03312025 BUSINESS

Gov’t intervenes in Old Bahama Bay’s management row

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

THE Government has intervened in the escalating dispute over Old Bahama Bay by demanding that the parties involved in retaking the hotel’s management “cease and desist” until they obtain the necessary permits.

Phylicia Woods-Hanna, director of investments, in a March 21, 2025, letter asserted that Kingwood International Resorts and its affiliates will “violate” Bahamian law if they assume management of both the Grand Bahama resort and former Ginn sur mer project given that the Government has twice rejected the company’s application to conduct business in this nation.

In a letter copied to both Prime Minister Philip Davis KC and Chester Cooper,

deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, she said the Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA) had been informed that Kingwood or another of its affiliates in the Reunion Cay Group of Companies “has assumed management of the properties formerly known as ‘Ginn sur mer’”.

“We note that the NEC (National Economic Council) has not granted permission to the company to conduct business operations in The Bahamas,”

Mrs Woods-Hanna wrote in a letter seen by Tribune Business. “Previously, the Authority has issued two refusal letters dated May 5 and December 6, 2022.

“In light of the foregoing, please be advised that the company (Kingwood/Reunion Cay) is in violation of the laws and regulations of the Bahamas Investment

Bahamas targets world beating depositor safety

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

AROUND 580,000 Bahamian bank accounts, representing 96 percent of the total, were fully protected against their institution’s possible collapse as at year-end 2024, the Central Bank’s governor has revealed.

John Rolle, in written answers to Tribune Business questions, confirmed that the banking sector regulator is seeking to increase the size of the Deposit Insurance Fund beyond global standards to give Bahamians extra security and comfort even though it will take another “two to three years” to reach its $130m target size.

Revealing that the Fund was some $29.5m shy of this goal at year-end 2024, standing at $101.5m, he added that it was already well within international benchmarks standing at 3.6 percent of insured deposit values after enjoying an average 11 percent growth rate over the previous five years.

“The DIC (Deposit Insurance Corporation) will take at least another two to three years to reach its new

target size,” Mr Rolle told this newspaper of the Fund. “The target size of the fund is guided by a global industry standard of which is 3 percent to 4 percent of insured deposit values.

“In the case of The Bahamas, a target of 4.67 percent of insured deposit values was set after performing various testing and simulations of potential adverse events in the financial system. The 4.67 percent ratio is scaled to the number of Bahamian deposits in banks and credit unions. Hence, as the deposit base expands,

following

collapse of Gulf Union Bank (Bahamas), which left many small local - as well as large - depositors exposed to life-changing financial losses because they were unable to recover their deposits. The Fund now fully insures all deposits up to a maximum $50,000, thus protecting most individuals and families from financial hardship should a bank fail.

“As at the end of 2024, the size of the Deposit Insurance Fund was $101.5m (3.6 percent of insured deposits’ values),” Mr Rolle said. “There were approximately $2.8bn of insured deposits within 18 member institutions. In this regard,

Global aviation body warns Bahamas on retroactive fees

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

GLOBAL aviation’s trade body has warned it is “imperative” that Bahamian and other airlines not be penalised by triple-digit retroactive fee hikes as a result of “errors” by local regulators. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents 340 airlines and 80 percent of global aviation traffic, told the Bahamas Air Navigation Services Authority (BANSA) that seeking to retroactively impose its new fee regime to cover the period May 2021 to end-July 2024 will create an

“unexpected” and “significant” financial burden that threatens to undermine airlift growth for this nation.

Peter Cerda, IATA’s regional vice-president, in a March 28, 2025, letter to Lenn King, BANSA’s director, asserted that the regulator is effectively making airlines that service The Bahamas pay the price for its mistakes as it attempts to “recover losses” incurred during that three-year period as a result of flawed air navigation services charges. The letter, which was sent to all airlines and has been obtained by Tribune Business, adds that “a limited number of operators

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

tal offerings that will launch tomorrow, said it aims to raise $100m in bond financing as well as solicit $32.5m in equity capital that will give Bahamian investors a collective 25 percent ownership interest in the solar and liquefied natural gas

(LNG) driven power provider. The offerings are due to close on April 16, 2025, after some 15 days. The company’s separate equity and debt private placement documents, which have been released for Bahamian capital markets scrutiny, suggest that the two power plant projects will be de-risked via the signing of a 25-year power purchase agreement with Bahamas Power & Light (BPL). The latter will be required to purchase a minimal amount from EA Energy and compensate it at “the contract price” if it misses this threshold.

JOHN ROLLE

GRAYCLIFF EYES DISTRIBUTION DEAL WITH CARIBBEAN FIRST

By

GRAYCLIFF has become the first Caribbean home for the Watenshi gin through its recent partnership with Cambridge Distillery.

Roberta Garzaroli, Graycliff’s general manager, said the resort’s restaurant will be the first in the region to carry the exclusive gin, which retails for £3,000 per bottle in the UK, and will also become the distributor for the brand in The Bahamas.

She said Graycliff, which already boasts the thirdlargest wine cellar in the world, plans to offer the gin as part of its exclusive

tasting experiences, extending its wine-making and distribution ventures.

“This historic gin is one of the world’s first luxury gins, and so we are honoured to be one of the first in the Caribbean and The Bahamas to be not just able to expose the public to this, but also to be the distributor here in The Bahamas. So any retailers or any hoteliers or other establishments that want to carry this gin would have to come through us,” said Ms Garzaroli.

“It’s a very good complement [to our brand]. We have the third largest wine cellar in the world, which is primarily made up of wines from France, Italy, etc. Last year, we expanded our British wine so we have some English sparkling wines.

“Now, in addition to all the scotches and whiskeys that we carry, we also have this wonderful gin. We had some gin, but gin is underrated. Now, it’s starting to come out on its own, and this is the ultimate gin to be doing it with.”

Ms Garzaroli said the company is “dipping our toes” into the distribution market and is currently unclear on how much the gin will retail for.

“Partially, we’re dipping our toes into that. Put it that way. So, yeah, it’s an extension. We make wine as well at Bahama Barrel. So, it’s kind of part of the whole experience of coming to Graycliff. So, yes, this will be one of the first things that we’re doing,” said Ms Garzaroli.

“The Watenshi in the UK is £3,000. So we’re trying to get the whole pricing structure done. Once that is set, it is the most exclusive gin going and the world’s most expensive gin. So, yes, it is very expensive and so I’m not sure what the retail price will be here or how much we’ll sell it by the shot, because we literally just received these samples and we don’t have our supplies yet. So once that comes in, then we’ll be able to do that and put it on our spirits list for guests to enjoy.”

Wenrick Clarke, sales director at Commonwealth Brewery, said the company is “100 percent” interested in connecting with Graycliff to offer the brand on its shelves. “So far, we’ve been able to sample the gin, and

I have to say that the experience of it has been unlike anything that I tried so far, very, very smooth,” said Mr Clarke.

“We’re here to able to see if these products are a good fit for our company. We do a lot of really good business with Graycliff already, so this is an opportunity for us to see how we can deepen that relationship as well.”

Mr Clarke added that Commonwealth Brewery has carried high-end alcohol brands in the past, and individuals attracted to a brand due to its quality and exclusivity will not mind paying “top dollar”.

“There is a client out there for everyone. For example, you don’t see Rolls Royce advertising their product. Individuals that would know about the

REVIVED YOUNG PROFESSIONALS SOCIETY GAINS ‘50 APPLICATIONS’

By ANNELIA NIXON

Business

THE Bahamas Cham-

ber of Commerce and Employers’ Confederation (BCCEC) says it has have received “50 initial applications” for the revived

Young Professionals Society (OYP).

The Chamber, in a statement, said it “is proud to announce the highly-anticipated return of the Young Professionals Society, a dynamic initiative aimed at empowering and uniting emerging leaders across the nation. Under the leadership of Duran Humes, local tech professional

and entrepreneur, we will curate an environment that is conducive for meaningful dialogue and collaboration”.

Mr Humes said that while the Society is now “approaching 50” applications, he expects it to be “well over 100 very shortly”. He added: “So with the help of the Chamber, we plan on taking the

programme to where we make it something that young professionals would like to be a part of.

“They see a benefit in it, in terms of the networking, as well as the general knowledge that they would gain from it; from the group, and pretty much from their partnerships with different entities, such as the US Embassy, for example. We can then go ahead and make the changes that we want to see in our country, and also give other persons a platform where it might be needed.

“The YPS is pretty much a group of persons that come together as young professionals, between the ages of 22 years-old and 40 years-old, from a whole host of different backgrounds. So it doesn’t matter if you’re specifically from the industry of finance, technology, construction, doesn’t really matter,” Mr Humes added.

“But the whole purpose of it is that we come together for either monthly or quarterly sessions, and we discuss certain topics that are happening in the country. And through the help of the Chamber, we can then encourage advocacy to both the business community, the private sector as well as government.

“The main benefit would be networking and getting to know other persons that are in other industries, and building up your relationships with everyone else that is in the community. Beyond that, it would be the ability to add your input into any topic or any discussion that’s happening currently because, again, through the Chamber, we then have a platform to advocate the different things that we think pretty much are relevant.”

brand and would understand the quality of the product would be prepared to spend top dollar for it,” said Mr Clarke.

“We have been known to carry alcohol up to the cost of $40,000 a bottle. So, anywhere in that range, you would find that - whether it’s whiskeys or gins or vodkas - can range in the very pricey range.”

Cambridge distillery carries a full line of flavoured gins that will be available at Graycliff, including the Watenshi. Demand for Watenshi greatly exceeds supply as each bottle takes about two months to produce and about 30 bottles are produced annually.

Dr Leo Rolle, the Chamber’s chief executive, said the age eligibility now ranges from 22 to 40 while OYP engaged those 18 to 41. He added that some initiatives “lost momentum” but with this newer version of OYP, “you are seeing a return of our heyday staples”.

“Apart from curating an environment for young professionals, we are cultivating and encouraging entrepreneurship, professional advancement, international conferences - the Young Professionals Conference in Istanbul each November through our partnership with IOE - leadership through tech and other more aggressive goals for rounded leaders,” he said.

“I think as priorities and focal points shifted, some of the initiatives we had simply lost momentum. With a new, diverse board and cadre of young professionals within the Chamber, you are seeing a return of our heyday staples.”

Mr Humes said that because YPS is mainly aimed at young professionals, business owners are prime candidates. He said once a person meets the age requirements and completes a “very basic application”, there will be a review, adding that there is also a membership fee.

DR LEO ROLLE

SANDALS DESCRIBES SALE REPORTS AS ‘SPECULATION’

By FAY SIMMONS

SANDALS has dismissed as “speculation” reports that it is exploring the possible multi-billion dollar sale of its Caribbean resort business that includes properties in The Bahamas.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Sandals had appointed bankers and financial advisers to help explore a potential deal although no firm decision has been made on whether to proceed. The report suggested its portfolio of all-inclusive properties, which includes Sandals Royal Bahamian and the now-closed Sandals Emerald Bay, as well as Fowl Cay, could generate a $6bn-$7bn asking price.

After approaching Sandals for comment, this newspaper was directed to a statement given to Jamaican news outlet, Our Today, which said the resort chain is focused on “providing exceptional experiences and service to our valued guests”.

“You may have seen recent media reports about investor interest in Sandals Resorts. This isn’t a new topic for us and tends to come up from time to time. As a leader in hospitality,

Sandals consistently attracts attention from global investors, which can lead to speculation,” said the statement.

“At the same time, as you know, we’ve recently made some exciting announcements about major investments in the future of the brands, highlighting the company’s commitment to growth and innovation. While we appreciate the interest, our focus remains where it matters most: Providing exceptional experiences and service to our valued guests.”

The statement, though, hardly amounts to a castiron rebuttal or denial of the Wall Street Journal report. The suggestion of a possible sale comes following several years of family in-fighting over the estate of Sandals’ founder, the late Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, which has effectively pitted the Jamaican side of his family against the American side.

Mr Stewart’s son, Adam, is still in charge of the resort chain.

Reports of potential sale preparations also follow Sandals Emerald Bay’s temporary closure last August to facilitate its $100m transformation into Beaches Exuma. The rebranding aims to make the resort

more family-oriented rather than a couple’s destination.

The closure of the resort affected some 425 employees, with some redeployed to Sandals Royal Bahamian and Beaches Turks and Caicos.

The project’s timeline has shifted over time. Last August, Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister, a six to eight-month construction phase for the rebranding to

Food store concerns over non-US brand acceptance

By

SMALL Bahamian

food retailers are voicing concern over whether local shoppers will accept non-familiar brands while confirming they are open to partnering for bulk inventory purchases with rival merchants. Sirrano Mullings, owner of MacGrab Convenience Store, said while he is open to partnering with other small businesses through the National Trade Diversification Programme to bulk purchase products outside the US there is some apprehension over whether consumers will take to substitutes for the American brands they have become used to.

Pointing to the backlash that Super Value encountered when some customers questioned the quality of eggs imported from the Dominican Republic at a lower price, Mr Mullings said while trade diversification helps to combat supply challenges many Bahamian consumers are comfortable

paying higher prices for familiar brands.

He said his business is open to exploring the products that will be offered through the National Trade Diversification Programme but, ultimately, the quality of the goods sourced will be the determining factor.

“It would help to supply the demand for eggs. However, a lot of our consumers are questionable on the quality of the eggs. Now, you just can’t feed Bahamian people anything. They have their known brand that they’re familiar and comfortable with purchasing, even though sometimes it’s a bit more costly. Now they would rather run the risk of spending an extra $10 as opposed to rolling the dice with these Dominican eggs,” said Mr Mullings.

“Now, outside of the eggs, we would be willing to explore other products that might cost less but, at the same time, it all boils down to quality, because cost and quality are two separate things. But we are open to the discussion.” Devon, the former owner of All-Mart Variety Store, said pooling

resources with other small businesses to acquire goods is a brilliant idea.

Although day-to-day operations are currently under his daughter, Devon, who is still involved in purchasing inventory for the business, said the prices of goods has been increasing recently so they are looking forward to exploring the options provided through the National Trade Diversification Programme.

“I think it’s a brilliant idea. When we all put together and buy in large volume we can get goods at a better price and pass them on at a lower price as well,” said Devon. “We see the price of things going up all the time so I think it’s interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing the items they have, and the quantity and prices they are offering. This could be a way to really reduce some costs and be a game changer for small stores.”

Prime Minister Philip Davis KC last week said the Government has launched the Trade Diversification Programme for affordable food, which encourages

the Beaches resort chain. However, Sandals representatives later indicated that construction would take up to 15 months.

Jeremy Mutton, general manager at Sandals Emerald Bay, told Tribune Business that the resort would begin its 12 to 15-month rebrand once it received the necessary permits that fall. The brand also has properties

convenience stores to collaborate and make bulk purchases from new trade centres. He gave an example of sourcing products from Latin America and bringing them directly to The Bahamas.

in Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, Antigua, Curaçao and Turks and Caicos.

Earlier this month, former Trinidad and Tobago prime minister, Dr Keith Rowley, indicated that the country was interested in revisiting the possibility of a resort in Tobago. The project was initially proposed in 2019 but was met with negative publicity due to

Mr Davis said officials are already receiving the programme’s first shipment within the next three weeks and will assess its impact and new sourcing markets. When asked if the initiative was a response to Donald Trump’s trade war, Mr Davis said it was not, but recent events had increased the Government’s urgency to implement the programme. He explained that it has been in development for the past year-and-ahalf to determine why food

environmental and regulatory concerns.

According to the Wall Street Journal report, large companies are responding to the increased demand for all-inclusive resorts and are making acquisitions, such as Hyatt Hotels’ acquisition of Play Hotels and resorts for $2.6bn including debt.

costs are so high in The Bahamas.

“We are attempting to diversify that product by going into new markets and obtaining new transportations,” he added. “There’s no reason why a pallet from Miami to Nassau costs about $300 and that same pallet to Barbados will only cost $150. Something seems wrong about that.”

SANDALS ROYAL BAHAMIAN

Gov’t intervenes in Old Bahama Bay’s management row

Authority (BIA) and the laws of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

“Until permission is granted to invest and operate, and in the absence of an Investments Board permit, this letter serves as your legal notice to cease and desist all business activities by your agents and associates or by proxy.”

However, representatives of Lubert Adler-Old Bahama Bay (LRA-OBB) voiced surprise over the Government’s intervention and questioned why it was becoming involved in a private commercial dispute between themselves and Island Ventures Resort and Club (IVRC), the entity formed by a group of Old Bahama Bay condo owners to keep the hotel open following Ginn’s 2011 default.

Having begun the process of retaking management control from IVRC on Friday, they said all action was being conducted through LRA-OBB and West End Resorts Ltd (WERL) as the legal owners of Old Bahama Bay and other properties and real estate in Grand Bahama’s West End. It is understood that LRA-OBB will push back and respond to the

the management takeover as early as today. And, rather than seek to block themselves, LRAOBB representatives urged the Government, in particular the Ministry and Department of Labour, “to step in” and ensure that IVRC pays due severance and other benefits to its staff rather than seek to foist this liability on the new management entity. Daniel Baker, an LRAOBB representative, told Tribune Business: “Kingwood has no part in this. This is being done solely through LRA-OBB. That is the entity that has authority, that has ownership of the land, and has a right to run things. It’s unfortunate that we have people in government defending bad actors but it is what it is.”

However, this newspaper understands there are concerns that Kingwood is hiding behind LRA-OBB’s corporate identity in a bid to take over management of Old Bahama Bay and West End. The ‘LRA’ in LRAOBB stands for Lubert Adler, the investment bank that was Ginn’s former financing partner, and which took over the West End development’s core property and Old Bahama Bay after the developer defaulted some 14 years ago.

It has been seeking a buyer, and exit route, for some time, and Tribune Business previously reported it had done an offshore deal with Kingwood where the latter’s principals took control of LRA-OBB and other affiliates. This newspaper saw documents showing Lubert Adler executives resigned en masse from their positions as officers and directors with a variety of Ginn-related companies on August 3, 2022.

Those departing included Ira Lubert and Dean Adler, Lubert Adler’s principals, plus Amanda ‘Amy’ Wilde, who for more than a decade had served as Lubert Adler’s ‘point person’ in trying to secure a new buyer/investor. They were replaced on three corporate Boards by Richard Nasser and Anthony Carll, respectively Kingwood’s resort division president and general manager of its Reunion resort in Orlando, Florida.

Messrs Nasser and Carll were described as president and vice-president/secretary, respectively, of LRA-OBB Ltd, which stands for (Lubert-Adler-Old Bahama Bay), the entity which owns the common areas around the Old Bahama Bay resort’s condominiums, pool, beach, marina, shops, restaurants, undeveloped golf course,

and much of the land previously controlled by Ginn.

However, John MacDonald, IVRC’s president, circulated a package to Old Bahama Bay condo owners last week purporting to include LRA-OBB’s latest corporate filings dated March 10, 2025, which showed the Bahamian-domiciled entity’s Board as still being comprised of Lubert Adler executives. And recently-published promotional material names Kingwood as the entity that will be taking over Old Bahama Bay’s management and operations on LRAOBB’s behalf.

Describing Kingwood as “a proven leader in hospitality”, the brochure sent to all Old Bahama Bay condo owners confirms: “Old Bahama Bay Resorts & Yacht Harbour Rental Management is the official on-site management company for villas located within Old Bahama Bay Resort and Yacht Harbour, managed by Kingwood International.”

Meanwhile, LRA-OBB and IVRC representatives disputed how successful the former’s bid to regain management control at Old Bahama Bay actually was.

disproved allegations that it owed around $200,000 in unpaid taxes and utility bills, he added that LRA-OBB then “came back” to claim a near-$600,000 sum that was almost three times’ higher. And, with LRA-OBB declining IVRC’s suggestion to place the $100,000 security deposit in escrow until all differences were resolved, Mr MacDonald said: “It just keeps telling us they have no intent to pay this money back. Come on.”

Asked whether the Old Bahama Bay fight is headed to the courts, Mr MacDonald replied: “Hopefully not, but we are teed up with a large amount of money. Our lawyers, they’ve already got a ‘go’ button. If it happens, it happens.” He suggested that any legal battle will last “a long time”, and said the next move belongs to LRA-OBB.

Mr Baker, though, told Tribune Business that LRAOBB had achieved “most of our first phase transition objectives” on Friday after giving IVRC seven weeks’ notice - far more than what was required - that its licence to manage Old Bahama Bay was going to be terminated.

Mr MacDonald, for IVRC, confirmed that Mr Baker and Mr Carll, together with Cleveland Duncombe, Candid Security’s chief, and Don Churchill, whom LRAOBB wanted to install as management head for the resort, appeared at the property on Friday.

“I say in the lobby waiting for them to come and take over. They stayed out front near security for over an hour-and-a-half and never come into our lobby,” the IVRC president said. “We were told they left because the Labour Board wanted to speak to them. They haven’t taken anything over yet. They didn’t come into any of our offices, no.”

Defiantly asserting that “we’re not leaving”, Mr MacDonald accused LRAOBB of “moving the goal posts” in a bid to justify retaining IVRC’s $100,000 security deposit. Arguing that IVRC’s attorneys had

Via Candid Security, he added that LRA-OBB had taken control of both the security gate for the resort and general security at the site from 12pm on Friday.

“There are three Bahamian licensees that run the straw bar, the restaurant and retail,” Mr Baker said. “We issued new licences to them to operate so those functions could continue.

“The last thing we were going to do was extend independent contractor agreements to staff managing the marina and gardens and recreation areas. We’ve been working super diligently to make sure we’re doing everything in accordance with Bahamian law.”

Mr Baker, though, explained that LRA-OBB was unable to issue the independent contractor agreements after the Ministry and Department of Labour raised concerns over the payment of severance and other benefits due to

staff now that their employment with IVRC is ending. He and Michael Scott KC, LRA-OBB’s attorney, both disclosed that government labour officials had wanted themselves to assume responsibility for the payout - something they refused to do on the basis that these liabilities belong to Mr MacDonald and IVRC. Mr Baker said that, once they receive the go-ahead from the Ministry of Labour’s attorney, the independent contractor agreements could be issued as early as today.

“The ministry needs to go after John MacDonald,” he added. “The Government needs to step in and protect the employees of IVRC.” Working with the Department of Labour and National Insurance Board (NIB), Mr Baker said it was estimated that some 51 workers are collectively owed around $350,000 in severance and other benefits.

Mr Scott, meanwhile, told Tribune Business of the BIA letter: “John MacDonald has gone running to the Government through the BIA and they’re trying to use them to leverage us; pressure tactics. This is a commercial agreement between two private entities that has got nothing to do with the Government.

“They [LRA-OBB] did have a meeting with the Labour Department but that had nothing to do with them taking control... I was told that the Labour Department tried to get my clients to pay the arrears of salary for people gainfully employed by him [Mr MacDonald and IVRC] at the site - his employees - on the basis that having repudiated or terminated the licence we have assumed responsibility for his employees.

“That’s a lot of rubbish. He has an obligation to his employees; that has nothing to do with us. If we re-employ them they become our problem, but he has to fulfill his obligations under the Employment Act.”

Global aviation body warns Bahamas on retroactive fees

conducting regular flights to The Bahamas” will be responsible for “a significant portion” of these retroactive fees. In other words, the burden will fall most heavily on those airlines responsible for bringing high-spending stopover visitors to The Bahamas and moving locals internationally and inter-island.

Mr Cerda, backing concerns already voiced by Bahamian aviation operators, wrote: “Several airlines, particularly those operating out of Bahamas airports, have expressed significant concern regarding the substantial outstanding balances BANSA is charging them for unpaid origin/destination (O/D) charges. These charges stem from errors in the calculations used to define RP1 (May 2021 to July 2024).

“The issue originated when a request for retroactive credit to the overflight fees was made. At that time, the revised cost structure, including the increase in O/D charges, was not yet in place, and discussions were focused solely on overflights.

“With the introduction of the new cost structure and the subsequent significant increases in O/D charges, airlines are now being asked to cover BANSA’s calculation errors. These retroactive charges impose a substantial financial burden on the affected airlines, generating serious concerns among them.”

Returning to the same theme several paragraphs later, the senior IATA executive reiterated: “It is imperative that BANSA does not switch to a completely different charging formula and apply it retrospectively to recover losses.

“The losses resulted from the initial decision to use a different cost determination and allocation method. This retrospective application of a new charging formula has resulted in significant financial burdens for some airlines.

Airlines made operational decisions based on the original cost structure, and a sudden change would disrupt financial planning and operational stability. The unexpected costs would also impact the airlines’ ability to invest in future growth and development, potentially hindering their operations in The Bahamas,” Mr Cerda continued.

“... The challenges associated with the new charging schemes have become apparent as BANSA seeks to recover costs related to RP1 (reporting period one). A limited number of

operators conducting regular flights to The Bahamas are expected to cover a significant portion of that total cost.” The fees at the heart of these concerns are those levied under the fledgling air navigation services regime overseen by BANSA. These fees are split into two types - origin/destination charges, which are levied on planes that take-off and land in The Bahamas, and then overflight fees. The latter are levies paid almost entirely by international carriers that fly through Bahamian air space without stopping in this nation.

BANSA is restructuring its air navigation services fee regime in a way that shifts the financial burden of these fees on to take-off/ landing fees, and away from overflight fees. Tribune Business previously revealed how these changes will potentially impose six-fold and greater fee increases over the next four fiscal years through 2028-2029 on carriers that are Bahamianowned or service this nation.

However, what was not known at that time was the extent to which BANSA planned to impose this new structure - together with the associated fee rebalancing and hikes - retroactively for the period between May 2021 and July 2024. That only emerged with the arrival of billings earlier this month, which followed a consultation meeting with aviation industry stakeholders on the reforms on Wednesday, March 5.

Sherrexcia ‘Rexy’ Rolle, Western Air’s president, chief executive and general counsel, told Tribune Business that BANSA is now demanding the carrier pay an extra $2.4m over and above what it has already paid in air navigation services fees.

“BANSA is requesting $2.4m separate from what we have already paid to them, and separate from what was previously invoiced,” she said. “Thus it is not ‘$1.3mplus’ increase. It is $2.4m they are requesting despite never invoicing or notifying of such charges.” Based on the fact Western Air has already paid $1.1m in fees for the relevant period, May 2021 to end-July 2024, the additional $2.4m will take the total demand to around $3.5m - more than tripling its bill via a 218 percent increase. Similarly, fellow Bahamian carrier, Trans-Island Airways, has seen its bill more than triple and grow by almost 260 percent compared to the original for the same period.

IATA and Mr Cerda, meanwhile, also raised

concerns about BANSA basing its fees on an aircraft’s maximum take-off weight. They argued this would effectively penalise large commercial passenger jets and freight cargo planes even though the costs and resources used in managing their passage through Bahamian air space were not much greater than for smaller planes.

The global aviation trade body, in urging BANSA to develop “a balanced and cost-effective” fee structure, also asserted that smaller planes are “not paying their fair share” even though they are responsible for much of the traffic congestion in the Caribbean. And it also noted that the proposed reduction in overflight fees is much less than was originally suggested.

Finally, calling on BANSA to adopt “a clear and transparent” approach to crafting the air navigation services fee regime, Mr Cerda and IATA said the aviation industry wants a third-party auditor to determine whether the fees and income generated are in line with the actual costs incurred by the Bahamian regulator in providing services to the aviation industry.

“The high level of O/D charges, and the significant impact of the weight variable, are particularly burdensome for airlines. While introducing a charge cap for wide-body users is appreciated, the formulas and calculations supporting cost recovery remain unclear,” IATA said of BANSA’s proposed charging scheme for the upcoming four years.

“Given the relatively low traffic congestion, handling an aircraft on approach with a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) over 60,000 tons is not inherently more resource-intensive than managing a smaller aircraft’s approach. The disproportionate costs imposed on larger aircraft under the proposed scheme do not reflect

service demands and could hinder future growth.”

Taking issue with the size bias, Mr Cerda and IATA added: “The proposed O/D charging structure indicates that smaller aircraft, which contribute significantly to congestion in the Caribbean, are not paying their fair share relative to the cost structure. This becomes particularly evident when compared to the charges levied on larger aircraft.

“Therefore, developing a balanced charging scheme that accurately reflects all aircraft types’ resource demands and congestion contributions is crucial.... Based on our example, airlines operating heavier aircraft pay a disproportionate level of the costs. Charging formulas should be more cost-related and ensure all users pay their fair share.”

And, noting that the reductions in overflight fees have been watered down over the past year, IATA said: “Overflight charges have also increased significantly during the consultation process to compensate for reductions in O/D charges.

“When the consultation process began in April 2024, the initial plan proposed a reduction in overflight charges of more than 90 percent. For example, 92 percent for the Boeing 738. With the latest proposal, the reduction is now 67 percent for the Boeing 738 and 36 percent for the Boeing 777. This raises questions about the cost basis, the correct allocation of services provided, and the value of the overflight service offered by BANSA.”

IATA pointed out that BANSA’s costs for providing services between 2021 and 2024 did not accurately reflect the charges imposed. Concerns over whether this nation’s air navigation services charges are excessive are nothing new, with US airlines and the US Department of Transportation

arguing that The Bahamas was offering very little in services for the money it is taking in. This is because The Bahamas, in 2021, agreed a 10-year deal where the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continue managing Bahamian air space above 6,000 feet. The FAA also agreed to waive the cost of air navigation services it was providing and accept a mere $80,000 fee per annum. As a result, the industry is arguing that The Bahamas is providing little while also having few costs to cover.

“Significant concerns exist between the services provided by the FAA and BANSA, and the implemented charging scheme. The actual costs incurred during 2021-2024 did not align with the charges,”

IATA told BANSA on March 28.

“There are still uncertainties regarding the distinction between services provided by the FAA and those offered by BANSA, complicating the ability of some operators to fully accept the proposed scheme and the cost base supporting it..... The calculations underlying cost recovery remain a concern, and we believe that a clear and transparent approach to these calculations is essential.

The Bahamas, though, will argue that it needs the air navigation services revenue to build the human, financial and physical resources necessary to eventually take over management of its entire air space from the FAA. And the monies raised are also designed to ensure its civil aviation regulatory regime - Civil Aviation, BANSA etc - no longer

has to be financed and subsidised by Bahamian taxpayers via the Budget. Civil Aviation, for example, is due to receive an $8m subsidy during the current 2024-2025 financial year. However, IATA concluded: “The industry has expressed the need for either a thorough on-site verification of BANSA’s current air navigation structure or an audit performed by a neutral party before implementing the new charging model.

“This step is crucial to ensure the model accurately reflects the infrastructure, services provided and investments made. IATA is open to co-ordinating and leading this activity in co-ordination with BANSA and the airlines.

Given the divergent positions among our airline members, depending on the nature of their operations in The Bahamas - whether overflight or O/D services - it is essential to allow additional time before the new charging scheme is implemented. This extra time will ensure that all stakeholders have the opportunity to resolve bilateral discussions as necessary.” it continued.

“We will continue to lobby for a more balanced approach to the proposed charging scheme that accurately reflects the industry’s needs and the actual costs incurred by BANSA for services provided under the FAA/BANSA agreement. Our goal is to ensure transparency and clarity in the services provided and the associated costs.

“Our goal is to develop a balanced and cost-efficient model that supports the growth and development of air navigation in The Bahamas while ensuring fairness for all airlines operating within or transiting through Bahamas airspace.”

Bahamas targets world beating depositor safety

the number of fully insured accounts was approximately 580,000, which is a coverage ratio of 96 percent of the accounts.

“Deposit insurance is an important source of confidence for depositors. It contributes to stability because it keeps depositors away from unnecessary panic about the loss of their

Position Available:

Position Overview:

funds should a deposittaking entity fail. Public education and outreach on the deposit insurance scheme, how it works and how it benefits depositors is ongoing and will continue to help Bahamians understand the importance of deposit insurance.”

The Deposit Insurance Fund is financed by annual legally-mandated contributions from the commercial banks, both Canadian and Bahamian-owned, as well as all other deposit-taking institutions in The Bahamas such as the credit unions. The contribution rate was doubled as of January 2024 from one-twentieth of 1 percent to one-tenth of 1 percent of insurable deposits.

Finance Corporation of The Bahamas (FINCO), Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC) majority-owned BISX-listed mortgage arm, in its results for the year to end-October 2024 revealed that its payments to the Deposit Insurance Fund had increased by 82.4 percent year-over-year.

The Property Manager is responsible for ensuring that cost-effective, environmentally sound and sustainable operation of the Bahamas Property Fund Buildings. This is both a technical oversight and relationship management role for the self-motivated individual who also performs administrative tasks as necessary or assigned.

The areas of responsibility include all equipment and materials involved with lighting, ventilation, air-conditioning, electrical distribution, water supply, plumbing, sanitation, public health, fre protection, safety systems, elevators and the aesthetic upkeep of the building. To facilitate these procedures, a maintenance program needs to be established and maintained.

This position is a highly visible one that is responsible for the total upkeep of the premises, ensuring all areas of the facilities function as they were designed and all services are available as required.

Key Responsibilities:

Building Management

• Plan and schedule all routine maintenance in order of priority

Maintain all time and cost records for service procedures

Conduct monthly inspection of all maintenance and system processes.

• Diagnose all problems and initiate all necessary action

Direct all work order requests to be performed by independent contractors

• Maintain all materials and equipment inventories

Supervises all routine painting assignments and secure quotes for larger projects

• Recommend replacement of expired or expiring systems

Performs inspections of all restroom facilities as required several times daily

• Ensure that safety regulations are adhered to and liaise with Government bodies to verify compliance

• Conduct Vendor performance review and submit recommendations

Manage the budget to ensure that value is received for money invested and that all work is completed in a timely manner

Vendor Relations

• Assists in the negotiation and development of all service contracts with service providers under the direction of the management company

Establish and maintain a system that tracks invoices and payments

• Conduct due diligence check and signoffs on completed work

Report inconsistencies and potential concerns to Senior Management

Interfacing with Clients

Establish and maintain communication and effective working relationships with all tenants and the general public

• Triage, address and escalate client concerns and complaints as necessary

Review, update and maintain Client Agreement records

• Conduct routine client check-ins

Provide support when necessary in leasing negotiations and activities.

Administration

Complete and submit monthly report on lease payments and related billings

• Supervises all building employees employed by the Bahamas Property Fund and conduct payroll reporting

• Complete parking ticket reconciliation and submit report

Responsible for any additional duties assigned by Management

Qualifcations and Skills:

A Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate, Property Management , Business Administration or a related feld preferred

• Property management certifcation such as Certifed Property Manager (CPM) is a strong asset.

• Experience working with rent rolls, tenant billing, and real estate accounting is a plus.

At least 3-5 years proven experience in property management, preferably at commercial real estate property, hotel or property management frm. Familiarity with different property types (offce buildings, retail spaces, storage facilities)

• Excellent organizational and time management skills with the ability to prioritize tasks.

• Attention to detail and accuracy in all aspects of work. Ability to negotiate contracts, address tenant issues and provide clear reports to management

• Profciency in building management software (e.g., Yardi or AppFolio) and Microsoft Offce Suite (Excel, Word, Outlook).

• Strong understanding and management of property budgets and cash fow Knowledge of lease agreements and the ability to read fnancial statements Effective communication and interpersonal skills.

Please apply online at: https://www.rfgroup.com/careers Deadline to Apply is Friday, 11th April, 2025

“The Protection of Depositors Act 1999, as amended, in The Bahamas requires that the group pay an annual premium to the Deposit Insurance Fund based on insurable deposit liabilities outstanding. Effective January 1, 2024, the premium rate increased to one-tenth of one percent. During the year, the group paid $279,036 (2023: $152,947) into the fund,” FINCO said.

Elsewhere, Mr Rolle told Tribune Business that the most recent data reported by the Central Bank’s bank and trust company licensees revealed a year-over-year increase in fraud-related incidents even though these had been trending downwards in frequency.

Referring to last month’s meeting with regulated financial institutions, the Governor said: “The fraud information provided in the recent industry briefing was shared from the 2024 anti-money laundering data returns submitted by supervised financial institutions for the calendar year ended December 31, 2023.

“While, in 2023, the reported frequency of fraud relative to cheques, debit cards and credit cards declined by two-thirds, the data reported by the commercial banks through the anti-money laundering data returns indicated an increase in the number of overall actual fraud cases over the prior year 2022.

“Aside from how financial institutions continue to strengthen the controls within their internal operations, an essential and significant strategy to push back against fraud is through education that empowers customers to consistently adopt defensive stances and practices,” Mr Rolle added.

“This is why Bahamian financial institutions should continuously educate customers,;for example, on how to protect their data; how to use digital tools and digital platforms to continuously monitor their accounts; to combine multiple forms of passwords and security to control access to their accounts; and to use tools that protect their computers and personal devices from break-ins.”

On-site examinations by Central Bank inspectors in 2024 uncovered several common deficiencies among money transmission providers, including the need to align the compositions of Board and senior management with the regulator’s corporate governance guidelines and aligning internal audit functions with best practices and guidelines. As for credit unions and international banks and trust companies, the Central Bank said licensees needed to ensure there is a succession plan for all key management positions and that “a documented periodic assessment of

the Board’s effectiveness against its responsibilities” is in place.

“The Central Bank remains pleased overall with the quality of anti-money laundering risk management processes in the domestic financial space, but we always strive to build greater industry capacity in this area,” Mr Rolle told this newspaper. “In so far as credit unions and money transmission business are concerned, we are placing more emphasis on how they can better scale resources to satisfy compliance.

“Since the range of money laundering risks in non-banks is narrower, and the volume of operations less, an important emphasis is ensuring that the Central Bank calibrates differently how non-banks ought to resource themselves for compliance. In fact, for credit unions, the Central Bank is receptive to co-operatives being able collectively share the same compliance expertise where feasible.

“In terms of the financial health of supervised institutions, the credit unions have smaller capital and liquidity buffers than banks. Therefore, the Central Bank has a different approach in terms of how we chart their financial performance over the medium-term and strengthen their governance arrangements. This will become clearer when the proposed amendments to the credit union legislation are issued for public consultation.”

COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS 2025 IN THE SUPREME COURT CLE/Qui/00003 Common Law and Equity Division BETWEEN IN THE MATTER of the Quieting

Assistant Property Manager

New power plants tap investors for $132.5m

EA Energy is estimating that its Eleuthera and Abaco power plants, which will be constructed on land adjacent to BPL’s existing Hatchet Bay and Wilson City power plants, will supply energy at 25.47 cents and 25.79 cents per kilowatt hour (KWh), respectively, when they begin generating electricity in the 2026 third quarter. Site clearance work was already shown to have begun.

Given that BPL was charging a combined all-in 35 cents per kilowatt hour over 800 KWh in February 2025’s billing, the tariffs proposed by EA Energy would appear to represent between a 26.3 percent and 27.2 percent or just under 10 cent per KWh decrease compared to existing billings.

EA Energy’s equity private placement document showed that, together, the two power plants will create some 38 full-time jobs - 16 in Eleuthera, and 22 in Abaco - with a combined annual payroll of $2.762m. Their combined revenue is forecast to grow from $50.1m during their first full year in operation in 2027 to $131.9m in 2050 - the last year before the 25-year PPA ends.

The renewable energy provider is a joint venture between Consus, a Turkish energy company, and Verdant, a Bahamian entity for whom few details were disclosed. Following the private placement equity raise, both partners will

retain a 37.5 percent ownership interest with the remaining 25 percent held by Bahamian investors. Each will thus be selling off 12.5 percent of its existing 50 percent equity stake.

The participants in EA Energy, and the renewable provider itself, were both described as having existing strong Bahamian links. EA Energy was said to have the Nassau Cruise Port as a “sister company”, although the link was not fully explained, while Verdant is a “shareholder in Island Power Producers (IPP)..... the 60 mega watt (MW) LNG-fuelled shore power project development in New Providence”.

That will supply clean energy to ships docked at Nassau Cruise Port. Erold Farquharson, a contractor, who is Island Power Producers’ managing director, is also named as EA Energy’s chief executive, and EA Energy’s Board includes as directors Anthony Ferguson, the CFAL president and founder, and Antoine Bastian, the Genesis Fund Services’ principal. Island Power Producers’ address, No.3 Bayside Executive Park in western New Providence, is the home of Levant Advisors, whose principals are listed on the company’s website as Mr Ferguson and Mr Bastian. The duo are heavily involved with the Government’s efforts to monetise The Bahamas’ seagrass meadows, mangroves and other so-called ‘carbon sinks’ via the creation of ‘blue carbon credits’.

CFAL, which is acting as placement agent and adviser for both offerings, said the $100m bond issue will have an 8 percent interest coupon that is paid semi-annually. The first payment is scheduled for October 30, 2026, and it represents an attractive rate likely to appeal to institutional and high net worth investors given what is available on bank deposits and a Bahamian Prime rate at 4.25 percent.

This capital raising is targeted at specific investors, so members of the Bahamian public should not seek to apply or become involved. However, CFAL said it will conduct a retail offering for EA Energy at the end of the 2025 second quarter where small individual investors will be able to invest $1,000 or more.

EA Energy, which was awarded the Abaco and Eleuthera contracts through the Government’s competitive renewable energy request for proposal (RFP), said projected total capital spend for both projects is a combined $136.23m. “The forecasted timelines of the projects are identical on the development side,” the EA Energy private placement said.

“It is expected that design and permitting processes will be finalised in the second quarter of 2025. Upon receiving necessary permits, EA Energy intends to start construction works in the third quarter of 2025. The completion of commissioning and start of operations are expected to

Buzzkill: Trump’s trade wars threaten

America’s craft brewers already reeling from changing

By DEE-ANN DURBIN and PAUL WISEMAN AP Business Writers

AMERICA'S craft brewers already have enough problems. Hard seltzers and cocktails are muscling into beer sales. Millennials and Gen Z don't drink as much as their elders. Brewpubs still haven't fully recovered from the shock of COVID19 five years ago.

Now there's a new threat:

President Donald Trump's tariffs, including levies of 25% on imported steel and aluminum and on goods from Canada and Mexico.

"It's going to cost the industry a substantial amount of money," said Matt Cole, brewmaster at Ohio-based Fat Head's Brewery. Trump' trade war "will be crippling for our industry if this carries out into months and years."

The tariffs, some of which have been suspended until April 2, could impact brewers in ways big and small, said Bart Watson, president and CEO of the Brewers Association, the trade group for craft beer. Aluminum cans are in Trump's crosshairs. And nearly all the steel kegs used by U.S. brewers are made in Germany, so a tariff on finished steel products raises the cost of kegs. Tariffs on Canadian products like barley and malt would also increase costs. And some brewers depend on raspberries and other fruit from Mexico, Watson said.

At Port City Brewing in Alexandria, Virginia, founder Bill Butcher worries that he'll have to raise the price of a six-pack of his best-selling Optimal Wit and other brews to $18.99 from around $12.99, and to charge more for a pint at his tasting room.

"Are people still going to come here and pay $12 a pint instead of $8?'' he said. "Our business will slow down.''

For Port City, the biggest threat comes from the looming tariff on Canadian imports. Every three weeks, the brewery receives a 40,000-pound truckload of pilsner malt from Canada, which goes into a 55,000pound silo on the brewery's grounds. Butcher said he can't find malt of comparable quality anywhere else.

Trump's tariffs also hit Port City in a round-about way: The levy on aluminum, which went into effect March 12, is causing big brewers to switch from aluminum cans to bottles. Port City, which bottles 70% of

its beer, found itself unable to get bottles.

"Our bottle supplier is cutting us off at the end of the month,'' Butcher said. "That caught us by surprise.''

Fat Head's Brewery gets its barley from Canada. Cole said it could shift to sources in Idaho and Montana, but the shipping logistics are more complicated. And Trump's tariffs, by putting Canadian barley at a competitive disadvantage, would allow U.S. producers to raise domestic prices.

Fat Head's is trying to mitigate the impact of the tariffs. Anticipating higher aluminum prices, for instance, the brewery stockpiled beer cans — which it gets from a U.S. supplier — and now has 3 million cans in its warehouse, 30% of what it needs annually. It has also shifted production to painted cans, which are cheaper than those with shrink-wrapped film sleeves. In Arizona, some brewers are already eliminating or reducing the beers they offer in aluminum cans to cut costs, said Cale Aylsworth, the director of sales and relations at O.H.S.O. Brewery and Distillery and president of the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild.

"This is a blow to Arizona craft. I hate to see less local options on the shelf," Aylsworth said.

Some brewers have also lost access to store shelves from one big customer: Canada, which is the top foreign market for U.S. craft beer, accounting for almost 38% of exports. But Canadians are furious that Trump targeted their products, and Canadian importers have been cancelling orders and pulling U.S. beer off store shelves.

The tariffs come at an already difficult time for brewers.

After years of steady growth — the number of U.S. breweries more than doubled to 9,736 between 2014 and 2024 — the industry is struggling to compete with seltzers and other beverages and to win over younger customers. In 2024, brewery closings outnumbered openings for the first time since the mid-2000s, Watson of the Brewers Association said. He estimates that U.S. craft beer production dipped 2% to 3% last year.

"Craft brewing had a period of phenomenal growth, but we are not in that era anymore," he said.

take place in the third quarter of 2026 with a 25-year operation period ending in the second quarter of 2025.”

With energy production having reached 79m KWH and 118m KWH in Eleuthera and Abaco, respectively, for 2023-2024, the offering document disclosed that EA Energy is forecasting 2 percent annual growth in electricity demand for both islands with a one-time 15 percent jump in 2029 driven by the completion of new resort developments that will add to the energy load.

“For growth projections, EA Energy, to remain on the conservative side, have opted to forecast a yearly increase of 2 percent in base electricity demand for both islands. It is important to note, however, that the generation facilities are designed to accommodate higher annual demand increases,” the offering document said.

“Additionally, EA Energy has projected a onetime increase of 15 percent in 2029, driven by recent hotel developments on the islands. These developments include, but are not limited to, the Treasure Cay redevelopment and South Abaco Resort developments in Abaco, as well as the Ritz Carlton Reserve Luxury Resort & Residences and Bel Air Luxury Resort & Residences developments in Eleuthera, which are expected to raise electricity demand significantly.

tastes

"We're in a more mature market."

Port City's production peaked in 2019 at 16,000 barrels of beer — equivalent to 220,000 cases. Then COVID hit and hammered the company's draft beer business in bars and restaurants.

“Another conservative aspect of the 15 percent increase projection is the consideration that some of the hotels being developed will not be connected to the grid and will generate their own electricity.... Over the past six years, Eleuthera, including Harbour Island, has maintained consistent electricity production, leading to a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 7.14 percent across the timeline,” EA Energy added.

As for Abaco, it noted:

“Hurricane Dorian, the costliest hurricane in the nation’s history, had a devastating impact on Abaco and resulted in the tragic loss of numerous lives and caused severe financial damages.

“Before Dorian’s landfall, the total electricity production in the island was over the 100m kWh per year threshold and had grown a further 6.07 percent during the 2018-2019 period. Since then, with the recovery efforts, electricity production has surged back up to 118.574m kWh and is expected to increase even beyond previous production levels.”

Describing how the project has been de-risked, EA Energy said: “Under the PPA which will be signed with Bahamas Power & Light (BPL), a minimum annual guarantee mechanism has been established to provide revenue stability for the project.

“This mechanism ensures that BPL will compensate for any shortfall in the agreed minimum

baseload consumption amount during a contract year through a shortfall energy demand payment, calculated at the applicable contract price.

“By securing a guaranteed revenue stream, this provision mitigates financial risks associated with demand fluctuations, reinforcing the project’s financial resilience and long-term viability while ensuring a reliable energy supply to the islands.” The minimum amount BPL is required to purchase can be adjusted annually depending on increases and decreases in demand, but any downward movement is limited to 5 percent. There is also a restriction on BPL’s ability to source energy from other providers. “The ‘limit on third-party purchases of energy’ provision ensures that BPL will exclusively source energy from the project as long as the facility meets 100 percent of the demand requirements for its customers in Eleuthera and Abaco, and remains capable of delivering at least the agreed minimum purchase obligation,” EA Energy said.

“This exclusivity strengthens the project’s revenue security by preventing BPL from procuring energy from third-party suppliers or its own generating facilities for customers served by the plant. These provisions collectively reinforce the project’s financial resilience, mitigate risks associated with demand fluctuations, and support long-term revenue stability while ensuring a reliable and dedicated energy supply for the Family Islands.”

A BARTENDER pours a craft beer at the Liquid Love Brewing in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Thursday, Feb. 9, 2022.

Photo:Nam Y. Huh/AP

Protesting students in Serbia rally outside progovernment media outlet and stage ‘decontamination’

By JOVANA GEC

Associated Press

THOUSANDS of people rallied outside a pro-government television station in Serbia on Saturday accused of a propaganda campaign against university students behind months of anticorruption protests rattling populist President Aleksandar Vucic.

Informer TV is among mainstream media outlets in Serbia loyal to Vucic and his right-wing government.

Informer TV and tabloid newspaper have repeatedly branded student protesters as extremists during nearly five months of almost daily street demonstrations.

Protests have been peaceful, but pro-government media have accused organizers of fueling violence and seeking to overthrow the government under orders from abroad. They have provided no evidence to support those statements.

"For months now, ever since the blockades started, we have been their target, we have been constantly smeared in the media," student Ivona Markovic said.

The protests started after a concrete canopy collapsed in November at a train station in northern Serbia, killing 16 people. The tragedy drew focus on rampant government corruption, triggering demands for accountability and political changes.

Protests have put pressure on an increasingly authoritarian Vucic, who is formally seeking European Union membership for Serbia but maintains close relations with Russia and China.

Vucic has promised a "counterrevolution" against the protests. Authorities have threatened legal action against university professors, including calls for the arrest of Vladan Djokic, the head dean at Belgrade University.

On Saturday, Vucic visited a camp of his loyalists outside the presidency building, including a group of pro-government university students. He said that "those who introduced anarchy" at the university would be held to account.

Student protests have drawn hundreds of thousands of people, striking a chord among citizens who have been largely disillusioned with politicians.

Wearing protective white suits, several students symbolically staged a "decontamination" performance outside the Informer TV building. A "wall of shame" displayed Informer's headlines about the protests in the past months, including one alleging protest plans for a "bloody coup."

Students also launched a petition to limit the television station's access to broadcasting frequencies. The protest dubbed "DisInformer" was set to last for six hours.

"This is a media war between Informer and students, between lies and truth, abuse of power and resistance," the students said. "They (Informer) do not inform, they persecute."

Canadian company seeks US permission to start deep-sea mining as outcry ensues

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press

AN ABRUPT announce-

ment rattled members of a little-known U.N. agency based in Jamaica that has protected international deep-sea waters for more than 30 years.

The Metals Company in Vancouver, Canada said late Thursday that it is seeking permission from the U.S. government to start deep-sea mining in international waters, potentially bypassing the International Seabed Authority, which has the power to authorize exploitation permits but has yet to do so.

"It would be a major breach of international law…if the U.S. were to grant it," said Duncan Currie, an international and environmental lawyer and legal adviser to the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, a Netherlands-based alliance of environmental groups.

The Metals Company seeks seafloor minerals like cobalt, copper, nickel and manganese used in electric car batteries and other green technology.

The announcement was made just hours before the 36-member council of the International Seabed Authority met in Jamaica on Friday, the last day of a two-week conference focused on how and if to allow deep-sea mining, a years-long debate.

The authority was scheduled to talk Friday about the company's commercial mining application.

"The scale of the threat… has been taken incredibly seriously here," said Louisa Casson, a campaigner at Greenpeace who attended Friday's meeting. "There are questions and a lack of clarity of what they actually plan on doing."

She said one question is whether the company plans to request a permit anyway from the authority even as

it continues talks with the U.S. government.

Currie said the timing of The Metals Company's announcement was "insulting to the ISA."

"It's an extremely irresponsible threat. It's basically holding a gun to the international community," he said. The International Seabed Authority was created in 1994 by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which is ratified by more than 165 nations — but not the United States.

The Metals Company argued that the United States' seabed mining code would allow it to start operations in international waters since it's not a member of the authority and therefore not bound by its rules.

The company said it was already in discussions with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among others.

"We have met with numerous officials in the White House as well as U.S. Congress regarding their support for this industry," the company said in a statement.

NOAA said in a statement that The Metals Company USA LLC, has requested a pre-application consultation with the agency to learn more about the formal license application process for deep-sea mining. It said such applications are reviewed for compliance and requirements.

"The process ensures a thorough environmental impact review, interagency consultations and opportunity for public comment," NOAA said.

The Metals Company criticized what it said was "slow progress" by the International Seabed Authority on a proposed mining code that has yet to be finalized.

The authority has issued more than 30 exploration licenses but no provisional licenses.

Most of the current exploration is happening in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which covers

Informer on Saturday received support from top government officials, including the defense minister. The newspaper described the protest outside its building as a "hostage crisis."

Informer is widely watched and read in Serbia, where independent media have faced limited visibility and where critical journalists have complained of pressure, hate campaigns and lawsuits.

1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between Hawaii and Mexico. It is occurring at depths ranging from 13,000 to 19,000 feet (4,000 to 6,000 meters). More than 30 countries including Canada have called for a ban, pause or moratorium on deep-sea mining, and companies including Volvo, BMW, Volkswagen, Google and Samsung have pledged not to use seafloor minerals.

"The international seabed is the common heritage of humankind, and no state should take unilateral action to exploit it," Greenpeace said in a statement.

Scientists have warned that minerals in the ocean's

bowels take millions of years to form, and that mining could unleash noise, light and suffocating dust storms.

"The deep ocean is one of the last truly wild places on Earth, home to life we're only beginning to understand. Letting deepsea mining go forward now would be like starting a fire in a library of books nobody's even read yet," said Emily Jeffers, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. However, companies have argued that deep-sea mining is cheaper and has less of an impact than land mining.

Position Available:

ELEVATOR CONSULTANT

The role of the Elevator Consultant is responsible for Identifying areas where elevator malfunctions are evident and arranging repairs for the elevators located at FINCEN Limited.

Key Responsibilities:

• Perform extensive hardware and software modifcations of both the elevator signal and speed control systems to accommodate new safety code required updates.

Replace the existing geared traction machines on each elevator with new geared traction machines to include new code required secondary rope grippers and disk brakes for enhanced safety. Totally run diagnostics on the three (3) MCE VFMC Series controllers to identify any signal or speed control malfunctions and perform any corrective activities as required.

• Make any speed control changes required to interface the new geared traction machines with the existing controllers, especially related to the new encoded interface.

• Perform full load full speed safety tests on each elevator, after machine replacement

Key Qualifcations & Experience:

• Bachelor of Science degree in Physics or Electrical Engineering

• Extensive Experience in both installing and adjusting elevator systems Ability to work in a self-motivated environment with little supervision

Please apply online at:

https://www.rfgroup.com/careers

Deadline to Apply is Friday, 11th April, 2025

PROTESTING students rally outside a key pro-government television station, The Informer TV accusing it of spreading hate speech during nearly five months of persistent street demonstrations against corruption in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, March 29, 2025.

Photo:Darko Vojinovic/AP

DELEGATES from across the world gather for a meeting by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a U.N. body in Kingston, Jamaica, July 14, 2015. Photo:David McFadden/AP

US immigration officials look to expand social media data collection

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer

U.S. immigration officials are asking the public and federal agencies to comment on a proposal to collect social media handles from people applying for benefits such as green cards or citizenship, to comply with an executive order from President Donald Trump.

The March 5 notice raised alarms from immigration and free speech advocates because it appears to expand the government's reach in social media surveillance to people already vetted and in the U.S. legally, such as asylum seekers, green card and citizenship applicants -and not just those applying to enter the country. That said, social media monitoring by immigration officials has been a practice for over a decade, since at least the second Obama administration and ramping up under Trump's first term.

Below are some questions and answers on what the new proposal means and how it might expand social media surveillance. What is the proposal?

The Department of Homeland Security issued a 60-day notice asking for public commentary on its plan to comply with Trump's executive order titled "Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats."

The plan calls for "uniform vetting standards" and screening people for grounds of inadmissibility to the U.S., as well as identify verification and "national security screening." It seeks to collect social media handles and the names of platforms, although not passwords.

The policy seeks to require people to share their social media handles when applying for U.S. citizenship, green card, asylum and other immigration benefits. The proposal is open

to feedback from the public until May 5.

What is changing?

"The basic requirements that are in place right now is that people who are applying for immigrant and non-immigrant visas have to provide their social media handles," said Rachel Levinson-Waldman, managing director of the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program at New York University. "Where I could see this impacting is someone who came into the country before visa-related social media handle collection started, so they wouldn't have provided it before and now they're being required to. Or maybe they did before, but their social media use has changed."

"This fairly widely expanded policy to collect them for everyone applying for any kind of immigration benefit, including people who have already been vetted quite extensively," she added.

A New Hampshire ski resort bets on tech to compete with industry giants

By HOLLY RAMER and AMANDA SWINHART Associated Press

A SKIER since age 4, Thomas Brennick now enjoys regular trips to New Hampshire's Black Mountain with his two grandchildren.

"It's back to the old days," he said from the Summit Double chairlift on a recent sunny Friday. "It's just good, old-time skiing at its best."

Behind the scenes, the experience is now propelled by a high-tech system designed to increase efficiency at the state's oldest ski area. And while small, independent resorts can't compete on infrastructure or buying power with conglomerates like Vail, which owns nearby Attitash Mountain Resort and seven others in the Northeast alone, at least one entrepreneur is betting technology will be "a really great equalizer."

That businessman is Erik Mogensen, who bought Black Mountain last year and turned it into a lab for his ski mountain consultancy, Entabeni Systems. The company builds systems that put lift tickets sales, lesson reservations and equipment rentals online while collecting detailed data to inform decisions such as where to make more snow and how much.

"A lot of general managers will go out and look at how many rows of cars are parked, and that's kind of how they tell how busy they are," Mogensen said. "We really want to look at that transactional data down to the deepest level."

That includes analyzing everything from the most popular time to sell hot dogs in the lodge to how many runs a season pass holder makes per visit.

"The large operators, they can do a lot of things at scale that we can't. They can buy 20 snow cats at a time, 10 chairlifts, those types of things. We can't do that, but we're really nimble," Mogensen said. "We can decide to change the way we groom very quickly, or change the way we open trails, or change our (food and beverage) menu in the middle of a day."

Transforming a smalltime resort

Mogensen, who says his happiest moments are tied to skiing, started Entabeni Systems in 2015, driven by the desire to keep the

sport accessible. In 2023, he bought the company Indy Pass, which allows buyers to ski for two days each at 230 independent ski areas, including Black Mountain. It's an alternative to the Epic and Ikon multi-resort passes offered by the Vail and Alterra conglomerates.

Black Mountain was an early participant in Indy Pass. When Mogensen learned it was in danger of closing, he was reminded of his hometown's long-gone ski area. He bought Black Mountain aiming to ultimately transform it into a cooperative.

Many Indy Pass resorts also are clients of Entabeni Systems, including Utah's Beaver Mountain, which bills itself as the longest continuously-run family owned mountain resort in the U.S.

Kristy Seeholzer, whose husband's grandfather founded Beaver Mountain, said Entabeni streamlined its ticketing and season pass system. That led to new, lower-priced passes for those willing to forgo skiing during holiday weeks or weekends, she said.

"A lot of our season pass holders were self-limiting anyway. They only want to ski weekdays because they don't want to deal with weekends," she said. "We could never have kept track of that manually."

Though she is pleased overall, Seeholzer said the software can be challenging and slow.

"There are some really great programs out there, like on the retail side of things or the sales side of things. And one of the things that was a little frustrating was it felt like we were reinventing the wheel," she said.

Not everyone is a fan

Sam Shirley, 25, grew up skiing in New Hampshire and worked as a ski instructor and ski school director in Maine while attending college. But he said increasing technology has drastically changed the way he skis, pushing him to switch mostly to cross-country.

"As a customer, it's made things more complicated," he said. "It just becomes an extra hassle."

Shirley used to enjoy spur-of-the-moment trips around New England, but has been put off by ski areas reserving lower rates for those who buy tickets ahead. He doesn't like having to provide detailed contact information,

What this points to — along with other signals the administration is sending such as detaining people and revoking student visas for participating in campus protests that the government deems antisemitic and sympathetic to the militant Palestinian group Hamas — Levinson-Waldman added, is the increased use of social media to "make these very high-stakes determinations about people."

In a statement, a spokesperson for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service said the agency seeks to "strengthen fraud detection, prevent identity theft, and support the enforcement of rigorous screening and vetting measures to the fullest extent possible."

"These efforts ensure that those seeking immigration benefits to live and work in the United States do not threaten public safety, undermine national security, or promote harmful anti-American ideologies," the statement continued. USCIS estimates that the proposed policy change will affect about 3.6 million people.

How are social media accounts used now?

The U.S. government began ramping up the use of social media for immigration vetting in 2014 under then-President Barack Obama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. In late 2015, the Department of Homeland Security began both "manual and

sometimes even a photograph, just to get a lift ticket.

It's not just independent ski areas that are focused on technology and data. Many others are using lift tickets and passes embedded with radio frequency identification chips that track skiers' movements.

Vail resorts pings cell phones to better understand how lift lines are forming, which informs staffing decisions, said John Plack, director of communications. Lift wait times have decreased each year for the past three years, with 97% under 10 minutes this year, he said.

"Our company is a wildly data-driven company. We know a lot about our guest set. We know their tastes. We know what they like to ski, we know when they like to ski. And we're able to use that data to really improve the guest experience," he said.

How the big guys battle meager winters

That improvement comes at a cost. A one-day lift ticket at Vail's Keystone Resort in Colorado sold for $292 last week. A season pass cost $418, a potentially good deal for diehard skiers, but also a reliable revenue stream guaranteeing Vail a certain amount of income even as ski areas face less snow and shorter winters.

The revenue from such passes, especially the multiresort Epic Pass, allowed the company to invest $100 million in snowmaking, Plack said.

"By committing to the season ahead of time, that gives us certainty and allows us to reinvest in our resorts," he said.

Mogensen insists bigger isn't always better, however. Lift tickets at Black Mountain cost $59 to $99 per day and a season's pass is about $450.

"You don't just come skiing to turn left and right. You come skiing because of the way the hot chocolate tastes and the way the fire pit smells and what spring skiing is and what the beer tastes like and who you're around," he said. "Skiing doesn't have to be a luxury good. It can be a community center."

Brennick, the Black Mountain lift rider who was skiing with his grandchildren, said he has noticed a difference since the ski area was sold.

"I can see the change," he said. "They're making a lot of snow and it shows."

automatic screening of the social media accounts of a limited number of individuals applying to travel to the United States, through various non-public pilot programs," the nonpartisan law and policy institute explains on its website.

In May 2017, the U.S. Department of State issued an emergency notice to increase the screening of visa applicants. Brennan, along with other civil and human rights groups, opposed the move, arguing that it is "excessively burdensome and vague, is apt to chill speech, is discriminatory against Muslims, and has no security benefit."

Two years later, the State Department began collecting social media handles from "nearly all foreigners" applying for visas to travel to the U.S. — about 15 million people a year.

How is AI used?

Artificial intelligence tools used to comb through potentially millions of social media accounts have evolved over the past decade, although experts caution that such tools have limits and can make mistakes.

Leon Rodriguez, who served as the director of USCIS from 2014 to 2017 and now practices as an immigration attorney, said while AI could be used as a first screening tool, he doesn't think "we're anywhere close to where AI will be able to exercise the judgment of a trained fraud detection and national

security officer" or that of someone in an intelligence agency.

"It's also possible that I will miss stuff," he added. "Because AI is still very much driven by specific search criteria and it's possible that the search criteria won't hit actionable content."

What are the concerns?

"Social media is just a stew, so much different information — some of it is reliable, some of it isn't. Some of it can be clearly attributed to somebody, some of it can't. And it can be very hard to interpret," Levinson-Waldman said. "So I think as a baseline matter, just using social media to make highstakes decisions is quite concerning."

Then there's the First Amendment.

"It's by and large established that people in the U.S. have First Amendment rights," she said. This includes people who are not citizens. "And obviously, there are complicated ways that that plays out. There is also fairly broad authority for the government to do something like revoking somebody's visa, if you're not a citizen, then there's steps that the government can take — but by and large, with very narrow exceptions, that cannot be on the grounds of speech that would be protected (by the First Amendment)."

SKIERS head down a trail at Black Mountain, Friday, March 14, 2025, in Jackson, N.H.

Photo:Charles Krupa/AP

TRIAL WILL DETERMINE WHO WILL PAY

MILLION SETTLEMENT IN DISASTROUS

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press

NORFOLK Southern wants two other companies to help pay for the $600 million class-action settlement it agreed to over its disastrous 2023 train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and the toxic chemicals that were released and burned.

The railroad filed the motion that is set to go to trial starting Monday to force the railcar owner GATX and the chemical manufacturer OxyVinyls to share the cost of the settlement because Norfolk Southern believes those companies are partly responsible for what happened in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, 2023.

This lawsuit won't change anything about how much money residents will receive from the settlement or any payments the village or anyone else is set to receive because those are all established in various settlement agreements. This case will only affect which company has to write the checks to pay for the class-action settlement.

Residents are still waiting to receive most of the money from the settlement because of pending appeals, although some payments have started to go out.

An assortment of chemicals spilled and caught fire after the train derailed in East Palestine. Three days later, officials blew open five tank cars filled with vinyl chloride because they feared those cars might explode, generating a massive black plume of smoke that spread over the town and forced evacuations.

Many residents still worry today about potential health consequences from those chemicals.

The derailment was the worst rail disaster since a crude oil train devastated the small Canadian town of Lac-Megantic and killed 47 people in 2013. It prompted the U.S. to focus on rail safety and reforms, which were proposed in Congress before stalling without passing.

Norfolk Southern says companies share the responsibility

Norfolk Southern already lost a similar lawsuit last year when it tried to force GATX and OxyVinyls to help pay for the environmental cleanup after the derailment that has cost the Atlanta-based railroad more than $1 billion. It is making similar arguments again to try to get help paying for the class-action settlement.

"Norfolk Southern alone has paid the costs relating

to the derailment despite ample evidence that other parties share in the responsibility. This trial is about reinforcing the role shippers and railcar owners play in transportation safety and ensuring everyone responsible pays their fair share," the railroad said in a statement.

Norfolk Southern, like most railroads, doesn't own most of the cars it hauls, and the railroad says everyone involved in shipping hazardous chemicals bears some responsibility for ensuring their safety under federal regulations.

Norfolk Southern argues GATX bears some responsibility for the derailment because it owned the railcar filled with plastic pellets that caused the derailment when its bearing overheated, caught fire and failed that night, sending 38 cars off the rails.

Norfolk Southern also said it believes OxyVinyls should pay because the railroad says chemical manufacturer provided inconsistent and inaccurate information about its vinyl chloride before officials decided to release and burn it. Companies say Norfolk Southern was responsible for safety

Both GATX and OxyVinyls say it would be

ridiculous to hold them responsible for the derailment when Norfolk Southern operated and inspected the train and all the cars and was responsible for delivering the cargo safely.

"Norfolk Southern's claims against GATX are baseless," the railcar owner said in a statement.

GATX said it complied with all the relevant regulations for taking care of its railcars. The company said that even if the car was damaged six years earlier by standing parked in the middle of floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey, the railroad should have spotted the problem and repaired it, sending GATX the bill for the repairs.

The National Transportation Safety Board said the crash was caused by the failure of an overheating bearing on GATX's railcar.

The railroad's sensors spotted the bearing starting to heat up in the miles before the derailment, but it didn't reach a critical temperature and trigger an alarm until just before the derailment. That left the crew scant time to stop the train.

Norfolk Southern recommended the vent-and-burn operation to release the vinyl chloride based partly on information about the chemical that OxyVinyls had published beforehand suggesting a chemical reaction could happen and cause the tank cars to explode.

MEXICO

"This trial is nothing more than Norfolk Southern's continued attempt to shift the blame, attention, and financial responsibility for its train derailment, response, and vent and burn decision to anyone other than itself," the Texas-based company said.

"OxyVinyls did not cause the derailment, its tank cars did not breach, and it did not make the decision to vent and burn the VCM (vinyl chloride monomer) cars."

The trial is expected to last two to three weeks.

But the NTSB confirmed in its investigation that was unnecessary because the tank cars were starting to cool off and the railroad failed to listen to the advice from OxyVinyls' experts or share their opinions with the officials who made the decision.

BANS JUNK

FOOD SALES IN SCHOOLS IN ITS LATEST SALVO AGAINST CHILD OBESITY

MEXICO CITY Associated Press

A GOVERNMENTsponsored junk food ban in schools across Mexico took effect on Saturday, officials said, as the country tries to tackle one of the world's worst obesity and diabetes epidemics.

The health guidelines, first published last fall, take a direct shot at salty and sweet processed products that have become a staple for generations of Mexican schoolchildren, such as sugary fruit drinks, packaged chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, chiliflavored peanuts.

Announcing that the ban had become law, Mexico's Education Ministry posted on X: "Farewell, junk food!" It encouraged parents to support the government's crusade by cooking healthy meals for their kids.

"One of the core principles of the new Mexican school system is healthy living," said Mario Delgado, the public health secretary. "There's a high level of acceptance of this policy among parents."

Mexico's ambitious attempt to remake its food culture and reprogram the next generation of consumers is being watched closely around the world as governments struggle to turn the tide on a global obesity epidemic.

In the United States, for instance, the Trump administration's health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has vowed to upend the nation's food system and " Make America Healthy Again " by targeting ultraprocessed foods to curb surging obesity and disease.

Under Mexico's new order, schools must phase out any food and beverage displaying even one black warning logo marking it as high in salt, sugar, calories and fat. Mexico implemented that compulsory front-of-package labeling system in 2020.

Enforced from Monday morning, the start of the

school week, the junk food ban also requires schools to serve more nutritious alternatives to junk food, like bean tacos, and offer plain drinking water.

"It is much better to eat a bean taco than a bag of potato chips," said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has championed the ban.

Mexico's children consume more junk food than anywhere else in Latin America, according to UNICEF, which classifies the nation's childhood obesity epidemic as an emergency. Sugary drinks and highly processed foods account for 40% of the total calories that children consume in a day, the agency reports.

"At my daughter's school, they told us that future activities wouldn't have candy, it would be completely different, with fruit, vegetables and other food that's healthy for kids," said Aurora Martínez, a mother of two. "It will help us a lot."

One-third of Mexican children are already considered overweight or obese, according to government statistics.

School administrators found in violation of the order face stiff fines, ranging from $545 to $5,450.

But enforcement poses a challenge in a country where previous junk food bans have struggled to gain traction and monitoring has been lax across Mexico's 255,000 schools, many of which lack water fountains — even reliable internet and electricity. It also wasn't immediately clear how the government would forbid the sale of junk food on sidewalks outside school campuses, where street vendors typically hawk candy, chips, nachos and ice cream to kids during recess and after the school day ends. "It will be difficult," said Abril Geraldine Rose de León, a child therapist. "But it will be achieved in the long run."

The Tribune wants to hear from people who are making news in their neighbourhoods. Perhaps you are raising funds for a good cause, campaigning for improvements in the area or have won an award. If so, call us on 322-1986 and share your story.

PORTIONS of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed the night before burn in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 4, 2023.

Photo:Gene J. Puskar/AP

At least half of US states now outlaw devices that convert pistols into machine guns

By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press

IN New Mexico, police and prosecutors backed an effort to outlaw devices that convert pistols into machine guns. In Alabama, the governor made it a priority.

Lawmakers in both states — one led by Democrats, the other by Republicans — responded this year with new laws making so-called Glock switches illegal.

At least half of U.S. states now have similar laws prohibiting the possession of such devices, a list that has grown over the past decade as law enforcement officers have found more of the tiny yet powerful devices attached to guns.

States are mimicking federal law, which for decades has generally prohibited machine guns and any parts that can transform semiautomatic weapons into automatic ones.

What does federal law say?

U.S. law defines a machine gun as a weapon that automatically fires more than one shot with a single pull of a trigger. The definition also includes any parts designed to convert a weapon into a machine gun.

Federal law prohibits possessing machine guns made after 1986, with some exceptions for law enforcement, the military and certain licensed dealers. Nearly all conversion devices are illegal because they were made more recently.

People convicted of possessing machine guns and

conversion devices can face up to 10 years in prison.

What is a Glock switch?

A Glock switch is one type of a machine gun conversion device. It's a metal or plastic piece, about the size of a coin, that attaches to the back of Glock pistol, a brand that is popular with both police and criminals. The switch interferes with a gun's internal trigger components so that it fires continuously when the trigger is pulled back and held.

A gun outfitted with a switch can fire dozens of bullets in mere seconds, similar to a factory-made machine gun.

Other brands of pistols that mimic Glocks also can be converted to machine guns. So can some semiautomatic rifles. Such conversion devices also are

referred to as auto sears, selector switches or chips.

What does the data indicate?

The use of auto sears spiked in the past decade, partly because they can be made inexpensively with 3D printers.

From 2012 to 2016, just 814 machine gun conversion parts were taken into custody by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That swelled to 5,454 from 2017-2021.

In January, former President Joe Biden's administration said 12,360 suspected machine gun conversion devices had been recovered in the U.S. and submitted to the ATF during a roughly 34-month period ending in October 2024.

France accuses US diplomats of meddling with a 'diktat' about Trump's DEI policies

PARIS Associated Press

A FRENCH minister on Sunday accused U.S. diplomats of interfering in the operations of French companies by sending them a letter reportedly telling them that U.S. President Donald Trump's rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives could also apply outside of the United States.

French media said that the letter received by major French companies was signed by an officer of the U.S. State Department who is on the staff at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. The embassy didn't respond to questions this weekend from The Associated Press.

Le Figaro daily newspaper published what it said was a copy of the letter.

The document said that an executive order that Trump

signed in January terminating DEI programs within the federal government also "applies to all suppliers and service providers of the U.S. Government, regardless of their nationality and the country in which they operate."

The document asked recipients to complete, sign and return within five days a separate certification form to demonstrate that they are in compliance.

That form, also published by Le Figaro, said: "All Department of State

Five states including Florida, Illinois, Texas, Montana and North Dakota accounted for nearly half that total.

What have states been doing?

Alabama is the latest state to outlaw Glock switches. A law signed this month by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey makes possessing parts designed to convert pistols into machine guns a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The bipartisan push in Alabama came after police said they believed conversion devices had been used in fatal shootings, including one in September that killed four and injured 17 people outside a Birmingham lounge.

Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a

contractors must certify that they do not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable anti-discrimination laws."

The form asked recipients to tick a box to confirm that they "do not operate any programs promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws."

The letter added: "If you do not agree to sign this document, we would appreciate it if you could provide detailed reasons, which we

A SEMI-automatic pistol with a conversion device installed making it fully automatic is fired as four empty shell casings fly out of the weapon, at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), National Services Center, Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Martinsburg, W.Va.

law in February making possession of a weapon conversion device a felony punishable by up to three years in prison.

Similar legislation passed the New Jersey General Assembly last week and now heads to the Senate. Bills also are pending in other states.

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a law last year making auto sears illegal. But Youngkin vetoed legislation this past week that would have broadened an existing ban on "trigger activators" to cover additional devices that increase firing rates of semiautomatic weapons.

What do gun control advocates want?

Groups such as Everytown for Gun Safety say state laws provide a sometimes easier alternative to federal prosecution for possessing Glock switches. But they want to go further.

Everytown for Gun Safety is backing legislation in California, Maryland and New York that would make it illegal to sell pistols that could be transformed into machine guns.

"That really puts the pressure where it belongs — on the manufactures that are making money off of guns that they know can be readily turned into machine guns," said Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety.

will forward to our legal services."

Aurore Bergé, France's minister for equality between women and men and combating discrimination, said Sunday that the letter is "a form, obviously, of interference. That's to say it's an attempt to impose a diktat on our businesses."

Speaking to broadcaster BFMTV, she said that France's government is "following the situation very closely" and working to determine how many

Several cities and states including Baltimore, Chicago, Minnesota and New Jersey have sued Glock for making pistols that can be converted by others to automatic weapons.

What do gun-rights groups say?

The National Rifle Association notes U.S. attorneys already can prosecute people for misusing gun conversion devices without the need for state laws.

Gun Owners of America, another gun-rights group, contends people should have a Second Amendment right to own machine guns. State laws against machine gun conversation devices are "duplicative" and "pure virtue signaling," said Aidan Johnston, federal affairs director for Gun Owners of America.

He said guns converted to fire automatically can have practical uses like eliminating large groups of feral hogs that are destroying land.

"Just because you put that on your firearm doesn't mean that you are a violent criminal or that you necessarily are a dangerous person," Johnston said.

companies received the letter.

The minister said that "many" companies have told the government that they don't plan to reply, "because they don't have a respond, in fact, to a sort of ultimatum laid out by the U.S. Embassy in our country."

"It's out of the question that we'll prevent our business from promoting social progress," the minister said. "Thankfully, a lot of French companies don't plan to change their rules."

Photo:Alex Brandon/AP

PEOPLE stroll Friday, March 21, 2025 in La Defense business district outside Paris.

Photo:Thomas Padilla/AP

Trump roars down multiple paths of retribution as he vowed. Some targets yield while others fight

By ERIC TUCKER and CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press

THE executive order directed at one of the country's most prestigious law firms followed a well-worn playbook as President Donald Trump roared down the road to retribution.

Reaching beyond government, Trump has set out to impose his will across a broad swath of American life, from individuals who have drawn his ire to institutions known for their own flexes of power and intimidation.

Which is how the Paul Weiss, a storied New York law firm that since its 1875 birth has advanced the cause of civil rights, shepherded the legal affairs of corporate power brokers and grown into a multibillion-dollar multinational enterprise, came to learn it was in trouble. The reason: One of its former attorneys had investigated Trump as a Manhattan prosecutor.

Trump ordered that federal security clearances of the firm's attorneys be reviewed for suspension, federal contracts terminated and employee access to federal buildings restricted. Yet the decree was soon averted in the most Trumpian of ways: with a deal.

After a White House meeting with the firm's chairman yielded a series of commitments, including $40 million worth of legal work to support administration causes, the executive order was rescinded, but not without a backlash from a legal community that saw the resolution as a capitulation.

The episode showed not only Trump's use of the power of the presidency to police dissent and punish adversaries but also his success in extracting concessions from law firms, academia, Silicon Valley and corporate boardrooms.

These targets were suddenly made to fear for their futures in the face of a retribution campaign that has been a defining feature of his first two months in office.

Just one day after Paul Weiss' deal, Columbia University disclosed policy changes under the threat of losing billions of dollars in federal money. A week later, the venerable law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom cut a deal of its own before it could be hit by an executive order. Before that, ABC News and Meta reached multimillion-dollar settlements to resolve lawsuits from Trump.

"The more of them that cave, the more extortion that that invites," said Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer in Trump's first term who has since become a sharp critic. "You'll see other universities and other law firms and other enemies of Trump assaulted and attacked into submission because of that."

Some within the conservative legal community, by contrast, say the Republican president is acting within his right.

"It's the president's prerogative to instruct the executive branch to do business with companies, law firms or contractors that he deems trustworthy — and the converse is true too," said Jay Town, a U.S. attorney from Alabama during Trump's first term. "The president, as the commander in chief, can determine who gets a clearance and who doesn't. It's as simple as that."

Some targets have not given in, with two law firms since the Paul Weiss deal suing to block executive orders. Yet no matter their response, the sanctioned firms have in most instances run afoul of the White House by virtue of association with prosecutors who

previously investigated Trump.

If the negotiations have been surprising, consider that Trump telegraphed his approach during the campaign. "For those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution," he told supporters in March 2023.

Less clear was: Retribution for what exactly? Against whom? By what means?

The answers would come soon enough.

One firm called Trump threat 'an existential crisis'

Fresh off surviving four federal and state indictments that threatened to sink his political career, and investigations that shadowed his first term in office, Trump came straight for the prosecutors who investigated him and the elite firms he saw as sheltering them.

His Justice Department moved almost immediately to fire the members of special counsel Jack Smith's team and some prosecutors who handled cases arising from the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

The White House followed up with an executive order that stripped security clearances from the lawyers at the law firm of Covington & Burling who have provided legal representation for Smith amid the threat of government investigations. Covington has said it looks forward to "defending Mr. Smith's interests."

A subsequent order punished Perkins Coie for its representation of thenDemocratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign and its part in funding opposition research on Trump that took the form of a dossier containing unsubstantiated allegations about Trump's ties to Russia.

Its business hanging in the balance, Perkins Coie hired Williams & Connolly,

a Washington firm with an aggressive litigation style, to challenge the order.

A federal judge said the administration's action sent "chills down my spine" and blocked portions of it from taking effect. That decision could have been a meaningful precedent for other beleaguered firms.

Except that's not what happened next.

The chairman of Paul Weiss said it, too, was initially prepared to sue over a March 14 order that targeted the firm in part because a former partner, Mark Pomerantz, had several years earlier overseen an investigation into Trump's finances on behalf of the Manhattan district attorney's office.

But the firm also came to believe that even a courtroom victory would not erase the perception among clients that it was "persona non grata" with the administration, its chairman, Brad Karp, later told colleagues in an email obtained by The Associated Press.

The order, Karp said, presented an "existential crisis" for a firm that has counted among its powerhouse representations the NFL and ExxonMobil. Some of its clients signaled they might abandon ship. The hoped-for support from fellow firms never materialized and some even sought to exploit Paul Weiss' woes, Karp said.

"It was very likely that our firm would not be able to survive a protracted dispute with the Administration," he wrote.

When the opportunity came for a White House meeting and the chance to cut a deal, he took it, pledging pro bono legal services for causes such as the fight against antisemitism as well as representation without regard to clients' political affiliation. In so doing, he wrote, "we have quickly solved a seemingly

intractable problem and removed a cloud of uncertainty that was hanging over our law firm."

The outcry was swift. Lawyers outside the firm ridiculed it. More than 140 Paul Weiss alumni signed a letter assailing the capitulation.

"Instead of a ringing defense of the values of democracy, we witnessed a craven surrender to, and thus complicity in, what is perhaps the gravest threat to the independence of the legal profession since at least the days of Senator Joseph McCarthy," the letter said.

Within days, two other firms, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale, were confronted with executive orders over their affiliation with prosecutors on Robert Mueller's special counsel team that investigated Trump during his first term. Both sued Friday. WilmerHale, where Mueller is a retired partner, said the order was an "unprecedented assault" on the legal system. After hearing arguments, judges blocked enforcement of key portions of both orders.

Yet that very day, the White House trumpeted a fresh deal with Skadden Arps in which the firm agreed to provide $100 million of pro bono legal services and to disavow the use of diversity, equity and inclusion considerations in its hiring practices.

Trump has expressed satisfaction with his pressure campaign, issuing a directive to sanction lawyers who are seen as bringing "frivolous" litigation against the government. Universities, he marveled, are "bending and saying 'Sir, thank you very much, we appreciate it.'"

As for law firms, he said, "They're just saying, 'Where do I sign?' Nobody can believe it.'"

One Ivy League university also acceded to Trump's demands

Uptown from Paul Weiss's Midtown Manhattan home base, another elite New York institution was facing its own crucible.

Trump had taken office against the backdrop of disruptive protests at Columbia University tied to Israel's war with Hamas.

The turmoil prompted the resignation of its president and made the Ivy League school a target of critics who said an overly permissive campus environment had let antisemitic rhetoric flourish.

The Trump administration this month arrested a prominent Palestinian activist and legal permanent resident in his universityowned apartment building and opened an investigation into whether Columbia hid students sought by the U.S. over their involvement in the demonstrations.

In a separate action, the administration pulled $400 million from Columbia, canceling grants and

contracts because of what the government said was the school's failure to stamp out antisemitism and demanding a series of changes as a condition for restoring the money or for even considering doing so.

Two weeks later, the then-interim university president, Katrina Armstrong, announced that she would implement nearly all of the changes sought by the White House. Columbia would bar students from protesting in academic buildings, she said, adopt a new definition of antisemitism and put its Middle East studies department under new supervision.

The university's March 21 rollout of reforms did not challenge the Trump administration's coercive tactics, but nodded to what it said were "legitimate concerns" raised about antisemitism. U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has said the university was "on the right track" but has not yet indicated whether funding might be restored.

The Columbia resolution was condemned by some faculty members and free speech advocates.

"Columbia's capitulation endangers academic freedom and campus expression nationwide," Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement at the time.

Armstrong on Friday night announced her exit from the position and her return to her post atop the school's medical center.

Columbia is not Trump's sole target in academia. Also this month, the administration suspended about $175 million in federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania over a transgender swimmer who last competed for the school in 2022.

Media companies have also been a target Trump had not even taken office on Jan. 20 when one legal fight that could have followed him into office abruptly faded.

In December, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump's presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos' inaccurate on-air assertion that the presidentelect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.

The following month, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump against the company after it suspended his accounts following the Jan. 6 riot.

The agreement followed a visit by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Trump's private Florida club to try to mend fences. Such a trip may have seemed unlikely in Trump's first term, or after the Capitol siege made him, briefly, a pariah within his own party. But it's something other technology, business and government officials have done.

PRESIDENT Donald Trump walks from the Oval Office to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House en route to Florida, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Washington. Photo:Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Wall Street slips following Trump's latest tariffs, despite solid economic data

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer

WALL Street edged lower Thursday after getting pulled in opposite directions as President Donald Trump's latest tariff escalation creates winners and losers among auto stocks.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% after drifting between small gains and losses several times through the day.

Better-than-expected data on the economy also helped support the market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 155 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.5%.

General Motors sank 7.4% for one of the market's sharper losses after Trump announced 25% tariffs on imported cars. Ford Motor dropped 3.9%.

Even U.S. automakers selling vehicles in the country can feel the pain of such tariffs because their supply chains are spread throughout North America. Trump says he wants more

manufacturing to take place within the United States.

"There are still a lot of unknowns, but if this remains in place, there will clearly be some pain for the companies to digest," according to UBS analyst Joseph Spak.

Among the uncertainties are how the U.S. government will determine how to apply tariffs to parts that are compliant with the freetrade agreement that the United States and Mexico and Canada have, but are not made entirely within the United States. Tracking parts could be difficult, according to Spak.

Automakers based outside the United States also sank. In Seoul, Hyundai Motor dropped 4.3%. In Tokyo, Honda Motor fell 2.5%, and Toyota Motor lost 2%.

But U.S. electric-vehicle makers Rivian and Tesla held up much better. They look to face less pressure from Trump's tariffs because more of their

production happens in the United States.

Rivian rallied 7.6%, and Elon Musk's Tesla added 0.4% after paring an earlier, bigger gain.

Companies that could benefit from drivers opting against buying new cars also revved higher. Among auto parts retailers, AutoZone gained 4%, and O'Reilly Automotive climbed 3.1%.

CarMax, which sells used autos, rose 2.5%.

Expectations are high for stock markets worldwide to remain shaky as an April 2 deadline approaches for tariffs. That's what Trump has called "Liberation Day," when he will roll out tariffs tailored to the United States' trading partners. In each case, he said the "reciprocal" tariff will match the burden the other country places on the United States, including things like value-added taxes.

Hopes are still high that Trump may ultimately opt for more targeted or milder tariffs that are less painful for the global economy than feared. But even if he does, all the talk about tariffs has already made U.S. consumers and businesses feel more cautious and pessimistic. If such sour moods convince them to pull back on their spending, it could hurt the economy.

So far, the economy has seemed to be holding up.

One report on Thursday said slightly fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. It's the latest sign the job market may be settling into a "low fire, low hire" state.

A second report said the U.S. economy's growth during the final three months of last year was slightly stronger than earlier estimated.

The better-than-expected data helped Treasury yields in the bond market remain relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.36% from 4.35% late Wednesday. On Wall Street, Petco Health & Wellness jumped 31.6% after the retailer reported slightly stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. All told, the S&P 500 slipped 18.89 points to 5,693.31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 155.09 to 42,299.70, and the Nasdaq composite fell 94.98 to 17,804.03. In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe after finishing mixed in Asia. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.6% following the losses for many of its automakers, and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Thursday, "We strongly request that tariff measures not be applied to Japan."

MARINE FORECAST

PEOPLE work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday,

2025. Photo:Seth Wenig/AP