck a recon- ciliatory note Tuesday, blaming the shooting down on “a chain of tragic circumstances.” Asked about the Defense Ministry’s threat to respond to Israel’s actions, Putin said the Russian response will focus on boosting security for its troops in Syria. He did not elaborate but said “these will be the steps that ev- eryone will notice.” The Israeli military said in a statement Tuesday that its jets were already within Israeli airspace when the downing occurred. Israel of- fered condolences for the deaths of the Russian troops but said it holds the Syrian government “fully respon- sible.” It also blamed Iran and Hezbollah for what it described as an “unfortu- nate incident.” The Russian Defense Min- istry said a recovery operation located the plane’s wreckage at sea and has retrieved some bodies and some fragments from the plane. A specialized ship carrying submersibles was heading to the area to join the operation. For several years, Is- rael and Russia have main- tained a special hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing in the skies over Syria. Israeli military officials have previously praised its effectiveness. Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has an air base at He- meimeem and a naval facility in Tartus. The plane was downed as it was heading to land at Hemeimeem. Russia has previously lost at least seven warplanes and seven combat helicop- ters in Syria and also seen dozens of troops killed in ground combat. In another crash, a pas- senger airliner carrying members of the Red Army Choir to a New Year’s concert at a Russian military base in Syria crashed into the Black Sea minutes after takeoff from Sochi in southern Russia, killing all 92 people aboard. The investigation into that 2016 crash is still on- going, but officials have indi- cated it a pilot error was the likely cause. Russia’s dramatic entry into the Syrian civil war in September 2015 in support of the Syrian government, after a year of airstrikes by the U.S. and its coalition part- ners against the Islamic State group, increased the possi- bility of dangerous confron- tations in the skies over Syria. The downing of a Russian warplane by a Turkish jet in November 2015 heightened tensions between Moscow and Ankara, but they later managed to mend the rift and negotiated a series of de-escalation agreements for Syria together with Iran. Turkish troops are now on the ground in northern Syria and are patrolling the skies over the region as An- kara seeks to ramp up its in- fluence there and curb the expansion of Syrian Kurdish- controlled territory. Israel has refrained from taking sides in the Syrian civil war. But it has acknowl- edged carrying out scores of airstrikes against arch- enemy Iran and its Shiite proxy Hezbollah. Israel has acknowl- edged attacking Iranian tar- gets some 200 times. Israel has warned that it will not allow Iran to establish a per- manent military presence in postwar Syria. Throughout the fighting, Israeli Prime Minister Ben- jamin Netanyahu has main- tained continuous contact with Russia. Netanyahu fre- quently travels to Russia for talks with Putin to discuss the war in Syria. The Israeli military said the Russian plane fell victim to the “extensive and inac- curate” firing of Syrian sur- face-to-air missile systems and that the Israeli jets – which were carrying out a raid against a Syrian govern- ment facility in another place – had already left Syrian air- space by that point. The Israeli military said that hotline with Russia was in operation and that it would share with Russia all the data at its disposal. The plane crashed only hours after the leaders of Russia and Turkey reached an agreement to avert an all- out offensive by Syrian gov- ernment forces to retake Syria’s last remaining rebel stronghold in Idlib. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Tuesday called the deal “a landmark and crucial agree- ment for Syria’s future” and said the downing of the Russian plane will have no impact on it. WASHINGTON (AP) – Presi- dent Donald Trump declas- sified a trove of documents related to the early days of the FBI’s Russia investiga- tion, including a portion of a secret surveillance war- rant application and former FBI Director James Comey’s text messages. Trump made the extraor- dinary move Monday in re- sponse to calls from his al- lies in Congress who say they believe the Russia investi- gation was tainted by anti- Trump bias within the ranks of the FBI and the Justice Department. It also came as Trump continued his efforts to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe after the guilty plea of his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and amid the on- going grand jury investiga- tion into a longtime asso- ciate, Roger Stone. Trump’s decision will re- sult in the release of text messages and documents in- volving several top Justice Department and FBI officials who Trump has repeatedly attacked over the last year. The president tweeted Tuesday on the move, quoting a supportive congressman and adding: “Really bad things were happening, but they are now being ex- posed. Big stuff!” White House press sec- retary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Trump’s decision in a written state- ment, saying the president had directed the Office of the Director of National In- telligence and the Justice De- partment to declassify the documents “at the request of a number of committees of Congress, and for reasons of transparency.” It was unclear how soon the documents would be released. In statements Monday evening, the Justice Depart- ment and the office of Di- rector of National Intelli- gence Dan Coats said they are working together to comply with Trump’s order, which triggers a declassifica- tion review by various agen- cies “to seek to ensure the safety of America’s national security interests.” That re- view is ongoing. According to the state- ment, Trump declassified 21 pages of the 101-page June 2017 application to renew a warrant obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveil- lance Act, or FISA, to mon- itor the communications of former Trump campaign ad- viser Carter Page in 2016. Those pages only make up a small part of the 412 pages of FISA applications and court orders related to Page released by the FBI ear- lier this year in heavily re- dacted format. The June 2017 applica- tion was the last of four filed by the Justice Department in support of FISA court or- ders allowing the monitoring of Page. His communications were monitored for nearly a year starting in October 2016. According to the redacted version, three of the declassi- fied pages involve information included in a section titled “The Russian Government’s Coordinated Efforts to Influ- ence the 2016 U.S. Presiden- tial Election.” That section in- cludes reference to potential coordination between people associated with Trump’s cam- paign and the Russian elec- tion interference effort. The other 18 pages ap- pear to relate to information the government submitted that came from ex-British spy Christopher Steele before the presidential election. Steele was a longtime FBI informant whose Democratic-funded re- search into Trump ties to Russia was compiled into a dossier that has become a par- tisan lightning rod since its publication in January 2017. Besides the FISA applica- tions pages, the president is declassifying all FBI reports documenting interviews in connection with the Page sur- veillance warrant and those documenting interviews with senior Justice Department of- ficial Bruce Ohr, who was in contact with Steele. According to Sanders’ statement, Trump also di- rected the Justice Department to publicly release in full the text messages of Comey, Ohr, former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and former FBI special agent Peter Strzok that are related to the Russia investigation. The move comes after a small group of Republicans in Congress, all staunch al- lies of Trump, held a news conference last week asking him to declassify the docu- ments. Democrats criticized the effort, saying the GOP law- makers were trying to dis- credit the Justice Department in an effort to protect Trump from Mueller’s investigation. Trump made a similar move in February when the White House, over the objec- tions of the FBI and intel- ligence community, cleared the way for the Republican- led House intelligence com- mittee to release a partisan memo about the surveil- lance warrant on Page. Dem- ocrats weeks later released their own memo. The disclosures were un- precedented given that sur- veillance warrants obtained from the secret court are highly classified and are not meant to be publicly disclosed, including to defendants pre- paring for or awaiting trial. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting of the President’s National Council of the American Worker in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. - PHOTO: AP The Russian military blames Israel for the crash of one of its jets near Lattakia, Syria. - SOURCE: MAPS4NEWS/APNext >