ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – THURSDAY JANUARY 3, 2019 High of 86 Low of 74 Seas: Moderate to rough with wave heights of 4 to 6 feet. Small craft should exercise caution over the open water. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 NO ‘DUTCH TREAT’: NETHERLANDS ATTACKS CAYMAN VIA ‘BLACKLIST’ WORLD | PAGE 2 BRAZIL’S BOLSONARO TARGETS MINORITIES ON FIRST DAY IN OFFICE SWIM COACH AND EDUCATOR PENNY MCDOWALL PASSES MARK MUCKENFUSS mmuckenfuss@pinnaclemedialtd.com Penny McDowall is being remembered as someone who was devoted to others, particu- larly those with special needs. Mrs. McDowall, a former special education teacher, may be best known as the founder of the Special Olympics swimming program in Cayman. She was recognized both here and in- ternationally for her work as a coach for the organization. She died Monday after battling cancer for more than six years. She was 59. “She is truly what you would call a legacy,” said Laura Ribbins. Mrs. McDowall worked with Ms. Ribbins when the latter opened Fitness Connection gym in 1988. The two women were fast friends and ran marathons together in their younger years. Mrs. McDowall, who first came to the island in 1984 began teaching special needs students at the Lighthouse School in 1991. Three years later, she established a swimming program for those students under the um- brella of the existing Special Olympics organi- zation. She sometimes brought her swimmers to do dryland training at Fitness Connection, Ms. Ribbins said, and was an inspiration. “She saw potential in everybody,” Ms. Rib- bins said. “She never looked at someone and thought, ‘You’re missing an ingredient.’ It was, ‘What do you have and how can we get the most out of that?’ The glass was always full, and if it went down to half, she pumped it up to full again.” Raised in La Plata, Missouri, a small town in the eastern part of the state, Mrs. McDowall Coral salvage effort could have international impact JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A project to transplant and relocate pillar coral impacted by disease appears to have contained an outbreak, according to the Department of Environment. The salvage effort involved amputating healthy coral tissue from affected reefs, growing them in coral nurseries and reat- taching them to healthy reefs using cement. The research team, including visiting scientists from Florida and the U.K., believe the methods used in Cayman could be de- ployed elsewhere to help save threatened reefs from disease. The outbreak was first noted at the “Killer Pillar” dive site, famous for its tow- ering seven-foot pillar corals that rise like skyscrapers from the reef. Staff from scuba operator Cayman Eco Divers noticed black bands had formed around the corals and experts diagnosed a combination of black band and white plague coral disease. The diseases appeared to be spreading EU and UK pile pressure on financial services industry MICHAEL KLEIN mklein@pinnaclemedialtd.com The year 2018 came to a close just like the previous year ended: with Cayman attempting to stave off a blacklisting by the European Union. In late December, lawmakers passed three bills designed to require Cayman-registered com- panies to demonstrate they have sufficient economic activity on island in terms of management presence, office space and qual- ified employees to justify the profits they make. The new legislation was part of a commitment made by the government in December 2017 that it would address EU con- cerns over Cayman’s tax system by the end of 2018. These concerns relate mainly to companies using tax struc- tures that attract taxable profits to low- or no-tax jurisdictions, even though they have little or no economic presence there. The new legislation imposes a substance test on banking, in- surance, fund management and shipping companies, as well as entities functioning as head- quarters or distribution and ser- vice centers, and businesses en- gaged in financing and leasing or holding intellectual property. Under the proposed legis- lation, companies active in the SPEAKER CALLS FOR 50-STORY BUILDINGS Speaker of the House McKeeva Bush believes buildings of 50 stories and higher are the next step for Cayman’s tourism product. The former premier courted controversy in his annual New Year’s message, by suggesting the island should consider sanctioning skyscrapers on Seven Mile Beach. For more on this story, see page 3. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 5 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 5 » Researcher Tammi Warrender and Aaron Hunt of Cayman Eco Divers affix transplanted coral to a coral ‘tree.’ PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 5 »2 LOCAL®IONAL THURSDAY JANUARY 3, 2019 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. - THURSDAY - 640-FILM (640-3456) MARY POPPINS RETURNS (PG) 12:50 I 3:50 I 6:45 I 9:45 AQUAMAN (PG13) 12:45 VIP I 2:05 3D I 3:45 I 6:35 VIP 8:00 I 9:40 3D MORTAL ENGINES (PG13) 12:40 3D I 3:40 I 6:50 ELLIOT THE LITTLEST REINDEER (PG) 12:15 I 4:50 BUMBLEBEE (PG13) 1:00 I 3:55 VIP I 7:00 3D I 9:25 I 9:50 VIP SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (PG) 5:20 I 9:50 THE GRINCH (PG) 2:30 I 7:05 Ministry: South Sound boardwalk ‘substantially complete’ KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com The $1.3 million South Sound boardwalk is “substan- tially complete” and govern- ment should hold an opening ceremony for the project sometime in the first quarter of this year, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure. With the boardwalk itself completed, work is now being done to realign the adjacent road to create a bike path. Benches still need to be in- stalled, too. “It has been great to see walkers of all ages using the boardwalk and it is clear that the project will con- tinue to provide a healthy space for residents to enjoy one of Cayman’s most spec- tacular vistas,” the min- istry stated. “The govern- ment encourages the public to be vigilant when driving and walking in this area of South Sound as roadwork continues next month to mark out the permanent lo- cations of the vehicle and cycle lanes.” The development has had multiple delays since it was announced in June 2016 as part of an overall beauti- fication and improvement scheme for the area. In Oc- tober 2016, Premier Alden McLaughlin said that work would be completed by the end of that year. However, no work seemed to have taken place until the National Roads Authority changed the alignment of the road and announced in Sep- tember 2017 that the change was made to accommodate the boardwalk construction. Dozens of traffic cones dotted the roadside for months, but no work took place until Feb- ruary last year. Government explained in a press release last January that it was working out “tech- nical details” with the project contractor. “A contract was signed with The Phoenix Construc- tion Group late last year, but some final technical details had to be worked out prior to commencement,” government said at the time. Government said last Jan- uary that the project should be completed by the end of June, but what the ministry termed “robust” construction needs pushed that date by about two months. “The construction of the boardwalk had to be robust because of its proximity to the sea and the natural un- dulation of the beach ridge,” government said in July. “There is also a ‘peat’ layer [plant matter] under the sand which can cause movement of the layers above it as water is absorbed or released.” Government’s up- date explained that if the boardwalk was simply constructed on top of com- pacted fill like a typical sidewalk, the material could wash away in inclement weather, crack or wrap over time and eventually lead to structural issues. “The project is con- structed with piles and a combination of concrete members and inlays of Trex planking,” government ex- plained in July, adding that the project should be finished by the end of August. In October, government again revised its timeline, saying that the boardwalk should be finished within a month. However, the project ran into more hiccups when a truck ran over the boardwalk on Oct. 17 and broke multiple planks. The responsible party agreed to cover the costs of the repairs, the ministry said at the time. The boardwalk in South Sound is mostly finished, and an official opening ceremony for the project will be held in the first quarter of this year, according to government. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY FRESH WINDS AND ROUGH SEAS ON FORECAST Small craft advisory remains in effect A high pressure system over the western Atlantic Ocean will continue to sup- port moderate to fresh east- erly winds and rough seas across the Cayman area for the next few days. Radar images show iso- lated showers in and around the Cayman area that con- tinue to move toward the west, according to the Cayman Islands National Weather Service. Temperatures will rise to the mid-80s Fahrenheit and winds will be easterly at 10 to 15 knots. A small craft advisory to exercise caution over open waters remained in effect for Thursday, when rough seas were again forecast. Wave heights are expected to reach 4-6 feet with larger swells, especially around Grand Cayman. The outlook is for sim- ilar weather conditions through Friday morning with a gradual decrease in winds and seas expected from Thursday night. Brazil’s Bolsonaro targets minorities on 1st day in office SAO PAULO (AP) – Newly in- stalled President Jair Bolso- naro issued executive orders targeting Brazil’s indigenous groups, descendants of slaves and the LGBT community in the first hours of his ad- ministration, moving quickly after a campaign in which the far-right leader said he would radically overhaul many aspects of life in Latin America’s largest nation. One of the orders issued late Tuesday, hours after his inauguration, likely will make it all but impossible for new lands to be identified and demarcated for indigenous communities. Areas set aside for “Quilombolas,” as descen- dants of former slaves are known, are also affected by the decision. Another order removed the concerns of the LGBT community from consid- eration by the new human rights ministry. In a move favorable to his allies in agribusiness, which have criticized giving large swaths of lands to the indig- enous, Bolsonaro transferred the responsibilities for de- lineating indigenous territo- ries from the Justice Ministry to the Agriculture Ministry. The new agriculture minister, Tereza Cristina, is part of the agribusiness caucus in Bra- zil’s lower house and has op- posed requests from native communities. Bolsonaro, a former army captain and longtime con- gressman, said during his presidential campaign that he would stop making what he calls concessions to native Brazilians and quilombolas. “Less than one mil- lion people live in those places isolated from the real Brazil,” Bolsonaro tweeted Wednesday. “They are ex- plored and manipulated by nonprofits. Together we will integrate those citizens and give value to all Brazilians.” The Justice Ministry pre- viously handled demarcation of indigenous lands through the FUNAI agency, which also oversees other initiatives for indigenous communities such as healthcare, housing and language preservation. Bolsonaro’s order is raising uncertainties about FUNAI by shifting it to a new min- istry for family, women and human rights that is headed by an ultraconservative evan- gelical pastor. Indigenous leader Sonia Guajajara said the presiden- tial order aims to dismantle protections for Brazil’s indig- enous communities. “Does anyone still doubt his promises to exclude us during the campaign?” she asked on Twitter. Bolsonaro said last year that he also wants to annul land demarcation decisions made by previous adminis- trations, but legal experts say recent Brazilian Su- preme Court rulings could block such move. New Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta, meanwhile, suggested on Wednesday that there will be spending cuts in healthcare for the indigenous. “We have figures for the general public that are much below what is spent on healthcare for the indig- enous,” he said, without pro- viding details. In removing LGBT con- cerns from the responsibili- ties of the human rights min- istry, Bolsonaro did not name any agency to consider such things. He has strongly crit- icized what he calls “gender- based ideology,” saying it is a threat to Brazil’s Chris- tian values. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, second right, smiles next to his ministers during a transfer of power ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday. - PHOTO: AP3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS THURSDAY JANUARY 3, 2019 TCS Boarding Information Night January 8, 2019 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. For information, please contact Emma Mutomba (current parent) echingozho@yahoo.com or 345-325-4268 For over 130 years, Trinity College School has been the boarding school of choice for Islanders looking to connect their children to the best of Canada. Speaker calls for 50-story buildings on Seven Mile Beach McKeeva Bush believes skyscrapers needed in future JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Speaker of the House McKeeva Bush believes build- ings of 50 stories and higher are the next step for Cay- man’s tourism product. The former premier courted controversy in his annual New Year’s mes- sage, by suggesting the is- land should consider sanc- tioning skyscrapers on Seven Mile Beach. “I want to see buildings’ heights move to 50 storeys, even if only for one building, for tourism, residential and commercial businesses to make a mark in the region, so that the wealthiest among the wealthy will work, shop and live there, to set us apart in the region,” Mr. Bush wrote. The maximum allowable building height in Cayman’s main tourist district was re- cently raised from seven to 10 stories. The planning department is about to embark on a dis- trict-by-district public con- sultation exercise as it pre- pares to draw up a new Development Plan for the long-term future of the is- land. One of the topics up for discussion will be the building heights in Cayman’s main tourist zone. Since the construction of the WaterColours luxury condos and the Kimpton re- sort, there have been mul- tiple other successful appli- cations for 10-story buildings on Seven Mile Beach. While some have balked at the sight of such tall buildings, Mr. Bush believes Cayman should go bigger. “I don’t believe we should rest on our laurels,” he told the Cayman Compass in an interview. “We must offer some- thing different. We are lim- ited in space except for in the air. Why not go as high as we can go and we will be saving land.” He highlighted Dubai, where the towering, sail- shaped Burj Al Arab Ju- meirah hotel is among an elite group of iconic luxury hotels, as an example of the kind of development he be- lieves Cayman could attract. “We need something different to set us apart if we want to attract the wealthiest people to come and spend their money in Cayman,” he said. Mr. Bush said his com- ments were intended to out- line his own personal vi- sion and did not reflect a policy of the current coalition government. He said the coalition gov- ernment had been successful in its first two years and was getting many things done, from the airport to the dock, that he had advocated for over the years. “The coalition is working,” he said. “Everyone is sensible enough to put aside old prej- udices and make it work.” He acknowledged that some in Cayman would not appreciate his skyscraper suggestion. But he said he had raised ideas previously, ranging from health tourism to immigration policies, that had been sniffed at, at first, but had been successful. “Some people seem to want Cayman to stand still or go back in time,” he said. “They have already made their money. “We need to prepare for the future, make sure indig- enous Caymanians are taken care of, and make opportu- nities for people to have em- ployment and make money.” Canadian boarding school Trinity College School is of- fering a full-tuition schol- arship to one Caymanian student for the 2019-2020 ac- ademic year. Representatives of the Port Hope, Ontario school will be on Grand Cayman on Jan. 5-7 to interview and test interested students entering Grade 9 in 2019. Introduced in 2015, in commemoration of Trinity College School’s 150th anni- versary, the Cayman Schol- arship replaced the tradition of the Hunter Scholarship, awarded in the Cayman Is- lands since the 1980s, ac- cording to a press release from the school. For the 2019-2020 aca- demic year, one merit-based, full-tuition scholarship will be awarded to a new boarding student who is a current resi- dent of the Cayman Islands. According to the release, the recipient of the Cayman Scholarship “must exhibit academic excellence, leader- ship potential and the desire to become engaged in all as- pects of the TCS community.” Previous recipients in- clude Joe Roberts (Class of 2011), Cameron McWatt (Class of 2015), and Zororo Mutomba (Class of 2019). Students from the Cayman Islands have been attending Trinity College School since the early 1980s. Today, the Trinity College School Cayman Branch in- cludes more than 130 alumni, students, and past and cur- rent parents, with 17 stu- dents currently enrolled at the school. While attending the school, current scholarship recipient Zororo Mutomba was appointed by the head- master, based on a vote of all students and staff, to hold the position of head prefect for the current academic year. “I am so fortunate to have received the Cayman Islands Scholarship because without it I would not have attended TCS and had the opportu- nities I have had here,” Zo- roro said in the release. “I have made friendships I know will last a long time…. I have found mentors in dif- ferent teachers and the over- whelming amount of sup- port at TCS has helped me better myself academically. I would not trade the time I have had at TCS for any- thing, and that is why I am so grateful to have received this scholarship.” Trinity College School was founded in 1865 and is a co- educational boarding and day school for 580 students from Grades 5-12. The school is situated on a 100-acre campus in the town of Port Hope, one-hour’s drive east of Toronto. Interested Caymanian residents can contact the school’s director of admissions, Kathy LaBranche, at klabranche@tcs.on.ca. To learn more about the school, visit www.tcs.on.ca. Students from the Cayman Islands have been attending Trinity College School since the early 1980s. Canadian school offers scholarship to Cayman student Zororo Mutomba, from Cayman, is the current head prefect at Trinity College School. McKeeva Bush highlighted Dubai’s sail-shaped Burj Al Arab Jumeirah hotel as an example of the kind of development Cayman could attract. - PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK Speaker of the House McKeeva BushThe islands’ most-trusted news source 4 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. By issuing a “blacklist” of 21 low-tax jurisdictions (including the Cayman Islands), the Netherlands has dem- onstrated that it is full of … well, call it “gall.” The Netherlands’ State Secretary for Finance Menno Snel said, “By drawing up its own stringent blacklist, the Netherlands is once again showing that it is serious in its fight against tax avoidance.” Remember that it was the Netherlands and Ireland that enabled major corporations such as Apple, Google and Microsoft to avoid, legally, hundreds of billions of dollars in taxation (through schemes such as the infamous “double Irish with a Dutch sandwich”). If the Netherlands were to hold up a mirror and gaze at the reflection of its financial sector, we think it would be staring at something strikingly similar to Cayman, Bermuda, Guernsey, Jersey and other entities that it has elected to blacklist – apparently on the sole criterion that the jurisdictions have a corporate tax rate of between 0-9 percent. (Perhaps to its credit, the Netherlands ignored completely the EU’s current favorite but nonsen- sical standard of “economic substance,” and went right to the tangible issue of taxes.) Noticeable but not-unexpected “no-shows” on the Dutch blacklist include: China, the U.S., Singapore, Switzerland and fellow members of the EU. Sanctimonious statements aside, it appears that the Dutch blacklist is less a tool to prevent tax avoidance than a weapon to be wielded by one of the world’s largest centers for “aggressive tax planning” against its competitors. In 2017, the Netherlands received some US$5.2 trillion in “foreign direct investment,” with US$4.2 trillion being routed through shell companies to other jurisdictions, including offshore centers. According to an analysis of International Monetary Fund data published in our sister publication Cayman Financial Review, Cayman entities received about US$53 billion in foreign direct investment from the Neth- erlands in 2015, while sending about US$49 billion from Cayman to the Netherlands. The Dutch blacklist is simultaneously absurd and quite serious – far more serious than the direct but limited con- sequences of the blacklist, i.e., companies registered in blacklisted jurisdictions being subjected to a 20.5 percent withholding tax on interest and royalties received from the Netherlands. Our concern is not so much about what the Dutch blacklist does, but what it portends, in the words of Travers Thorp Alberga Senior Partner Anthony Travers, published Wednesday in the Compass in a letter to the editor: “a multi-headed hydra comprising, it seems now, the EU, the OECD and each independent EU jurisdiction.” That is a potential cacophony of gray lists, blacklists, rules, regulations and standards, custom-made by each country, but, it seems, with the common consequence of making it more difficult to do business with Cayman. Brussels’s bullying attitude toward small offshore jurisdictions extends far beyond the borders of Belgium. It is like an infection spreading throughout the 28 member states of the EU, including our colonial matron, the United Kingdom. As outlined in today’s front page story on the chal- lenges facing Cayman’s financial services sector, the “taxes-too-low penalty” established by the Dutch comes amid the U.K.’s demands for “public beneficial ownership registers” and the EU’s insistence on “adequate physical presence” – a standard that doesn’t exist and doesn’t make sense, yet which Cayman legislators hurriedly enshrined in bills passed a week before Christmas, the expected ramifications of which they have yet to explain to the public. It is perhaps somewhat understandable if Financial Services Minister Tara Rivers, Premier Alden McLaughlin and our country’s team of negotiators felt they did not have the firepower or the fortitude to take on an entity as big as the EU, but now at Cayman’s gate is a new, smaller antagonist. Anything less than a muscular response from Cayman can be considered an invitation to all foreign powers, great and small, to launch economic assaults against our country for whatever reason they care to put in a press release. Minister Rivers, Premier McLaughlin: What are you going to do about the unwarranted Dutch assault on these islands? Play nice and remain silent – or fight back aggressively and publicly? – EDITORIAL – No ‘Dutch treat’: Netherlands attacks Cayman via ‘blacklist’ THURSDAY JANUARY 3, 2019 CAYMAN COMPASS US education surplus is at risk CATHERINE RAMPELL WASHINGTON – One of Amer- ica’s most successful exports is in trouble. For decades, the U.S. higher-education system has been the envy of the world. We “sell” much more edu- cation to other countries than we “buy” from them; nearly three times as many foreign students are cur- rently studying here as we have abroad. In trade terms, this means we run a massive surplus in education – about $34 bil- lion in 2017, according to Commerce Department data. Our educational exports are about as big as our total ex- ports of soybeans, coal and natural gas combined. But all that may be at risk. A recent report from the Institute of International Education and the State De- partment found that new in- ternational student enroll- ments fell by 6.6 percent in the 2017-2018 school year, the second consecutive year of declines. A separate, more limited IIE survey of schools suggests that the declines continued this fall, too. To be sure, some of the forces behind these decreases are beyond our (or President Trump’s) control. Some for- eign governments, such as Brazil and Saudi Arabia, have reduced the scholarships that previously sent signifi- cant numbers of students to the United States, according to Peggy Blumenthal, se- nior counselor to the presi- dent at IIE. China, whose students represent about a third of U.S. international student enrollment, has been in- vesting in improving its own domestic university system, too. But according to the schools that are now watching the trend, the big- gest forces deterring interna- tional students are U.S. policy and U.S. culture. “They see the headlines and they think that they’re no longer wanted in the United States,” said Lawrence Scho- vanec, president of Texas Tech University, whose for- eign student enrollment de- clined by 2 percent this year. Sixty percent of schools with declining international en- rollment, in fact, said that the U.S. social and political environment was a contrib- uting factor, according to the IIE survey. The most frequently cited issue, however, was “visa ap- plication process or visa is- sues/delays.” In the fall 2018 survey, 83 percent of schools named this as an issue, compared with 34 percent in fall 2016. Schools have seen stu- dents trapped abroad and have since advised some stu- dents not to go home before graduation lest they get stuck trying to come back. Said Bennington College President Mariko Silver, “We’ve seen in- dividual students who have contacted us with the desire to come and have pulled out of the process.” Boo-hoo, some people might say. What’s the big deal if some foreigners stay home? Forget the feel-good ex- planations about how inter- national students enrich the campus environment (which I do not dispute). The students who come here also spend cold, hard cash: on tuition, travel, books, food, housing. A lot of jobs depend on those students. American col- leges and universities alone employed 3 million people in 2017. For context, that dwarfs the entire agricul- ture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector. And contrary to percep- tions that foreign students take spots that belong to Americans, at many schools they are enabling more Amer- ican students to get a degree. In the years after the fi- nancial crisis, as states slashed budgets for higher education, schools helped make up the shortfall by en- rolling more out-of-state and international students. These students generally pay full tuition, and their higher fees are used to cross-subsidize lower, in-state tuition rates (and scholarships) of Amer- ican classmates. No wonder that the Uni- versity of Illinois at Ur- bana-Champaign recently paid $424,000 to insure it- self against a significant drop in tuition revenue from Chi- nese students. More significantly, a con- tinued drop-off in inter- national students could cause serious pain be- yond academia. Foreign students come here in part because they are interested in staying after graduation and working here. They disproportionately study fields that U.S. em- ployers demand, and that U.S. students avoid. Foreign stu- dents now represent a ma- jority of computer science and engineering graduate programs at U.S. universities, for instance. That talent pipeline may be drying up. Foreigners are experi- encing more visa issues not only when they apply to study but also when they apply to stay and work. That might be one reason more than half of the decline in total enroll- ment last year was due to fewer students from India in computer science and engi- neering grad programs. Our loss has become other countries’ gain. We are still the top destination for for- eign students, but Australia and Canada have each seen their international enroll- ments rise by double-digit percentages in the past year. They are enticing students in word and in deed, with mes- sages of welcome and expe- dited visas. President Trump likes to say that our allies are taking advantage of us on trade. In this case, would you really blame them? Catherine Rampell’s email address is crampell@washpost.com. Follow her on Twitter, @crampell. © 2018, Washington Post Writers Group. We are still the top destination for foreign students, but Australia and Canada have each seen their international enrollments rise by double-digit percentages in the past year. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com ADVERTISE WITH US: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS DAVID R. LEGGE AND VICKI L. LEGGE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DAVID R. LEGGE EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will find their own way”The islands’ most-trusted news source 5 CAYMAN COMPASS THURSDAY JANUARY 3, 2019 rapidly, sparking fears for the species, described as rare and charismatic in a re- port on the outbreak pub- lished by the Department of Environment last month. A similar combination of diseases caused “rapid and catastrophic” loss of pillar corals in Florida, the report notes. Tim Austin, deputy di- rector of the Department of Environment, said, “This is a very aggressive disease. It wiped out more than 90 percent of the population of this particular species in Florida.” He said there was grant funding available to experiment with dif - ferent interventions that could prevent the outbreak from spreading. Mr. Austin said the early signs were very en- couraging that the tech- niques used in Cayman had been successful and could be used by other agen- cies fighting similar out- breaks in future. Florida-based re- searcher William Precht and Tammi Warrender, from the U.K., worked with DoE research officers and Cayman Eco Divers on the project in Grand Cayman. The team experimented with five different methods, including transplanting coral to nurseries and to other healthy reefs. Trials using silicone tape and epoxy to pre- vent the spread of the dis- ease without amputating proved unsuccessful. How- ever, a method of creating a trench above the disease band and filling the void with chlorinated epoxy ap- pears to have worked. “Based on the prelim- inary results, it appears that three out of the five methods have shown mod- erately successful results,” the report concludes. “If longer-term moni- toring results prove equally successful, the salvage, re- location and restoration of actively diseased coral colonies could become an everyday tool in the res- toration toolbox of coral reef managers.” Aaron Hunt, manager of Cayman Eco Divers, said his company had worked in an advisory and sup- port role on the project. He said they had helped har- vest healthy portions of the pillar coral. Those were treated with an iodine and seawater mix – a process he likens to putting Neo- sporin on a cut – before being attached to nursery structures. He said the early re- sults were encouraging but it would likely take a year or more to determine if the process had been com- pletely successful. Compass journalist Kayla Young contributed to this story. relevant fields will pass the economic substance test if they conduct core income- generating activities on is- land; incur an adequate amount of operating expendi- ture in Cayman; have a phys- ical presence locally; and have an adequate number of full-time staff locally. In addition, the company must be directed and man- aged from Cayman with reg- ular board meetings held and minutes of strategic deci- sions kept on island. Relevant companies must file a report with the Tax In- formation Authority each year. If the authority deems that the company has not passed the substance test, it will notify the company of its reasoning and has the power to issue a penalty of $10,000. If the substance test is failed in the subsequent year again, the penalty increases to $100,000 and the company can be struck off. The economic impact of the measure is not clear, with speculation ranging from an influx of workers hired by companies forced to dem- onstrate substance to an exodus of companies that are unable to. According to Premier Alden McLaughlin, exact data is not available but rough es- timates suggest up to 20,000 companies could be subject to the law. Meanwhile, several off- shore law firms advised that they expect few of their clients to be impacted in Cayman or any of the other territories that had to enact similar legislation. The passage of the sub- stance legislation, however, was not enough to keep the Cayman Islands off a new blacklist of 21 low-tax juris- dictions issued by the Neth- erlands on Dec. 28. Beneficial ownership The debate over public beneficial ownership reg- isters saw another turn in May 2018, when the House of Commons passed the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act. The law included a con- troversial opposition amend- ment that forces the U.K. gov- ernment to issue an order in council to British Over- seas Territories to establish public registers detailing the true owners of compa- nies and other entities regis- tered there. The transparency drive, motivated by the belief that it would aid the fight against money laundering, tax eva- sion and financial fraud, re- ceived significant pushback in the territories. Premier McLaughlin called the move by British lawmakers “a potential con- stitutional overreach” given that financial services is a policy area that is devolved to the territories. Orders in council are a power that dates back to the colonial times, he noted, and should only be employed in exceptional circumstances. The “colonial” notion of the measure was emphasized by the curious fact that it was applied only to the dis- tant overseas territories but not the much closer Crown Dependencies in the English Channel and the Irish Sea – Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. The Cayman Islands gov- ernment subsequently ob- tained legal advice sug- gesting that it would be futile to fight the British legisla- tion itself. Instead, the gov- ernment announced that it would legally challenge the order in council if it were ever issued. In addition, Cayman has requested constitutional safeguards in discussions with the Foreign and Com- monwealth Office that will confirm that its government has autonomous capacity in respect to domestic af- fairs, and that the U.K. will not seek to legislate, di- rectly or indirectly, for the Cayman Islands without consultation. Lord Tariq Ahmad, the minister responsible for the British Overseas Territories, said at the Joint Ministerial Council in December that once an order in council was issued, the territories would have until 2023 to establish operational public beneficial ownership registers. was a lifelong Cardinals fan. She played basketball in col- lege and was part of a group of students who visited Cayman during school breaks to dive. She fell in love with the sport and the islands and moved here to work for Bob Soto’s Diving. Not long after, she met her husband Rod. He had taught special needs students in his home country of Australia and was working for dive op- erator Surfside Water Sports. The two bonded over their common interests and were married in 1986. Mrs. McDowall shifted to working at Fitness Con- nection not long after her son, Jamie, was born in 1987. When the McDowalls’ daughter, Jessica, followed three years later, Mrs. Mc- Dowall applied for a teaching position and was hired at the Lighthouse School. She was surprised that on a small coral shoal sur- rounded by water, few of her students knew how to swim. She went about changing that and soon found her- self training athletes for competition. In a 2014 Cayman Com- pass story, she talked about how important it was to some of her students just to be able to get into the water. “The look of sheer plea- sure on a multi-level physi- cally challenged person who is confined to a wheelchair, when they are able to float and move freely in the water, is the smile you will never forget,” she said. “It sees right into your soul.” The Special Olympics pro- gram, she said, allowed her students to achieve things that otherwise would not have been possible. “If I can get one athlete to grow, which might mean to do a stroke correctly without being disqualified in a race, to introduce themselves to other athletes from another country or sometimes to just even show up and par- ticipate, or have a family member come to realize that their athlete can accom- plish feats that they never dreamed they could, I feel like I have achieved some- thing,” she said. Cayman’s Special Olym- pics spokeswoman Vanessa Hansen Allott said Mrs. Mc- Dowall’s passing will impact the organization. “It’s a big loss,” she said. “Our hearts are broken.” Ms. Hansen Allott said Mrs. McDowall had an infec- tious energy. “She just had a zest for life,” she said. “She was never someone who was going to stand by the sidelines.” She said Mrs. McDowall took steps in recent years to make sure future special needs swimmers would be provided for by preparing people to take her place. “Her daughter is here coaching,” Ms. Hansen Al- lott said, along with Ryan Mushin, coach of the Stingray Swim Club. “She wanted to make sure that the swim- ming program continued after she was gone.” Mr. McDowall said he thinks his wife will mostly be remembered for her work with the swim program. “She’s introduced so many young children to swim- ming,” he said, heightening their physical as well as their social abilities. “She used it as a social interaction for the kids.” Mrs. McDowall was hon- ored as Caribbean Coach of the Year in 2006. In 2009, she was one of 40 people world- wide to receive the Special Olympics Exemplary Coach award. Cayman honored her with its Certificate and Badge of Honour the following year. And in 2014, she was named Special Olympics North American Coach of the Year. She was also instrumental in introducing and writing the rules for open water swimming events in the Spe- cial Olympics. The accolades were ap- preciated, Mr. McDowall said, but his wife was far more in- terested in the work itself. “Her empathy for the less fortunate, particularly chil- dren, was exceptional,” he said. “We’d have adopted 15 to 20 kids over the years if she’d had her way. It was Penny’s passion, without a shadow of a doubt. “She did it because she loved it,” he added. “I think the biggest impact was on the Cayman children.” Mr. McDowall said a cel- ebration of Mrs. McDowall’s life is planned for later in the month. Details will be an- nounced in the coming days. The new legislation was part of a commitment made by the government in December 2017 that it would address EU concerns over Cayman’s tax system by the end of 2018. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 EU and UK pile pressure on financial services industry Swim coach and educator Penny McDowall passes CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Penny McDowall receives the North American Coach of the Year Award from Special Olympian Andrew Smiley at a ceremony in January last year. Mrs. McDowall passed away on Monday, at the age of 59. - PHOTO: CAYMAN SPORTS BUZZ Coral salvage effort could have international impact The salvage effort involved amputating healthy coral tissue from affected reefs, growing them in coral nurseries and reattaching them to healthy reefs using cement. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The islands’ most-trusted news source 6 Community CALENDAR ■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR is published TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS. It is available to charitable or nonprofit organizations. Items should be submitted at least three working days before publication. Information must include name of sender, signature and contact number. ■ Items may be faxed to 949-2662, brought to the Cayman Compass office on Shedden Rd. or emailed to cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com at least three days in advance of publication. THURSDAY JANUARY 3, 2019 CAYMAN COMPASS THURSDAY, JAN. 3 AGRICULTURE OFFICE CLOSURE: The Department of Agriculture sales section closed for inventory. LITTLE CAYMAN VEHICLE LICENSING: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Little Cayman District Office. SUNDAY, JAN. 6 CHARITY RUN/WALK: One Dog At a Time holds its “One Dog Jog,” a 5K charity fun run/ walk. Begins at 7 a.m. at SafeHaven. $25 for over 5s. Raffle entry for all participants. T-shirt for first 50 participants. Register online at www.caymanactive.com. CHOIR CANTATA: “Christ has Come” choir cantata. John Gray Memorial Church, West Bay, 7 p.m. TUESDAY, JAN. 8 RED CROSS THRIFT SHOP: The shop at Cannon Place, Unit 130, 294 North Sound Road, will reopen today at 9. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 9 CARE QUIZ: Quiz night at PD’s Sports Bar and Grill. 7 p.m. Rescheduled from Jan. 2. Monthly fundraiser for Cayman Animal Rescue Enthusiasts. All proceeds go to CARE’s community spay and neuter campaign. $10 entry fee. Six people per team. Call 916-9196 or email evascott24@hotmail. com to book a table. LOCAL HARVEST MARKET: The weekly farmers market returns today, and every Wednesday, at Camana Bay for local farm goods. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Heliconia Court, between 18 Forum Lane and One Nexus Way. FRIDAY, JAN. 11 FUNDRAISER: Annual Zak Quappe fundraiser, titled “Best of Woodstock and Disco!” and starring Sea N’ B, will be held tonight and tomorrow night. Prospect Playhouse. 7.30-9:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $20. For more information and tickets, visits www. cds.ky. Proceeds will be donated to the Zak Quappe Flight Scholarship. SATURDAY, JAN. 12 SEA SWIM: The annual CUC 800 meter sea swim starts at 4 p.m. at Governors Beach. Register online at www.caymanactive.com. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 16 CAYMAN COOKOUT: Internationally renowned chefs, culinary influencers and wine and spirit experts will gather Jan. 16 to 20 at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman for the 11th annual Cayman Cookout. THURSDAY, JAN. 17 LITTLE CAYMAN VEHICLE LICENSING: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Little Cayman District Office. THURSDAY, JAN. 24 ‘EDUCATING RITA’: Starting today and running until Saturday, Feb. 2, the Prospect Playhouse presents Willy Russell’s award-winning comedy “Educating Rita.” Jan. 24, 25, 26, 31 and Feb. 1 and 2. Shows at 7:30 p.m. Happy Hour at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for students. Email boxoffice@cds.ky or visit www.cds.ky. SATURDAY, JAN. 26 TASTE OF CAYMAN: The annual food and drink festival will be held at Festival Green in Camana Bay. Find the best of Cayman’s diverse cuisines, local produce and drinks to match. Begins at 5 p.m. This year’s charity partner for the raffle is the National Council of Voluntary Organisations. SUNDAY, JAN. 27 STRIDE AGAINST CANCER: The annual Nationwide Stride Against Cancer 2019 will be held this morning at Seven Mile Public Beach. $25 early bird registration closes on Jan. 12. $30 standard rate from Jan. 13. No registration on the day. Race packets (T-shirts) can be collected from the Cancer Society office starting the week of Monday, Jan. 21. Sizes are limited to collect early. The Half Marathon, 13.1 miles, begins at 6 a.m. The Quarter Marathon, 6.5 miles, starts at 7 a.m. Gather for the big group start picture at 6:45 a.m. HATITUDE: The National Trust’s annual fundraiser, Hatitude, a fun family brunch, will take place at Grand Old House under the theme “Birds of the Caribbean.” 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets are $135 for adult members, $165 for adult non-members (includes 2019 membership of the National Trust), and $45 children (4 to 12 years old). MONDAY, JAN. 28 HEROES DAY: National holiday. GENERAL INTEREST SPECIAL OLYMPICS: Be a volunteer for athlete training at Truman Bodden Sports Complex. Tuesdays, 5:30 p.m. for track, bocce and football, and Thursdays, 5:30 p.m. for basketball. 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. COMMUNITY CHESS: Tuesdays 5-8 p.m., West Indies Wine Company. Join the Cayman Chess Club for a complimentary chess class and open challenges weekly. Anyone can learn to play and enjoy chess, even beginners. ART OPEN CANVAS: At KARoo Restaurant in Camana Bay, Wednesdays 7-11 p.m. Artists of all levels are welcome to come and enjoy painting and socializing with other artists. Includes use of easels, lights, space, beverage ticket. No fee. For more information, contact info@visualartcayman.com or jar.was@gmail.com. VISUAL ARTS SOCIETY: Adult Open Studio available to those who want to work independently in an inspiring atmosphere. Wednesdays for adults, 9 a.m. till noon. Thursdays Adults and Youth, 10 a.m. till noon. Watler House Art Studio, Pedro St. James. Fee is $5/$15 or Ceramics. $15 pp/$25 pp non-members. Includes use of studio, glazes and ceramic tools. Clay available $30 per bag/fee for kiln usage. To register, call 546-9422 or email info@visualartcayman.com. SEAFARERS HALL: The Cayman Islands Seafarers Association wishes to inform the community that the hall is now available for rent every day of the week, including Saturdays, as the church is no longer contracted with the association at 11 Victory Avenue, Prospect. THRIFT SHOP: One Dog At A Time’s “New To You” Thrift Shop is open Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 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 Street. 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-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. For more information, email humanesocietybookloft@ candw.ky or call 946-8053. Donations of books, games, CDs, stationery, DVDs, cards etc. in good condition needed. CLUBS, ORGANIZATIONS ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: Meets daily to help with drinking problems. Call 926-9044 or visit www.caymanaa.org. NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS: Is available for substance abuse help. Call the info line at 929–NANA (6262). AL-ANON GROUP MEETING: Are you troubled by someone’s drinking? Al-Anon Family Groups can help. Call 928-8843 or email caymanalanon@gmail.com for meeting times. OVERCOMERS OUTREACH: A Christ-centered 12-step recovery group addresses addictions and those affected by them. Meetings at Cayman Islands Baptist Church, Pedro Castle Road, Tuesdays, 7:15 p.m. For details, contact Vanessa Gilman at 946-2422, or visit overcomersoutreach.org. DEMENTIA/ALZHEIMER’S SUPPORT GROUP: This group meets on the last Wednesday of each month at ADACI’s office, 4th floor, Cardinall Plaza, 30 Cardinall Ave., George Town. Call 924-4170 or email info@adacayman.com. GRAND CAYMAN TOASTMASTERS: Club meets each Thursday 6-7:15 p.m. on 3rd Floor, George Town Public Library. Visitors and guests welcome. Contact George R. Ebanks at 322-9369 or Grand Cayman Toastmasters club on Facebook. Email info@ toastmastersclub2686.org. THE LIONS CLUB OF GRAND CAYMAN: Meets every first and third Thursday 7:30 p.m. at the Lions Community Centre. Email lionsclubgcm@hotmail.com. THE LIONS CLUB OF TROPICAL GARDENS: Meet every first and third Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Elizabethan Square (corner unit). Members of the public are invited to attend. ROTARY CLUB OF GRAND CAYMAN SUNRISE: Service club meetings 7 a.m. every Wednesday at George Town Yacht Club, 612 North Sound Road. Visit www.rotarysunrise.ky or info@rotarysunrise.ky. KIWANIS CLUB OF GRAND CAYMAN: Meets first and third Wednesdays of the month, 12:30 p.m., at The Wharf Restaurant. Projects include promoting well- being of children in the community and schools. Email president@kiwanis.ky or view www.kiwanis.ky. OPTIMIST CLUB: Meets first and third Tuesdays at the Hibiscus Conference Room, Cayman Islands Hospital at 6:30 p.m. Learn more at www.optimistcayman.com. PARENT AND TODDLER PLAY GROUP: For children from 2 weeks to 4 years. Meets Mondays 9:30-11:30 a.m. in the South Sound Community Centre. Children must be accompanied by parent or helper. Toys, activities, light refreshments provided. $6 per session per family. Email sspg@foxwood.ky. HEARTS THROUGH HANDS: Meets Wednesdays 9:30 a.m. to noon at The Family Life Centre, Room 10, Academy Way. Women make crafts for charity and missions. Call 946–3067 or 947–1863. BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S CLUB: Meets third Wednesday of every month, Governors Square Boardroom at 5:30 p.m. Visit www.facebook.com/ BPWGrandCayman. BREASTFEEDING SUPPORT GROUP: MothertoMother meetings first Tuesday of every month, 3-4 p.m. outside Women’s Health Centre at the Cayman Islands Hospital. Children welcome. Contact Women’s Health Centre at 244-2649. LIFE UNDERWRITERS ASSOCIATION: Meeting luncheons held on last Thursday of each month. RELIGIOUS SERVICES EL MINISTERIO HISPANO: de la Iglesia Bautista Cayman Islands te hace una cordial invitación a nuestro culto en español cada Domingo, 6:30 p.m., Pedro Castle Road, Savannah. Para transporte, llamar al teléfono no. 946-2422, email: cibaptist@candw.ky. For more Community Calendar events, visit www.caymancompass.com/events. One Dog at a Time will hold its ‘One Dog Jog’ 5K fundraiser on Sunday, Jan. 6, starting at SafeHaven at 7 a.m.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS THURSDAY JANUARY 3, 2019 Mexican mayor shot after being sworn in The governor of Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca is condemning the slaying of a local mayor shortly after he took office. Gov. Alejandro Murat confirmed the killing of Tlaxiaco Mayor Alejandro Aparicio Santiago via his Twitter account Tuesday. He said a suspect was already in custody. Train crash on Danish bridge kills 6, injures 16 COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – A Danish passenger train apparently hit falling cargo from a passing freight train Wednesday, an accident that killed six people and injured 16 others as it crossed a bridge linking the country’s islands, authorities said. The accident was the worst in Denmark in more than 30 years. The rail operator, Danish Railways, told Denmark’s TV2 that the victims were passengers on a train going from the city of Odense, on the central Danish island of Funen, to the capital of Co- penhagen when the accident took place about 8 a.m. Authorities said the trains were going past each other in opposite directions. Aerial TV footage showed one side of front of the passenger train had been ripped open. Photos showed that the freight train was carrying crates of beer, and the tarpaulin that cov- ered the cargo train was torn in pieces. Police declined to com- ment directly on a report from Denmark’s TV2 channel that a large freight con- tainer had likely fallen off the cargo train. Jesper Nielsen, who was on the passenger train, told Denmark’s TV2 the train “was out on the bridge when there was a huge ‘bang’ …. very quickly thereafter, the train braked.” The accident took place on a road-and-rail bridge, part of the Storebaelt system of bridges and a tunnel that link the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen. The transport system was closed to cars overnight be- cause of strong winds but trains could pass. Road traffic resumed Wednesday with a 31 mph speed limit. Police spokesman Lars Braemhoej said while “we do not know precisely what caused the accident,” one possible cause was that cargo from the freight train fell off and hit the passenger train. He added there was “con- siderable damage” on the passenger train. “Ordinary Danes on their way to work or heading home from the Christmas holi- days have had their lives smashed,” Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said as he issued his condolences. Police urged passen- gers to contact relatives and tell them if they were safe and urged people not to share photos or videos of the accident. Flemming Jensen, the CEO of state-owned Danish Railways, said police and the Danish Accident Inves- tigation Board were investi- gating the damages. He said the operator “will contribute everything that we can to the investigation.” Bo Haaning of the Danish Accident Investigation Board was quoted as saying it could take months before the cause of the accident could be determined. Kasper Elbjoern, spokesman for the Danish brewery group Carlsberg, confirmed that a freight train transporting its cargo was involved in the accident. The government agency responsible for Danish rail- ways said on Twitter that no further trains would cross the Storebaelt link on Wednesday, adding it was aiming to allow train cross- ings to resume Thursday. In previous train acci- dents in Denmark, eight people were killed and 72 in- jured in 1988 when a train derailed because of high speed near Soroe, west of Copenhagen. Denmark’s worst train accident occurred in 1919, when an express train col- lided with a stopped train in Copenhagen due to a dis- patcher error. A total of 40 people were killed and some 60 were injured. MANCHESTER STABBINGS SUSPECT DETAINED DUE TO MENTAL HEALTH LONDON (AP) – Police say the sole suspect in the stabbing of three people in the English city of Man- chester on New Year’s Eve has been detained under Britain’s Mental Health Act. The attack, which police are treating as a terrorist incident, took place at Man- chester’s Victoria Station. The train station is next to the Manchester Arena, the site of a May 2017 sui- cide bombing that killed 22 people at a pop concert. Greater Manchester Police said in a state- ment that the 25-year-old man arrested at the scene was assessed by medical staff before the decision was reached. The suspect has not been identified and police have not explained a pos- sible motive for the attack. Officials say verifying that the suspect acted alone without a support network is a key objective of the in- vestigation, which is being headed by counterterrorism police. Police searched the suspect’s home in Man- chester for evidence. He is accused of stab- bing three people, in- cluding a British Trans- port police sergeant, at the train station Monday night while shouting Islamic ex- tremist slogans. He was arrested on sus- picion of attempted murder, but with the latest devel- opment, it’s possible he may be found to be too im- paired mentally to be held criminally responsible for the stabbings. Two of the victims – a man and a woman – are still hospitalized with se- rious injuries but authori- ties say they are not life- threatening. The policeman who was stabbed in the shoulder when he came to their aid has been released from the hospital. Britain’s official threat level has long been set at “severe,” indicating that in- telligence analysts believe an attack is highly likely. UK’s Hunt confident that May will seal deal for Brexit SINGAPORE (AP) – British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Wednesday he is confident Prime Minister The- resa May will obtain the con- cessions needed to convince enough lawmakers to back an unpopular Brexit deal. Leaving the European Union without a deal on March 29 would cause “de- struction that could last some time,” Hunt said. “I think that she will find a way to get this deal through Parliament and I know that is what the British people would want,” he added. Hunt was replying to questions at a lecture in Sin- gapore, the first stop on his three-day visit to Asia. Last month, May post- poned a parliamentary vote on a Brexit agreement with the European Union that has been widely criticized by loy- alists and political oppo- nents alike. Her attempt to get assur- ances from the EU to sweeten the deal has been rebuffed by the bloc. Barring further changes, the parliamentary vote will be held during the week of Jan. 14 – just 10 weeks before Britain is set to leave the EU. In an interview with the BBC on Wednesday, Hunt said ongoing talks are fo- cused on the word “tempo- rary” for terms concerning the Irish border. A so-called backstop could keep the U.K. in a cus- toms union with the EU if the two sides cannot agree on an- other way to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., and the Republic of Ire- land, which is part of the EU. “The EU has agreed that the backstop is temporary and that’s a word they have agreed,” Hunt said. “What we are saying very simply is ‘we’re not asking for any- thing new, but we are asking you to define what tempo- rary means so that we can have confidence that we’re not going to be trapped in the customs union forever.’” Even with a tight time- line, Hunt said a second ref- erendum would be a “devas- tating blow to democracy.” To unite pro- and anti- Brexit camps, “we have to make sure that there is a friendly separation where we have the closest pos- sible trade relationship, the closest possible diplomatic relationship with our Eu- ropean friends and neigh- bors, because I think that is the biggest fear of the re- mainers,” he added. “We need to find a way of making sure that the Brexit that 48 percent are afraid of isn’t the Brexit that we end up with and I am confident we can succeed.” Hunt said Britain will seek to strengthen its ties with Southeast Asia post-Brexit. He said this includes ne- gotiating a trade deal with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations and possibly joining the Com- prehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, a Pacific trade pact. Britain is the biggest Eu- ropean investor in South- east Asia, with trade totaling nearly $46.8 billion. Hunt leaves for Malaysia on Thursday. Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt speaks in Singapore, Wednesday. - PHOTO: AP Police patrol Victoria Station in Manchester, England, late Monday after a man stabbed three people. - PHOTO: AP A rescue worker at the site of a train accident on the Great Belt Bridge in Storebaeltsbroen, Denmark, Wednesday. - PHOTO: AP8 WORLD®IONAL THURSDAY JANUARY 3, 2019 CAYMAN COMPASS US fires tear gas across Mexico border to stop migrants DEATH TOLL IN RUSSIAN APARTMENT BUILDING COLLAPSE RISES TO 21 TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) – U.S. authorities fired tear gas into Mexico during the first hours of the new year to repel about 150 migrants who tried to breach the border fence in Tijuana. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a state- ment later Tuesday that the gas was used to target rock throwers apart from the migrants who were trying to cross. “No agents witnessed any of the migrants at the fence line, including chil- dren, experiencing effects of the chemical agents, which were targeted at the rock throwers further away,” the statement said. An Associated Press pho- tographer saw at least three volleys of gas launched onto the Mexican side of the border near Tijuana’s beach that affected the migrants, in- cluding women and children, as well as journalists. The AP saw rocks thrown only after U.S. agents fired the tear gas. The agency said agents saw “toddler sized children” being passed over concertina wire with difficulty. It said its agents could not assist the children because of the rocks being thrown. Agents responded with smoke, pepper spray and tear gas, it said. The AP journalist also saw plastic pellets fired by U.S. agents. The agency said 25 mi- grants were detained while others crawled back into Mexico through a hole under the fence. Customs and Border Pro- tection said that under its use of force policy the in- cident would be reviewed by its Office of Professional Responsibility. Migrants who spoke with AP said they arrived in Ti- juana last month with the caravan from Honduras. The caravan, which left Honduras in mid-October, grew to more than 6,000 members during its month- and-a-half trek north. It has been a constant target of President Donald Trump, who referred to it frequently in the run-up to U.S. mid-term elections in November. Many of the migrants are waiting in Tijuana for a chance to apply for asylum in the U.S., but there was a backlog before the cara- van’s arrival and the wait is expected to be many months. Others have found jobs in Mexico and tried to settle there. In a previous incident, U.S. agents launched tear gas across the border after some migrants tried to breach the border following a peaceful march in Tijuana on Nov. 26. Hundreds of migrants who were downwind of the gas were affected. Trump is currently locked in a fight with congressional Democrats over funding for the border wall that he wants to build. The stalemate has led to a partial govern- ment shutdown. MOSCOW (AP) – Search crews have pulled more bodies from a huge pile of rubble at a collapsed Rus- sian apartment building, bringing the known death toll to 21. The bodies found on Wednesday in the city of Magnitogorsk included a 3-year-old girl, Rus- sian news agencies cited the emergencies min- istry as saying. An 11-month-old boy who was pulled alive from the wreckage on Tuesday, nearly 36 hours after the building collapsed, was in serious but stable condi- tion in a children’s hospital in Moscow. He was flown about 870 miles to the cap- ital in a plane dispatched by the Health Ministry. Health Minister Ve- ronika Skvortsova said Wednesday that the boy suffered superficial head wounds but no apparent brain damage. Authorities said 20 people who lived in the building remain unac- counted for, including five children. But the prospects of finding any of them alive in the rubble appeared dim after two frigid nights in which temperatures fell to about minus 4 de- grees Fahrenheit. How- ever, a cat was pulled alive from the wreckage on Wednesday afternoon, about 60 hours after a section of the 10-story building collapsed. The Monday pre-dawn disaster came after an explosion that officials say was likely caused by a gas leak. A day of mourning was declared in the Che- lyabinsk region that in- cludes Magnitogorsk, and residents laid flowers and place candles at the scene. Some Muscovites laid com- memorative flowers at the entrance of the office for the regional govern- ment’s representative in the capital. Authorities said 20 people who lived in the building remain unaccounted for, including five children. Migrants run as tear gas is thrown by U.S. Border Protection officers to the Mexican side of the border fence after they climbed the fence to get to San Diego, California on Tuesday. - PHOTO: AP Shutdown Day 12: Lawmakers hear wall plea at White House WASHINGTON (AP) – Pres- ident Donald Trump said Wednesday the partial govern- ment shutdown will last “as long as it takes” as closures entered a 12th day over his demands for billions of dol- lars from Congress to build a border wall with Mexico. “Could be a long time or could be quickly,” Trump said during lengthy comments at a Cabinet meeting at the White House, his first public appear- ance of the new year. The president said his Homeland Security officials would “make a plea” for the border wall during a briefing for congressional leaders, which took place Wednesday after press time. But Trump also rejected his own administration’s offer to accept $2.5 billion for the wall. That offer was made when Vice President Mike Pence and other top officials met with Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer at the start of the shutdown. Instead, Trump repeatedly pushed for the $5.6 billion he has demanded. Trump made his case ahead of the afternoon ses- sion with Democratic and Re- publican leaders about the mi- grants arriving at the border in recent days. He said the current border is “like a sieve” and noted the tear gas “flying” overnight to deter arrivals. He called the border “very tough” at keeping immigrants out. “If they knew they couldn’t come through, they wouldn’t even start,” Trump said at the meeting, joined by Cabinet sec- retaries and top advisers, in- cluding Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. The meeting came as the shutdown dragged through its second week, closing some parks and leaving hundreds of thousands of federal em- ployees without pay. Trump complained that he had been “lonely” at the White House during the holiday break, having skipped his get- away to Mar-a-Lago in Florida. He claimed his only compan- ions were the “machine gun- ners,” referring to security per- sonnel, and “they don’t wave, they don’t smile.” He also criti- cized Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, for vis- iting Hawaii. At the Capitol on Wednesday, Pelosi said she hoped Republicans and the White House “are hearing what we have offered” to end the shutdown. So far, the administration has rejected a proposal from Democrats to re-open gov- ernment without money to build a wall along the U.S.- Mexico border. Trump contended the Dem- ocrats see the shutdown fight as “an election point” as he cel- ebrated his own first two years in office. He promised “six more years of great success.” The partial government shutdown began on Dec. 22. Funding for the wall has been the sticking point in passing funding bills for several gov- ernment departments. The Wednesday afternoon briefing with the congressional leaders is taking place the day before Democrats are to as- sume control of the House and end the Republican monopoly on government. The session will be held in the high-security Situa- tion Room at the White House, which is typically used to handle sensitive information. The location means the con- versation will not be televised, unlike the volatile sitdown during which Democratic leaders talked back to Trump last month. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the top incoming House Republicans – Kevin McCarthy of California and Steve Scalise of Loui- siana – planned to attend, ac- cording to aides. The departing House speaker, Paul Ryan, was not expected. Pelosi, who is expected to become speaker on Thursday, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer planned to at- tend. Pelosi said Tuesday that Democrats would take ac- tion to “end the Trump Shut- down” by passing legisla- tion Thursday to reopen government. “We are giving the Re- publicans the opportunity to take yes for an answer,” she wrote in a letter to colleagues. “Senate Republicans have al- ready supported this legisla- tion, and if they reject it now, they will be fully complicit in chaos and destruction of the President’s third shutdown of his term.” The White House invita- tion came after House Demo- crats released their plan to re- open the government without approving money for a border wall. They planned to pass them as soon as the new Con- gress convenes Thursday. Trump spent the weekend saying Democrats should re- turn to Washington to nego- tiate, firing off Twitter taunts. Aides suggested there would not necessarily be a traditional wall as Trump has repeatedly insisted since his presiden- tial campaign, but he contra- dicted them. On Tuesday morning, after tweeting a New Year’s message to “EVERYONE INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA,” Trump tweeted: “The Democrats, much as I suspected, have allo- cated no money for a new Wall. So imaginative! The problem is, without a Wall there can be no real Border Security.” But he seemed to shift tac- tics later in the day, appealing to Pelosi. “Let’s make a deal?” President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday. - PHOTO: AP9 WORLD®IONAL CAYMAN COMPASS THURSDAY JANUARY 3, 2019 The family of the Late Joanna Faith Clarke regret to announce her passing on Monday, 24 December, 2018. A funeral service will be held 2:00 p.m. Saturday, 5 January 2019 at Red Bay Church of God (Holiness). Viewing will be from 5-7 p.m. Friday, 4 January 2019 at Bodden Funeral Service, 117 Walkers Rd. Condolences can be registered at www.boddenfuneralservices.com & Bodden Funeral Service Facebook page Kim ready to talk more with Trump, but says not to test North Van slams into pedestrians on Tokyo road, injuring 8 people TOKYO (AP) – A minivan slammed into pedestrians early Tuesday on a street where people had gathered for New Year’s festivities in downtown Tokyo, injuring eight people, police said. The suspect, 21, Kazuhiro Kusakabe, was arrested and being questioned, Tokyo Met- ropolitan Police said on cus- tomary condition of anonymity. He is suspected of inten- tionally trying to kill people by driving the small vehicle through the street. NHK TV footage showed a small van with the entire front end smashed and officers and am- bulance workers rushing to the scene. A ninth person was injured after Kusakabe got out of the car and punched him, police said. His condition was not immediately known. A large tank filled with ker- osene was found in the car, po- lice said. The suspect appeared to have planned to set his car on fire, Mainichi newspaper and other Japanese media re- ported. Police declined to com- ment on the reports, saying such possible motives were still under investigation. The crash occurred early Tuesday on Takeshita Dori, a road well known to tour- ists and pop culture and fashion fans that runs right by Meiji Shrine in Harajuku, Shibuya ward. Every New Year’s Eve, the train line that includes Ha- rajuku station runs all night, for people welcoming the new year with a shrine visit. Japan is a relatively crime free nation with strict gun- control laws. In 2008, a man drove his car into a crowd in the popular Akihabara elec- tronic-shopping district, got off and went on a stabbing spree with a knife. Seven people were killed. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Tuesday he hopes to extend his high- stakes nuclear summitry with President Donald Trump into 2019, but also warned Washington not to test North Koreans’ patience with sanc- tions and pressure. During his televised New Year’s speech, Kim said he’s ready to meet with Trump at any time to produce an out- come “welcomed by the inter- national community.” How- ever, he said the North will be forced to take a different path if the United States “continues to break its prom- ises and misjudges the pa- tience of our people by uni- laterally demanding certain things and pushes ahead with sanctions and pressure.” Kim also said the United States should continue to halt its joint military exer- cises with ally South Korea and not deploy strategic mil- itary assets to the South. He also made a nationalistic call urging for stronger inter-Ko- rean cooperation and said the North is ready to resume op- erations at a jointly run fac- tory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and restart South Korean tours to the North’s Diamond Moun- tain resort. Neither of those is possible for South Korea un- less sanctions are removed. Some analysts say North Korea has been trying to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul while putting the larger burden of action on the United States. Pyongyang over the past months has ac- cused Washington of failing to take corresponding mea- sures following the North’s unilateral dismantlement of a nuclear testing ground and suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests. Washington and Pyong- yang are trying to arrange a second summit between Trump and Kim, who met in Singapore on June 12. “If the United States takes sincere measures and cor- responding action to our leading and preemptive ef- forts, then (U.S.-North Korea) relations will advance at a fast and excellent pace through the process of imple- menting (such) definite and groundbreaking measures,” said Kim, who delivered the speech sitting on a leather chair, wearing a black suit and gray-blue tie. “It is the unwavering posi- tion of our party and the re- public’s government and my firm will that the two coun- tries as declared in the June 12 joint statement … take steps to establish a perma- nent and stable peace re- gime and push toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” he said. “Therefore, we have al- ready declared domestically and internationally and took various actions showing our commitment that we will no further create or test nuclear weapons and will not use or spread them.” Adam Mount, a senior analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said Kim appears to be hinting at an agreement that falls short of a full disarmament, but could still represent a major limi- tation of the North Korean threat – a cap that essentially freezes the North’s rudimen- tary nuclear capability from growing or advancing fur- ther. In exchange, the United States would have to offer major inducements, including sanctions relief. “U.S. negotiators should move decisively in the new year to find out how far Kim is willing to go toward a ver- ified cap on his arsenal. Dis- cussions on reducing or elim- inating that arsenal come later,” Mount said in an email. However, Kim’s statement could prove problematic if there’s ongoing evidence the North’s nuclear and missile facilities continue to run. Pri- vate analysts have accused North Korea of continuing nuclear and missile devel- opment, citing details from commercial satellite imagery. “Over the last year, signs of continued work on the ar- senal were alarming but not duplicitous, because there was never a commitment to stop those activities,” Mount said. “That may no longer be true, raising the risk that the White House feels cheated rather than just stonewalled.” Kim’s speech also points toward a difficult year for the U.S.-South Korean alli- ance with their military co- operation coming under pres- sure from Pyongyang, Seoul’s process for inter-Korean en- gagement, and Washington’s current inability to reach an agreement on cost-sharing for the U.S. military presence in South Korea. It will be crit- ical for the allies to develop a firmer policy as it’s clear the issue of joint drills is coming to a head, Mount said. In the speech, Kim hailed the results of the North’s dip- lomatic activities in 2018, in- cluding his three meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Kim said an inter-Korean military agree- ment reached in their last summit in September to re- duce conventional military threats was “realistically a non-aggression declaration.” Kim also emphasized the development of the North Ko- rean economy and, without elaborating, mentioned nu- clear power as part of the country’s plans to boost elec- tricity production. South Korea’s government in a statement welcomed what it described as Kim’s commitment toward peace and said Seoul plans to work closely with the international community for the denucle- arization of the peninsula while also advancing inter- Korean relations to an “irre- versible level.” North Korean leaders tra- ditionally use New Year’s statements to issue major policy goals for the year ahead. Kim used his New Year’s speech a year ago to start a newfound diplomatic approach with Seoul and Washington, which led to his meetings with Moon and Trump. Kim also met three times with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which boosted his leverage by reintroducing Beijing – Pyongyang’s main ally – as a major player in the diplomatic process to resolve the nuclear standoff. But nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled in recent months as they struggle with the se- quencing of North Korea’s disarmament and the re- moval of U.S.-led sanctions against the North. The North has also bris- tled at U.S. demands to pro- vide a detailed account of nuclear and missile facili- ties that would be inspected and dismantled under a po- tential deal. The hardening stalemate has fueled doubts on whether Kim will ever voluntarily re- linquish the nuclear weapons and missiles he may see as his strongest guarantee of survival. In his meetings with Trump and Moon, Kim signed vague statements calling for the “complete denucleariza- tion” of the Korean Peninsula without describing when and how it would occur. But North Korea for de- cades has been pushing a concept of denuclearization that bears no resemblance to the American definition, with Pyongyang vowing to pursue nuclear development until the United States removes its troops and the nuclear um- brella defending South Korea and Japan. The North used a blunt statement last month to reiterate its traditional stance on denuclearization, saying it will never unilater- ally give up its weapons un- less Washington removes what Pyongyang describes as a nuclear threat. The statement jarred with Seoul’s claim that Kim is genu- inely interested in negotiating away his nukes and suggested that the North will potentially demand the United States withdraw or significantly re- duce the 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea, a major sticking point in any disarmament deal. Washington and Pyong- yang have yet to reschedule a meeting between U.S. Sec- retary of State Mike Pompeo and senior North Korean offi- cials after the North canceled it at the last minute in No- vember. There are views that North Korea wants a quick second summit because it thinks it can win major con- cessions from Trump that they probably could not from lower-level U.S. officials, who are more adamant about the North committing to inspec- tions and verification. Kim also said the United States should continue to halt its joint military exercises with ally South Korea and not deploy strategic military assets to the South. In this undated image from video distributed on Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019, by North Korean broadcaster KRT, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech in North Korea. North Korean leader Kim says he hopes to extend his high-stakes nuclear summitry with President Donald Trump into 2019, but also warns Washington not to test North Koreans’ patience with sanctions and pressure. – PHOTO: KRT VIA APNext >