ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – TUESDAY OCTOBER 9, 2018 Rising to the occasion every day, year after year PROUD TO BE THE BANKER’S BANK OF THE YEAR IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS. www.butterfieldgroup.com Butterfield Bank (Cayman) Limited is licensed to conduct banking and investment business by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. Address: 12 Albert Panton Street, George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. 187202_HR-Ad-Strip-BOTY2017-6colPage 1 12/15/17 10:16:40 AM Directors to sell Cayman National shares KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com All but one of the directors of local bank Cayman National Cor- poration Ltd. intend to sell their shares to the Republic Bank Trinidad and Tobago (Barbados) Ltd., according to a recently re- leased directors’ circular, which provides more details about Re- public Bank’s attempted acquisi- tion of Cayman National. The circular states that Truman Bodden intends to sell 1,100,000 of his 1,125,135 shares, bank CEO Stuart Dack intends to sell 20,000 of his 21,031 shares, Sherri Bodden-Cowan intends to sell 120,000 of her 125,639 shares, Bryan Hunter intends to sell 68,000 of his 69,338 shares, and Nigel Wardle intends to sell 60,000 of his 65,479 shares. They must maintain at least 999 shares each to remain on the board of directors. The only director listed who does not intend to sell his shares is Clarence Flowers Jr., who holds 47,455 shares directly and another 1,137,078 shares through his family estate, ac- cording to the circular. With the Republic Bank looking to buy up to 74.99 percent of Cayman National’s 42,350,731 shares for US$6.25 apiece, the transaction could reach nearly US$200 million. Republic Bank’s offer to shareholders is open through Oct. 22, and faces a crucial step on Tuesday, when Hurricane Michael brings rain, high seas Waves pummel the West Bay dock Monday morning, after Hurricane Michael brought rough seas and heavy rainfall to the Cayman Islands over the weekend. Local forecasters say that unless the storm, which was classified as a hurricane on Monday morning, changes trajectory, Cayman may have already seen the worst of it. The storm is on a northward route, heading for the southeastern United States. For more on this story, see page 2. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » CAYMAN, UK RESUME CRIME-FIGHTING COOPERATION MICHAEL KLEIN mklein@pinnaclemedialtd.com The U.K. and the Cayman Islands have reached an agreement that will allow the con- tinued cooperation in the fight against money laundering and other crime under an agree- ment struck more than two years ago. The Minister of State for the Overseas Territories Tariq Ahmad and Premier Alden McLaughlin released a statement Monday confirming that British and Cayman officials had reached an agreement about the sharing of beneficial ownership information that will provide for “close and effective” cooperation. The agreement does not affect the threat that the British government may impose public beneficial ownership registers in the overseas territories through an order in council, if they have not been implemented by 2020. Last month, Donald Toon, a director of the National Crime Agency in the U.K., criticized a lack of cooperation from the Cayman Islands in an interview with the BBC. He said the British law enforcement agency had faced difficulties in its investigations when it attempted to ob- tain information on who the true owners of certain Cayman-registered companies were. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office blamed the problems on Cayman’s withdrawal from the so-called exchange of notes, which provides for the delivery of beneficial owner- ship information in response to British law enforcement requests within 24 hours and in urgent cases within one hour. The FCO claimed that the Cayman Islands government had pulled out of the agreement struck with the U.K. government, in reaction to the U.K. parliament’s threat to impose publicly accessible beneficial ownership registries in the overseas territories with the recently passed U.K. Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » CINICO boss Lonny Tibbetts fired without public explanation JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Lonny Tibbetts, the longtime CEO of gov- ernment’s health insurance company CINICO, has been summarily fired. Mr. Tibbetts’s dismissal was announced Monday afternoon in a two-line press release signed by the company’s “board of directors,” which gave no information or explanation for the decision. The statement, sent out through Govern- ment Information Services, simply stated, “Un- fortunately, as a result of information which recently came to the attention of the Board of Directors and which has been investigated, a decision was taken to terminate the employ- ment of the CEO of CINICO with immediate effect. The Board of Directors does not propose to make any further comments at this time.” The statement did not include any details on what the information was, who had carried out the investigation or what its findings were. Pa- tricia Estwick, chair of the CINICO board of di- rectors, declined to answer any further questions on the matter and hung up the phone on the Cayman Compass when asked to clarify if the CEO had been accused of criminal wrongdoing. A Royal Cayman Islands Police Service spokesperson confirmed that Mr. Tibbetts had not been arrested for any offense. The Anti-Corruption Commission de- clined to comment. Mr. Tibbetts told the Compass his attorneys would be issuing a statement shortly, though none had been received by press time Monday. Health Minister Dwayne Seymour could not be reached Monday afternoon. He replied to Compass calls on the matter with a text message saying he was in a meeting. Mr. Tibbetts has been CEO of the govern- ment’s insurance company since December 2010. Immediately before that, he had been PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 »2 LOCAL&REGIONAL TUESDAY OCTOBER 9, 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. - TUESDAY - 640-FILM (640-3456) VENOM (PG13) 12:20 I 4:20 VIP I 7:15 I 9:00 3D 10:00 NIGHT SCHOOL (PG13) 1:00 I 4:00 I 7:00 I 9:40 THE PREDATOR (R) 2:00 I 4:45 I 9:40 VIP I 9:50 BLOCKBUSTER RE-RELEASE: STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (PG13) 1:00 VIP I 3:25 I 9:20 THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS (PG) 1:15 I 4:00 I 6:30 SMALLFOOT (PG) 3:00 3D I 5:20 I 7:40 BLOCKBUSTER RE-RELEASE: INCREDIBLES 2 (PG) 12:45 I 6:40 CLASSICS @ THE CINEMA: GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) (PG13) 7:00 VIP Storm strengthens to hurricane, tracks away from Cayman SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com Hurricane Michael strengthened and continued its trajectory northward on Monday, tracking away from the Caribbean and toward the southeastern United States. Michael was classified as a Category 1 hurricane as of 10 a.m. Cayman time on Monday, when its maximum sustained winds were mea- sured at 75 mph. As the storm strengthened, the National Hurricane Center in Miami issued a hurricane warning for the Cuban prov- ince of Pinar del Rio and a tropical storm warning for the Cuban province of the Isle of Youth, as well as for the Mex- ican coastline ranging from Tulum to Cabo Catoche. The NHC projects that Michael will strengthen to a major hurricane – which denotes maximum winds greater than 110 mph – before making landfall over Florida at some point on Wednesday. The storm was about 264 miles northwest of Grand Cayman when it was clas- sified as a hurricane. Fore- casters at the Cayman Is- lands National Weather Service did not expect it to heavily impact Cayman. Kerry Powery, the chief meteorologist for the Cayman Islands National Weather Service, noted Monday morning that there is a large band of scattered showers about 50 miles west of Grand Cayman. Mr. Powery said that he did not expect heavy rain locally, judging from the storm’s trajectory. Asked the likelihood of Hurricane Michael impacting Cayman, Mr. Powery said, “That’s the $10 million ques- tion. It depends on the mo- tion of the storm. If it moves a little more east than north- ward, it may post some of the banding across our area. The bands form almost a train of convection. If it comes over us, it may linger a little while. “As it is right now [Monday morning], I think we’re on the edge of it. It should be mostly cloudy and rainy with a couple showers coming through.” Gilbert Miller, a forecaster for the Cayman Islands Na- tional Weather Service, said that the 1 p.m. update from the National Hurricane Center indicated that the storm remained on a north- ward trajectory. The storm was 293 miles northwest of Grand Cayman at the time of the 1 p.m. update. The 11 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center indicated that hurricane-force winds extended 30 miles from the storm’s center, and trop- ical storm-force winds ex- tended up to 175 miles away. A potential storm surge of eight-to-12 feet was fore- cast for Florida’s western coastline from Indian Pass to Crystal River. The weather advisory warned of potential mudslides in Cuba and life- threatening flash floods for areas of Florida, the mid-At- lantic states and ranging up to southern New England. Mr. Powery said that the Caribbean is still vul- nerable to storms over the next six weeks. “During the hurricane season, the genesis area tends to shift around,” he said. “This is getting to be our most vulnerable time of year because there are a lot of storms that generate in the western Caribbean and then track northward through western Cuba or the eastern Yucatan peninsula.” Hurricane Michael’s impact on Grand Cayman is seen in rough seas along the west coast Monday. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY The National Hurricane Center projects that Michael will strengthen to a major hurricane – which denotes maximum winds greater than 110 mph – before making landfall over Florida at some point on Wednesday. Sport coach awaits sentencing for indecent assaults Defendant has been in custody since June CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A sports coach facing two charges of indecent assault against teenaged girls will be sentenced on Nov. 2, a magis- trate ruled Monday. Steve Anthony Smith, 49, had pleaded guilty to the charges, but the basis of his pleas was not accepted by Crown counsel Darlene Oko. Ms. Oko contended that Mr. Smith’s accounts of the inci- dents were incomplete and omitted some of the aggra- vating circumstances. Magistrate Grace Don- alds therefore held a special hearing to determine what facts she accepted. On Monday, the magis- trate gave her ruling. She said she accepted the evidence of both complainant/victims, describing them as unshaken in their accounts when ques- tioned by defense attorney Nicholas Dixey. She said the first offense, which occurred in late 2017, involved a girl of 15. Mr. Smith was bailed on con- dition that he not be unac- companied with any child under the age of 18 and not coach or teach any child under that age. The second offense oc- curred under those bail condi- tions and involved a girl of 17. In the first matter, the girl was known to him. He told her he wanted to speak to her about her grades. He put his arm around her, pulled her to him and pulled her head up. He said he was not going to kiss her, but his lips made contact with her forehead. She moved away, but he pulled her closer a second time. He told her she had gained some weight, but she was still his sexy little girl. The girl said he had grabbed her buttocks, cupped them and held on. The defendant said his hands were on her waist and contact was no more than a second or two. He also stated that his comment to the girl was a normal Jamaican way of speaking. The magistrate did not ac- cept that his remark was a common Jamaican expression. The second charge in- volved a female with whom he had not had previous con- tact, but met through mutual acquaintances. He invited her to accompany him where he was going to coach two chil- dren playing squash. In his car on the way there, he asked her if she were a virgin, asked her age and told her she was a big woman. At the venue, he sat next to her and put his arm on her back. She sat with her legs together and pointed away from him. He put his hand on her leg and engaged her in conversation. He began to touch her outer thigh, telling her she needed to im- prove her muscle tone. The magistrate accepted the version of facts as out- lined by the prosecution. She emphasized that this inappropriate questioning and inappropriate touching had occurred while the de- fendant was on bail for the first offense. Mr. Dixey pointed out that Mr. Smith had been in cus- tody for four months, which was equivalent to a sentence of six months. He suggested that a term of immediate im- prisonment imposed was un- likely to be higher. The magistrate set sen- tencing for Friday, Nov. 2, and requested a social inquiry re- port and two victim impact reports. The probation officer said he would implore his de- partment to have the material ready on time, but could not give a commitment. The defendant was re- manded in custody. STRONG AFTERSHOCK RATTLES HAITI DAY AFTER QUAKE PORT-DE-PAIX, Haiti (AP) – A magnitude 5.2 aftershock struck Haiti on Sunday, even as survivors of the previous day’s temblor were sifting through the rubble of their cinderblock homes. The death toll stood at 12, with fears it could rise. The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of the af- tershock was located 9.8 miles north-northwest of Port-de-Paix, the city hard hit by Saturday night’s 5.9 mag- nitude earthquake. Sunday’s aftershock had a depth of 10 kilometers. “I don’t feel safe even inside my house,” said Gary Joseph as he put various mattresses for himself and his two sons to sleep on under a tree out- side the house in Port-de-Paix. He pointed to cracks left by the quake and aftershock in a wall and said: “I have to pro- tect myself and my sons.” The aftershock caused panic on streets where emer- gency teams were providing relief to victims of Saturday’s quake, which toppled cin- derblock homes and rickety buildings in several cities. Haiti’s civil protection agency said at least eight people died in the coastal city of Port-de-Paix and three people died in the nearby community of Gros-Morne in Artibonite province. An- other person died in Saint- Louis du Nord, Communica- tion Minister Eddy Jackson Alexis tweeted. Among the dead from Sat- urday night’s quake were a 5-year-old boy crushed by his collapsing house and a man killed in a falling auditorium. Authorities said 188 people were injured. Impoverished Haiti, where many live in tenuous cir- cumstances, is vulnerable to earthquakes and hurricanes. 3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY OCTOBER 9, 2018 Hospice facility set to open in December MARK MUCKENFUSS mmuckenfuss@pinnaclemedialtd.com Officials with Cayman HospiceCare are pushing to- ward a Dec. 4 grand opening of their new facility off of West Bay Road. The four-bed, 6,000- square-foot facility was orig- inally expected to open in August, but permitting de- lays and bad weather, which hampered the construc- tion of a road and parking lot, have resulted in the year-end date. “It’s been a real journey and I can’t tell you how ex- cited we are,” said board member Nancy Lewis, who has been over- seeing the project. On Thursday, Ms. Lewis toured the new building, where wires still hung from holes in the ceiling, awaiting light fixtures, and drywall powder dusted the tile floors. Tape is still on the windows. Outside, the dirt parking lot was littered with vehicles and workmen doing some of the finish on the exterior. Ms. Lewis said having a dedicated building is a big step forward for the organi- zation that currently rents its office space and has just two rooms for inpatient care at The Pines Retirement Home. “The ability to put a loved one in a safe place that is homelike, I think, is a game changer,” she said of the new building. The inpatient area, which Ms. Lewis called “the resi- dences,” will be used to pro- vide both hospice and pal- liative care, the latter being pain and stress relief for patients still undergoing treatment for a serious dis- ease. Respite care will also be available. The area has a central nurses’ station, an ambu- lance entrance and large patient rooms that can ac- commodate couches and chairs for family members. The administrative offices and meeting rooms are in the west wing and in be- tween is a community area. This large central room, Ms. Lewis said, will be used for such things as adult day care, yoga classes, music therapy sessions and even meetings and events for the outside community, such as the Rotary Club. “All of our fundraising events will now be held here,” she said. The $3 million building itself is the result of a pro- tracted fundraising effort. Nearly every room and/or feature of the new building, whether it’s the solar panels on the roof, the kitchen or the landscaping that will start in about two weeks, has been sponsored and funded by a local company or individual. One anonymous donor pro- vided $1 million. And Derek Haines, who got the project off the ground, raised more than that by running spon- sored marathons. Several years ago, Ms. Lewis said, “Derek Haines came to us and said, ‘I want to run six marathons in a year so you can have an in- patient unit.’” Mr. Haines ran six mar- athons in 2014, raising $1.35 million. “The community has been amazing,” Ms. Lewis said. “We’re getting a beautiful building for a lot less than what it would have cost if the construction people (and others) hadn’t stepped up.” Felicia McLean, director of operations and nursing for HospiceCare, said she ex- pects the new building to have a major impact. “It’s opening a huge door for us to be able to provide a lot more for the community,” Ms. McLean said. “Being able to offer the coverage and nursing will be much easier.” She too sees an expanded scope in the care and pro- grams the organization can provide. For instance, she’s not sure many people know the organization pro- vides more than just end- of-life care. “In the new facility we can offer more palliative and re- spite care,” she said, as well as other things. “Our commu- nity room allows us to offer more day care programs. We’ve not been able to have those because we did not have the space before.” New iguana signs posted along East End roads JEWEL LEVY jlevy@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Department of Envi- ronment has posted new road signs warning motorists to watch out for Cayman’s en- dangered blue iguanas. The signs, a red triangle with a blue iguana perched in the middle, are located east of Sunny Field Road in East End, and along the Queen’s Highway on both sides of the road. The signs were put up during the first week of Au- gust with the assistance of the National Roads Au- thority after reports of several of the animals being killed on the roads. Once considered to be on the brink of extinction, the blue iguana has made a come- back in the Cayman Islands, where the species is endemic. Following a breeding and con- servation initiative, the Blue Iguana Recovery Program now estimates that there are more than 1,000 blue iguanas in the wild, with most of them located in the Salina Reserve in East End. The ones that have been released to the wild are microchipped and tagged with colorful beads for identi- fication purposes. Jane Haakonsson, research officer at the Department of Environment, said that since the start of this year, three blue iguanas were killed on Sunny Field Road and the Queen’s Highway. She said iguanas are re- leased into the Salina Re- serve, but can walk out any- time because the reserve is not fenced in, and eventu- ally some of them end up on local roads. Calls to DoE usually come in during the breeding season when males roam large terri- tories to fend off competing males, while trying to keep track of their females and searching for good nesting grounds, Ms. Haakonsson said. “Take caution when you are driving on the roads. Whether … it’s a blue or green iguana in front of you … try not to run it over or swerve unnec- essarily. Take care to drive within the speed limit and keep your eye out,” she said. Blue iguana signs now are located along Sunny Field Road and the Queen’s Highway. Originally targeted for August, the new inpatient HospiceCare facility is expected to be open in December. - PHOTOS: TANEOS RAMSAY A worker helps put the finishing touches on the new inpatient HospiceCare facility, including installing lighting in the kitchen area.The islands’ most-trusted news source 4 – EDITORIAL – Opinion&Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass office. Comments on the high-speed internet proposal by the Utility Regulation and Competition Office (OfReg): “Nowhere in the Consultation Document does OfReg explain why three years is a reasonable period to achieve these very high proposed speeds and make them available universally.” – Flow “Before proposing any such limits, OfReg needs to conduct a more fulsome examination of the demand- side requirements.” – Digicel “The first objective of the broadband policy is to assure that all the residents of Grand Cayman have access to at least two providers … Until that first objective is achieved, the Broadband Policy can’t be considered as meeting any of the other objectives.” – C3 “If forced to do the uneconomic, a licensee will ulti- mately fail, and underserved households will remain unserved, while the broader market will lose the compet- itive benefit of that licensee. Customers and the broader public will be worse off if licensees go out of business.” – Logic In perhaps what is a rare, even unique moment, four deeply competitive rivals are speaking in harmony on a highly technical subject that is crucial to the economic future of the Cayman Islands. Government regulators must not, indeed cannot, ignore their messages. We are supporters of big, bold ideas for our country, and OfReg’s plan to compel local telecom companies to provide faster internet service, faster, is, if anything, bold. In a vacuum, it is a somewhat attractive proposal that Cayman consumers obtain universal access to internet connection speeds that are multiple times faster than that in major first-world nations, and on an extremely expedited timeline (of 3 years, compared to 10-15 years in Canada, 9 years in the EU, and no deadline in the U.S.). However, the reality is that such sophisticated and capital-intensive infrastructure cannot simply be willed or “magic wanded” into existence out of nothing by government fiat. We would recommend regula- tors re-read the fairytale “Rumpelstiltskin” in which the miller, in order to ingratiate himself with the king, makes a false claim that his daughter can “spin straw into gold.” Of course she cannot, nor can regulators operate outside the realms of physics and finance – two very real constraints on what all of us wish our world might look like. The comments cited at the top of this editorial were part of a consultation process that OfReg began in March and ended in September. When it was announced in the spring that the gov- ernment, via OfReg, intended to force local telecoms to pay for a fiber optic network bringing high-speed internet service to the eastern districts, we called the idea a “landmark intrusion … into a highly competitive area of the private sector.” We wrote: “Cayman’s telecom sector is competitive, nimble, resource-intensive, highly technical and integral to the functioning and future growth of the country’s economy. To treat such an essential industry in such a cavalier manner borders not only on arrogance – but on regulatory folly.” Amid a series of scandals, dustups and unaccept- able financial revelations, the embattled regulator is hardly in a position to proselytize about best practices or world-class ambitions for the private sector. OfReg should instead be focused on getting its own fiscal and managerial house in order – if, as it seems, the super- visory Cabinet is unwilling to do it for them. Now that OfReg has (ironically but predictably) missed its own deadline to provide critical details about mandatory internet speeds and deadlines for completion, it seems appropriate for officials to pursue a “3 Rs” strategy on the broadband proposal: Recon- sider, revise, or reject altogether. A clear signal to government on errant internet plan TUESDAY OCTOBER 9, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS America’s disturbing plunge into protectionism WASHINGTON – The descent of American capitalism into a racket is being greased by professed capitalists in gov- ernment, in collaboration with professed capitalists in what is called, with de- creasing accuracy, the pri- vate sector. This is occurring under the auspices of Re- publicans, and while many Democrats are arguing, with some accuracy but more in- coherence, this: The govern- ment has become a servant of grasping private interests – and should be much bigger and more interventionist. Protectionism – laws and administrative rulings by which government deter- mines the prices and quan- tities of imported goods and services – is government reg- ulation. So, it is probable that the current administration, which lists deregulation as among its glistening achieve- ments, is producing a sub- stantial net increase in eco- nomic regulation. The American Action Forum, a center-right advo- cacy group, says the Trump administration’s deregula- tory efforts have saved Amer- icans $1.3 billion this year. That, however, is only about one-ninth of the sum ($12 billion) of taxpayer dollars flowing to a small portion of taxpayers (those who are engaged in agriculture, less than 2 percent of the popu- lation) as recompense for in- juries the government has done to them, and to all con- sumers, by protectionist pol- icies that have provoked re- taliatory tariffs against U.S. agricultural products. Most Americans would not recognize a soybean if it were presented to them on a silver salver, but they are in- vested, in several senses, in agriculture policy. American farmers have picked a bad time to produce a harvest of good news. Because pork, soybean and corn yields are up, the Agriculture Depart- ment says farm income is expected to decline 13 per- cent this year, a trend exac- erbated by retaliatory tar- iffs imposed by China and Mexico, and not nearly mitigated by U.S. govern- ment payments. Recently The Washington Post’s Damian Paletta re- ported how the Dixon Ticon- deroga pencil company has gamed “U.S. trade law to reap government benefits and protection as it also moved almost all pencil produc- tion to Mexico and China.” Dixon has received almost $5 million and has sought even more government funds under a program to aid do- mestic manufacturers hurt by foreigners’ abusive trade practices. And Dixon has got the government to impose a 114.9 percent duty on Chi- nese pencil makers, more than doubling the cost of some competitors’ products. Dixon is, however, not clearly a domestic manufacturer. It does have a distribution center in Macon, Georgia, but there it manufactures few if any of the 500 mil- lion pencils it makes world- wide. The company would not give Paletta details about its U.S. production or access to its Georgia facility, myste- riously citing “the sensitivity of it.” The Macon Economic Development Commission says the facility has only 17 employees. Paletta reports that photographs of the fa- cility, “posted by employees on Facebook, offer only a limited view of its opera- tions, showing a number of cardboard boxes marked ‘Made in China.’” The U.S. Commerce Department says Dixon qualifies as a do- mestic manufacturer by pro- ducing almost 1,500 boxes of golf pencils. “China,” says the president strangely, “is now paying us billions of dollars in tariffs.” Tariffs are taxes collected at the border and paid in one way or another by various residents of the importing nation. Bloomberg Business- week notes that Coca-Cola blamed metals tariffs for its decision to raise product prices. Home Depot is “al- lowing its suppliers to fully pass along their tariff-related cost increases,” partly be- cause such is the bargaining power of Home Depot (like Walmart’s and Amazon’s) when dealing with its sup- pliers, whose profit margins are already thin. So, Home Depot (and its shareholders) will sacrifice profits to the extent that the company does not pass on to consumers the tariff-related costs. The bil- lions China is supposedly paying “in tariffs” are fig- ments of the president’s re- markable misunderstanding of the protectionism that is the centerpiece of his agenda. As a slew of Democrats contemplate presidential campaigns, most of them agree that the government should be much more in- terventionist in economic matters, where it is, they evidently believe, deft, disin- terested and intelligent. They cannot be paying attention to the current administration’s multiplying demonstrations that the government is none of those things when pro- tectionism plunges it deeply into the allocation of wealth and opportunity. It is hilarious, but helpful, that the president thinks, or at any rate says, that last week’s mild modernizing re- visions of NAFTA have trans- formed what he previously called the “worst trade deal ever made” into “the big- gest trade deal in the United States’ history.” So, about one thing he is sort of right: Trade wars are easy to win – if you sufficiently define victory down. George Will’s email address is georgewill@washpost.com. © 2018, Washington Post Writers Group GEORGE F. WILL Tariffs are taxes collected at the border and paid in one way or another by various residents of the importing nation. 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 • TUESDAY OCTOBER 9, 2018 The Chamber of Commerce is inviting business leaders and senior managers to participate in the Mentoring Cayman programme for the 2019 academic year. Mentors from all industry sectors are encouraged to submit an application. Deadline for Mentor applications is Monday, 22 October. Mentoring Cayman consists of one workplace visit each month for seven months. The o cial launch of the programme will take place in October with the rst workplace visit scheduled for November. Companies or persons interested in being part of, donating to, or sponsoring the Mentoring Cayman programme should contact Nikita Durrant at programmes@caymanchamber.ky or call 743-9121 A joint programme of... MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, YOUTH, SPORTS, AGRICULTURE & LANDS CAYMAN ISLANDS GOVERNMENT Bush’s lawyer wows UK Conservative conference TAKING A STEP TOWARD ENDING BULLYING Civil servants and mem- bers of the public donned pink shirts to take a vi- sual stand against bullying Friday at this year’s Stood Up photo opportunity. The anti-bullying cam- paign organizers, the Family Life Centre, held a “Pink Shirt” shoot outside the Government Administration Building. The photo opportunity was part of a larger, month-long aware- ness-raising initiative with the message: “See Something, Do Something.” “Bullying is a form of vio- lence regardless of what form it takes,” said Acting Governor Franz Manderson, who joined the photo opportunity. “We, as civil servants, are cognizant of its disturbing effects in our schools, the workplace and in families. The FRC’s Stood Up campaign is encouraging fur- ther dialogue on the issue, on our streets, in the media, and in our school classrooms.” FRC’s Program Coor- dinator Charmaine Bush- Miller, underscored the im- portance of the work being done in schools. “We recognize the signif- icance of increasing aware- ness of the issue,” she said. “We are working both with victims as well as bullies to identify different strategies and build empathy to help tackle this behavior at its earliest manifestation.” For the month-long Stood Up schedule, visit https://bit.ly/2O4hxca. Geoffrey Cox hailed as Britain’s new Brexit champion JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Geoffrey Cox, the lawyer who successfully defended former Cayman Islands Pre- mier McKeeva Bush in his three-week corruption trial in 2014, was proclaimed as the “star” of the U.K. Con- servative Party Conference last week after a rousing pro-Brexit speech that had some British commentators hailing him as a potential prime minister. Mr. Cox, who was ap- pointed attorney general in the U.K. in July, urged the Conservative party to unite and embrace the opportuni- ties of separation from the European Union. “We need not fear self government,” he told del- egates at the party confer- ence in Birmingham, where he gave the warm-up speech prior to Prime Minister The- resa May’s address. With the Conservative party fractured by infighting over the terms of its exit from Europe and the pos- sibility of an economically damaging “no deal” depar- ture from the single market, Mr. Cox sounded a rare op- timistic note. Mr. Cox said sacrifice and pragmatism were neces- sary to achieve the “precious prize” of Brexit. In a speech peppered with theatrical flourishes, familiar to anyone who fol- lowed Mr. Bush’s trial, Mr. Cox quoted both the Rolling Stones and John Milton, to urge the Conser- vative Party faithful to help Ms. May get her Brexit deal across the line. “We have to be grown up about it,” he said, acknowl- edging that the U.K. would not get everything it wants from the negotiations. “We must resolve to put aside our differences and unite behind the prime min- ister to ensure the decision of … June 23, 2016, is not set at nought by those who would have us remain in the European Union.” Mr. Cox, one of the U.K.’s best-known barristers, ended his speech by quoting from Milton’s “Areopagitica.” “Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks. Methinks I see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth, and kindling her un- dazzled eyes at the full midday beam.” While his oratory is fa- miliar to Cayman Islands audiences from both Mr. Bush’s trial and the earlier Eurobank trial, the speech was seen as a “breakout” in the U.K., with several pa- pers proclaiming him the new voice of Brexit. The Times hailed a “perfor- mance so dazzling he was in danger of overshadowing the main act.” The Daily Telegraph wrote an effusive column under the headline “Move over, Boris Johnson, the Conservatives have a new Brexit champion.” Even the pro-European Union Guardian newspaper was impressed with his de- livery, if not his message. Columnist Anne Perkins wrote, “Cox’s thing is de- fending flimsy cases, and as he strode round the plat- form declaiming sonorously, like Rumpole on a particu- larly outrageous brief, it was easy to see why they pay him so well.” Asked by The Times about the potential for a future leadership bid, Mr. Cox in- sisted he was not interested in being prime minister. “I am a jobbing lawyer,” he told the newspaper. Mr. Cox, who was appointed attorney general in the U.K. in July, urged the Conservative party to unite and embrace the opportunities of separation from the European Union. “Bullying is a form of violence regardless of what form it takes. We, as civil servants, are cognizant of its disturbing effects in our schools, the workplace and in families.” ACTING GOVERNOR FRANZ MANDERSON Acting Governor Franz Manderson and the Acting Chief Officer for the Portfolio of the Civil Service, Andrea Fa’amoe, front row, second and third from left, join colleagues and members of the public on the steps of the Government Administration Building to send the anti-bullying message ‘We Stood Up.’ U.K. Attorney General Geoffrey Cox MAN CHARGED WITH ROBBERY OUTSIDE BAR Defendant remanded in custody CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Dalton Benjamin Rob- inson Jr., 21, was remanded in custody Monday after ap- pearing in Summary Court charged with robbery. The incident occurred outside the EverGlo Bar in Bodden Town on Sat- urday, Sept. 29. Details of the charge are that the defendant stole a handbag containing approx- imately $300 from a named woman and, at the time of doing so, put her in fear of force being used. Magistrate Valdis Fol- dats advised that robbery can be dealt with only in the Grand Court and set the matter for mention there on Friday, Oct. 26. He refused bail, but said an application could be made to the higher court. The defendant was rep- resented by attorney Lee Halliday-Davis. Crown counsel Garcia Kelly appeared for the prosecution.6 LOCAL NEWS Check out these photos and others by visiting caymancompass.com/photogalleries or on facebook.com/caycompass (and don’t forget to tag yourself and your friends!) TUESDAY OCTOBER 9, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS Organizers estimate that more than $300,000 was raised at Saturday night’s Breast Cancer Founda- tion Gala, an annual event that is the charity’s main fundraiser for the year. Actress Shannen Doherty, who is a breast cancer survivor, was the guest speaker at the event, which featured live and silent auctions, and music by Bona Fide. From left, Randall Pinder, Paul Pearson, Nuvia Manderson, Acting Governor Franz Manderson, Wanda Thompson, Ken Thompson, Petra Berksoy and Ergun Berksoy. - PHOTOS: DAVID WOLFE Breast Cancer Foundation’s Lydia Forbes and Janette Fitzgerald share a hug. Michael Binckes bids for one of the live auction items. Jessi McNeil and Marcus Cumber Glenda and Roy McTaggart Actress and breast cancer survivor Shannen Doherty was the keynote speaker at the Breast Cancer Foundation Gala on Saturday. - PHOTO: JANET JARCHOW Ellen Cuylaerts, Michael Maes and Margaux Maes Kim Lund, Ergun Berksoy and Petra Berksoy share a laugh at the gala.MC Vicki Wheaton auctions a photograph of a baby seal taken by Ellen Cuylaerts. Acting Governor Franz Manderson applauds at the Breast Cancer Foundation Gala on Saturday where two bidders paid $22,000 each to have dinner with him. At the Cayman Clinic table on Saturday night were: Back row, from left, Fiona Hobday, Donneth Thompson, Richard Clough, Christa Robinson, Heidi Fahy and Virginia Hobday; front row, Joyce Bumanglag, Nina Baxa, Denise Osterloh and Yvonne Richter. Miss World Cayman Kelsie Woodman-BoddenThe islands’ most-trusted news source 7 Community CALENDAR ■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR is published TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS. It is available to charitable or nonprofit organizations. Items should be submitted at least three working days before publication. Information must include name of sender, signature and contact number. ■ Items may be faxed to 949-2662, brought to the Cayman Compass office on Shedden Rd. or emailed to cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com at least three days in advance of publication. CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY OCTOBER 9, 2018 supPORTOurTourism.com @supPORTOurTourism CRUISE BERTHING = A BETTER GUEST EXPERIENCE. TODAY’S CRUISE PASSENGER COULD BE TOMORROW’S STAY OVER GUEST TUESDAY, OCT. 9 OLDER PERSONS MONTH: Mission House Tour and Lunch, Bodden Town, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cayman Brac Island Tour, 9 a.m. STEM CONFERENCE: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Conference hosted by the University College of the Cayman Islands today through Friday, Oct. 12. BREAST CANCER: Clinic in West Bay, 10 a.m. to noon. CRUISE PIER MEETINGS: The Opposition invites the public to a meeting on the cruise ship pier and strategies for the sector’s continued well-being. Meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. at South Sound Community Centre. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 10 LOOKYA: National Museum, Harbour Drive, 3-6 p.m. Respecting the Wisdom and Values of Older Persons. District booth displays, music, local food and more. In conjunction with Dept. of Children and Family Services, celebrating Older Persons Month. CRUISE PIER MEETINGS: The Opposition invites the public to a meeting on the cruise ship pier and strategies for the sector’s continued well-being. Meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. at Seafarers Association Hall, Prospect. THURSDAY, OCT. 11 BREAST CANCER: Public awareness meeting in West Bay, John Gray Memorial Church Hall, 7:30 p.m. SUNDAY, OCT. 14 5K WALK/RUN: Brenda Tibbetts-Lund Memorial, in conjunction with Breast Cancer Month. 6 a.m. West Bay Road Public Beach. Entry fee $25. Register online at www.CaymanActive. com or at the Lions Club of Tropical Gardens Pink Shop in Elizabethan Square, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Friday. MONDAY, OCT. 15 CRUISE PIER MEETINGS: The Opposition invites the public to a meeting on the cruise ship pier and strategies for the sector’s continued well-being. Meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. at East End Civic Centre. TUESDAY, OCT. 16 SEAFARERS: The Seafarers Association informs all members that there will be a general meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Seafarers Hall, 11 Victory Ave. Prospect. Buses will be provided from West Bay Town Hall at 6 p.m. A bus route has been added in George Town, leaving the public library parking area at 7 p.m., stopping at the Cayman Compass building and the Airport Foster’s. The bus is blue and marked Bobo $1 Public transport, but there is no charge. OLDER PERSONS MONTH: Cayman Brac Social, Aston Rutty Civic Centre, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. BREAST CANCER: Public awareness meeting, Savannah United Church Hall, 7:30 p.m. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 17 OLDER PERSONS MONTH: Sustaining Older Persons lecture, UCCI, 5:30 p.m. All are invited. BREAST CANCER CLINIC: Bodden Town, 10 a.m. to noon. THURSDAY, OCT. 18 OLDER PERSONS MONTH: Bingo Night, Aston Rutty Civic Centre, 6-9 p.m. The Big Stage cultural event, Harquail Theatre, 6:30-9 p.m. BREAST CANCER AWARENESS: Public meeting, Webster Memorial Church Hall, 7:30 p.m. FRIDAY, OCT. 19 OLDER PERSONS MONTH: Island Tour Cayman Brac, 9 a.m. SATURDAY, OCT. 20 SOY MONSTER DASH: The Save Our Youth Foundation hosts its annual Monster Dash 5K Walk/ Run fundraiser at Camana Bay. Registration 6:15 a.m. Walkers and runners start at 7 a.m., taking off in opposite directions. All participants are encouraged to wear costumes. To register online, go to www.caymanactive. com/monsterdash. Entry fee is $20 for adults, $15 for students (age 10-18), children under 10 free. Registration on the day of the event costs $25 for adults. Prizes for best overall costume, best family costume and first runner. Water and snacks provided at the end of the race, with a water stop at the turnaround. OLDER PERSONS MONTH: Tea Party, Pines Retirement Home, 4-6 p.m. NCVO RADIO/TELETHON: The annual fundraiser for the National Council of Social Services is held at the Prospect Playhouse, from 7 p.m. SUNDAY, OCT. 21 CHURCH SERVICE: Boatswain Bay Presbyterian Church invites all to a Pink Sunday Service in support of Breast Cancer Month. 11 a.m. Everyone is asked to wear pink attire. MONDAY, OCT. 22 ADULT MENTORS NEEDED: Mentoring Cayman is accepting applications from adult role models who wish to serve as mentors for the 2019 class. Today is the deadline to apply. Mentoring Cayman is a six- month initiative coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Education. Apply at www.caymanchamber.ky/ mentoringcayman.html. FRIDAY, OCT. 26 LEADERSHIP CAYMAN: Today is the deadline to apply for Leadership Cayman, a six-month personal and community leadership program coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce. Applicants must be 30 years of age, in a middle management position and must have resided in the Cayman Islands for at least one year. Apply online at www.leadershipcayman.ky. GENERAL INTEREST U.K. SCHOLARSHIPS: The Chevening Secretariat is accepting applications for U.K. government scholarships to study in the U.K. in 2019/2020. Applications for Chevening Scholarships are open until Nov. 6, 2018, with applications to be submitted via www.chevening.org/apply. Visit www.chevening.org/ apply/guidance for detailed information on the eligibility criteria and scholarship specifications. Contact Gill Skinner on 244-2431 or gillian.skinner@fco.gov.uk. SPECIAL OLYMPICS: Be a volunteer as athlete training begins at Truman Bodden Sports Complex 5:30 p.m. for basketball skills, track, bocce and football. Swimming on Wednesdays at the Lions Pool 10-11 a.m. or on Saturdays at the Cayman International School pool, 9:30 a.m. Email soci@candw.ky or call 916-2600. TOBACCO LICENSES: Tobacco license holders are reminded of the 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1 deadline to apply for their annual license renewals. Annual registration renewal fees are $500 for a retailer, $750 for a cigar bar and $5,000 for a wholesale distributor. Persons in Grand Cayman must submit their applications at the Business Licensing Counter, first floor, Government Administration Building. In the Sister Islands, applications must be submitted to DCI Senior Licensing Officer, Lolita Bodden-Arch, in the Bodden and Bodden building on Cayman Brac. CAYMAN ARTISTS INVITED: Artists resident in the Cayman Islands or artists of the Caymanian diaspora are invited to submit photos of work (or work concept drawings/photos), with an accompanying artist’s statement relating the work to the exhibition synopsis for consideration, in electronic format, directed to the attention of the curator at assistantcurator@ nationalgallery.org.ky. Deadline for submission is Monday, Nov. 26, at 5 p.m. For more information, contact public.engagement@ nationalgallery.org.ky. SEAFARERS HALL: The Cayman Islands Seafarers Association wishes to inform the community that the hall is now available for rental every day of the week, including Saturdays, as the church is no longer contracted with the association at 11 Victory Avenue, Prospect. LOCAL HARVEST MARKET: Wednesdays and Saturdays at Camana Bay. A produce- only market featuring local farmers. Located in Heliconia Court (the new courtyard next to the building containing Scotiabank). 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. THRIFT SHOP: One Dog At A Time has launched its “New To You” Thrift Shop. Open Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. throughout the summer. The shop is at Unit 26 at the warehouses on Bodden Road, which runs down the side of Kirk Home Store to the old screen print place. BETHESDA COUNSELLING CENTRE: Caters to all who seek help. Open Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 68 Mary St. Appointments available Saturdays and late evenings. Owned and operated by the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Call 946-6575. HUMANE SOCIETY BOOK LOFT: North Sound Road. Open Monday 12:30-4 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday 5:30-7:30 p.m. Volunteers needed for front desk a few hours per week. Email humanesocietybookloft@ candw.ky or call 946-8053. Donations of books, games, CDs, stationery, DVDs, cards etc. in good condition always needed. For more Community Calendar events, visit www.caymancompass.com/events. Some of Cayman’s older residents will get a chance to tour the Mission House in Bodden Town on Tuesday, Oct. 8, as part of Older Persons Month.The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 TUESDAY OCTOBER 9, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS a meeting will be held for shareholders to vote on whether to remove a restric- tion on anyone owning more than 10 percent of Cayman National’s shares – some- thing that needs to be re- moved if Republic Bank is to acquire majority ownership. Even if Mr. Flowers and other shareholders decline to sell their stock, the Re- public Bank may still have the power to acquire mi- nority shares if it buys more than two-thirds of Cayman National, according to the circular. “If the [Republic Bank] acquires more than two- thirds of Cayman National Shares as a result of the Partial Offer, the [Republic Bank] will have the ability to pass a special resolu- tion approving a statutory merger which may result in the compulsory acquisi- tion of Shares held by mi- nority shareholders, sub- ject to certain conditions,” the directors’ circular states, warning, “In that situation, dissenting Shareholders would be entitled only to payment of the fair value of their Shares, which, at such time, may be higher or lower than the offer price of US$6.25 per Share.” Acquiring majority own- ership would also give Re- public Bank other powers, including the ability to pass ordinary and special reso- lutions at Cayman National meetings, which would allow it to amend the bank’s arti- cles of association. Additionally, Republic Bank would have the ability to control the composi- tion of the board of direc- tors, subject to the condi- tion that the majority of the board remains Cayma- nian. Republic Bank intends to appoint its managing di- rector, Nigel Baptiste, and executive director Roop- narine Oumade Singh to the board upon completing the acquisition, the directors’ circular states. The directors’ circular also provides time lines and caveats for how long Re- public Bank would be re- quired to maintain the com- position of Cayman National. For instance, Republic Bank has committed to not insti- tute systematic layoffs or redundancy for at least five years, “unless there is a sig- nificant adverse economic change or compelling busi- ness reason to do so,” the circular states. The circular further states that Republic Bank does not intend to intro- duce any major changes to the business or operations of Cayman National, to dis- continue the employment of the employees of Cayman National, or to re-deploy the fixed assets of Cayman National, except in the or- dinary course of the busi- ness – “provided, that [Re- public Bank] retains the flexibility at any time to con- sider any options in relation to Cayman National which the [Republic Bank] may re- gard to be in the interest of Cayman National as part of a wider corporate group.” As for the name and branding of Cayman Na- tional, Republic Bank has committed to maintaining those things until at least Dec. 31, 2023, according to the circular. The circular recom- mends the sale, stating that it is a good value for Cay- manian shareholders, with the Republic Bank’s offer of US$6.25 per share being a US$0.75 premium over the stock’s current trading price – that price has increased from $3 in early August when the potential offer was announced. The circular in- cludes an opinion from De- loitte, which states that the auditor believes the pro- posed transaction to be fair, from a financial standpoint, to shareholders. Republic Bank Trinidad and Tobago (Barbados) Ltd. was incorporated in Bar- bados in 1999, and is a part of the Trinidad-based Re- public Financial Holdings Ltd., which was originally called Colonial Bank when it was formed in 1837, ac- cording to the organiza- tion’s website. Republic Financial Hold- ings Ltd. has more than $10 billion in assets, owns banks in Guyana, Grenada, Suri- name, St. Lucia, and Ghana – as well as having a class B bank in Cayman, Republic Bank (Cayman) Limited – and has more than 4,000 em- ployees in Trinidad alone, its website states. The Cayman Islands gov- ernment refuted the criti- cism, stating there had been only one case, in May 2018, in which a legal issue affected Cayman’s response time to a National Crime Agency re- quest. Premier McLaughlin said last month that funda- mental data security and pri- vacy rights issues were at the core of that dispute. The new agreement al- lows the continuation of the cooperation under the ex- change of notes. It followed discussions on the technical process used by the General Registry and Royal Cayman Islands Police Service for providing infor- mation to U.K. law enforce- ment in a timely manner. The U.K., in turn, provided assurances that address the Cayman Islands’ concerns over privacy issues and the secure transmission of data, the joint statement said. The new mechanism will effectively end the dispute over Cayman’s cooperation with U.K. law enforcement. “The National Crime Agency and RCIPS con- firmed that they are satisfied with the operational adjust- ments and that the agree- ment immediately allows them to resume collabora- tion under the Exchange of Notes, which is in addition to the other mechanisms for information exchange that have been in existence for years,” the statement said. Cayman’s current benefi- cial ownership register was established in response to the exchange of notes, which did not require that the in- formation is made available to the public at large. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Cayman, UK resume crime-fighting cooperation on enforced leave from the Department of Employ- ment Relations, at which he had been director, because of an internal inquiry fol- lowing allegations by de- partmental staff. A govern- ment statement at the time said he was about to be re- instated as director of the Department of Employment Relations when he accepted the CINICO job. The post of CEO of CINICO had been vacant for two years before Mr. Tibbetts took up the post. Before entering the public sector to work as a senior insurance ana- lyst for the Cayman Is- lands Monetary Authority, Mr. Tibbetts had managed a portfolio of captive insur- ance companies for Marsh Management Cayman Ltd. CINICO covers more than 15,000 Cayman Islands residents, including all civil servants, civil service pen- sioners and their families. The statement about Mr. Tibbetts’s dismissal was signed “the board of direc- tors.” According to CINI- CO’s website, the current board of directors are Pa- tricia Estwick, Janet Sairs- ingh, Dr. George Meggs, Anne Owens, Darlee Ebanks, Betty Baraud, Roger Corbin and Dwight Merren. Lonny Tibbetts CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Directors to sell Cayman National shares KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (AP) – Former first daughter Barbara Bush has gotten married. Her father, former Pres- ident George W. Bush, es- corted his daughter down the aisle while her grand- father, former President George H.W. Bush, watched the ceremony at the fam- ily’s Walker Point com- pound in Kennebunkport, Maine, on Sunday. The 36-year-old mar- ried 37-year-old screen- writer Craig Coyne. Her twin sister, Jenna Bush Hager, told NBC’s “Today” show on Monday Barbara wore something borrowed – a bracelet her grandfather had given to his wife on their 70th wedding anniversary. Her namesake and grandmother, former first lady Barbara Bush, died at age 92 in April. FORMER FIRST DAUGHTER BARBARA BUSH GETS MARRIED LOS ANGELES (AP) – When SpaceX launched a rocket carrying an Argentine Earth- observation satellite from California’s Central Coast, both the night sky and social media lit up. People as far away as San Francisco, Sacramento, Phoenix and Reno, Nevada, posted photos of the Falcon 9 rocket’s launch and return on Sunday night. It was the first time SpaceX landed a first-stage booster back at its launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The Air Force warned res- idents on the Central Coast that they might see multiple engine burns by the first stage and hear one or more sonic booms as it returned. But many far beyond the region were taken by surprise when the launch illuminated the sky, wondering what the otherworldly looking sight was. Some speculated it was a comet or an alien aircraft. “Something exploded in the sky west of Phoenix,” Laura Gadbery wrote on Twitter. “Anyone catch it or know what it was?” Lloyd Lawrence, another user in Phoenix – about 490 miles away from the launch site – said he was driving on Interstate 10 when he saw the launch and “couldn’t be- lieve my eyes.” “I wondered who was holding the gigantic flash- light in the sky,” he wrote. Californians from Los Angeles to Sacramento – about 270 miles from the launch site – also posted their confusion. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was among those trying to clear up the spec- ulation, tweeting a photo of the launch and writing: “Nope, definitely not aliens.” Those who knew they were watching a satel- lite launch posted videos they captured of the stun- ning spectacle, including one taken over the downtown Los Angeles skyline and a timelapse from Kern County. The primary purpose of the SpaceX mission was to place the SAOCOM 1A sat- ellite into orbit, but SpaceX also wanted to expand its re- covery of first stages to its launch site at Vandenberg. SpaceX had previously flown first-stage rockets back to land after Florida launches but had not done so on the West Coast. SpaceX satellite launch lights up night sky, social media The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch is seen in the distance over the Golden Gate Bridge near Sausalito, California on Sunday. - PHOTO: JUSTIN BORJA VIA AP CINICO boss Lonny Tibbetts fired without public explanation “If the [Republic Bank] acquires more than two-thirds of Cayman National Shares as a result of the Partial Offer, the [Republic Bank] will have the ability to pass a special resolution approving a statutory merger which may result in the compulsory acquisition of Shares held by minority shareholders, subject to certain conditions.” DIRECTORS’ CIRCULARThe islands’ most-trusted news source 9 France, Italy begin fuel spill cleanup French and Italian maritime authorities have begun cleaning up a fuel spill that has spread 12.5 miles in the Mediterranean Sea after two ships collided north of Corsica. A Tunisian cargo ship pierced a hole in the hull of a Cypriot container ship in Sunday’s collision, causing the fuel leak. CAYMAN COMPASS • TUESDAY OCTOBER 9, 2018 China says detained former Interpol chief accused of bribery BEIJING (AP) – Chinese au- thorities scrambled to con- tain a public relations mess over the disappearance of the former Interpol presi- dent during his trip home to China, saying Monday that he was being lawfully in- vestigated for bribery and other crimes. But the government’s an- nouncement did little to ad- dress concerns raised about the risks of appointing Chi- nese officials to leadership posts in international orga- nizations. On Monday, the acting Interpol president told The Associated Press the agency had not been in- formed in advance of the Chi- nese probe into Meng Hon- gwei, who is also China’s vice minister of public security. On Sunday, Meng’s wife made a bold public appeal from France to the interna- tional community to help lo- cate her husband. The appeal – especially unusual for se- nior Chinese officials – cast an unwelcome light on ex- tralegal detentions that have increasingly ensnared dis- sidents and allegedly cor- rupt or disloyal officials alike under President Xi Jinping’s authoritarian administration. In a sign of the urgent and possibly unplanned na- ture of the investigation, the Ministry of Public Se- curity said in an announce- ment that top ministry offi- cials met in the early hours of Monday to discuss Meng’s case. The announcement said Meng was being investigated for accepting bribes and other crimes that were a re- sult of his “willfulness.” “We should deeply rec- ognize the serious damage that Meng Hongwei’s bribe- taking and suspected viola- tions of the law have caused the party and the cause of public security and deeply learn from this lesson,” said the announcement about the meeting, chaired by Min- ister Zhao Lezhi. Meng is the latest high- ranking official to fall victim to a sweeping crackdown by the ruling Communist Party on graft and perceived dis- loyalty. Most officials in- vestigated by anti-graft au- thorities are quietly spirited away for questioning, cut off from contact from their families and not allowed access to lawyers, some- times for months. But that was not how it played out with Meng, 64, whose unexplained disap- pearance while on a trip home to China late last month prompted the French police to launch an investiga- tion. The French government and Interpol also made their concerns known publicly in recent days. By late Sunday night, China issued a terse an- nouncement that Meng was under investigation and shortly after, Interpol said Meng had resigned as the in- ternational police agency’s president. Meng could not be reached for comment. The revelation that Chi- nese authorities would be bold enough to forcibly make even a senior public security official with international stature disappear has cast a shadow over the image Bei- jing has sought to cultivate as a modern country with the rule of law. Willy Lam, a Chinese pol- itics expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said Meng’s case shows how Chinese officials, no matter where they are, have to obey the Communist Party first and foremost. “This puts China’s internal political struggle over and above the international norms on the rule of law,” Lam said. Rights groups had criti- cized Meng’s appointment as head of Interpol in 2016. They pointed to the lack of transparency in China’s legal system and the potential that the position would be mis- used to attack Beijing’s polit- ical opponents – by using the police group’s red notices to pursue political or economic fugitives, for instance. “By putting him in the position of Interpol chief, China hoped to show its de- termination to govern by law,” said Zhang Lifan, an independent Chinese polit- ical analyst. “But now the spokesman is in trouble and it has definitely dealt a blow to China’s image.” Zhang said the haphazard way the case unfolded sug- gested that officials were acting as if in some state of emergency. “China proceeded to do this in an unconven- tional manner without caring about its image. It is rather an insult to Interpol,” he said. The acting president of Interpol, Kim Jong Yang, said it had not been told about the investigation of its chief. “I find it regrettable that the top leader of the organization had to go out this way and that we weren’t specifically notified of what was hap- pening in advance,” Kim said in a phone interview. “We still don’t have suf- ficient information about what’s happening (with Meng) or whether it has any- thing to do with Chinese do- mestic politics,” he added. Monday’s statement on the ministry of public se- curity’s website provided no details about the bribes Meng allegedly took or other crimes he is accused of, but suggested that he was also in trouble for po- litical lapses. Officials at the meeting were told that they “must always maintain the polit- ical quality of being abso- lutely loyal to the party,” the statement said. Questions about Meng’s case dominated a regular briefing by China’s foreign ministry on Monday. The spokesman, Lu Kang, rejected the suggestion that China’s handling of the Meng probe would hurt the country’s image abroad, saying that it demonstrated Beijing’s com- mitment to tackling graft. “This has shown the Chi- nese government’s firm re- solve to crack down on cor- ruption and crime,” Lu said. “It has also made very clear that this case fully demon- strates that the party is firm in fighting corruption.” However, Lu did not di- rectly answer questions about whether Meng would be formally arrested or al- lowed to hire a lawyer, or re- ceive a visit from his wife. Grace Meng, his wife, made an impassioned plea Sunday for help in bringing her husband to safety. She said she thought he sent an image of a knife before he disappeared in China as a way to warn her he was in danger. She pledged to pursue “truth, justice and respon- sibility toward history” for her husband and young chil- dren’s sake, and “for all the wives and children, so that their husbands and fathers will no longer disappear.” The emotional appeal was an extremely unusual move for the spouse of a se- nior Chinese official to take, given the risk that public lobbying might backfire and lead to a heavier punishment. Many do not have a chance to speak up even if they want to: spouses of officials under investigation, if they are in China, would likely be placed under 24-hour surveil- lance, Lam said. Global executives cooling on deals amid trade uncertainty LONDON (AP) – Executives around the world are cooling to the idea of mergers and acquisitions in the face of rising trade tensions, no- tably between the U.S. and China, a leading adviser on international corporate deals said Monday. In its half-yearly assess- ment of corporate mergers and acquisitions, or M&A, EY found that only 46 per- cent of executives are plan- ning a takeover in the next 12 months. That is down 10 per- centage points from a year ago and marks the lowest level in four years. “Geopolitical, trade and tariff uncertainties have fi- nally caused some deal- makers to hit the pause button,” said Steve Krouskos, a global vice chair at EY. “De- spite stronger-than-antici- pated first half earnings and the undeniable strategic im- perative for deals, we can ex- pect this year to finish with much weaker M&A than how it started.” EY highlighted the dis- pute between the U.S. and China and uncertainty over Britain’s looming exit from the European Union as key reasons behind the decline in executives’ interest in deals. The former has already led to an increase in tariffs, while Brexit could still yet, espe- cially if Britain does not se- cure a deal with the EU over future relations ahead of next March’s departure. Higher tariffs have the potential to weigh on global growth, especially if coun- tries retaliate against each other in a vicious cycle. In a separate report Monday, ING Bank said it ex- pects trade growth to almost halve in 2018, to 2.6 percent, and to drop to 1.3 percent in 2019, the lowest level since the trade collapse of 2009. It said rising protectionism is one key reason behind the slowdown. The slowdown is evident in China, where authorities are are already trying to miti- gate the economic impact of the tariff fight with U.S. Pres- ident Donald Trump. Over the weekend, Beijing announced it was injecting money into its cooling economy by re- ducing bank reserve levels. EY also found that many of the upcoming deals that are being considered are in places where trade uncer- tainties are highest, as the executives try to preempt a potential change in the legal landscape. Britain, for ex- ample, is now the number two destination for deals, up from fifth in April. “Many companies are looking to M&A to mitigate the potential impact of trade and tariff policies, secure market access and protect supply chains,” Krouskos said. Though EY noted a de- cline in appetite for deals, it said the overall outlook remains positive, with 90 percent of executives ex- pecting the global M&A market to improve in the next 12 months and a sim- ilar amount believing global economic growth prospects are improving. A post-Panamax crane loads a 40-foot shipping container onto a container ship at the Port of Savannah in Savannah, Georgia, July 5, 2018. - PHOTO: AP Former Interpol president Meng Hongwei delivers a campaign speech at the 85th session of the general assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization in Bali, Indonesia, Nov. 10, 2016. - PHOTO: APNext >