Regulated in the Cayman Islands as a licensed insurer by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. Generali Worldwide is a trading name of Utmost Worldwide Limited. Registered Head Office address: Utmost Worldwide Limited, Utmost House, Hirzel Street, St Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands GY1 4PA. Regulated in Guernsey as a licensed insurer by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission under the Insurance Business (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2002 (as amended). Incorporated in Guernsey under Company Registration No. 27151. www.generali-healthcare.com Contact us to learn more about our new member benefits at 747-2000. Get your Employee Wellness App for FREE! www.generali-healthcare.com Cayman Airways, American Airlines, Southwest and JetBlue planes prepare to fly out of Owen Roberts International Airport on Wednesday afternoon. More flights are flying direct to more cities from Grand Cayman than ever before. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY New ‘gateways’ drive tourism growth 25 international airports now directly accessible from Cayman JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com When Southwest launched its inaugural flight from Balti- more last month, it also opened the 25th gateway airport for the Cayman Islands. The number of flights coming into Grand Cayman and the number of cities that can be reached by direct flights is be- lieved now to be the highest it has ever been. While this has created conges- tion concerns at the airport, the impact on the island has been seen in steadily increasing tourism arrivals and revenues at hotels and other businesses. Data compiled by the Cayman Compass shows it is now possible to fly daily to six metro areas – At- lanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston and Miami in the US, and King- ston, in Jamaica. There are also regular flights to a further 10 metros including Chicago, Denver and New York in the US; Havana, Cuba; La Ceiba in Honduras and Nassau, Bahamas. Seasonal routes to other desti- nations, including Detroit and Roatan, Honduras, are also on the annual flight schedule. There are now flights from Grand Cayman to 25 airports in 21 metro areas. Comparable data for previous years is not avail- able, but tourism chiefs say they have steadily added flights to the schedule over the last decade. The pace of growth has accelerated in recent years with Cayman Airways credited with helping to ‘open up’ new routes and spark market in- terest from other operators. The airline has now pulled back on some of its traditionally more popular routes, in Florida and Cuba, as new players have en- tered the market. Airline CEO Fabian Whorms said it had “blazed new trails” to many international cities, paving the way for others to follow. Tourism Minister Moses Kirk- connell said airlines from a handful of destinations had typi- cally flown to and from Cayman. The core routes included Miami, Kingston and Atlanta. In the last six years, he said, routes had been opened up to New York, Chicago, Roatan, Fort Lauderdale, Dallas and Chicago, among others. The strategy is expected to con- tinue with Cayman Airways tar- geting the west coast of the US, something that began this year with the new Denver route. The grounding of Cayman Air- ways’ newly-acquired Boeing 737 Max 8 jets earlier this year has stalled that policy for the time being, but Kirkconnell said the long-term plan was to add flights to affluent west coast cities, poten- tially including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle or Vancouver. “Opening new gateways is one of the most important things we can do for our tourism product,” he said. “We expect there to continue to be new opportunities avail- able with our airline partners. We will work with them and with Cayman Airways to look at gate- ways to benefit the country and our tourism arrivals.” Marla Dukharan, an economist who was the keynote speaker at a tourism conference in Cayman last year, said adding flights was the single most important thing that Caribbean islands could do to im- prove their tourism arrivals. Citing data from Interna- tional Monetary Fund research, she said focussing on the number of flights, the number of airlines and the number of departure cities had been shown to have the greatest impact. The other biggest factor that helps or hinders island desti- nations like Cayman is the US 10 years for ‘Delilah’ who orchestrated $1.9M scam Judge: Dive-instructor victim ‘drowned in ocean of lies’ JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A George Town woman who conned a dive instructor out of nearly $2 million by pretending the money was for legitimate fees for his Cay- manian status application has been jailed for 10 years. Judith Douglas, 53, was found guilty of ob- taining property by decep- tion on Tuesday after a two- week trial. Delivering sentence on Wednesday morning, Justice Carlisle Greaves said she was a “full-time fraudster”. He said she had left her victim, Nathaniel Robb, a “broken man” with just $19.75 in his bank account after a “relentless” five-year con. Robb borrowed from friends and from his dive business and sold a family home in the US to help meet Douglas’s demands for payments. “He was a diver but he was hardly able to get a breath. He was drowned by her in an ocean of lies,” Jus- tice Greaves said. “She was a Delilah in- deed but he was no Samson. She cut out his hair, picked out his eyes and brought him down to his knees.” Despite the guilty verdict, Robb will not receive any compensation as Douglas has no recoverable assets in her name, the judge said. “Up to this day, not a dime of that $1.9 million has been paid back. It is still a mystery as to where that money went and where it is now,” he said. During the sentencing hearing, Douglas, who has a previous conviction for a similar offence, made a tearful plea for leniency telling the judge, “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in Fairbanks.” Greaves said his sentence did not condemn her to a life without hope. But he said she deserved the maximum pen- alty the law would allow. “Society needs to be pro- tected from you for as long as practical,” he told her. Justice Greaves said she had shown “absolutely no re- morse” and had damaged the integrity of the immigration department by claiming at trial that she was just a go- between passing bribes to an PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 5 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 5 » High of 89 Low of 79 Slight to moderate with wave heights of 2 to 4 feet. SPORTS | PAGE 11 CAYMAN’S ISLAND GAMES MEDAL TALLY REACHES DOUBLE DIGITS LOCAL | PAGE 5 RECORD SARGASSUM BLOOM MAY BE NEW NORM2 LOCAL NEWS Cisco Systems vice president will be keynote speaker A first-generation Amer- ican with roots in Cayman Brac will be the keynote speaker at the University College of the Cayman Is- lands’ commencement cer- emony 7 Nov. Shari Slate is vice pres- ident and chief inclusion and collaboration officer for California-based tech- nology company Cisco Sys- tems, and has spoken to business groups across the globe during her career. Slate is known as a leader in bringing di- versity and inclusion to the workplace, specifi- cally to tech companies. When UCCI President Stacy McAfee invited Slate to be the keynote speaker, she readily accepted upon learning of this year’s theme, ‘Nation Building: Transforming the Future’, saying, “President McAfee had me at hello.” A frequent visitor to Cayman, Slate’s great uncle, who is 97, lives on Cayman Brac. She was in Cayman last week and toured the UCCI campus, along with her colleague Cynthia J. Temesi, an in- novation adviser for Cisco. They led brainstorming sessions and planning col- laborative projects with faculty, staff and students at the university. Slate’s work has fo- cussed on the intersection of diversity, inclusion, col- laboration and technology. As a result, Cisco is re- portedly embracing new models of inclusion and collaboration to fuel inno- vation, accelerate market leadership, and re-im- agine workplace practices in the digital era. She has won numerous interna- tional awards. She was named a 2017 Diversity Leader by Pro- files in Diversity Journal, and one of the Top Influ- ential Women in Corpo- rate America for 2016 by Savoy magazine. She has also been recognised as one of the ‘Most Influen- tial Women in California’ by the California Diver- sity Council. Slate is a graduate of Mills College, with a bachelor’s degree in po- litical, legal, and eco- nomic analysis. THURSDAY, 11 JULY 2019 • CAYMAN COMPASS BREAKTHROUGH (PG) 1:25 I 4:10 I 7:15 I 10:00 SUN: 4:10 I 7:15 I 10:00 KALANK (PG) 3:10 I 9:00 (SAT ONLY) I 9:30 (NO SAT) SUN: 3:10 I 9:20 LITTLE (PG13) 12:30 I 3:25 (SAT ONLY) I 3:50 (NO SAT) 6:50 I 9:45 SUN: 3:50 I 6:50 I 9:35 THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA (R) 1:10 VIP I 4:35 I 7:00 VIP I 10:15 HELLBOY (R) 12:35 (SAT ONLY) I 1:00 I 6:10 (SAT ONLY) I 6:45 SHAZAM! (PG13) 1:30 I 3:40 VIP I 7:15 I 9:30 VIP SUN: 3:40 VIP I 4:40 I 6:40 VIP 8:00 I 9:40 VIP KIDS CLUB: OVER THE HEDGE (PG) 10:00 (SAT ONLY) CULTURE AT THE CINEMA: THE TRAGEDY OF KIND RICHARD THE SECOND(R18) SAT ONLY: 8:00 • 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) SPIDER-MAN FAR (PG13) FROM HOME 12:40 VIP | 1:00 3D | 3:40 VIP | 4:00 | 6:40 VIP | 7:00 3D | 9:40 VIP | 10:00 TOY STORY 4 (G) 1:30 | 4:00 | 6:30 | 9:00 SPRINTER (R) 1:50 | 7:15 MEN IN BLACK (PG13) INTERNATIONAL 1:35 | 4:20 | 7:05 | 9:50 SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 (PG) 2:15 | 4:30 | 6:45 | 9:00 ANNABELLE COMES HOME (R) 4:40 | 10:00 Business leader with Brac ties to address UCCI Cayman plant life focus of new exhibit KAYLA YOUNG kyoung@pinnaclemedialtd.com Two Los Angeles-based artists will share their ex- ploration of Cayman’s native flora during a free lecture Thursday evening, 11 July, at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands. Film-maker Bill Fere- hawk and photographer David Hartwell have been collaborating with the gal- lery, the National Trust for the Cayman Islands and local experts to create a series of large photographic portraits of Caymanian plant life. Fol- lowing Thursday’s presen- tation, the images from the ‘Homegrown’ project will be displayed at the Na- tional Gallery. “Plants are powerful visual markers of a place and a culture. The artists are interested in elaborating on this connection, drawing upon a long tradition of bo- tanical paintings and pho- tographic images of plants,” explained National Gallery Director Natalie Urquhart. “Their goal is to create a series of impressive and emblematic portraits of the Cayman Islands from its na- tive flora.” The men have worked with local plant experts Ann Stafford, Stuart Mailer of the National Trust, and Nick Johnson of Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park. “Their lecture will touch on their experiences in Cayman to date and the wider project concept, but will also include an over- view of the many interna- tional projects that they have been associated with,” Ur- quhart said. National Trust director Nadia Hardie said the exhibit honours Cayman’s heritage. “The ‘Homegrown’ exhi- bition will be an extraordi- nary way for residents and visitors alike to celebrate Cayman’s rare and indige- nous flora, many of which were culturally significant to our nation’s history and her- itage,” she said. Ferehawk has been fea- tured in the Whitney Mu- seum, Walker Art Center and the Museum of Modern Art, among others. He has also re- ceived numerous grants for his work, including funding from the Graham Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Hartwell is a photog- rapher, animator and mo- tion graphics artist who has worked for IBM, Disney, Microsoft and Discovery, among others. The lecture begins at 6pm on Thursday. For more information, visit www.nationalgallery.org.ky. David Hartwell Bill Ferehawk David Hartwell photographs native plants in Grand Cayman. - PHOTO: COURTESY OF NATIONAL GALLERY OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS Shari Slate Culled iguanas surpass 800,000 Following more than two months of consist- ently strong results, Grand Cayman’s green iguana cullers delivered fewer than 13,000 culled iguanas to the George Town landfill last week. Still, that was enough to boost the total number of culled iguanas past the 800,000 mark. The total of 12,998 rep- tiles is about half the av- erage that cullers had posted over the last 10 weeks, and is the second- lowest weekly tally during the programme’s 36 weeks. Including last week’s total, cullers have elim- inated 803,446 invasive green iguanas (as of 6 July) since the Department of Environment programme began in late October 2018. Cullers remain ahead of the pace needed to reach the target of culling 1.3 million iguanas by the end of 2019. Cullers are being paid $4.50 a head, rising to $5 if they meet monthly and an- nual targets, in an effort to wipe out the invasive spe- cies in Grand Cayman. Pace to reach 1.3 million3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • THURSDAY, 11 JULY 2019 Cayman student wins Venture Pitch contest A medical education platform for healthcare pro- fessionals in the Cayman Islands, created by young Caymanian Xavier Ebanks, was among the winners of a business pitch competi- tion at his university in the United Kingdom. Ebanks, 28, won funding for his business at the Uni- versity of Chester Venture Programme’s ‘The Pitch 2019’, in which students and graduates of the uni- versity pitch their business ideas to judges. According to the Univer- sity of Chester, the Venture Programme “equips stu- dents and graduates with the skills and knowledge to start up a business or build their freelance career”. Winners receive funding to help them start up their businesses, courtesy of San- tander Universities UK. “I was lucky enough to be classed as one of the winners of the competition with my business CMECar- ibbean Group Limited,” said Ebanks, who studied a Mas- ters in Biomedical Science at Chester in northwest England. He was awarded an iPad Pro, £400 and a Logo Enhancement Package. “Since winning the pitch, we have been in dialogue with medical groups in the United Kingdom interested in providing medical educa- tion courses in the Cayman Islands,” said Ebanks, who will begin his Doctor of Medicine studies at the Uni- versity of Warwick in the UK in September. Ebanks described CME- Caribbean Group Limited as a medical education platform which provides the Cayman healthcare community with informa- tion on the various Con- tinuing Medical Education events on offer. “The platform origi- nated as a mode to inform the medical students vis- iting during the summer to be informed of what medical events [are] oc- curring,” he said. “How- ever, the benefits of the platform soon became ap- parent to the local medical community and grew from a subscriber base of 30 in June 2018 to over 1,000 in July 2019.” During this time, Ebanks developed a weekly news- letter and a website, www. cmecayman.com, to support the platform. He added that, beginning in October this year, the company will be providing its own online lecture series to the Cayman Islands med- ical community. Following a competitive application process, nine businesses were shortlisted to pitch and the candidates attended a full day of work- shops last month, around the theme ‘Your First Year in Business’, followed by the pitch day itself. Partic- ipants were asked to de- liver a five-minute pitch to judges, outlining their busi- ness idea and model. Fol- lowing their pitches, seven businesses were awarded a share of £7,000 of start-up funding through Santander Universities’ Excellence in Enterprise and Entrepre- neurship Scholarship. “ Since winning the pitch, we have been in dialogue with medical groups in the United Kingdom interested in providing medical education courses in the Cayman Islands.” XAVIER EBANKS Xavier Ebanks, back row, third from left, with his fellow Pitch 2019 winners at the University of Chester. Harbour Walk breaks ground Stormy skies did nothing to dampen the spirits of Har- bour Walk and International Realty Group (IRG) executives who joined Minister Joey Hew on Tuesday for the Har- bour Walk groundbreaking ceremony in Grand Harbour. Harbour Walk, which will feature shops, offices, restau- rants, bars, a café and apart- ments, is scheduled for com- pletion in July 2021. The Harbour Walk site is located between Hurley’s super- market and Periwinkle. The development is ex- pected to feature a total of 28 retail and restaurant spaces encompassing 30,000 square feet, along with 62 one- and two-bed apartments on the upper floors. It also of- fers two floors of Class A office space. Anytime Fitness has been announced as the first tenant in Harbour Walk Retail, with a number of other companies in final negotiations. “This destination loca- tion will be a very positive addition to the Grand Har- bour area, bringing in ameni- ties and services which aren’t currently available off of the Seven Mile Beach corridor,” said Jeremy Hurst of Interna- tional Realty Group. The development will also feature a rooftop jog- ging track, open-air gym and swimming pool, as well as a wine and tapas bar. The development is expected to feature a total of 28 retail and restaurant spaces encompassing 30,000 square feet, along with 62 one- and two-bed apartments on the upper floors. From left, Matt Hooley, senior construction manager, Minister Joey Hew, Jeremy Hurst, IRG broker/owner, and Sebastian Mottram, development project manager, stand in front of a sign for the new Harbour Walk development at the groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday.One of Europe’s largest fi- nancial institutions, Deutsche Bank, finally appears poised to do what the entire region’s banking sector needs to do: get rid of bad assets and in- crease its capacity to ab- sorb losses. If the plan works, it will be a step in the right direc- tion. That said, European au- thorities had better be ready to act if it does not. CEO Christian Sewing has announced the bank’s most ambitious reorgani- sation to date – eliminating some 18,000 jobs, and largely abandoning the German gi- ant’s efforts to compete with US investment banks, par- ticularly in equities trading. The new Deutsche Bank, if all goes well, will be much more focussed on the expanding business of serving corpo- rate clients. There is no question that this decision comes with great personal pain. A lot of lives were upended this week. Still, this course is far more promising than the one Sewing was previ- ously considering: merging Deutsche with crosstown competitor Commerzbank. That would have created a bigger entity with potentially bigger problems. The new plan improves systemic safety in two ways. First, it will leave Deutsche Bank’s balance sheet more than 200 billion euros smaller – a good thing, bearing in mind that Europe is still overbanked and needs to redistribute its banking capacity to better reflect de- mand. Second, the plan will help Deutsche handle future shocks. By 2022, the bank aims to have about 5 euros in loss-absorbing capital for each 100 euros in assets – a leverage ratio of 5%, up from 3.9% at the end of March. This will make a hitherto un- dercapitalised bank less of a weak link in the European fi- nancial system. Granted, this new leverage ratio does not account for the riskiness of Deutsche’s business, which (according to regulatory standards) will increase. Also, a ratio of 5% – assuming the bank can achieve it – would still fall far short of what would be needed to weather a se- vere crisis. This is where Euro- pean authorities come in. They have been slow to compel banks to develop re- alistic crisis plans, and to pre-commit the financial re- sources needed to wind down large institutions with min- imal collateral damage. And Europe’s governments, eager to build and sustain national champions, have often in- dulged the kind of overreach that blighted Deutsche’s prospects. In the future, reg- ulators need to be less for- giving and more impatient, so that Europe’s financial system is better prepared for the next crash. © 2019, Bloomberg Opinion THURSDAY, 11 JULY 2019 • CAYMAN COMPASS The 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. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Caymanian Compass Limited 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 PUBLISHER KATHLEEN CAPETTA EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will find their own way” Perot did not win, but he did change America The new Deutsche Bank might actually be better PAUL BEGALA “I’m all ears!” With that self-deprecating one-liner in a debate against President George H.W. Bush and then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, Ross Perot defined his 1992 presidential bid. The line was candy for TV producers seeking a sound bite from the debate, and it not only winningly mocked Perot’s rather large ears but also served as a signal to the country that he was lis- tening to folks the elites had ignored. Perot, who died Tuesday at age 89, garnered nearly 1 in 5 votes in that elec- tion, despite running against an incumbent president who’d successfully ousted Saddam Hussein from Ku- wait and an Arkansas gov- ernor who proved to be the one of the most gifted polit- ical talents of his time. Why did an eccentric Texas bil- lionaire capture the largest share of the vote of any third- party candidate since Teddy Roosevelt in 1912? Sure, Perot was quirky, quotable and charismatic. But he was also substan- tive. His infomercials and his charts were about ideas, not self-aggrandisement. He had a clear, focussed message: Stop the North American Free Trade Agreement, and bal- ance the budget. He had other issues, including cleaning up corruption in Washington, supporting abortion rights and opposing Bush’s Gulf War. But NAFTA and the def- icit were the driving issues of Perot’s candidacy. After winning the White House, my boss, Clinton, studied the results. Whereas others dismissed Perot as a kook and a flake, Clinton fo- cussed not on the man but on the movement. Nineteen mil- lion Americans were trying to tell our nation something. Clinton decided he’d better be all ears, too, so he adjusted. He confronted Perot where he felt he had to: on NAFTA. But he also took Perot seri- ously – so seriously that the White House sent Vice Presi- dent Al Gore to debate Perot on CNN in November 1993. Gore crushed Perot, and yet the debate itself showed re- spect to the millions of people who wanted their voices heard. Clinton added side agreements to NAFTA that were designed to pro- tect environmental and la- bour rights. NAFTA passed because Clinton adapted, and he adapted because he re- spected Perot’s voters. On the deficit, Clinton did more than adapt; he re- focussed. In the 1992 cam- paign, he pledged to cut the deficit by half in four years. At the time, the promise seemed audacious. But Perot listened to folks who saw the deficit as a Rorschach of eve- rything that was wrong with Washington: buck-passing, blame-assigning and can- kicking. Perot called the def- icit “a crazy aunt you keep down in the basement. All the neighbours know she’s there, but nobody talks about her.” Clinton loved that for- mulation, which I often re- peated while doing an im- pression of Perot. The combination of Per- ot’s remarkable performance in the election and the ur- gent advice of his economic team persuaded Clinton to make deficit reduction a cen- tral pillar of his economic plan; indeed, he left his suc- cessor a federal budget sur- plus of $86.4 billion. I am not sure we would have ever bal- anced the budget without the pressure Perot and his voters brought to the issue. Perot could have been dis- missed because he got no electoral votes (yet another illustration of how the Elec- toral College stands in opposi- tion to the will of the people). And his eccentricities dis- tracted many observers. For crying out loud, the guy ac- cused Bush of having a secret plan to disrupt his daughter’s wedding. Clinton decided that he would ignore the zaniness and instead turn to winning over Perot’s voters. There is a lesson here for both parties. It is tempting for Democrats to dismiss supporters of President Donald Trump as racists, mi- sogynists or ignoramuses. And it is nearly irresistible to obsess on Trump’s se- rial scandals and his woeful lack of character. At the same time, too many Republicans show raw contempt for the resurgent left: They person- ally attack New York Demo- crat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez or mock those who are calling for a radical restruc- turing of an economic system they see as rigged. That is not the lesson of Ross Perot. However flawed the messenger, however mis- guided the policy proposal, when millions of people are crying out – in pain, in frus- tration, in anger – the best re- sponse of a leader is to listen. The same is true in real life. As I approach my 30th wed- ding anniversary, I delight in telling our kids that the se- cret to a long relationship is three little words. Not “I love you,” but “I hear you.” If politicians today want to capture the lightning-in-a- bottle quality of Perot’s quix- otic, chaotic, hypnotic cam- paign, the first thing they should do is grow a pair of Perot-size ears. Paul Begala is a political strategist and former chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign. © 2019, The Washington Post. In this 15 Oct. 1992 file photo, President George H.W. Bush, left, talks with independent candidate Ross Perot as Democratic candidate Bill Clinton stands aside at the end of their second presidential debate in Richmond, Virginia. - PHOTO: AP People leave Deutsche Bank in New York on Monday, 8 July. The German bank announced on Sunday that it would cut 18,000 jobs by 2022. - PHOTO: APThe islands’ most-trusted news source 5 CAYMAN COMPASS THURSDAY, 11 JULY 2019 unnamed “Mr. Big”. He said she had also claimed, “without a scintilla of evidence”, that the defendant himself was “an embezzler” and was scamming his family and business partners. “Judith, when I call that name I hear a ringing in my ears,” the judge said. “Judith, Judas, who robbed Mr. Robb. What a name.” During the trial, prosecu- tors produced hundreds of What- sApp and text messages between Douglas and Robb, showing her re- quests for fees, which she claimed were legitimately required as part of his applications for permanent residency, Caymanian status and a Caymanian passport. The messages correlated with cash withdrawals from Robb’s bank account. In total, he handed over more than $1.9 mil- lion to Douglas between October 2011 and early 2016. In the messages, Douglas pre- sented herself as a legitimate op- erator, working for or acting on behalf of the government, and in- dicated that much of the money would be returned at the end of the process. The judge cited Douglas’s pre- vious conviction and said she had continued to call and text Robb while she was in jail for a separate immigration-related scam. “That demonstrates an absolute disregard for the law and for the administration of justice,” he said. “It illustrates a person who was willing to play with us – then and now.” He said the duration of the scam was another aggravating factor. “She milked him, dangling the cheese in front of his nose and cunningly providing him with ex- cuses, causing him to shell out more of his money, time after time.” MARK MUCKENFUSS mmuckenfuss@pinnaclemedialtd.com The potent smell of sar- gassum and the environ- mental problems the seaweed creates for the Cayman Is- lands are unlikely to diminish in the coming years, according to a study that appeared in Science magazine on Friday. The study used NASA sat- ellite photos and other data to show that the 2018 sar- gassum bloom, stretching from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico, was the largest on record, and postulated that it represented a new norm for the region. “There’s a high chance this phenomenon will con- tinue [and] bloom at a similar magnitude,” said Mengqiu Wang, a postdoctoral re- searcher at Florida State Uni- versity, who was the lead au- thor of the study. Wang, who has been stud- ying sargassum since 2015, worked with Chuanmin Hu, who has been doing satel- lite studies on the seaweed since 2006. Wang and the rest of the team estimated the biomass of last year’s sargassum at more than 20 million tons. The ribbon of dense brown sea- weed thrives on nutrients pro- duced by a winter upwelling off the West African coast, as well as spring and summer runoff from the Amazon River in South America. In recent years, the researchers found, increased deforestation and the use of fertilisers has in- creased the nutrient level in the river runoff. The circulation of ocean currents is also a factor in supporting sargassum growth, the study reports. That circulation has been impacted by climate change. On the other hand, the study says increased surface tem- peratures do not help the seaweed, which grows better in moderate to cool water. While the mention of sar- gassum may make many in Cayman think of holding their noses, Wang said the seaweed does more than foul the shoreline. “In the open ocean, mostly it’s a good thing,” she said. “Sargassum has great eco- logical value to a lot of marine life.” An increase in the size of the floating brown mats of macro-algae, first described by Christopher Columbus, “is likely to affect the fish, the crabs, the turtles”, Wang said. “All marine life will likely be impacted.” Even life in the deep sea is affected as the sargassum dies and sinks to the depths. Along the coast, the mate- rial is less beneficial. “Too much sargassum near the coast could be bad for the coral and the sea grass,” Wang said. In addition to the un- sightly rotting piles that wash up on Cayman’s beaches, and the pungent stink that re- sults from that, sargassum can decrease the amount of sunlight getting to reef areas, stressing corals and sea grass and making it easier for coral- damaging algae to grow. Recent surveys by the Central Caribbean Marine In- stitute have shown that algae growth on Cayman’s coral reefs is already at near crit- ical levels. Wang said there is little likelihood the problem will go away. “Right now,” she said, “we’re proposing [the in- creased sargassum] will have a big impact.” employment rate, according to Dukharan. Building new hotels was found to be statistically insig- nificant in terms of impacting ar- rivals, she said. Kirkconnell said Cayman’s strategy had to be balanced be- tween bringing in new flights and passengers and ensuring there were enough beds for them. He said an agreement with Airbnb, as well as new resorts, including the Kimpton Seafire, had been neces- sary to accommodate the increase in arrivals. Cayman’s stayover visitor num- bers have grown by more than 50% in the last 10 years – from little over 300,000 in 2008 to 463,000 last year. Whorms said the number of flights coming into the island was evidence that the strategy of using the national carrier as a tool to bring in more visitors was working. He said Cayman Airways had launched new services to Dallas, Washington DC, Denver, La Ceiba, Roatan, Panama and Holguin, among others, in the last 10 years. He said the airline had developed the commercial viability of the routes and then foreign airlines, like JetBlue in New York and Amer- ican Airlines in Dallas, had stepped in when the economic sustaina- bility was established. “Once sufficient service is avail- able on a given route,” Whorms said, “Cayman Airways will then either remain on a route to ensure competitive fares or may choose to withdraw from a market and pursue the opening of new routes. “Not all new route explorations have been successful, but more often than not, new service is es- tablished and the Cayman Islands have benefited economically, if not for the long term, at least for the duration of service.” Atlanta, Georgia Washington, D.C. Charlotte, North Carolina Chicago, Illinois Dallas, Denver, Colorado Miami Florida Havana Cuba Houston Kingston, Jamaica La Ceiba, Honduras Nassau, Bahamas New York, New York Tampa Florida Toronto, Canada Detroit, Michigan Minneapolis, Minnesota Honduras Montego Bay, Jamaica Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Boston, Massachusetts La Ceiba Honduras Roatan Honduras DallasTexas ousto,Texas T Ne ashington NorthCarona Nassau PhiadephaPennsyvana North Carolina illi, li irg Chicago Florida Mam ampa ii HavanaH Illinois d Flo cag Fl a u m ori Florida b Foa a i Cuba Cuba n rid Georgia Chalotte o a t Georgian oi Atlanta s AtlantaAtla r d DAILY: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Kingston, Miami REGULAR: Chicago, Denver, Havana, La Ceiba, New York City, Nassau, Philadelphia, Tampa, Toronto, Washington DC SEASONAL/DISCONTINUED: Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Montego Bay, Roatan Direct air service to/from Grand Cayman CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 New ‘gateways’ drive tourism growth Record sargassum bloom may be new norm 10 years for ‘Delilah’ who orchestrated $1.9M scam A backhoe operator works to remove unsightly, and often smelly, sargassum from the beach in South Sound. - PHOTO: ALVARO SEREY 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 non-profit organisations. Items should be submitted at least three working days before publication. Information must include name of sender, signature and contact number. ■ Items may be brought to the Cayman Compass office on Shedden Road or emailed to cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com at least three days in advance of publication. THURSDAY, 11 JULY FARM FOOD SAFETY: The Department of Agriculture is inviting crop farmers to attend a free ‘On Farm Food Safety Workshop Series’ upstairs at the Stacy Watler Pavilion in Lower Valley. The second of this four- night series will be held today, 6-8pm, and will focus on fresh produce safety. Contact the department on 947-3090 to confirm attendance. THATCH PLAITING CLASS: 7-9pm, Heritage House, Cayman Brac. Cost is $5. Contact bracautumnfestival@gmail.com. FRIDAY, 12 JULY NAU CLOSURE: The Needs Assessment Unit’s offices on Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac are closed today for a staff meeting. Normal hours will resume on Monday, 15 July. TUESDAY, 16 JULY SEAFARERS MEETING: The Cayman Islands Seafarers Association will hold a General Meeting today at 7:30pm in the Seafarers Hall, 11 Victory Ave. Prospect. Three buses will leave from West Bay Town Hall at 6pm. The Barnes Bus route in George Town will leave the Public Library parking area at 6:45pm, stopping at the Cayman Compass building and the Airport Foster’s. The bus marked Bobo $1 Public transport, blue in colour, will pick up from British Caymanian, Uncle Bill’s, Walkers Road, Shedden Road and Crewe Road. The bus from East End will pick up at the school parking lot, gas station and Wreck of the Ten Sail, starting at 5:45pm. North Side pick-ups at Chisholm’s Store and the soccer field, starting at 6:15pm. Bodden Town pick-ups at Lorna’s gas station at 6:45pm, Savannah pick-up at gas station at 7pm. THURSDAY, 18 JULY TOWN HALL MEETING: A public meeting will be held at Constitution Hall (formerly the George Town Town Hall) from 4:30-6:30pm today to discuss the revitalisation of George Town. The meeting will be led by George Town Manager and Revitalisation Initiative Coordinator Colin Lumsden. The meeting will include a presentation and project update and members of the public will have an opportunity to ask questions and outline their priorities and aspirations for the revitalised town centre. HUMANE SOCIETY QUIZ: Monthly trivia to raise funds for the Humane Society. 7pm at Fidel Murphy’s. Ann Ghezzi will be hosting. Entry fee is $10 per person, six people per team. Call 949-5189 to book a table. SATURDAY, 20 JULY WOMEN’S DIVE DAY: Divetech will attempt to break its own record of the largest number of women taking part in a single dive today as it celebrates Women’s Dive Day 2019. The event will take place at Divetech’s shore diving site, Lighthouse Point and is a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Society. The aim is to have 100 women take part, to break last year’s record of 86. Spaces are on a first-come, first-served basis. $25 to secure a place. Call 946-5658, 7:30am to 5pm, or visit the dive shop. STORYTIME: The Cayman Islands Public Library Service will hold the first of a series of Summer Story Times with Uncle Vic at the Bodden Town Library. Stories will be read by Victor Valencia every Saturday, at 10:30am, until 31 Aug. There will also be colouring activities and specials treats for kids ages 0 to 5. Run time is approximately 45 minutes. For more information on special programmes at the library, email libraryprogrammes@gov.ky, call 949-5159 or check Facebook. FRIDAY, 2 AUG. CIMA STUDENT MIXER: The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority is hosting a student mixer today at the Marriott Beach Resort, 3-5pm. This interactive platform will give college- bound students (ages 16–25) a chance to meet potential employers, learn about the importance of the financial services industry and how it contributes to the standard of living in the Cayman Islands. The event will include refreshments, prizes and giveaways. For more information or to RSVP, visit cima.ky. WEDNESDAY, 7 AUG. STROKE AND STRIDE: The first of a three-series fundraiser race to support young triathletes and community charities will be held today for swimmers and runners. The swim distance increases each week while the run stays the same at 2 miles. Participate in 1, 2 or 3 of the races – individually or as a team. Race 1 is held today and consists of a 400-metre swim and a 2-mile run; Race 2 is on 14 Aug., a 600-metre swim and 2-mile run; and Race 3 is on 21 Aug., an 800-metre swim and 2-mile run. All races begin at 5:45pm at Sunset House. Entry fees are: Individuals, $15 per race/$35 for all 3; Teams, $25 per race/$60 all 3. Triathlon Association Membership required and is available for $15 at registration. SUNDAY, 11 AUG. ENVIROWALK: The rescheduled EnviroWalk Environmental 5K Walk/ Run, sponsored by Miss World Cayman Islands, F45 and Flowers Bottled Water, will be held at 7am at Safehaven. The previous planned event was postponed due to the weather. All are invited. Bring your water bottle, hats, sunscreen and comfortable walking shoes. The entry fee is $25 for adults and $12 for those 12 and under. GENERAL INTEREST SEAFARERS FUN WEEK: The Cayman Islands Seafarers Association is informing all its members that it is holding fun activities all week at Seafarers Hall in honour of Seafarers Week. Monday to Friday, 9am to 2pm. YMCA SUMMER CAMPS: Camps will take place from 2 July to 23 Aug. across three locations – Field of Dreams, Camana Bay Sports Complex and the Youth Centre at the Cayman Islands Baptist Church in Savannah. For more information, visit www.ymcacayman.ky. On-site registration is open weekdays from 9am to 5pm at the Field of Dreams. The Day Camp team can also be reached at ysummercamp@ ymcacayman.ky. To find out about financial assistance, which is available for families in need, email info@ymcacayman.ky. COUNSELLING SERVICES: The Family Resource Centre and the Counselling Centre have moved. They are now with the Department of Counselling Services at their new home on Mary Street, at 87 West Apollo House. Hours are Mondays and Fridays from 9am to 1pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays 9am to 7pm, and Wednesdays 9am to 4pm. SQUASH CLUB: The Cayman Islands Squash Club hosts a social evening for women on the last Tuesday of every month at 6:30pm, and holds squash beginner lessons for adults every Monday at 7pm. For more information, email info@squash.ky. PIRATES WEEK VENDORS: Food and craft vendors interested in participating in the upcoming Pirates Week Festival can reserve stalls. Food Festival dates are 8, 9 and 11 Nov. A valid DEH Food Handling Certificate must accompany completed application forms. All food vendors must use biodegradable containers and utensils (available from Pirates Week Festival office – limited supply). Space is limited, please register early. Download the application form at www.piratesweekfestival.com/ participate. To learn more call 949-5078 or info@piratesweekfestival.com. LOCAL HARVEST MARKET: Local farmers sell their produce and farmed goods at Camana Bay on Wednesdays from 10am to 3pm in Heliconia Court (located next to Scotiabank). COMMUNITY CHESS: Tuesdays 5-8pm, 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 7-11pm. Artists of all levels are welcome to come and enjoy painting and socialising with other artists. Includes use of easels, lights, space and a 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, 9am till noon. Thursdays Adults and Youth, 10am till noon. Watler House Art Studio, Pedro St. James. Fee is $5/$15 pp for ceramics. $15/$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. THRIFT SHOP: Cayman Islands Humane Society Thrift Shop. Located in Venetia Plaza, next to China Village. The Thrift shop is open Tuesday – Saturday 9am to 2pm. Closed on Sunday and Monday. The phone number is 945-5596 THRIFT SHOP: One Dog at a Time’s New To U shop is now located at JJT Warehouses, Row 2, Unit 2 on Industrial Way. Open Saturdays 8am to 5pm and Wednesdays 10am to 2pm. Variety of items available, including men’s, women’s, children’s and baby clothes, shoes, household, electrical items, CDs, DVDs, books, home furnishings, toys, baby cribs, car seats, dog beds and more. BETHESDA COUNSELLING CENTRE: Caters to all who seek help. Open Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 5:30pm 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 12:30-4pm; Tues-Fri 9:30am to 4pm; Sat 9:30am to 4:30pm. Volunteers are 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, cards, etc., in good condition needed. CLUBS, ORGANISATIONS 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-centred 12-step recovery group addresses addictions and those affected by them. Meetings at Cayman Islands Baptist Church, Pedro Castle Road, Tuesdays, 7:15pm. For details, contact Vanessa Gilman at 946-2422, or visit www.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. THE LIONS CLUB OF GRAND CAYMAN: Meets every first and third Thursday 7:30pm at the Lions Community Centre. Email lionsclubgcm@hotmail.com. FOR MORE COMMUNITY CALENDAR EVENTS, VISIT WWW. CAYMANCOMPASS.COM/EVENTS. THURSDAY, 11 JULY 2019 • CAYMAN COMPASS A public meeting will be held at Constitution Hall (formerly the George Town Town Hall) from 4:30pm to 6:30pm on Thursday, 18 July, to discuss the revitalisation of downtown George Town.7 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • THURSDAY, 11 JULY 2019 Please be advised that the Cayman Compass Office will be closed on Friday, July 12 th , 2019 for a Staff Function. We will re-open for regular business hours on Monday, July 15 th 8:30am to 5:00pm We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW OFFICE HOURS Monday thru Friday 8:30am to 5:00pm OFFICE CLOSURE PUBLICATION DEADLINES: EDITION BOOKING DEADLINES Wednesday July 17 ..................Thursday, July 11 TELEPHONE: (345) 949-5111 EMAIL: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Homeowner gets island’s first Tesla batteries MARK MUCKENFUSS mmuckenfuss@pinnaclemedialtd.com Eduardo Mejia thinks Tesla batteries, recently ap- proved for residential build- ings in Cayman, could help change the renewable energy market on the island. Mejia, a quality control inspector for Tesla, who is based in Puerto Rico, spent Tuesday overseeing the in- stallation of the first two Tesla batteries to be placed in a home here, where they will supplement an existing solar power system. During the day, the solar cells not only provide power to the five-bedroom home in Grand Harbour, but will also charge the batteries. Once the sun goes down, the batteries will keep the property pow- ered through the night. And it may even have some power left over. That excess will go back into the Cayman Utilities Company system. Kerby Powell, a master electrician with GreenTech Solar, be- lieves that as more such sys- tems are added to homes and businesses across the island, they may help keep the lights on in other homes during a crisis, such as a hurricane. “If there comes an event where people are using a lot of energy, what [CUC] can say is ‘I need more power back to the grid,’” Mejia said. It could potentially tap into the ex- cess being created by homes with solar and battery sys- tems, “and all these homes become like a micro grid”. Whether or not that ac- tually happens, Allan Holds- worth said he is expecting to enjoy energy security. “I will never be without power in my lifetime,” Hold- sworth said, sitting in his canalfront home while Mejia, a Tesla electrician and a crew of GreenTech Solar workers installed the coffee table- sized batteries on the upper wall of his garage. Holdsworth said the solar panels on the home, where he has lived since February 2018, provide more than enough power during the day. Enough, he said, so that the credit he receives from CUC for the excess that goes into the grid, more than covers the CUC electricity he uses during the night. “We’ve never had a bill,” Holdsworth said, referring to himself and his partner Javier Bustos. “The batteries are primarily for when the power goes out or when we have a hurricane.” He’s confident that in such situations, the lights will still be on in his home. In addition to survival se- curity, he said, the system also fits with his efforts to live “as green as possible”. His home is heavily insu- lated, the retired former Van- couver Island resident said. He also contributes to green organisations, such as Plastic Free Cayman. His next step, he said, is to invest in an elec- tric-powered car and truck. “I definitely want to get the electric vehicles, for sure,” he said. “With all my excess electricity, I want to use it on the vehicles.” The Tesla batteries cost about US$12,000 a piece, Holdsworth said, and took about six months to get. That delay, said GreenTech’s Powell, was largely due to getting regulatory approval through Cayman’s planning commission. Now that those regulations are in place, filling orders will be much faster, he said. In fact, Richard Harrison, GreenTech Solar’s CEO, said the company has a number of other residential customers lined up for installations. He said 31 of the batteries will be arriving on the island within days and he has 80 more on order that should be here in a month’s time. There is also a commer- cial-sized battery that some local developments, hotels and supermarkets have al- ready shown an interest in, he said, adding that he expects market demand to grow. And, in addition to the energy benefits, Holds- worth said prospective cus- tomers may want to con- sider the aesthetics of how the batteries look, mounted on the wall. “They’re very sexy bat- teries,” he said. Holdsworth said the solar panels on the home … provide more than enough power during the day. Members of the team installing Cayman’s first Tesla residential batteries in the home of Allan Holdsworth: from left, Jose Zambrano, Greentech Solar CEO Richard Harrison, Holdsworth, Peter Torres, Kerby Powell and Eduardo Mejia. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY CIMA HOSTS FINANCIAL SERVICES MIXER FOR STUDENTS The Cayman Islands Mon- etary Authority will host a mixer next month for stu- dents interested in the finan- cial services industry. The event will be held from 3-5pm on 2 Aug. at the Marriott Beach Resort. The gathering is meant to give college-bound stu- dents, ages 16–25, a chance to meet potential employers, learn about the importance of financial services and how the industry contributes to the standard of living in the Cayman Islands. It will in- clude refreshments, prizes and giveaways. For more information or to RSVP, visit www.cima.ky.The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 THURSDAY, 11 JULY 2019 • CAYMAN COMPASS Turkish central bank chief fired over rate cuts Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed Wednesday that he fired the central bank chief over his refusal to cut interest rates. Erdogan again declared interest rates to be ‘the mother of all evil’ and suggested borrowing costs would be lowered soon. UK ambassador to US quits days after leaked cables on Trump Ex-PM vows legal action if UK Parliament suspended LONDON (AP) – A former British prime minister threatened Wednesday to take Conservative Party leadership candi- date Boris Johnson to court if he tries to suspend Parliament to deliver a UK departure from the European Union without a deal. John Major told the BBC it would be unacceptable and against tradition to shut down Parliament, and he would seek a court ruling to overturn it if it happened. Major’s suggestion is impor- tant because Parliament has repeatedly signalled its opposition to a no-deal Brexit, but has no obvious way of stop- ping it. A legal challenge offers a poten- tial new route. “You cannot and should not bypass Parliament in this fashion,” Major said. “I cannot imagine how anyone could con- ceivably think that is right.” Major’s comments follow a televised debate between Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, the two men seeking to replace Theresa May as Conservative leader and prime minister. Johnson, who has said leaving the EU by the scheduled date of 31 Oct. is a “do or die” matter, refused to rule out bypassing Parliament to pre- vent lawmakers from blocking a no- deal departure. “I’m not going to take anything off the table, any more than I’m going to take no-deal off the table,” Johnson said. “I think it’s absolutely bizarre at this stage in the negotiations for the UK – yet again – to be weakening its own position.” Hunt flatly rejected the idea and sug- gested it was dangerous. “When that has happened in the past, when Parliament has been shut down against its will, we actually had a civil war,” Hunt said, referring to the 17th- century showdown between royalists and Parliament over how the country would be governed. Parliament won. King Charles I was tried and executed. A move to send lawmakers home early – known as proroguing Parlia- ment – would require the formal ap- proval of Queen Elizabeth II. Major said such a request would drag the usually neutral monarch into a constitutional controversy. “There is no conceivable justification, wherever we are, in closing down Parlia- ment to bypass its sovereignty,” Major said. “I seem to recall that the Brexiteers, led by Mr. Johnson, actually campaigned in the referendum for the sovereignty of Parliament … They can’t be concerned for the sovereignty of Parliament except when it is inconvenient to Mr. Johnson.” LONDON (AP) – Britain’s ambassador to the United States resigned Wednesday after being made a diplo- matic nobody by President Donald Trump following the leak of the envoy’s unflat- tering opinions about the US administration. Veteran diplomat Kim Darroch said he could no longer do his job in Wash- ington after Trump branded him a fool and cut off all contact with the repre- sentative of one of the US’s closest allies. The break in relations followed a British newspa- per’s publication Sunday of leaked documents that re- vealed the ambassador’s dim view of Trump’s adminis- tration, which Darroch de- scribed as dysfunctional, inept and chaotic. “The current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like,” Darroch said in his resignation letter. In the leaked documents, he called the Trump adminis- tration’s policy towards Iran “incoherent”, said the presi- dent might be indebted to “dodgy Russians” and raised doubts about whether the White House “will ever look competent”. “We don’t really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less fac- tion riven; less diplomati- cally clumsy and inept,” one missive said. Prime Minister Theresa May and other British poli- ticians have praised Darroch and condemned the leak in recent days. Some also ac- cused Boris Johnson, who is likely to be picked as Britain’s next prime minister later this month, of failing to stand up for the UK’s envoy in Wash- ington because he wanted to curry favour with Trump. “The fact that Sir Kim has been bullied out of his job, because of Donald Trump’s tantrums and Boris John- son’s pathetic lick-spittle response, is something that shames our country,” said Emily Thornberry, the spokeswoman on foreign af- fairs issues for the main op- position Labour Party. Darroch had been set to retire at the end of the year. It’s unclear whether May will have time to name a replace- ment before she leaves office later this month. Appointing ambassadors usually involves a formal civil service process with advertisements, applica- tions and interviews, though Simon McDonald, head of Britain’s diplomatic service, said the post of ambassador to the US was not always chosen that way. Darroch announced his decision the morning after a debate between the two contenders to replace May as party leader and prime minister, Johnson and Jeremy Hunt. Hunt, who is Britain’s foreign secretary, vowed to keep Darroch in the post, but Johnson pointedly did not. “I think it’s very impor- tant we should have a close partnership, a close friend- ship with the United States,” Johnson said. Darroch’s forthright, unfil- tered views on the US admin- istration – meant for a limited audience and discreet review – appeared in the leaked doc- uments published by Britain’s Mail on Sunday newspaper. Darroch had served as Britain’s envoy to Wash- ington since 2016; the leaked cables covered a period from 2017 to recent weeks. British officials are hunting for the culprit behind the leak, which was both an embarrassment to May’s gov- ernment and a major breach of diplomatic security. “We will pursue the cul- prit with all the means at our disposal,” Foreign Office chief Simon McDonald told a com- mittee of lawmakers. McDonald said it was “vi- tally important” that ambas- sadors were able to speak candidly in private and that it was the first time in his ca- reer that a head of state has dismissed working with a British ambassador. He told the Foreign Affairs Committee that even hostile states had not taken such ac- tion in his nearly 37 years in the department. “This is not the first time a British ambassador has left post or resigned because of actions against the host gov- ernment, but usually they are governments with whom we have problematic relations rather than friendly rela- tions,” McDonald said. Like his predecessors, Dar- roch was a prominent figure in Washington, meeting fre- quently with high-level US of- ficials and hosting parties at the stately British Embassy. Trump’s tweets created fury among many British politicians and officials, who found themselves insulted by the president’s decision to have the administration cut off contact with their ambassador. It underscored that the close relationship between the two countries has become increasingly lopsided – a se- vere problem as the UK pre- pares to set a new path with its departure from the Eu- ropean Union. Darroch had been set to retire at the end of the year. It’s unclear whether May will have time to name a replacement before she leaves office later this month. “ You cannot and should not bypass Parliament in this fashion. I cannot imagine how anyone could conceivably think that is right.” JOHN MAJOR UK ECONOMY RECOVERS IN MAY, EASING RECESSION FEARS LONDON (AP) – The British economy bounced back in May, official figures showed Wednesday, allaying some fears that the country could slip into recession ahead of the revised Brexit deadline. The Office for National Statistics said the economy grew a monthly 0.3% in May, largely because car- makers ramped up produc- tion after many went idle in April in case the original Brexit deadline ended up with Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal. A bounce-back had been anticipated following April’s 0.4% decline, given that the original 29 March Brexit date has been ex- tended to Oct. 31. Even so, the British economy could still con- tract for the second quarter overall and there is a growing consensus that the third quarter will be flat at best. A contraction in each of the quarters would put Britain officially in recession. Though most econo- mists think Britain will avoid that fate, growth is largely forecast to be tepid in the third quarter as the Brexit deadline looms and uncertainty persists around the economy. Boris Johnson, the fa- vourite to replace Theresa May as Conservative Party leader and prime min- ister this month, has said Britain should leave the EU on Halloween come what may, even without a deal. Most economists think that would lead to a severe re- cession as firms face tariffs on their exports and other dislocations to trade. Johnson will find it dif- ficult to get Parliament to back a ‘no-deal’ Brexit should he overcome Jeremy Hunt in the race to become prime minister. As such, the “fog of Brexit”, as termed by Bank of England Gov- ernor Mark Carney, is likely to persist. Firms remain wary of investing, holding back growth, and consumers could also start to be- come cautious. British Ambassador to the US Kim Darroch has resigned in the wake of a leak of diplomatic cables critical of US President Donald Trump. – PHOTO: AP Former British Prime Minister John Major9 WORLD®IONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • THURSDAY, 11 JULY 2019 Court to Trump: Blocking Twitter critics is unconstitutional Powell signals that rate cut could be coming soon NEW YORK (AP) – President Donald Trump lost a major Twitter fight Tuesday when a federal appeals court said that his daily musings and pronouncements were over - whelmingly official in nature and that he violated the First Amend- ment whenever he blocked a critic to silence a viewpoint. The effect of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals decision is likely to reverberate throughout politics after the Manhattan court warned that any elected official using a so- cial media account “for all manner of official purposes” and then ex- cluding critics violates free speech. “The government is not per- mitted to ‘amplify’ favored speech by banning or burdening viewpoints with which it disagrees,” the ap- peals court said. Because it involved Trump, the ruling is getting more attention than a January decision by the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals that found a Virginia politician violated the First Amendment rights of one of her constituents by blocking him from a Facebook page. Still, the appeals court in New York acknowledged, not every so- cial media account operated by a public official is a government ac- count, and First Amendment viola- tions must be considered on a case- by-case basis. “The irony in all of this is that we write at a time in the history of this nation when the conduct of our gov- ernment and its officials is subject to wide-open, robust debate,” Circuit Judge Barrington D. Parker wrote on behalf of a three-judge panel. The debate generates a “level of passion and intensity the likes of which have rarely been seen”, the court’s decision read. “This debate, as uncomfortable and as unpleasant as it frequently may be, is nonetheless a good thing,” the 2nd Circuit added. “In re- solving this appeal, we remind the litigants and the public that if the First Amendment means anything, it means that the best response to dis- favored speech on matters of public concern is more speech, not less.” The Department of Justice is dis- appointed by the ruling and is ex- ploring possible next steps, agency spokesperson Kelly Laco said. “As we argued, President Trump’s decision to block users from his personal twitter account does not violate the First Amendment,” Laco said in an emailed statement. Appeal options include asking the panel to reconsider, or seeking a reversal from the full 2nd Circuit or from the US Supreme Court. The decision came in a case brought by the Knight First Amend- ment Institute at Columbia Univer- sity. It had sued on behalf of seven individuals blocked by Trump after criticising his policies. Jameel Jaffer, the institute’s di- rector, said public officials’ social media accounts are now among the most significant forums for discus- sion of government policy. The ruling “will ensure that people aren’t excluded from these forums simply because of their viewpoints”, he said. Katie Fallow, senior staff at- torney at Knight, said the institute knew of about 75 individuals who have been unblocked since Buch- wald’s ruling. Another 30 or so remain blocked, in part because the Justice Depart- ment has required them to cite the tweet that caused blockage, she said. Among individuals blocked from the account were author Stephen King and model Chrissy Teigen. “We certainly think the presi- dent should unblock everyone who was blocked because of viewpoint,” Fallow said. “If they are not going to do it voluntarily, we’ll consider all options, including litigation.” Earlier this year, attorney Jennifer Utrecht, arguing for the president, told the 2nd Circuit Trump’s account was created long before he became president and he acted in a private capacity by blocking individuals. The three-judge panel concluded the official nature of Trump’s ac- count “was overwhelming”, even though it was created in 2009. It cautioned it was not deciding whether an elected official violates the Constitution by excluding indi- viduals from a “wholly private so- cial media account”. “We also conclude that once the President has chosen a plat- form and opened up its interactive space to millions of users and par- ticipants, he may not selectively exclude those whose views he dis- agrees with,” the judges said. They noted that Trump had used Twitter to announce his nom- ination of an FBI director, to an- nounce a ban on transgender in- dividuals serving in the military, to announce the firing of his chief of staff, and about his decision to sell sophisticated military hard- ware to Japan and South Korea. The 2nd Circuit said it did not matter that blocked individ- uals could still engage in dialogue through “workarounds”, such as logging out to view Trump’s tweets or searching for tweets by other users about the president to en- gage in conversations. The ruling upheld a decision last year by US District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, who did not order Trump to unblock users but said people have a right to reply directly to politicians who use their accounts as public fo- rums to conduct official business. Trump has been a social media pioneer among politicians, earning daily headlines from tweets. WASHINGTON (AP) – Chairman Jerome Powell sig- nalled Wednesday that the Federal Reserve is likely to cut interest rates late this month for the first time in a decade in light of a weak- ening global economy and rising trade tensions. Delivering the central bank’s semiannual report to Congress, Powell said that since Fed officials met last month, “uncertainties around trade tensions and concerns about the strength of the global economy continue to weigh on the US economic out- look”. In addition, annual infla- tion has dipped further below the Fed’s annual target level. Powell’s remarks triggered a stock market rally, with the Dow Jones industrial average up nearly 100 points in late- morning trading. Economists suggested that Powell’s message made a quarter-point rate cut a virtual certainty at the Fed’s meeting this month, with many forecasting further rate cuts to come. Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Eco- nomics, said he thinks eco- nomic growth will slow below a 1% annual rate in the second half of this year, which he thinks will lead to additional quarter-point cuts in December and then March. Ashworth said a July rate cut would be “insurance against the downside risk that Fed officials believe have mounted in recent months”. Many investors have put the odds of a rate cut this month at 100%. The Fed’s benchmark rate stands in a range of 2.25% to 2.5% after the central bank raised rates four times last year – action that incited public attacks on the Powell Fed from Presi- dent Donald Trump. Trump, who is counting on a strong economy for his re- election campaign, has called the Fed his biggest threat. He contends that the central bank made a huge mistake by tightening credit last year and should be cutting rates now. Trump has argued that last year’s rate hikes have held back economic growth and the stock market. In his prepared remarks, Powell made no mention of the president’s criticism. He did thank Congress for the “independence” it has given the Fed to operate free of po- litical intrusion. But later, in the question-and-answer period, Democratic mem- bers of the House Financial Services Committee, made clear their discontent with Trump’s attacks. Rep. Maxine Waters, who leads the committee, declared that “this president has made it clear that he has no under- standing or respect for the independence of the Federal Reserve”. She also referred to published reports that Trump had discussed firing Powell. Asked by Waters what he would do if Trump said he wanted to fire him, Powell re- plied, as he has in the past, that he intends to serve his full four-year term. Powell’s remarks Wednesday began two days of his testimony on Cap- itol Hill. On Thursday, he will address the Senate Banking Committee. At the moment, the US economic landscape is a mixed one: The job market appears resilient, but eco- nomic growth is slowing. Many forecasters predict that growth has slowed to an annual rate of around 2% in the just completed April- June quarter. In his testimony, Powell said the economy has fared reasonably well over the first half of the year. But he noted that “crosscurrents, such as trade tensions and concerns about global growth, have been weighing on economic activity and the outlook”. He said that growth in business investment “seems to have slowed notably”, pos- sibly because of concerns over slowing global growth and the trade battle be- tween the Trump administra- tion and China. The Fed chairman told the House committee that he thinks average worker pay is not rising fast enough to ac- celerate low inflation, even with the unemployment rate near a five-decade low. An ab- sence of inflation pressure makes it easier for the Fed to cut short-term rates. Referring to rates, Powell repeated a pledge the Fed made in its June policy state- ment that officials would “act as appropriate to sustain the expansion”. But notably, he added that “many” Fed offi- cial saw that the case for a looser monetary policy “had strengthened”. The Fed has not cut rates since 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. Trump and Chinese Pres- ident Xi Jinping declared a truce last month in what had threatened to become an es- calating US-China trade war and agreed to resume talks towards a deal that would meet the administration’s de- mands to better protect US technology. That step eased fears that Trump would ex- tend punitive tariffs to an ad- ditional $300 billion in Chi- nese goods, in the process inviting retaliation from Bei- jing on American exports and likely weakening both na- tions’ economies. The effect of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals decision is likely to reverberate throughout politics. Economists suggested that Powell’s message made a quarter-point rate cut a virtual certainty at the Fed’s meeting this month, with many forecasting further rate cuts to come. President Donald Trump Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has signalled a probable upcoming interest rate cut. – PHOTO: APNext >