04182024 NEWS & SPORT

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

taxpayers incurred an extra $7m bill to cover cost overruns for two much-hyped sporting events that were hosted last summer, the Government’s financial watchdog has revealed. The Auditor General’s Office, in reports tabled in the House of Assembly, revealed that the Government overshot its upgraded $4.9m spending allocation for the 50th CARIFTA track and field championships and Bahamas Jubilee Games through a neartotal $12m outlay on the two events.

Police ‘have technology to catch assassins’

This “would advise and inform anyone in the public that to be a member of this group could open you up to prosecution”, Mr Munroe said.

“A lot of people would say that they don’t know they were giving aid to the gang, and it would be incumbent on the prosecutor to prove that they are and again, because we want

to open with the Bahamian public, the police have resources now that we will be able to know who you see and talk to. Some of it was on display at the techno week. “There is other technology that will permit us to know to whom these orders for assassination are being sent out from the prison, and so a declaration that this group is a gang will trigger prosecution.”

Mr Munroe said it’s likely there will be “omnibus applications for declarations immediately” once the bill comes into force.

The renewed focus on gangs comes as the country’s murder rate continues to climb, with 43 people killed so far this year, many of them believed to be gang retaliation. The Anti-Gang Bill describes gang-related

activity as various acts of crime, including recruiting others to join gangs, retaliatory violence, kidnapping a person, threatening someone, or benefiting from a gang. Under the bill, people convicted of gang-related activity can face up to 25 years in prison and a $100,000 fine, while anyone harbouring a gang member could be jailed for up to two decades. The legislation also addresses how gang membership could be proven with evidence, such as through people’s clothing, tattoos, body markings, signs or codes in their possession. Recruiting a gang member carries a 20-year prison sentence. When a child is recruited, members can face up to 25 years.

This punishment also applies to those who try to prevent a gang member from leaving. Gang members found guilty of murder could face up to life behind bars. The bill also carries penalties for people who assist gang members. For example, those who conceal the identity of gang leaders, dispose of or share in gang-related proceeds, tip off gang members under investigation, or obstruct officers in carrying out their duties could face imprisonment.

“These are harsh penalties, but they are here because these are harsh times,” Mr Davis said when he opened debate on the bill in the House of Assembly.

“I know there are those who, when they see the

mother or grandmother or girlfriend in handcuffs, may feel a sense of sympathy for their situation, knowing they were not in the gangs themselves.” “But it is an unfortunate situation. We are at the point where we cannot allow others to continue to support their loved ones in the commission of crimes without being held accountable.”

We are bringing the hammer down on the gangs, their leaders, members, and supporters.”

“If you are a gang member, if you associate with gang members, if you support gang members in any way in gang-related activities, you will run afoul of the law, and the full weight of the justice system will be moved against you.”

MINISTER of National Security Wayne Munroe speaks on the Anti-gang Bill yesterday. Photo: Dante Carrer

Pintard: Gang Bill may hurt innocent parents

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

CHARGING parents for harbouring children who are gang members will cause suffering for many good parents, Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard warned yesterday, adding that most parents do not know the double life their children may lead. His comment came before he and other parliamentarians supported the passage of the Anti-Gang Bill 2024.

In response to his concern, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said parents must be held accountable when they see alarming behaviour from their children and say

nothing to the police. He said some parents see their sons bringing guns home, getting new cars without a job, or having unusual tattoos and haircuts, but don’t tell authorities.

The Anti-Gang Bill says anyone harbouring a gang member could be jailed for up to 25 years. If the gang member or gang leader is a child, their parent would be convicted for harbouring them.

Mr Pintard said while many parents can say their child is “no-manners” or they disapprove of their friends, they “cannot tell you if their child is involved with a gang”. Mr Pintard said it is a “disservice” for parents to be targeted and that an unintended consequence

will be many innocent, hardworking parents getting charged when they have set a positive example for their children. He said when he was a student, he had a disobedient phase despite his mother displaying the perfect example of a parent and a citizen.

“Would it have been fair to incarcerate my mother?” he asked, “because of things I’m doing when she is busy working two jobs to feed her family? This is not to excuse those parents who are guilty of a dereliction of duty.”

Mr Munroe responded that the Penal Code defines harbouring as someone who knows or has reason to believe that a person has committed or has been

BILL TABLED TO REGULATE LONGEVITY AND REGENERATIVE THERAPIES IN THE COUNTRY

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH and Wellness

Minister Dr Michael Darville tabled legislation in the House yesterday that would approve and regulate longevity and regeneration therapies in the country.

The Longevity and Regenerative Therapies

Bill 2024 would repeal and replace the Stem Cell Research and Therapy Act.

The last Christie administration passed stem cell law in 2013; controversy erupted when disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard claimed he initiated and helped write the legislation. Yesterday, Dr Darville noted he was there when the previous law was tabled and passed, but said legislation must adapt to new developments related to health longevity and regenerative therapies.

“As a result of that bold step we took in 2013, a growing number of scientists are now recognizing The Bahamas as a reputable location for regenerative medicine and fully support our efforts,” he said. The legislation would empower the minister to present a longevity and regenerative therapy policy, which would be reviewed and updated every two years. The bill would also establish a board and ethics committee.

The board’s responsibilities would include fostering innovation in the field, obtaining and maintaining resources required to ensure that best practices are upheld in all vivo and ex vivo therapy and research operations and developing policies to monitor compliance with all aspects of the law, among other things.

Any person or entity seeking full or provisional research approval of a therapy can apply to the board with a prescribed fee.

The board would forward the applications to the ethics committee chairperson for approval.

The ethics committee would review the application to determine if the therapy meets all required safety, efficacy and ethics standards and would grant full approval if it is satisfied.

The bill also addresses prohibited acts: no person or entity could abort or attempt to abort a foetus for research purposes, genetically modify a human embryo with the intent of that embryo becoming a living human, test gene therapies on patients without informed consent or purposefully modify the germ line of an adult man.

convicted of a crime and helps that person avoid arrest.

“If your child is in a gang, look at his head,” Mr Munroe said. “If he has a very weird haircut and you see a bunch of young fellas with the same weird haircut, he might be in a gang. Talk to the Urban Renewal officers.

“If you see him turning up with stuff he has no way of legitimately having, talk to the police. If you see something, say something because if you don’t

say something, you yourself may be guilty of an offence. It is as simple as that. The Bahamian public is demanding that parents retake some responsibility for the actions of their children.”

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, during his contribution to the gang bill, also evoked images of non-gang members being held accountable under the legislation. He said: “I know there are those who, when they see the mother or

grandmother or girlfriend in handcuffs, may feel a sense of sympathy for their situation, knowing they were not in the gangs themselves, but it is an unfortunate situation. We are at the point where we cannot allow others to continue to support their loved ones in the commission of crimes without being held accountable.”

Mr Pintard called for empirical studies to determine what percentage of violent crimes are gang-related.

OPPOSITION LEADER MICHAEL PINTARD

Several GB residents went to hospital over ‘nuisance odours’ from Buckeye

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Staff Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

SEVERAL residents of Pinder’s Point reportedly went to the hospital over the weekend after “nuisance odours” from the Buckeye Bahamas Hub made them ill. Lowell Pinder said some people began feeling sick late Saturday evening.

“That night it was so bad residents had to call for

help and went to the hospital,” he told The Tribune yesterday, adding that the odors appear mostly at night. “When you wake up, you realise it is all in the house and you start feeling a tightening in your head, sometimes your eyes get irritated, your throat, and you start vomiting.”

In response to the latest incident, the Ministry for Grand Bahama said in a statement on Sunday that

the government is aware of the concerns and is engaging the Ministry of Environment to investigate and address the matter.

Odours from the industrial park have been a long-standing issue affecting residents in Pinder’s Point and surrounding areas. Residents have complained of headaches, nausea, and eye, skin, nose and respiratory irritations. Mr Pinder said residents are pushing Buckeye to

cease operations until it fixes the problem. “Clean air is a basic human right,” he said. “The health of a nation is the wealth of a nation, and we are entitled to breathe fresh, clean air.”

Kim Pratt, manager of government relations at Buckeye, said sometimes the wind causes nuisance odours to spread to residential areas. She said the odours are not toxic, and monitors

exist to track air quality. “Every time we have a complaint, we send a team out to investigate. And they will check the monitors we have in the area or take monitors into the area and test the fumes. If we have an operation going on at times it may produce an odor and the monitors we take out measure and send readings, and the data is zero,” she said. Environmental and civic groups have expressed

concerns about the pollution from industrial parks.

In 2015, the government relocated the Lewis Yard Primary School to the St Vincent de Paul School campus in Hunters due to ongoing complaints by students and teachers about emissions.

In 1989, the Grand Bahama Catholic High and Hawksbill senior and junior schools were relocated to Freeport due to the emissions.

Poll finds nearly 90 percent against oil drilling

A SURVEY reportedly found that nearly 90 per cent of local respondents support legislation preventing fossil fuel exploration in the country, and 74 per cent want to transition to renewable energy.

Our Islands, Our Future (OIOF), a group that advocates for permanently banning oil exploration, commissioned the survey, which Intel Cay conducted.

Questionnaires were

reportedly administered online and through outreach by Intel Cay agents. After over a month, 402 questionnaires were completed, with a gender breakdown of 40.2 per cent men and 59.8 per cent women. Forty-two per cent of respondents were in New Providence, 37.4 per cent were in Grand Bahama, and 20.5 per cent were in the Family Islands.

Eighty-six per cent of respondents said they

either strongly or somewhat support legislation banning offshore drilling to protect the country’s marine environment and coastal ecosystems.

Thirteen per cent were either undecided or not in favour of the ban.

“This survey is the strongest evidence to date that the Bahamian public opposes any further attempts to gamble with our future through the reckless, dangerous practice of fossil

fuel exploration,” said Rashema Ingraham, executive director of Waterkeepers Bahamas, a founding member of the OIOF coalition.

“Clearly, Bahamians at large recognize that there is no such thing as ‘safe’ oil drilling, and that we simply have too much to lose in terms of our tourism and fisheries industries, the lifeblood of so many communities and households. We encourage the

Davis Administration to take legislative action in accordance with public opinion and its own stated agenda of creating a sustainable future for The Bahamas.”

Casuarina McKinney-Lambert, executive director of BREEF and an OIOF founding member, said: “It is extremely positive that so many Bahamians, across the length and breadth of the country, understand the urgent need for a ban on

all future oil exploration. “It is also very encouraging to see that so many want to see the country transition to renewable energy. For island nations like The Bahamas, which are hardest hit by climate change impacts like stronger storms, coral loss, and sea-level rise, it is crucial that we lead by example on the global stage, demonstrating that a sustainable future free of fossil fuels is indeed possible.”

BUCKEYE BAHAMAS HUB

‘I was lucky’, says Minnis on incident of road rage

show that road rage does exist.

“As politicians, you too must be careful,” he said.

Dr Minnis said he was heading home from Starbucks in Cable Beach around 7.30am when a car driver tried to overtake him dangerously. “I was driving a normal, relaxed mode heading home,” he said. “That car that was overtaking me had to slow down and avoid himself hitting into another car.”

that car pulled up on the side of me. To avoid hitting the car, I had to drive basically across somebody’s driveway to avoid the car.”

Dr Minnis said the driver continued following him so at one point he stopped and lowered his window to see who it was.

“An individual with a British accent,” he said, “started to accost me and aggressively threw words at me, stating that I could have caused him to run into a vehicle. And he aggressively continued.

“As I turned, that car followed me. I assume that it was somebody following me who just wanted to talk. I continued driving and

by myself this morning because if my aides or my security was with me, this conversation would never have happened.”

Dr Minnis said the matter is being investigated, with police looking for a Caucasian British man. “As politicians, we take life lightly and not serious,” he said. “We automatically assume that people are calling us because they are probably your constituent, friend or whatever, and they want to talk. We stop. We expose ourselves by screwing down our glass. But I was lucky. It could have been an individual who could have taken a shot at me.” from page one

“Before taking off and realizing and recognizing that this was a case of road rage, the only thing I said is that you should be happy that I’m travelling

Crisis Centre director says rape law inadequate

someone who is not a spouse.

Last week, Mr Davis suggested the Protection Against Violence Act addressed all forms of violence against a person, raising questions about whether his administration still intends to amend the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act.

Dr Dean-Patterson applauded Mr Davis’ acknowledgement that all “rape is rape” and last year’s passage of the Protection Against Violence Act, which she said fulfils one of the country’s obligations under international treaties.

“We have two big steps, but we need more,” she said.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force reported an 11 per cent increase in reports of rape in 2023.

An Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) study released last week found that one in four women in The Bahamas has suffered physical and or sexual violence.

A University of The Bahamas study last year found that 30 per cent of Bahamian women were victims of rape in a longterm relationship and over 50 per cent of adults favoured changing the law to remove the marital exception in cases of rape.

“To speak to the issue of how the refusal to recognise that rape and

marriage occurs and how that affects the victim is to understand that the victim feels like I’m having a major problem and as a country, we don’t care,” said Camille Smith, a Bahamas Crisis Centre volunteer and board member. “We don’t care to make sure that it is named. We don’t care to make sure that it is included, so then am I invisible? Am I not here? Is my problem not really happening? Does not anybody care enough about what I’m going through? “So, the impact of refusing to name this particular issue is to leave victims of rape in marriage voiceless,

to leave them feeling that their self-esteem has been hit, to leave them feeling as if they don’t really matter, as if the problem that they are going through doesn’t really matter. And it makes it very difficult for them to come forward and get help.”

Dr Dean-Patterson also expressed concern about rising child abuse reports. The Tribune reported yesterday that child abuse reports soared 87 per cent in 2023 compared to 2022, the categories being physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, incest, neglect and abandonment. Dr Dean-Patterson said

yesterday: “If you have this enormous number of children who are living with this violence and you’re not properly resourcing the services to help them process the abuse so that they do not repeat it in later life, we have a problem as a country. “So we have to address it, we have to respond to it and we have to properly resource social services. You can’t just resource the police, resource the prison, you’ve got to resource social services so that we can protect our children and make them good citizens, and not citizens who are going to repeat violence.”

DR SANDRA DEAN PATTERSON

MP FOR KILARNEY DR HUBERT MINNIS

Anti-gang bill debate raises serious concerns

THE debate on anti-gang legislation has begun – and there are some intriguing issues already being raised in the discussion.

In this column previously, we have raised concerns about the definition of being in a gang that lies at the heart of the legislation, but that is not the point we return to today.

In yesterday’s debate, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said that police have the technology to determine who is receiving assassination orders from inmates at Fox Hill prison.

He said that the technology “will permit us to know to whom these orders for assassination are being sent out from the prison, and so a declaration that this group is a gang will trigger prosecution”.

The question that comes to mind is that if there is evidence to show people conspiring to commit a murder, how is that not a crime that can already be prosecuted?

There is another case before the courts at the moment involving a supposed death threat against the Prime Minister, which saw a quick response by authorities. If that can be prosecuted already, whatever the outcome may be, how can literal hit orders not be prosecutable under our current laws?

Upon reading the bill, the accent seems to lean heavily on gang membership. That is, if the gang commits this crime, that crime and the other crime, and the law can show you are a member of the gang, you can be held to account for all the above.

FNM leader Michael Pintard yesterday raised some of the concerns about who gets caught up in these accusations, and whether it is fair for some who will be caught in the net to be charged.

He noted particularly parents, who could be charged for harbouring children who are gang members.

He said many parents do not know the double life their children may lead.

He said many “cannot tell you if their child is involved with a gang”.

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said: “If your child is in a gang, look at his head. If he has a very weird haircut and you see a bunch of young fellas with the same weird haircut, he might be in a gang.”

Perhaps. It might just also be a fashion. Parents often do not know for sure, and that is Mr Pintard’s point.

Some parents may know their child

has been involved in illegal activity, but are hopeful that they might change. Take the case of Elron Johnson, who was ruled to be killed in a justified police shooting when he tried to rob Double Dragon restaurant on East Bay Street last year. His mother talked of how her son had promised he would stop committing robberies. Her son lied to her. In the case of a gang member who lies to his parent, is the parent liable to be charged?

And what of the unintended consequences of such a law? If a parent can be charged for harbouring a child and so the parent perhaps refuses to allow them in the home, where does that individual go? Quite possibly into the company of fellow gang members, with another lifeline and pathway back to society cut off from them. At what point can that lifeline be offered again, to pull someone clear of gang membership, without fear of prosecution for doing so?

It is a hard balance. Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis himself acknowledges as much when he says the law has “harsh penalties, but they are here because these are harsh times”.

We hear him, and we have spoken for years of the need to tackle gang crime – but then again, the comment that these are harsh times comes in an odd week when the police commissioner has just been trumpeting a drop in crime figures. Are the times harsh?

Or are we on top of crime? Both narratives do not sit well together.

That said, it is good to see these discussion points being raised in Parliament. The point of discussion of a law is often lost in the traditions and sometimes peculiar ways of the House – but these points need to be talked through, in order to make sure the law is as strong as it needs to be to tackle the gang crime that truly does infect our nation.

The sizeable majority of the PLP in the House means the law will likely pass come what may, so some of the answers to these questions may be found in the courts of law as lawyers challenge the legislation, all the way to the Privy Council perhaps. Lawmakers must always tread carefully to make sure they achieve what is intended – but perhaps moreso than ever with this law, which runs the risk of capturing people in legal trouble who might well be considered entirely innocent. We hope they tread very carefully – but purposefully – indeed.

EDITOR, The Tribune.

A NORMALISATION of casual murders and the consequent cheapening of Bahamian life are the costs of a criminal justice system that, among other blatant failings, continues to punish firearm possession so lightly that there is obviously little to no deterrent effect. The Commissioner of Police knows it (and says it all the time), as do the governments of almost all comparable societies in our region (who have introduced minimum sentences ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment - in the case of a second offence in Barbados). The handwringing by politicians over high profile murders (like that of my friend and colleague Don Saunders) gets frankly boring and annoying when you consider the context (which the same handwringing politicians refuse to change) of a penal culture that seems to deliberately normalize gun possession by its

EDITOR, The Tribune

AS a legally trained person with an extensive background in civil, and constitutional law, both experience and actual practice, I am of the opinion that the celebrated and once venerated Hawksbill Creek Agreement has long lost its relevance in the grand scheme of things, especially as they relate directly to the health and well being of The Bahamas generally, but Freeport, Grand Bahama in particular. The economic and cultural norms back in the 1940’s and early 1950’s have changed dramatically and there is, in my view, no longer a necessity or desirability.

Back then the loose amalgamation of politicians, known as The Bay Street Boys, comprised mostly of Conchy Joe Bahamians, with a handful of token (my sentiment and my later father was one of them as I also would have been even while a student in the Government High School (Poinciana Drive), were of the mercantile class with a number of lawyers; medical practitioners and accountancy. They were in fact, adherents to limited government and self financing of public services on a case by case basis. The United Bahamian Party (UBP) did not believe in spending scarce public taxpayers monies on anything that could have been avoided or passed onto investors, most expatriates

from the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom. These, in the main, were legitimate ‘investors’ and ‘money personnel’ for vested interests, for want of a better description. Grand Bahama, at that time, was a rough and tumble environment that was not investor friendly. Few persons,foreign or Bahamians, envisaged Grand Bahama ever becoming a vital economic hub for economic growth. Along came the late visionary the late Mr Wallace Groves, a recent ex inmate in the USA for tax fraud.

He swept into The Bahamas with what must have then been a pie-in-the-sky scheme to transform Freeport in particular and the rest of Grand Bahama, generally , into a new shiny city on the proverbial hill. Casinos; large hotels with casino licenses. He also laid out subdivisions at affordable prices for the Bahamian staff that would be needed to house and service them and their families. The out of Grand Bahama was basically left to their own devices and was allowed to develop in fits and starts. The enabling Hawksbill Creek Agreement was one of the single biggest land grabs anywhere in the Caribbean at that time and a semi-governing

administration or a company town emerged with the Grand Bahama Port Authority actually running and managing Freeport proper with little or no input from the central government based in New Providence.

That model may have worked back in the day. Today, however, the lightened Davis administration should find the legal ways and means to rescind this long outdated heads of agreement and take direct administrative control of Freeport. It makes no sense that basically two families hold sway, through the Grand Bahama Port Authority, over virtually all of Grand Bahama.

I am not going to opine on what financial dispute may exist between the administration and the CBPA. It may well end up in arbitration or, God forbid, within the legal system. The walls and barriers which have surrounded Freeport must now, like Jericho of old, must come down, sooner rather than later. Those who own shares in that entity would have or should have collected tens of millions of dollars in dividends and pure income while the average Bahamian would have received crumbs. The walls of Jericho MUST fall. To God then, in all things, be the glory.

ORTLAND H BODIE, Jr Nassau, April 11, 2024.

ACTRESS MARY MINA, playing high priestess, lights a torch from a flame lit the day before during the official ceremony of the flame lighting for the Paris Olympics, at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, Tuesday. Cloudy skies prevented the traditional lighting, when an actress dressed as an ancient Greek priestess uses the sun to ignite a silver torch. Instead, a backup flame was used that had been lit on the same spot Monday, during the final rehearsal.

Photo: Petros Giannakouris/AP

a show of unity ahead of the 50th anniversary of independence. The audit highlighted a lack of transparency and “shortcomings evident in policy formulation and planning” relating to the preparation of the event. There was a $1m discrepancy between the approved allocation for the Bahamas Games and the amount the Bahamas Games Secretariat received: $4,531,299 versus $5,559,313. The auditor found no evidence the Ministry of Finance authorised the purchase of two cars: a $7,750 2014 Nissan Note and a $7,250 2011 Honda Stream Wagon. The Secretariat acquired the cars and submitted purchase requests to the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Culture. Two employees made monthly payments to eventually own the vehicles. The audit identified instances when petty

cash funds were inappropriately used to acquire two vehicles between February 2023 and July 2023, though it is unclear if those payments were for the Nissan Note and Honda Stream Wagon.

Five hundred dollars was paid from the petty cash for the vehicles in April and May. At least $1,000 was paid in April, contravening the petty cash management policy that no individual claim surpass $500. The auditor criticised the accounting records of the Secretariat, noting insufficient maintenance and missing documentation. Other criticisms include incorrect general ledger entries; financial records “lacking certain financial transactions” because the Secretariat did not receive necessary supporting documents; a lack of cash flow statements; inconsistently generated, reviewed, and validated monthly balance sheets; inconsistently generated, reviewed and confirmed

monthly profit and loss statements and accounting tasks assigned to employees “randomly”. The petty cash management document indicated that $5,000 is the maximum amount allowed for petty cash replenishments. However, there were two deposits of $8,000 and $5,000 in May, with the auditor noting that deposits should be made once monthly.

The audit also noted that “several reimbursements” were made from the petty cash account for travel expenses, contravening the approved cash management policy, which mandated that cash be used “solely for minor expenses” and that bank account transactions be avoided.

It said there was “nonadherence to financial regulations and procedures within the employee recruiting process” and “ineffective human resource function”.

Auditors found that three employees received unauthorised salary increases, and four

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A 20-YEAR-OLD man was remanded in custody yesterday after being accused of an armed carjacking in Flamingo Gardens last week. The same defendant admitted to lying to police later that night.

Later that night at Blue Hill Road South, Gervais reportedly gave a false statement to Superintendent Evans and PC 4364 McKinney to evade the law.

Although Gervais pleaded guilty to the deceit charge, he was informed that the armed robbery

Magistrate Samuel McKinney charged Cosintino Gervais, 20, with armed robbery and deceit of a public officer. While armed with a handgun, Gervais and accomplices allegedly pulled up behind Marcos Armbrister in a white Japanese vehicle as he parked outside a residence on April 11. The suspects are accused of stealing Armbrister’s $6,500 Burgundy coloured 2018 Nissan Note at gunpoint before fleeing the scene in both vehicles.

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was granted $8,500 bail after he was allegedly found with two firearms over the weekend in New Providence.

Magistrate Lennox Coleby charged Nicholas Nabbie, 24, with possession of unlicensed firearms with intent to supply and possession of ammunition.

charge would proceed to the Supreme Court by way of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

The defendant was ordered to pay a $500 fine for the deceit offence or risk three months in prison. He was informed of his right to appeal this sentence within seven days.

His VBI is to be served on June 14.

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A 15-YEAR-OLD boy was sent to Simpson Penn Centre for Boys yesterday after pleading guilty to a drug charge.

Magistrate Algernon Allen, Jr, charged the juvenile defendant with possession

Nabbie was allegedly found with a black Diamondback 9mm pistol with the serial number defaced and a black Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol on April 14. The defendant is further accused of having 13 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

After pleading not guilty to the charge and being granted bail, Nabbie was told that he must return to court for trial on June 3.

employees received lump sum payments due to issues with the punctuality of wage payments. Auditors also noted that

Restraint in politics and in government

ANTHONY Seldon, the well-known British headteacher and political observer has written books on each of his country’s prime ministers over the past 40 years.

His most recent is on Boris Johnson, a scathing review of a man who he submits came to office with, “No sense of any fixed position. No religious faith, no political ideology.”

Seldon, along with other experts in government, recently released a report from the The Institute for Government’s Commission on the Centre of Government. The Report notes:

“A poorly organised centre is one of the core weaknesses of UK government. Successive prime ministers have found that their ability to deliver their priorities has not been helped, and has sometimes been hindered, by the way the centre of government is structured, and by failings in No 10, the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury.”

More on the report in successive columns, which may be found at: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ commission-centre-government.

Seldon describes a reality of which we are most familiar in The Bahamas, of when a new government assumes office: “… People come into No 10 [The Office of the Prime Minister in the UK] knowing less about [complex organisations] than most people running companies employing less than 20 people. That’s forgivable. What is unforgivable is that almost without exception, they do not want to learn how to do it. They think they know best.

“They are often snide, poisonous, dismissive of previous teams, particularly teams from their same party. And they come in with frothing adrenaline and swagger.”

Have we not witnessed this before with new administrations of both parties, intoxicated by what some have described as, “the rarefied environment of the cabinet room”?

Individuals with little to no experience in or understanding of government, management, constitutional matters, policy formulation and

implementation, history, social sciences, economics, etc, are suddenly overblown with their abilities simply because they now have a blue plate, a bevy of aides, sycophants, and the temporary trappings of office.

It is as if some of them are injected with a narcotic that induces euphoria, hubris, and magical thinking. They are convinced of how popular and beloved they are. They quickly become near hermetically sealed in a bubble, incapable of seeing reality, living in a land of make-believe.

Each of our past prime ministers were convinced they would win re-election, which followed by wide scale political rejection and defeat.

One of the worst examples was Perry Christie, who became so unpopular that he lost the bedrock PLP seat of Centreville, which he held for decades. They rarely or never see the impending defeat coming.

Most of our prime ministers have known something about domestic politicking. But in significant ways, a number of them, and many who enter frontline politics, do not deeply appreciate the history and psychology of power.

Few of our politicians have read widely in history, politics and literature. Many in our professional class have professional degrees. However, very few are intellectually imbued with a more liberal and classical education.

Most literary traditions and religions contains warnings, insights, and lessons on the uses, conceits, and limits of power. Special warnings are repeatedly issued in various traditions on the imperative of restraint and its companion, humility.

In Measure for Measure, William Shakespeare offers simple advice which often goes unheeded by those drunk with power and oblivious to their own weaknesses: “O, it is excellent/To have a giant’s strength; but it is tyrannous/To use it like a giant.”

In Sonnet 94, Shakespeare suggests to youth and others, that power, beauty and other traits must be used with caution and restraint, lest

one give way to gross hypocrisy and the abuse of one’s gifts and immaterial possessions:

“They that have power to hurt and will do none,

That do not do the thing they most do show, Who, moving others, are themselves as stone, Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow: They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces And husband nature’s riches from expense; They are the lords and owners of their faces, Others but stewards of their excellence. The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet Though to itself it only live and die, But if that flower with base infection meet, The basest weed outbraves his dignity:

For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.”

“For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds. Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.” One’s greatest gifts, including intellect, may be the instrument of one’s demise and defeat. Throughout history, some of the smartest people have made the dumbest decisions.

The Crown, the awardwinning Netflix series, is an historical drama about the life and times of Queen Elizabeth II.

The initial season, the young Elizabeth is schooled by the ageing Winston Churchill, the avid and unreconstructed imperialist, who helped to defeat Hitler.

Elizabeth does not sideline or lock out advice contrary to her own desires or thinking. She learns not to make monumental decisions amidst high emotions, especially

It is as if some of them are injected with a narcotic that induces euphoria, hubris, and magical thinking.

The drama explores power, its reaches, limits and abuses. The young monarch is also instructed in the restraint of power by her grandmother, Queen Mary and by her private secretary, a stickler for the ways of the establishment and centuries of convention.

Elizabeth realises early that because of her constitutional role as head of state, and her role as head of the Church of England, she has to abide by various traditions, conventions, strictures and norms. She does not simply get to do what she wants to do. One of the greatest lessons she quickly grasps is the restraint of power. Queen Mary famously instructs her granddaughter that doing nothing in a given situation is quite hard and requires discipline.

Elizabeth surrounds herself with advisors and wise counsel who will tell her what she may not want to hear, the proverbial speaking truth to power. A prime minister who lacks wise counsel, or who allows certain officials to abuse their power, lays the ground for his or her eventual political demise. In The Bahamas, successive prime ministers have been hobbled and severely disadvantaged because they lacked policy experts.

anger and unrestrained exuberance.

She understands the difference between impetuousness and foolhardiness on the one hand, and genuine courage on the other. Churchill schools Elizabeth in the realities and restraints of politics.

The first season of The Crown forecasts an Elizabeth who becomes more comfortable with power. She upbraids Churchill and others for not informing her of the true nature of a particular prime minister’s poor health.

Elizabeth learns that the adept use of power and authority comes only after one has learned and practised the restraint of power, much as an artist, dancer or jazz player learns how to innovate only after mastering the basics of their craft.

Those who fail to learn the rules and subtleties of the ancient art of politics soon succumb to the physics of politics, including the force of gravity, which can quickly tumble a politician from a high perch and political favour.

Former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher enjoyed fine political instincts. She took the Conservative Party to three victories and weathered many storms. But she was blind to how her

arrogance would eventually lead to her political death. They never see it coming.

The PBS series Victoria, on the life of Queen Victoria, tells the story of a young monarch coming of age and coming to understand the use of power.

Victoria is at first giddy with her new home at Buckingham Palace, the roar of the crowd, and the pleasures and delights of being queen of the then most powerful country on earth. At times, her ego consumes her judgment.

But after a terrible misjudgment Victoria is necessarily rebuked by a dying female courtier who reminds her that the monarchy is not a plaything, that her office is bigger than the person temporarily occupying the throne.

Queen Victoria is reminded that it is an awesome responsibility like all high office, requiring responsible action, seasoned advice, prudential judgment – and restraint.

Every prime minister and would be prime minister may wish also to reflect on the admonition by Enoch Powell, who wrote in his life of Joseph Chamberlain, in 1977: “All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.”

While this is not always true, it is quite often the case. It is the wiser leader who appreciates the deeper nature of politics and human affairs.

This includes how an individual, whether a leader or not, plants, waters, and nurtures the seeds of one’s own undoing because of the realities of one’s character, weaknesses, and hubris.

For the political leader, the fall is typically more spectacular, especially for leaders not given to appreciating traditions of wisdom and personal and political restraint.

BRITISH Prime Minister Winston Churchill bids farewell to Queen Elizabeth II at the end of a dinner he hosted at No. 10 Downing Street in London on April 4, 1955.

Photo: AP

Iran does not want to provoke the US, neither should Israel

“WELL, we’re really in it now,” one American pundit observed during the weekend after Iran launched a massive 300-strong airborne missile and drone attack from its own soil toward Israel. “It’s astonishing that there wasn’t more loss of life and physical loss.”

After American-provided air defences stymied the Iranian air attacks, the world held its breath. Finally eschewing its customary proxy assaults on Israel with an openly bilateral attack, Iran risked massive retaliation that could easily ignite a regional and perhaps even broader war.

Many world leaders, including the UN Secretary General and US President Biden, strongly urged Israel not to retaliate. But many other officials also urged restraint after the October 7 Hamas attack from Gaza on southern Israel.

We have six months of evidence of the profound lack of Israeli restraint after that move prompted massive retaliation from Israel that continues today.

Still, a week has now passed without any Israeli response. What does this mean?

First of all, the Iranian aerial assault was evidently designed to be primarily for show, kind of like a giant holiday fireworks display. While it’s true that Israel’s “Iron Dome” air defense system performed admirably, most observers feel

that the Iranians could have inflicted much more property and human damage with such a voluminous attack.

The Iranians don’t want to provoke America. That’s understandable. But at some point – which may now have been reached –the Israelis don’t want to further provoke the US either.

According to the authoritative US Council on Foreign Relations, “the United States provided Israel considerable economic assistance from

1971 to 2007, but nearly all US aid today goes to support Israel’s military. The United States has provisionally agreed (via a memorandum of understanding) to provide Israel with nearly $4 billion a year through 2028, and US lawmakers are additionally considering billions of dollars in supplementary funding for Israel.”

American president Joe Biden has repeatedly warned Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to back off from his extraordinarily militaristic response

to Hamas’ October sneak attack. Netanyahu will need to be more circumspect going forward, even though he clearly believes such a course is neither in Israel’s national security interest nor in his personal interest in maintaining power in Tel Aviv.

Despite great fame Simpson and Tiger chose silence on social issues

THERE was something that seemed significant about the coincidence of a couple of events late last week. The significance comes a bit later on.

One of these was the strong opening round at the Masters Golf Tournament by Tiger Woods, 48, and then his ability to sustain this excellence by making the cut for the weekend. As Woods pointed out, he still had a chance for victory. On Friday he had set a record in making the cut for a record 24th time and was aiming to tie Jack Nicklaus for the best all-time by winning his 6th green jacket as tournament champion.

Tiger then collapsed on Saturday and Sunday, probably undone by the accumulated weight of numerous car crashes and resulting surgeries. But he’s still the most magnetic, iconic figure in professional golf, which remains perhaps the most riveting individual competitive sport in the world these days. And he’s still on a path to becoming one of our own here in The Bahamas.

The other event last week was the passing of OJ Simpson a week ago. He died at the age of 76. The cause was prostate cancer. OJ Simpson lived a life that once made him one of the most famous people in America. His passing was front-page news, including here. He was one of the most accomplished, celebrated football players of all time. He won a Heisman Trophy at the University of Southern California and was a star for the Buffalo Bills, setting rushing records behind an offensive line that included two future Hall of Famers – “the Electric Company,” it was called. They supplied the “juice” for OJ as he shredded defenses in the NFL. Simpson acquired the nickname “Juice” along the way.

In 1973, Simpson became the first to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season and was the NFL’s most valuable player. He retired in 1979 as the highest-paid player in the league earning a salary over $800,000 and having scored 61 touchdowns and

rushed for more than 11,000 yards in his career. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.

OJ then became wealthy as a Hollywood actor and a commercial spokesperson. He had an open, engaging face, and he spoke with a soft, comforting voice. His demeanor belied the ferocity and even brutality he had faced on football fields. He also became the first black star of a national television advertising campaign.

rentals soared and the ads made OJ’s face one of the most recognisable in America. He married a beautiful woman but they divorced after reported incidents of domestic violence. Then, in 1994, he was charged in the grisly double murder of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

In 1975, Hertz built around Simpson a national television advertising campaign. Memorable, long-running commercials featured him sprinting through airports and leaping over counters to get to a Hertz rental car. He earned millions, Hertz

Despite what looked initially like overwhelming evidence against him, O J wound up beating the murder charge and walked away from the Los Angeles courtroom a free man.

In a Nassau office at the time, two American friends watched the verdict being read. After Simpson was found not guilty, the African-American man whooped in joy and triumph. His white friend looked on, bemused.

“Do you know why I’m celebrating?” the black man asked.

“I imagine it’s for a couple of reasons,” his companion replied. “First, OJ has been able to work the American legal system to his advantage, just like thousands of white people have done ever since the American

legal system was set up. But few blacks have enjoyed such favourable results. “And secondly, the cops have a really bad reputation in the black community in Los Angeles. This verdict repudiates the police.” The black American paused. “Well, you’re right on both counts,” he remarked incredulously. “I guess maybe some white people do understand these things.” He walked away, still shaking his head.

The significance of the coincidence of Tiger’s collapse and OJ’s death lies in the fact that despite their great fame and personal fortune, both men chose a path more similar to that of Michael Jordan than the course followed by many other black American superstars, from Mohammed Ali to Jim Brown to Bill Russell to Steph Curry. The latter four leveraged their celebrity to make social, economic and political points. Each identified and spotlighted injustice in America and often advocated and fought for change.

OJ, Jordan and Tiger, while sharing their wealth in various charitable ways, have largely chosen public silence on the major social, economic and racial issues they and other AfricanAmericans confronted. OJ at one point told an interviewer that “I’m not defined by my skin colour, or by my football exploits. I am OJ Simpson. Judge me by myself.”

There’s a real irony in all this current Israeli-Iranian hostility. Until 1979’s Iranian revolution which overthrew the American-backed Shah of Iran, these two most powerful non-Arabic nations in the Middle East shared many goals. No longer.

CITY HEAVILY FAVOURED TO WIN EPL TITLE IN SOCCER

THE English Premier League title may have been decided last weekend. After 32 of the season’s 38 matches have been played, Manchester City won against Luton and pulled ahead by two points over Liverpool, losers to Crystal Palace of London and Arsenal, beaten by Aston Villa of Birmingham. City have much the easier path to the end of the season and must now be heavily favored to win the EPL title again.

Liverpool and Arsenal both could have won their Sunday games but their fans will accuse them of choking under the intense pressure of the most tightly-contested three-way race to the championship in the more than 30-year history of the EPL.

Six league games remain for each of the contenders, and Man City and Arsenal are still alive in the European Champions League as well. But the Citizens have shown before that they are resolute and focused frontrunners, and the odds now favour them to prevail again.

with Charlie Harper

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Ronen Zvulun

OJ SIMPSON Photo: Lois Bernstein

MACHESTER wins over Luton. Photo: Rui Vieira

Scout Association week of fellowship, training and information sharing

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

THE Scout Association of the Bahamas, a dynamic youth organisation with a mission to develop the youth in myriad ways, recently hosted its annual week of fellowship, training and information sharing.

Scout Week kicked of last month with an overnight camp at Adelaide campsite, a parade and church service at St George’s Anglican Church, and a game and fun night at the Scout Headquarters.

The events continued with a courtesy call on Governor General Cynthia Pratt. Activities concluded with the annual general meeting AGM and the headquarters located on Dolphin Drive.

During the courtesy call leaders; President Andrew Pinder, Chief Scout Alex Gibson, and Chief Commissioner spoke in earnest about the Scouts achievement and its history.

“Her Excellency was

most impressed and also shared her history in working with young people (especially in her community). She expressed passionately the need for a collaboration with Urban Renewal Centres. This she said would definitely make a greater impact on our nation’s youth,” a statement by the Scout’s Association said. During the AGM, a special invite was extended to Keith Bell, Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal who shared on the need for greater working relationships with Urban Renewal Centres.

The Scout Association of the Bahamas were established in 1913 to engage, train, and equip boys and girls to become model upright citizens fostering further growth of the well-being of the nation. The benefits have clearly been evident in the lives of former Scouters who have served in high offices in the community.

Although its history has been long, the Scout Movement still remains relevant

in these changing times. The principles and ideals continue to shape the lives of young people who desire to pledge to its motto and mantra in service to God, Ccuntry and people.

“It would appear that as a nation, we are confronted in an age of decadence with social ills and violence,” said President Warren Andrew Pinder in his timely message to the Association. “Let us commit ourselves wholeheartedly to this noble endevour, preparing our youth to become men and women of unwavering character and integrity.”

He continues; Together let us embark on this journey of renewal, guided by the spirit of camaraderie, service and devotion that defines our Scout movement. With Unity and determination, we will forge ahead, laying the foundation for a brighter and more vibrant future for Scouting in The Bahamas.

The Annual Scout Week and AGM ended with recognition of awards and a fellowship with attendees.

Briland Club is an exclusive 27-acre private club and residential community with the most coveted mega-yacht marina and real estate located on Harbour Island, Eleuthera, The Bahamas.

We are seeking to hire a Resort/Marina Operations Manager who will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of both the resort and marina facilities. This role involves managing staff, ensuring operational effciency, maintaining high standards of customer service, and promoting a safe and enjoyable experience for guests and visitors.

Key Responsibilities

Operations Management:

• Oversee all aspects of resort and marina operations, including front desk, housekeeping, maintenance, dock operations, and guest services.

• Develop and implement operational procedures to optimize effciency and enhance guest satisfaction.

• Monitor and manage budgets, expenses, and revenue streams to achieve fnancial objectives.

• Collaborate with other departments to coordinate activities and ensure seamless operations across the resort and marina.

Staff Supervision and Development:

• Recruit, train, and supervise resort and marina staff members, including hiring, scheduling, performance evaluations, and disciplinary actions, as necessary.

• Provide leadership, guidance, and support to staff to ensure a positive work environment and foster a culture of excellence in service delivery.

• Conduct regular staff meetings, training sessions, and performance reviews to promote professional development and high-performance standards.

Guest Relations and Customer Service:

• Interact with guests to address inquiries, resolve issues, and ensure exceptional customer service delivery.

• Monitor guest feedback and reviews to identify areas for improvement and implement strategies to enhance guest satisfaction.

• Implement and maintain quality assurance standards to uphold the resort and marina’s reputation for excellence in hospitality.

Facilities Maintenance and Safety:

• Oversee maintenance and repair activities for resort and marina facilities, ensuring they are well-maintained, clean, and safe for guests and staff.

• Develop and implement safety protocols and emergency procedures to ensure the safety and security of guests and employees.

• Coordinate with contractors, vendors, and suppliers to procure necessary supplies, equipment, and services for maintenance and operations.

Compliance and Regulatory Affairs:

• Ensure compliance with all relevant regulations, codes, and standards governing resort and marina operations, including health and safety regulations, environmental laws, and licensing requirements.

• Keep abreast of industry trends, best practices, and regulatory changes to proactively address any compliance issues and maintain operational integrity.

Qualifcations and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in hospitality management, business administration, or related feld (preferred).

• Proven experience in resort and/or marina operations management, with a strong record of leadership and performance.

• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.

Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple priorities simultaneously.

• Profciency in relevant software applications and systems.

MINISTER of Housing and Urban Renewal Keith Bell along with scouts and attendees.

CHIEF Scout Alex Gibson presents award certificate to Scout Executive Robert Barlett.

CHIEF Scout Alex Gibson makes presentation to group leader. Chief Commissioner Lamar Pinder on left.

FAMILY, friends and Free National Movement (FNM) supporters gather at FNM Headquarters for a memorial service for Former MP

Donald “Don” Saunders yesterday.

Photos: Dante Carrer

Netanyahu brushes off calls for restraint, saying Israel will decide how to respond to Iran’s attack

JERUSALEM Associated Press

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday his country would be the one to decide whether and how to respond to Iran’s major air assault earlier this week, brushing off calls for restraint from close allies. Israel has vowed to respond to Iran’s unprecedented attack without saying when or how, leaving the region bracing for further escalation after months of unrest linked to the ongoing war in Gaza. Israel’s allies have been urging Israel since the attack to hold back on any response that could spiral. These calls were repeated on Wednesday during visits by the British and German foreign ministers.

The diplomatic pressures came as Iran’s president warned that even the “tiniest” invasion of its territory would bring a “massive and harsh” response. Violence meanwhile surged on Wednesday between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, which fired a volley of rockets and drones on northern Israel. The attack wounded at least 14 Israeli soldiers, six seriously, the army said. The military said it struck Hezbollah targets deep inside Lebanon in response. Speaking to a meeting of his Cabinet, Netanyahu said he met Wednesday with both visiting foreign ministers and thanked them for

their countries’ support. But he said Israel would make the call on its own on how to respond despite “all sorts of suggestions and advice” coming from Israel’s allies, some of whom — including the United States, the United Kingdom and France — helped Israel repel Iran’s drone and missile assault.

“I want to be clear: we will make our decisions ourselves. The state of Israel will do whatever is necessary to defend itself,” Netanyahu said.

Despite the tough rhetoric, Israel appears unlikely to attack Iran directly without at least the support of its top ally, the US But it could resort to more covert methods such as targeting senior Iranian commanders or Iran-backed groups in other countries, or launching a cyber attack.

It’s unclear how Iran would then respond, given the heightened tensions — any miscalculation by either side risks setting off a regional war. President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday announced new sanctions on Iran and has worked to coordinate a global rebuke of the attack while urging all sides to de-escalate. US officials said earlier this week that Biden told Netanyahu that Washington would not participate in any offensive action against Iran.

Over the weekend, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in response to an apparent Israeli strike on Iran’s Embassy compound in Syria

on April 1 that killed 12 people, including two Iranian generals.

Israel says it and its partners successfully intercepted nearly all the missiles and drones. A 7-year-old girl was wounded in the attack, which did not cause any deaths or major damage.

Israel and Iran have waged a shadow war for decades, but the strike over the weekend was the first direct Iranian military attack on Israel.

With tensions surging, Israel’s allies have reinforced a message of restraint. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock each appealed for calm while on separate visits to the region.

Cameron said “it’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act” against Iran, but he hoped they would do so “in a way that is smart as well as tough and also does as little as possible to escalate this conflict.” He spoke after meeting with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, whose office is mainly ceremonial. Baerbock said Germany stands “in full solidarity with Israel” but called on it to exercise restraint.

“Everyone must now act prudently and responsibly. I’m not talking about giving in. I’m talking about prudent restraint, which is nothing less than strength,” she told reporters. “Because Israel has already shown strength with its defensive victory at the weekend.”

The ministers said they would push for further

international sanctions on Iran.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned Israel against any retaliation as he addressed an annual army parade, which had been relocated to a barracks from its usual route and was not carried live on state TV — possibly because of fears that it could be targeted.

In remarks carried by Iran’s official IRNA news agency, Raisi said the weekend attack was limited, and that if Iran had wanted to carry out a bigger attack, “nothing would remain from the Zionist regime.”

Regional tensions have soared since the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel launched by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Palestinian militant groups

supported by Iran. The attack killed some 1,200 Israelis, and the militants took around 250 hostages. Israel responded with one of the deadliest and most destructive military onslaughts in recent history, killing nearly 34,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count but say most of the dead are women and children. Israel has withdrawn most of its forces from Gaza after major offensives that left its two biggest cities — Gaza City and Khan Younis — in ruins. But Israeli officials say the war is not over and that they plan to send ground forces into the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah, where

more than half the territory’s population of 2.3 million people have sought refuge from fighting elsewhere.

Hamas is still holding around 130 hostages, a quarter of whom are believed to be dead, and international efforts to broker a cease-fire and hostage release have made little progress.

Hezbollah, another close Iran ally, has traded fire with Israel along the border on a near-daily basis since the war began, in a low-intensity conflict that risks igniting allout war. Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria have also launched attacks, and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have targeted international shipping in the Red Sea, portraying it as a blockade of Israel.

Storm dumps heaviest rain ever recorded in desert nation of UAE, flooding roads and Dubai’s airport

DUBAI Associated Press

HEAVY thunderstorms

lashed the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, dumping the heaviest rain ever recorded in the country in the span of hours as it flooded out portions of major highways and Dubai’s international airport.

The state-run WAM news agency called the rain “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.” That’s before the discovery of crude oil in this energyrich nation then part of a British protectorate known as the Trucial States. The rains began late Monday, soaking the sands and roadways of Dubai with some 20 millimetres (0.79 inches) of rain, according to

meteorological data collected at Dubai International Airport. The storms intensified around 9 am local Tuesday and continued throughout the day, dumping more rain and hail onto the overwhelmed city. By the end of Tuesday, more than 142 millimetres (5.59 inches) of rainfall had soaked Dubai over 24 hours. An average year sees 94.7 millimetres (3.73 inches) of rain at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and a hub for the long-haul carrier Emirates.

At the airport, standing water lapped on taxiways as aircraft landed. The airport ended up halting arrivals Tuesday night and passengers struggled to reach terminals through the floodwater covering surrounding roads. One couple, who spoke to The Associated Press

on condition of anonymity to speak freely in a country with strict laws that criminalise critical speech, called the situation at the airport “absolute carnage.”

“You cannot get a taxi. There’s people sleeping in the Metro station. There’s people sleeping in the airport,” the man said Wednesday.

They ended up getting a taxi to near their home some 30 kilometres (18 miles) away, but floodwater on the road stopped them. A bystander helped them over a highway barrier with their carry-on luggage, the bottles of gin they picked up from duty free clinking away. Dubai International Airport acknowledged Wednesday morning that the flooding had left “limited transportation options” and affected flights as aircraft crews couldn’t reach the airfield.

“Recovery will take some time,” the airport said on the social platform X. “We thank you for your patience and understanding while we work through these challenges.”

Police and emergency personnel drove slowly through the flooded streets of Dubai. Lightning flashed Tuesday across the sky, occasionally touching the tip of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. The city’s driverless Metro saw disruptions and flooded stations as well.

Schools across the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, largely shut ahead of the storm and government employees were largely working remotely if able. Many workers stayed home as well, though some ventured out, with the unfortunate stalling out their vehicles in

deeper-than-expected water covering some roads.

Authorities sent tanker trucks out into the streets and highways to pump away the water. Water poured into some homes, forcing people to bail out their houses. The country’s hereditary rulers offered no overall damage information or injury information for the nation, as some slept into their flooded vehicles Tuesday night.

In Ras al-Khaimah, the country’s northernmost emirate, police said one 70-year-old man died when his vehicle was swept away by floodwater. Fujairah, an emirate on the UAE’s eastern coast, saw the heaviest rainfall Tuesday with 145 millimetres (5.7 inches) falling there.

Authorities cancelled school and the government instituted

remote work again for Wednesday.

Rain is unusual in the UAE, an arid, Arabian Peninsula nation, but occurs periodically during the cooler winter months. Many roads and other areas lack drainage given the lack of regular rainfall, causing flooding.

Rain also fell in Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

In neighbouring Oman, a sultanate that rests on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, at least 18 people had been killed in heavy rains in recent days, according to a statement Tuesday from the country’s National Committee for Emergency Management. That includes some 10 schoolchildren swept away in a vehicle with an adult, which saw condolences come into the country from rulers across the region.

Photo: Jon Gambrell/AP

IRANIAN army members march during Army Day parade at a military base in northern Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. In the parade, President Ebrahim Raisi warned that the “tiniest invasion” by Israel would bring a “massive and harsh” response, as the region braces for potential Israeli retaliation after Iran’s attack over the weekend.

Photo: Vahid Salemi/AP

Fremain alive or if they will be dethroned.

Division One Barrington Carter, head coach of the Rockets, said the key to the win was making big plays down the stretch.

“Down the stretch we had some issues. One or two players got frustrated but our sponsor/assistant coach Ryan kept everything

Davis Cup Qualifiers: Bahamas falls to Canada 3-0

TEAM Bahamas’ trio of Jackson Mactaggart, Jerald Carroll and William McCartney suffered a tough 0-3 loss to Canada yesterday at the World Junior Tennis (WJT) Junior Davis Cup/ Junior Billie Jean King Cup North, Central American and Caribbean Final Qualifying Tournament in Orlando, Florida.

Mactaggart was bested by Canadian Felix Roussel in their singles matchup. The latter took set one 6-1 and followed it up with a 6-4 performance in the consecutive set. Carroll fought hard against Canada’s Miko LaPalme but was unable to avoid defeat in singles competition. The sets were tightly-contested but The Bahamas’ representative went down 3-6, 3-6.

McCartney and Carroll then teamed up to face LaPalme and Quincy Yao. The tandem were knocked off 3-6, 2-6 in straight sets. Phillip Major Jr, who is the captain of Team Bahamas, said despite the 0-3 defeat there were some positive takeaways from the opening day of competition. “They played well and had their chances but they had a little bit of a tough time converting today. There were definitely a lot of positives from that because they were able to give themselves chances. That means that going forward we are looking to convert on those chances so overall I would say today that the boys did a great job,” Major said.

Over a month ago, The Bahamas advanced out of the Junior Billie Jean King Cup/Junior Davis Cup North, Central American and the Caribbean

THE SPORTS CALENDAR

Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic with an unblemished record. With adversity now in front of them, Major believes this latest hurdle can help them to improve. “It helps them

SWIMMING

LOCAL ACTION

AFTER hosting a successful CARIFTA Swimming Championships with Team Bahamas winning its sixth straight crown, Bahamas Aquatics will get a chance to host its first local meet in the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex this weekend.

The Alpha Aquatics Swim Meet will take centre stage on Friday, starting at 6pm and again on Saturday from 9am and 6pm for the first in a series of meets that head into the Bahamas Aquatics’ National Swim Championships in June.

SOCCER BFA MATCHES THE Bahamas Football Association will continue its regular season

April, 2024

wirth a series of matches on tap this weekend in the Roscoe Davies Developmental Center at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

Saturday 7pm - United FC Women vs Baha Jr Women Blue 7 pm Dynamos FC Women vs Western Warriors Women

Sunday 3pm - Baha Jr FC vs Inter-Island FC 3:30pm - Dynamos FC vs University of the Bahamas FC 5pm - Cavaliers FC vs United FC 5:30pm - Western Warriors vs Renegades FC.

18

in a way because they were able to get the first match nerves out and were able to settle in and prepare themselves to play some good tennis. Hopefully, with them being able to settle in a little bit more will come

THOUSANDS attending the upcoming National Family Island Regatta in George Town, Exuma will be able to take advantage of free Wi-Fi - thanks to BTCthroughout the duration of the five-day event. Keisha Edwards, director of commercial operations at BTC, said having a presence at the Exuma regatta strengthens the strong bond and connection that BTC has forged with “Exumians” and visitors to the island for many years. “BTC has always been a premier sponsor of culture and all things Bahamian, and when it comes to the Exuma regatta, BTC is embedded in that community and we are happy that we can serve once again this year as a sponsor and we have provided $10,000 to support the event,” Edwards said.

with some better tennis.

They were definitely keeping up with the kids but it is just now a matter of converting the chances that we get,” he said. Next up for The Bahamas will be the United States

of America this morning at 10am. Major gave a sneak peek of his message to Team Bahamas before this morning’s match. “We had to win our prequalifying tournament to get here and, with that being said, the guys had to push and put themselves in this position to be here.

“Whereas, the USA was already here so the whole message tomorrow is as the underdogs we have to go out and play with our hearts and fight until the end. With fighting comes some of your best tennis. When you do it from your heart that can really translate to the game,” he said.

Competition will wrap up in Orlando, Florida on Friday. The top two nations from the North, Central American and Caribbean region will advance to the Junior Davis Cup Finals in November.

are also excited about offering residents and visitors free Wi-Fi at Regatta Park, along with other awesome offers. This is truly something that they would appreciate as they use their devices to capture regatta

Embiid

Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP)

— Joel Embiid showed why Philadelphia always has a shot at a long postseason run as long as he’s in the lineup. Embiid had 23 points, 15 rebounds and one huge assist to Kelly Oubre Jr. on a go-ahead three-point play that led the 76ers to a 105-104 win over the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament last night. Chavano “Buddy” Hield contributed seven points and six assists. The 76ers earned the No. 7 seed and advanced to play the second-seeded New York Knicks in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Game 1 is Saturday at Madison Square Garden. The Heat — who went from the play-in tourney

to the NBA Finals a year ago — host the winner of the night’s late play-in game between Chicago and Atlanta on Friday night, with the winner getting the No. 8 seed.

Embiid exploded out of a quiet game late in the fourth and carried the Sixers back from 14 down in the second half. Embiid, who missed 43 games this season, was a non-factor as Nicolas Batum and Hield improbably sparked the 76ers in the second half. Batum had 20 points. But when the Sixers needed big buckets, who else was there but their big man?

Embiid buried a goahead 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 2.33 left in the game for a 93-91 lead

KLAY THOMPSON

that sent a crowd — that had about booed the Sixers out of the building at the half — into a frenzy. After the Sixers blew that lead, Embiid again was clutch with a three-point play for a 96-94 lead.

With the game tied 96-all, Miami’s Tyler Herro was whistled for a backcourt violation. Embiid slipped the ball to Oubre under the basket for the bucket, the free throw and a 99-96 lead they would not give up.

The 76ers played this one like it was Game 7 — and with good reason. They like their chances against the upstart Knicks rather than playing for the No. 8 seed and a date with the NBA’s best, the Boston Celtics.

That’s what Miami faces if it can get out of Friday’s

WANTS TO

game and make the playoffs under this format for the second straight season. Herro — who hit a 3 in the final second before the 76ers lost the ball out of bounds as time expired — finished with 25 points. Jimmy Butler, perhaps slowed by a first-half knee injury, had 19.

The 76ers rallied in the third, fuelled perhaps by a free fast-food chicken promotion triggered when the Heat missed consecutive free throws with a nine-point lead. With the crowd roaring for the first time all night, the Sixers took off — but not behind the usual suspects. Batum

— acquired in the James Harden deal with the Clippers — instead hit three 3s in the quarter that edged the Sixers within one possession of a tie game three times. Each time, the 76ers were stymied, none worse then when Embiid was stripped on a drive that could have knotted the game at 68-all. Kevin Love instead buried a 3 and the Heat took a 74-69 lead into the fourth.

After a few quick buckets put them up early, the Sixers caved and seemed downright befuddled by Miami’s zone. The Sixers were passive and could not find a way to dump

the ball inside to Embiid -- the 7-footer waving his arm in vain for a ball that never came. And where his help? All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey -- who had three 50-point games this season -- vanished and scored only nine points in the half. He finished with 19. Philly’s voracious boo birds were heard early, often and never louder than when the oft-maligned Tobias Harris ripped a page out of the 1990s Knicks star Charles Smith’s book when he missed four -- four! -gimmes at the bucket on one possession. Harris was benched in the final minutes of the game.

DECOMPRESS FROM SEASON BEFORE DELVING INTO WHAT’S NEXT AS A FREE AGENT

By JANIE MCCAULEY AP Sports Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)

— Fighting his emotions from the most frustrating of nights, Klay Thompson peered high into the upper deck of Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center and caught a glimpse of one remaining fan wearing his No. 11 jersey. That moment meant a great deal to him, a lasting memory to take into the offseason that is far sweeter than his 0-for-10 shooting performance in a 118-94 loss at Sacramento in the play-in tournament Tuesday night that ended the Warriors season without a playoff berth.

“I did look up in the nosebleeds, though, and I did see a man wearing a number 11 jersey. That made me happy, considering my history in Sacramento from playing a state championship there to playing the Kings in the playoffs,” Thompson shared Tuesday, when the biggest burning question was whether he’d be wearing that same No. 11 jersey next season.

“That was kind of a full circle going for me. So that was actually a good moment, just seeing that Warriors fan standing by his lonesome up in the 300 level repping 11. That made me grateful.”

Thompson knows he wants to keep winning and has his sights set on a fifth championship before calling it a career.

Where that might be is one of the biggest decisions for Thompson and Golden State going into the offseason.

“Obviously, you want to keep winning. I mean, when you’ve been a part of winning seasons, you don’t really want to go away from that.

“So I would like to win again. One for the thumb would be nice,” he said of having a ring on each finger of one hand.

“I still think it’s in reach. It’s just going to, yeah, take a huge effort.

“But other than that, just got to think about that, what will really make you happy in the last few years of your career.”

For now, Thompson insisted he needs some time to decompress first. The season was a grind. He went in and out of the starting lineup and said he has learned not to be what he calls a “front-runner.”

“You sulk, you pout when you’re not shooting up to your expected splits,” he said.

“I think I did better with that this year, just trying to exude great body language at all times and think deeper than just stats, think about your love for the

LEBRON James plans to go back to the Olympics. Stephen Curry is planning on going for the first time. Kevin Durant will go there with his eye on history. And they’re just part of a star-studded roster the Americans have assembled for the Paris Games.

USA Basketball has gotten confirmations from 12 players — James, Curry, Durant, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards and Kawhi Leonard — that they will accept invitations to be on the Olympic roster, three people with knowledge of the decisions said. That group includes seven previous gold medallists. The people spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because it was believed USA Basketball was planning to release the names on Wednesday.

Leonard — a finalist for each of the last two Olympic teams — was the last piece of the roster puzzle to be finalised, one of the people said. The amount of talent on the U.S. roster is staggering. Of the 12 commits, seven finished the season ranked among the NBA’s top 15 scorers per game.

James is the league’s alltime scoring leader, Curry the all-time leader in 3-pointers, Haliburton won the assist-per-game title this season and 10 were AllStars this season as well. Players around the NBA have been told of the decisions USA Basketball made over the past several days, one of the people said. USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill has led the task of assembling the roster for the past several months, and the plan all along was to put together the team well in advance of training camp starting at Las Vegas in early July. Tryouts were never part of the plan for this team.

Durant has said since last year that he plans to play, which means he will pursue becoming the first men’s player in Olympic history with four basketball gold medals. He and Carmelo Anthony are the only men’s players with three Olympic golds; there are six women, all American, with at least four Olympic basketball golds. Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi each have five, while Teresa Edwards, Tamika Catchings, Sylvia Fowles and Lisa Leslie each won four.

James will seek a fourth medal, after winning bronze in 2004 and golds in 2008 and 2012.

The other past gold medallists on the roster are Davis (2012), Adebayo (2020), Booker (2020), Tatum (2020) and Holiday (2020). The 2020 gold medals were won in 2021, since the COVID-19 pandemic forced a one-year delay of the Tokyo Games. Curry will play in the Olympics for the first time, as will Embiid — who

chose to play for the U.S. last year after becoming an American citizen. The Cameroon-born centre also could have chosen to represent France at the Paris Games.

The other first-time Olympians on the current roster are Haliburton and Edwards, both of whom played for the U.S. team that finished fourth at the World Cup in Manila last year. Many of the commitments are not surprises: Durant and Curry said in October that they wanted to play this summer, Adebayo said then that he had already committed to the team, and it’s been assumed for some time that if players like James want to play, then all they have to do is say so. The U.S. men have competed in basketball at the Olympics 19 times, winning 19 medals — 16 gold, one silver and two bronze. The Paris team will be coached by Steve Kerr,

game and why you do play this game.”

Several times Thompson has expressed his desire to stay with Golden State for his entire career, saying earlier this year: “I would love to be a Warrior for life.”

Still, he has noted he also must explore his options.

“So I really haven’t thought about that deep into the future because I still need to process the year we had and it was one filled with ups and downs,” he said.

“But ultimately, we — I personally and our team did everything we could to try and win as many games as we possibly could.”

Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and the rest of the Warriors certainly hope he will remain with Golden State to continue that title hunt and that this wasn’t his final game with them — though Curry’s Splash Brother wasn’t ready to make any bold statements about what’s next while still feeling the sting of season being over far sooner than anybody would have imagined.

Thompson missed all six of his 3-point tries, too.

It was especially hard for coach Steve Kerr to watch.

“I love Klay so much, I mean what he’s meant to me in the 10 years we’ve been together,” Kerr said. “I’ve watched him the last

couple of years fighting the feeling of devastation from the injuries and I’ve watched him really flip his season around with his approach.

“I saw him enjoy the second half of the season, playing with a little more freedom, a little more joy.”

The 34-year-old Thompson will become a free agent in July with his expiring five-year contract worth nearly $190 million.

“He’s been here his whole career,” teammate Kevon Looney said yesterday.

“When you think about the Warriors you think Steph, you think him, you think Draymond, and so it would be weird seeing him put on another jersey or competing for somebody else. But the NBA, guys switch more than stay on the same team nowadays. It would be hard for me to imagine that.”

Thompson still takes great pride his triumphant return from missing more than 2 1/2 years — the entire 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons — recovering from surgeries on his left knee and right Achilles.

He is determined to keep playing and proving people wrong.

“When that time comes, I mean I’m not trying to put an expiration date on my career,” Thompson said, “that’s kind of something you just go by feel.”

assisted by Erik Spoelstra,

Tyronn Lue and Mark Few. It’s still possible that the roster changes before the summer, if injuries or deep runs in the NBA playoffs force players to change their minds about committing to the national team.

Paris-bound Olympians look forward to a postCOVID Games with fans in the stands

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) —

The biggest races, routines and games for many of this generation’s Olympic athletes were contested in front of mostly empty stands, largely devoid of coaches to help them out or friends and family to cheer them on.

That was three years ago at the COVID-19 Summer Olympics and two years ago at the COVID-19 Winter Olympics. Now that they’re preparing for the Paris Olympics that begin in July — and a return to something that feels normal — the Americans heading back to the Games know they can never take for granted the screaming fans and a hug from Mom or Dad.

“I think it’s super important to be able to share these massive moments with people you care about,” said BMX rider Alise Willoughby, who

has been to the last three Olympics.

Willoughby and about 100 other U.S. athletes are doing interviews and photo shoots this week at the Team USA media summit at a hotel in Times Square — an event that itself was made impossible in the lead-up to the Tokyo Games in 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

One topic of conversation this week is how grateful the bikers, rowers, gymnasts and the rest are to be past the days of contact tracing, quarantines and daily swabbing or spitting for COVID-19 tests inside the so-called Olympic bubble. In Paris, there will be celebrations with relatives and one-on-one contact with coaches, most of whom were not allowed into the venues three years ago. The USA House — a traditional stop for athletes to wind down and kick back, especially after they’re done competing — will be

doing brisk business once again. Mostly, athletes are looking forward to the chance to soak in the feeling from the crowd, an element sorely missing in the cavernous and largely unfilled venues in Tokyo. “I’ll be able to see the audience’s emotions. I want to build that with them and I can tailor my routines to that,” said American rhythmic gymnast Evita Griskenas, who plans French music to accompany one routine and “All-American” number for another, all with the goal of getting fans caught up in the moment.

Griskenas said she already feels a different vibe. Preparing for the Olympics in Tokyo — Games that were initially delayed by a year, then held in an atmosphere nobody quite recognised — became a largely solitary, and joyless, affair.

“It turned into training in my basement and throwing things outside,” she said.

This year, a different experience awaits, and some athletes are even looking forward to a crowd rooting against them because, hey, at least it’s a crowd.

“The boys have been saying, ‘We want to play France in, like, the semifinals,’” rugby player Perry Baker said. “You just visualise how big that can be, and how fun that can be. Their crowd. Our crowd. We live for those moments.”

With crowds, naturally, come other issues that were mostly set on the sideline in 2021.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the much-touted opening ceremony scheduled for the Seine River could be moved to the Stade de France if the security threat is deemed too high.

Asked what she thought of that possibility, Nicole Deal, the chief of security for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said other than her main

goal — athlete safety — she wants to provide the best experience for the athletes.

“Security is an underpinning and a foundation. We’re not the main show,” Deal said. With two of the next five Olympics set to come to the U.S. — Los Angeles hosts in 2028 and Salt Lake City is a virtual lock for the Winter Games in 2034 — Olympic leaders know there’s a lot riding on Paris. This return to “normal,” they hope, will bring more Americans back to watching the Olympics in person, online and on TV. Prime-time ratings in Tokyo were 42% lower than the previous Summer Games, in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and 50% below the Games before that, in London in 2012. There were a number of reasons for that — including the increasingly fragmented viewing audience, the rise of streaming services and the 13-hour time difference between New York and Japan.

But also: COVID-19.

“Even for those who were back home, it wasn’t the most important thing going on for us at that time,” USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said of the renewed possibilities presented by the first COVID-19-free Games since 2018.

“This is about an opportunity to really focus on this incredible thing called ‘Olympic and Paralympic sport.’ It brings us together almost like nothing else.”

The way things went in Tokyo took some of the lustre away from what was nearly a perfect experience for indoor volleyball player Jordyn Poulter.

Yes, she won a gold medal in her first Olympics, three years ago. Yes, it was a once-in-a-lifetime type of triumph. Still, there was something missing.

“Not being able to relish in that moment with friends and family in that immediate time — it’s something that I’m looking forward to in this next one,” she said.

Despite weather glitch, Paris Olympics flame lit at Greek cradle of ancient games

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS Associated Press

ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) — Even without the help of Apollo, the flame that is to burn at the Paris Olympics was kindled Tuesday at the site of the ancient games in southern Greece.

Cloudy skies prevented the traditional lighting, when an actress dressed as an ancient Greek priestess uses the sun to ignite a silver torch — after offering up a symbolic prayer to Apollo, the ancient Greek sun god. Instead, she used a backup flame that had been lit on the same spot Monday, during the final rehearsal. Normally, the foremost of a group of priestesses in long, pleated dresses dips the fuel-filled torch into a parabolic mirror which focuses the sun’s rays on it, and fire spurts forth. But this time she didn’t even try, going straight for the backup flame, kept in a copy of an ancient Greek pot. Ironically, a few minutes later the sun shone forth.

From the ancient stadium in Olympia, a relay of torchbearers will carry the flame along a 5,000-kilometre (3,100-mile) route through Greece, including several islands, until the handover to Paris Games organisers in Athens on April 26. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said the flame lighting combined “a pilgrimage to our past in ancient Olympia, and an act of faith in our future.” “In these difficult times ... with wars and conflicts on the rise, people are fed up with all the hate, the aggression and negative news,” he said. “We are longing for something which brings us together; something that is unifying; something that gives us hope.”

Thousands of spectators from all over the world packed Olympia for Tuesday’s event amid the ruined temples and sports grounds where the ancient games were held from 776 B.C.393 A.D. The sprawling site, in a lush valley by the confluence of two rivers, is at its prettiest in the spring,

teeming with pink-flowering Judas trees, small blue irises and the occasional red anemone.

Greek authorities maintained high security around Olympia on Tuesday, after protests by rights activists disrupted the lighting ceremonies for the Beijing summer and winter games. Armed police stopped incoming vehicles and checked for explosives, while sniffer dogs combed the grounds. The first torchbearer was Greek rower Stefanos Douskos, a gold medallist in 2021 in Tokyo. He ran to a nearby monument that contains the heart of French Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the driving force behind the modern revival of the games.

The next runner was Laure Manaudou, a French swimmer who won three medals at Athens in 2004. She handed over to senior European Union

official Margaritis Schinas, a Greek. The IOC’s Bach praised Paris organisers for doing “an outstanding job” with preparations for the July 26 to August 11 games. He also highlighted their environmental impact, saying that cleanup efforts will make it possible to swim in the River Seine, which traverses Paris, “for the first time in a hundred years.”

IOC politics briefly reared their head in Olympia as well, with the heads of two sports federations criticising track and field leader Sebastian Coe for breaking with Olympic tradition last week by promising prize money of $50,000 to each of its gold medallists in Paris. The money will be paid from the share of Olympic games revenues that the IOC pays governing bodies of Olympic sports.

Lappartient complained that Coe did not consult with other sports before announcing his move.

“We really believe that that’s not the Olympic spirit,” Lappartient said. “If we concentrate the money ... on only top athletes, only gold, then of course a lot of opportunities will disappear for athletes all over the world.” Coe has been widely expected to run for the IOC presidency, which should become vacant in 2025. Lappartient is close to Bach and is increasingly seen as a potential successor.

From Greece, the Olympic flame will travel from Athens’ port of Piraeus on the Belem, a French threemasted sailing ship built in 1896 — the year of the first modern games in Athens.

colonists some 2,600 years ago. The Belem arrived in Katakolo, near Olympia, on Monday.

Lookers-on included a small, enthusiastic group of tourists from the northwestern French region of Brittany, where the ship’s homeport of Nantes is, waving French and Breton flags.

“We thought it would be a unique opportunity to see the flame lighting at the historic site of Olympia,” said Jean-Michel Pasquet from Lorient, near Nantes.

“And when we also learnt the Belem would carry the flame ... we said we must do this.”

But Pasquet said he’d have to watch the Paris Games from home.

International

Cycling Union President David

According to Captain Aymeric Gibet, it’s due on May 8 in the southern French port of Marseille, a city founded by Greek

“For us, it would be really very expensive, unaffordable,” to go to the venues, he said. “So we’ll watch them on television ... from our armchairs.”

VIEW of the Pierre Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, northern France, Sunday October 8, 2023. The stadium will host some handball and basketball matches during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

Photo/ Thanassis Stavrakis)

A VIEW of the Grand Palais, which will host the Fencing and Taekwondo competitions during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (AP)

GSSSA Baseball/Softball

Championships: Four teams on verge of victory

FROM PAGE 14

featured the DW Davis Royals versus the SC McPherson Sharks. The fourth seeded Sharks got the edge on the second seeded Royals 11-9. The game went back and forth throughout the seven innings yesterday. SC McPherson were leading 7-6 at the bottom of the fifth inning. However, all bases were loaded for the Royals, and they scored a three-run homer to move ahead 9-7 in the sixth inning.

Despite that shift in momentum, the Sharks ramped up the pressure and scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure the win.

SC McPherson head coach Laquesha Swain enjoyed the level of competitiveness displayed by her team in game one.

“This was a good game, you had to be here from start to finish. My team fought all the way. I liked that during the season we showed that we can come from behind and, again in this game, we came from behind and showed that we could win once we put it together,” she said. Swain knew the team had to be error free in the seventh inning. “We knew that in this last inning we did not need to make any mistakes and they didn’t. They capitalised and I am just glad for the win. We hope to come out with the same energy tomorrow [today] and once we do that we will be carrying the trophy home,” she said.

The CH Reeves Raptors stunned the pennant winning HO Nash Lions in their game one matchup.

The Raptors obliterated the Lions 18-3.

Tajhaniqua Morley, who also plays basketball for the Raptors, along with Ahnae Smith pitched in three runs apiece.

Varel Davis, president of the GSSSA and Raptors head coach, was overjoyed to get the win.

“It was a very good win. We shut them out in three innings which was the plan we had in place. My girls came out and said that they wanted to play hard and wanted to win this game.

“As a coach, you want the pressure to be on the opposite team for the first game so I told my girls to let’s go out there and do our best. I am very proud of them and happy and hoping to come out here tomorrow [today] and do the same thing. The plan is to hopefully end this in two games,” Davis said.

Senior Division

The Stingrays continue to be a force to be reckoned with in the GSSSA. The pennant winners knocked off the second seeded Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins 7-4 in their softball game.

Pasha Johnson, who plays pitcher, scored one of four runs in the fourth inning for CV Bethel. Marissa Simms scored three runs for the Stingrays in the second, third and fourth inning. Johnson was elated to get the win.

The Stingrays’ senior boys defeated the pennant winning CR Walker Knights 3-2.

Championship games continue today at 4pm at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

“It feels good to get the win. It felt more hype than last game and we could really feel the energy. My mindset is simply to win today, nothing else, nothing more,” she said.

DISCOUNT DISTRIBUTORS ROCKETS ONE WIN AWAY FROM NPBA TITLE

FROM PAGE 14

together on the bench. Then, when the players came back into the game, they executed the right way and got one or two stops down the stretch to seal the deal,” Carter said. The Rockets were a team on a mission from the opening tip. A sluggish start by the Giants led to their competitors advancing by 10 to put a lid on the first period ahead 20-10.

Roosevelt Whylly showed up and showed out with a side-high 23 points and 13 rebounds to stuff the stat sheet for the Rockets. He shot 9-for-20 from the field and canned three makes from behind the arc, including two big ones in the clutch. Kemsey Sylvestre made some big plays throughout the ball game to close out game three with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals.

The defending champions chipped into the double digit lead and pulled within 5 (29-24) with 3:03 left in the second period. The Giants had a better showing

in the second quarter, outscoring the Rockets 21-15 but they still trailed 35-31 going into the halftime break.

After seemingly hitting their stride in the second period, the CB Giants came out of the break committing sloppy turnovers and taking tough shots to no avail.

Despite a slow start, Dylan Musgrove connected on a timely three-pointer at the 3:31 juncture of the third to give the Giants a one-point lead (41-40). He ended the contest with a game-high 24 points and crashed the board 11 times.

The reigning division one champions were never able to gain a good footing in the game while the Rockets remained relentless in their attack especially in crunch time.

The CB Giants and Rockets went back and forth down in the clutch moments of the game but the Giants’ offence stalled down the stretch.

supposed to. It worked in our favour because all we had to do was get the rebounds and seal the deal,” coach Carter said.

Game four will be the difference maker for both teams. The Rockets are seeking to avenge a 3-0 finals loss dished out by the Giants last year and hoping to leave as champions.

On the other hand, the CB Giants are hoping to keep the title firmly in their grasp for the second consecutive year and avoid elimination at the hands of their rival.

Carter said the Rockets are going to come out and play their game.

By JAMES ROBSON AP Soccer Writer

MANCHESTER,

England (AP) — Real Madrid weathered the storm, silenced the crowd and ultimately ended Manchester City’s brief hold on the Champions League. The all-time kings of Europe moved a step closer to a record-extending 15th title in the competition they have dominated after a 4-3 win yesterday on penalties at Etihad Stadium. But not before being pushed to the limit by defending champion City.

“I was pretty much dead on my feet at the end,” Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham said. “It’s so difficult. They are continuously probing with the ball and move you around. Most teams would fall apart when City get on top of you, but we stood up really well.” The game had gone to the uncertainty of a shootout after ending 1-1 on the night and 4-4 on aggregate. City dominated the chances after going behind to Rodrygo’s goal in the 12th minute, but only had Kevin de Bruyne’s leveler in the 76th to show for its superiority, which included 64% of possession and 18 corners to Madrid’s one through extra time.

That counted for little as Antonio Rudiger struck the decisive spot kick after Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic both saw their

The Rockets were trailing 69-68 when their swarming defence forced a shot clock violation and their leading scorer Whlly pulled up and connected on a tough three-pointer to give them the lead.

penalties saved. “In this competition, that’s the way football happens,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “In other sports, for (these) statistics, we would have won.”

Guardiola had few complaints. He accepted his team had failed to capitalize against a Madrid team that was forced to defend deep against wave after wave of attack.

Erling Haaland hit the bar with one header in the first half De Bruyne sent an effort sailing over from inside the box in the second.

Madrid dug deep, held on and now faces Bayern Munich in the semifinals after the Germans beat Arsenal 1-0 on Wednesday and 3-2 on aggregate. “Today it came down to mentality,” Bellingham said.

The defeat ended City’s bid to become the first English team to win backto-back Champions League titles and its pursuit of successive trebles. It is still challenging for the Premier League title and FA Cup.

Victory for Madrid saw the Spanish giant advance to the semifinals for the fourth year in row — denying City the chance to emulate that feat.

“This was about survival,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “Madrid is a club based on always fighting to stay in situations where there seems to be no way out – but we always

Giants’ Eugene Bain had the ball at the top of the key and decided to take an ill-advised three-pointer early in the shot clock and missed.

Michael “Furley” Bain Jr had possession of the ball for the defending champions but it was an empty one as he turned the ball over.

Abel Joseph then made a go-ahead layup for the Rockets to prolong the unanswered 8-0 run which proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

Sylvestre captured the long rebound and Whylly once again splashed a shot from deep.

“Roosevelt Whylly came back into the game with confidence after being a bit frustrated. We know what he is good at and he came into the game and did what he is supposed to do and hit two big shots to put us up. After that we put the pressure on them and started to make them play out of character and launch more threes than they were

find a way. By the time the penalty shoot-out came, we were totally convinced we’d go through.”

Ancelotti has already won the Champions League a record four times as a coach — one more than Guardiola — and could extend that record by lifting the trophy for a third time with Madrid.

For Guardiola it is back to the drawing board after watching his team to relinquish the trophy it won for the first time last year and ending his own 12-year wait

to triumph again in European club soccer’s most demanding competition.

“I have to say thank you to these players from deep in my heart because the way they played. But football is about winning and we didn’t do enough, yet we were exceptional,” he said.

This was the third straight season Madrid and City have clashed in the Champions League in what is becoming a classic rivalry. The winner of their meetings going on to win the competition in

each of the past two years. Madrid avenged last year’s loss when its defense of the trophy was ended by a 4-0 rout at the hands of City in the semifinals. England midfielder Bellingham was pivotal to Madrid’s opener with a moment of brilliance to open City up. Collecting a high ball just past the halfway line, he shook off the attention of Rodri with a deft touch to wrong-foot his opponent. The ball was worked to Vinícius Junior on the right

“Basically, we just want to come here and play our game. We cannot let the hype get to us and we have to play like we are down. Once we play like our backs are against the wall and put our all out there I feel like we can beat anybody on any given night,” he said. The NPBA division one basketball rivalry will continue tonight at 8pm in the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium.

who crossed to Rodrygo, who beat Ederson at the second attempt after his first shot was saved.

That pressure eventually paid off when De Bruyne leveled the game, lifting the ball high into the net after Rudiger could only partially clear a cross from substitute Jeremy Doku.

With no further goals in extra time, the game went to a shootout and City immediately seized the advantage after Julian Alvarez converted his opening penalty and Luka Modric’s effort was saved.

But Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin then saved successive spot kicks from Silva and Kovacic to swing the balance in the visitors’ favour. Silva’s attempt was right down the middle and easily caught chest-high by Lunin.

It came down to Rudiger to take the winning kick that sent Madrid fans wild and City supporters home.

“We suffered a lot tonight because City really put you under the cosh (pressure),” Madrid captain Nacho said. “But we are Real Madrid. We always, always fight until the very end.”

DISCOUNT Distributors Rockets are on the verge of closing out the defending champions as they now have a 2-1 series advantage following a gritty 78-71 victory on Tuesday night at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium.

Reeves Raptors, CV Bethel Stingrays (boys and girls) and SC McPherson Sharks all won the first game of their best-of-three championship series yesterday.

Photo: Tenajh Sweeting/Tribune Staff

NEW YORK (AP) — They compete for a trophy, a ring, the chance to be called a champion and, sometimes, a place in history. Most of the world’s best athletes in all sorts of sports compete for cold, hard cash, too.

After more than 100 years of striving to earn Olympic gold — but nothing else from the folks organising the event — track and field athletes at the Paris Games will join that money-making club thanks to the sport’s governing body, World Athletics.

In a first-of-its-kind development, the runners, throwers and jumpers lining up at the Stade de France in August will be trying to win a $50,000 cheque to go with the gold. It’s a novel — some might say overdue — concept that has athletes in other sports wondering if they can get a piece of that action.

“I mean, who would want to turn down money, you know?” said artistic swimmer Daniella Ramirez, who is a junior at UCLA. The news last week grabbed attention, not so much because anyone is going to get rich, but because it marked the first instance of someone in charge — someone running the show — dipping into their coffers for the prizes, something the International Olympic Committee continues to resist. That hasn’t stopped individual countries from paying medal winners across all sports for years. For instance, the U.S

Olympic and Paralympic Committee runs “Project Gold,” which doles out $37,500 for gold, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze.

And this year’s host country will give France’s gold medallists around $85,000 apiece.

Those kinds of payments, along with the endorsement deals that have become commonplace for the upper-echelon sports, long ago undercut the old notion the Olympics were founded upon: That athletes should be true amateurs playing strictly for the love of sport. That has been a relic for at least 40 years.

Not surprisingly, athletes at the Team USA media summit this week in New

York followed the latest development with interest.

“I wouldn’t say that I’m jealous,” said diver Andrew Capobianco, a silver medallist three years ago in Tokyo. “But I’m hopeful that, kind of, can move into all other sports, as well — that they’re the trailblazers for that. More money for Olympic athletes, especially the smaller sports, would be great.” When he made the announcement, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe portrayed the move as one of simple fairness — the Olympics are a multibilliondollar business; the athletes should get their share.

Sprinter Gabby Thomas said she appreciated the gesture.

“This is really just done off of hopes and dreams and effort and a lot of people don’t have the same opportunity,” Thomas said of the mission to compete at the Olympics. “So, to see track and field making a difference in that way is remarkable. I can’t wait to see other sports follow suit.”

But some in Coe’s world saw the announcement as a calculated play to boost his profile for a potential IOC presidency bid. Others said they were blindsided by the move.

“If we concentrate the money on only top athletes, only gold (medallists), then of course a lot of opportunities will disappear for athletes all over the world,”

also said that the free Wi-Fi will be a plus because, for the first time ever, an official National Regatta App will be available on Google Play for Android and iPhone users, giving fans the ability to view sloop races in real time via live stream. BTC will have a major presence at Regatta Park in George Town, with a full promotional booth, and at the Skipper’s Party. Customers who sign up or port-in for a postpaid plan of $64.99 or higher, will receive a free handset.

Prepaid customers who activate a $15 or high combo plan throughout the duration of the regatta will receive free data for WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. Customers can use the new and improved MyBTC Mobile App to purchase prepaid plans.

The regatta is slated to be held April 23-27 in Elizabeth Harbour.

said David Lappartient, the president of cycling’s international federation, who attended the Olympic flame-lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia on Tuesday.

Jean-Christophe Rolland, president of World Rowing, said any available funds should instead be spent on developing and promoting Olympic sports.

“Obviously, we need the athletes,” he said. “But we also need to ensure that we will have athletes tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.”

Of course, no one needs to tell the people who will be vying for medals this summer that their Olympic journey is not necessarily a path to riches.

VOLLEYBALL: BBSF TOURNEY

THE Bahamas Baptist Sports Federation is set to hold its final registration meeting for for all churches wishing to participate in its volleyball tournament at 7pm on Thursday, April 18. The tournament is scheduled for April 24-27 at the DW Davis Gymnasium. The registration fee is $200 per team for a total of 12 players. Awards will be presented to the winners at the completion of the tournament.

FAST TRACK INVITATIONAL

FAST Track Athletics

announced that its third annual Spring Invitational will take place over the weekend of May 10 and May 11 at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex. The entry fee will be $10 for adults and $5 for children. For more information, persons are asked to contact 242-727-6826 or fasttrackmanagamentoo@ gmail.com

RED-LINE TRACK CLASSIC THE Red-Line Athletics

Track Club’s third annual Red-Line Youth Track Classic is set for 9am to 5pm May 25-26 at the original Thomas A Robinson

Track and Field Stadium.

The entry deadline is May 15 with a fee of $19 per athlete and $10 per relay team.

BAISS Soccer THE Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools will begin their soccer playoffs today in the Bahamas Football Association’s Roscoe Davies Developmental Center at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

“Regardless if there’s money involved or not, I’m not too concerned,” said sailing’s Hans Henken. “But I think it is great for growing the sport and being able to provide some sort of funding to help athletes continue to train and continue to compete.”

There are those like Ramirez, the artistic swimmer, who say that while a little something extra in the wallet is never a bad thing, they’re fine with keeping cash out of the equation. Striving for a medal is enough. “Using (money) as a motivating factor was not something that I personally want to see in my own (life),” she said.

“I just don’t think it should be something that’s in my mind at all. It should be a plus — like a bonus at the end of the year. ... I just love the sport, and I think that’s my motivating factor.”

Here’s a look at the matchups: Junior girls - 1) Queen’s College, 2) Windsor School, 3) St. Andrew’s School, 4) St. Augustine’s College. Junior Boys - 1) St. Andrew’s School, 2) St. Augustine’s College, 3) Windsor School, 4) Queen’s College.

Senior Girls - 1) Lyford Cay International, 2) Queen’s College, 3) St. Andrew’s School, 4) Kingsway Academy. Senior Boys - 1) Lyford Cay International, 2) Windsor School, 3) St. John’s College, 4) St. Andrew’s School. Thursday’s playoff games

Field 1

Game 1: Junior Girls - Queen’s College vs St. Agustine’s College @ 3:30pm.

Game 2: Junior GirlsWindsor vs St. Andrew’s @ 4:45pm.

Game 3: Senior BoysLyford Cay vs St. Andrew’s @ 6:00pm.

Field 2

Game 1: Junior Boys - St. Andrew’s vs Queen’s College @ 3:30pm.

Game 2: Junior BoySt. Augustine’s College vs Windsor @ 5:00pm.

Game 3: Senior GirlsLyford Cay vs Kingsway @ 6:20pm.

Friday, April 19, 2024

Game 1: Senior Girls - Queen’s College vs St. Andrew’s @ 3:30pm.

Game 2: Senior Boys - Windsor vs St. John’s College @ 5:00pm.

Championship Games

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Game 1: Junior Girls @ 3:30pm.

Game 2: Junior Boys @ 5:00pm.

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Game 1: Senior Girls @ 3:30pm.

Game 2: Senior Boys @ 5:00pm.

THE PARIS 2024 Olympic medals are displayed, Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at the Grand Palais Ephemere venue in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

BAHAMIAN MARATHONER MAKES INTERNATIONAL HALL OF FAME

DURING the 128th running of the Boston Marathon (26.2 miles) on Sunday past, another Bahamian marathon runner etched his name into the marathon record books.

Veteran distance runner

Michael Cunningham, of New Probvidence, became only the seventh Bahamian to earn the title “Six Star Finisher” by completing the Boston marathon, his final race in the Six Abbott World Marathon Majors series. “It was my most challenging marathon to-date.

There were many hills with smaller inclines, including the infamous ‘heartbreak hill’ at mile 21. However, I’ll do it again! Lesson learned, include more hill runs in my training.” The Boston Marathon drew about 30,000 runners from 129 countries and spectators in the hundreds of thousands.

The Abbott World Marathon Majors comprise the

MICHAEL Cunningham.

six most prestigious races in the world - London, Berlin, Tokyo, New York City, Chicago and Boston marathons. Cunningham, who already completed the NYC Marathon several years ago, committed to completing the remaining five major races less than two years ago and stepped up his training.

He began his mission with the Berlin marathon in September 2022 and, just two weeks later, in October 2022 he raced in the Chicago Marathon. Tokyo followed in March, 2023, then London one

month later. His crowning glory, however, was the completion of his sixth world major, the Boston Marathon. “I am elated that I’ve finally completed what is unequivocally the most challenging of all international marathons - the prestigious Boston Marathon!” he said. “I am grateful to my sponsor, Bahamas Welding & Fire (BWF), my cheerleaders, Bahamas Roadmasters Running Club (BRRC) and all of my well wishers, for the overwhelming support and prayers,” he added. Earning the six star medal is considered “the Hall of Fame” in marathon running. As at December 2023, there were only 12,772 six star medal holders worldwide. By contrast, about 1.1 million runners complete a marathon each year, or 0.01 percent of the world’s population, according to a 2019 report from the International Institute

for Race Medicine (IIRM). Cunningham, who started running over 30 years ago, has completed more than 30 certified international marathons and just as many half marathons. “At the age of 66, I am actually running at my peak and still improving. My next goal is to complete a marathon on all seven continents of the globe”.

In June, he’ll compete in the Rio De Janeiro Marathon in Brazil, leaving only three more continents to complete.

Cunningham, who is a member of Bahamas Roadmasters Running Club (BRRC), is encouraging more Bahamian men and women, especially younger ones, to get into the dynamic sport of distance running.

BRRC can be contacted via Bahamas Roadmasters on Facebook; by email: bahamasroadmasters@ gmail.com; website: www. bahamashalf242.com

EASTER CONTEST WINNERS

THE WINNERS in Easter colouring contest run by Kelly’s and The Tribune received their prizes recently. Pictured are, from left, top, Lauren Evans (first prize, ages 4-5), second row, Jodi Moxey (winner, 6-8), Autumn Newbold (second, 9-10), third row, Sarah Higgs (second, 4-5), Sanaj Higgs (third, 6-8), bottom row, Faith James (third, 9-10), and Gabriel Joseph (first, 9-10).

AROUND THE WORLD WITH WINE

SHARING a selection of Pinot Noir wines from around the world, Jimmy’s Wines and Spirits hosted its monthly in-store winetasting event at six of their locations in four islands last week, allowing guests to indulge in a sensory journey of flavours and aromas.

The nationwide Jimmy’s event was a part of its Tasting of Wines from Around the World series. Susan Warren, wine specialist and trainer for Jimmy’s Wines and Spirits, described it as “no ordinary tasting”, saying: “It was the first of its kind in The Bahamas – four wines hosted on four islands in six of our stores – all on the same night. “Each wine-tasting event features a selection of wines or spirits that will allow

guests to sample wines they may have never tried, learn more about them, and be introduced to our ever-expanding selections of premium wines and spirits. The wines we featured were also discounted on the night, they included; La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir was a favorite on all islands as was Cono Sur Bicicleta from Chile at an affordable price point.” She added: “This was the first time many of our guests had attended a wine tasting at Jimmy’s, or in some cases, had never been to the new Jimmy’s Wines and Spirits store on Windsor at Lyford Commerce and Storage Park or our newest store in Governor’s Harbour in Eleuthera.”

Jimmy’s wine experts guided guests through the

tasting, while offering 35 percent off of all the wines they tried.

Jimmy’s Wines and Spirits, over the past few years, has acquired Pernod Ricard, RemyCointreau, Southern Glazer’s Wines and Spir its, and now directly imports wines from four wineries in France, making its wine port folio expansion triple in the number of wines the company now represents.

“I was delighted to see so many locals sample the Pinot Noir’s we offered and found them too dry and strong. Then BAM, when they sampled a little Parmigiano/Reggiano Blend and salami they saw the pairing to Pinot Noir brought out all of the fruit

balanced the acids and tannins. Everyone who came to the tasting understood the reason why dry wines are better when paired with food.”

Warren and her team are now working on their next event, scheduled for May, “we have a new and everexpanding portfolio of both

wines and spirits that many of our consumers have never tried. Once they try them, they fall in love and buy them.”

EXPLORE NATIONAL PARKS FREE ON SATURDAY

THIS Saturday, April 20, people can visit and explore national parks around The Bahamas for free during National Parks Day with The Bahamas National Trust (BNT). Held every year during the week of Earth Day, National Parks Day is an opportunity for Bahamians and visitors of all ages to participate in outdoor activities and special experiences in parks managed by the BNT. This year, eight national parks across The Bahamas will have special activities, ranging from water-based adventures like kayaking and snorkelling, to birdwatching, tree plantings, guided tours, bush tea demonstrations, environmental games and activities, and much more. Food and beverage vendors will also be on site in parks during National Parks Day. “The BNT hosts National Parks Day annually in honour of Earth Day, to encourage Bahamians to connect with nature and get outside. On this day, we provide activities and experiences that aren’t normally available in parks, free of cost.” said Lakeshia Anderson-Rolle, BNT executive director. “A lot of people aren’t aware of all the ways they can use and benefit

from these special spaces that the BNT manages on their behalf. We want to inspire that connection between them and these incredible natural treasures that we need their help to preserve. We want them to experience all the creative, fun, and relaxing ways they can use these protected spaces sustainably and responsibly.” This National Parks Day, activities will be happening at eight different parks across six different islands: Bonefish Pond National Park, The Retreat Garden National Park, and Primeval Forest in New Providence; the Leon Levy

Native Plant Preserve in Eleuthera; the Rand Nature Centre in Grand Bahama; Blue Holes National Park in Andros; Inagua National Park in Inagua; and the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park in Exuma.

As the official national park managers of The Bahamas, The Bahamas National Trust strives to make parks accessible for all Bahamians and visitors alike.

To learn more about what to expect at National Parks Day 2024, visit https://bnt. bs/npd.

In total, the BNT manages 33 national parks, encompassing more than 2.2 million acres of land and sea across The Bahamas.

To learn more about the role the BNT plays in managing terrestrial and marine national parks, conserving wildlife, and informing environmental policy, please visit its website: www.bnt.bs and follow/subscribe to its various social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Pets get helping hand thanks to Cost Right

COST Right Nassau and Freeport stores has announced a donation of $4,500 to local animal welfare organisations in The Bahamas through its Love Your Pet promotion. The Bahamas Humane Society, BAARK, and Grand Bahama Humane Society each received $1,500.

The promotion, which ran from February 5 to 25, encouraged customers to purchase pet food from Cost Right stores.

A percentage of the sales from pet food during this period was matched by Cost Right and donated to the organisations.

Cost Right further supported the organisations by allowing them to showcase their work and initiatives to customers, aiming to enhance the positive impact of their collaboration and raise awareness about animal welfare. The donation, made on Friday, April 12, was met with gratitude from the recipient organisations.

Cost Right expressed its ongoing commitment to supporting the local community and looks forward to continuing its efforts to make a difference in the lives of animals.

FROM left, Naomi Grant, events marketing manager at Aml Foods Limited; and Percy Grant, of the Bahamas Humane Society.

FROM left, Trevor Edgecombe, Cost Right Freeport manager for Aml Foods Limited, and Elizabeth Burrows, of the Grand Bahama Humane Society.

The donations were made in the form of staff shirts from the Bahamas Kidney Association and a monetary donation to the Kidney Centre in Freeport to support their kidney month initiatives.

With kidney disease, including complications arising from high blood pressure and diabetes, affecting ten to 13 percent of the adult population in

The Bahamas, the need for awareness and prevention measures is critical, according to the Bahamas Kidney Association.

“The mission of the association aligns closely with RF Bank and Trust’s dedication to supporting the holistic well-being of individuals and communities,” said Rachael Allahar, AVP of marketing at RF Bank and Trust. “We recognise the importance of increasing public awareness of kidney health and preventing kidney disease to enhance the quality of life for all Bahamians.”

The Kidney Association of The Bahamas aims to educate the public on kidney functions and promote preventive measures against kidney disease. Their vision to reduce instances of kidney failure

in The Bahamas resonates deeply with RF Bank & Trust’s broader goal of assisting clients in creating wealth, encompassing financial, social, and physical well-being. “The donation to the

Freeport Kidney Centre reflects our commitment to supporting organisations that directly address the challenges faced by individuals living with kidney failure,” continued Ms Allahar.

“Hemodialysis treatments provided by the Kidney Centre are vital to the well-being of patients, and we are proud to contribute to this essential service.” The Kidney Centre in Freeport provides critical hemodialysis treatments to patients suffering from kidney failure, helping to alleviate the burden of the disease on affected individuals and their families.