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Volume: 118 No.117, May 13, 2021

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‘I was drugged and raped by immigration officer at safe house’ INSURERS SEEKING TO HOLD RATES

Deported Suriname woman at centre of attack claim files legal action for justice

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

serving three-and-a-half years in prison. The Tribune understands she had been convicted and sentenced for drug offences.

A 27-YEAR-OLD According to the writ, Surinamese woman she was taken to a safe has sued the govern- house with other detainment, claiming that an ees after a detainee at the immigraDetention tion officer Centre was drugged her suspected with alcohol of having and sexually COVID-19. violated her.

An A writ immigrafiled in the tion officer Supreme tasked with Court this CARMICHAEL Road securing week alleges Detention Centre. the safe that the house allegofficer told other officers edly entered her room about his action and the on March 11, 2021 and woman was repeatedly offered her a drink in a denied access to her law- disposable hot cup. Suryers even as immigration prised by his generosity, officials investigated her the woman asked him claims. about the kind of drink The woman was taken and she was allegedly into the custody of immi- told it was a mixture of gration officials around gin, wine and cranberry August 14, 2020 after SEE PAGE THREE

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net Bahamian insurers are “trying to hold the line” on property premium rates for 2021 after postDorian pressures resulted in increases of up to 30 percent for businesses and homeowners last year.

SEE BUSINESS SECTION

SEARCH ABANDONED THE Royal Bahamas Defence Force has called off the search for Tarran Maynard, a boater, who reportedly went missing on a journey to Abaco over a week ago. See page two for the full story.

FAMILIES FOOD AID WON’T JUST DISAPPEAR

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

LOCAL non-profit food rescue programme Hands for Hunger says the need for food assistance will likely remain past the government’s June deadline to end its national outreach.

Hands for Hunger is part of the government’s National Food Distribution Task Force and is feeding

HANDS for Hunger executive director Keisha Ellis. thousands of families in need.

When asked about the

expected need for food once the government’s programme comes to an end next month, Hands for Hunger executive director, Keisha Ellis said: “I think that food insecurity has been a part of our reality for quite some time. So do I think that food insecurity will magically disappear at the end of June? Absolutely not. No matter how hard Hands for Hunger is SEE PAGE FIVE

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

OBIE BACK TO FIGHT ELECTION

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe is among seven people the Progressive Liberal Party ratified yesterday to nearly complete its roster for the next general election.

SEE PAGE TWO

FRONT PORCH

SEASONS OF NEW GROWTH AND NEW LIFE

PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Thursday, May 13, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

DEFENCE FORCE CALLS OFF SEARCH FOR MISSING BOATER THE Royal Bahamas Defence Force has called off the search for a boater who reportedly went missing on a journey to Abaco over a week ago.

Commander William Sturrup, the RBDF’s search and rescue coordinator, said in a statement: “After days of canvassing an expansive area of waters around Chub Cay, and the Berry Islands, we have suspended search and rescue operations for the missing individual.

“The defence force is grateful to interagency partners and the United States Coast Guard for their support in this activity, and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force remains poised to keep Bahamian waters safe.”

Family members have identified the missing boater as Tarran Maynard, 35.

His sister, Inez Maynard, told The Tribune his relatives have not given up hope and are praying that he’s found alive.

However, she also said the family wants closure especially since they never found out what happened to another brother who went missing in 2014.

“I hope he is (alive) because they didn’t find anything, no boat or anything,” she said in an interview with The Tribune.

“We’ve already been through this before because David, (our brother) went missing now almost seven years and we still haven’t found him.”

The RBDF said Mr Maynard was aboard a 22-ft craft which reportedly left the capital on Sunday May 2 enroute to Abaco.

He contacted relatives during the afternoon, expressing concerns that he was taking on water approximately 15 miles east of Bullock’s Harbour, the RBDF said.

After receiving information, the United States Coast Guard Vessel Operation Turks and Caicos (OPBAT) along with RBDF assets immediately began a search operation. Along with BASRA, the police Marines Unit and volunteer boaters, an aerial search was also conducted as far as Sandy Point and Freeport, Grand Bahama without much success.

Commander Sturrup expressed his thanks to the various agencies involved in the search and sympathy to the family. The RBDF said its vessels on patrol will continue to be on the lookout for the overdue craft.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

Obie back to fight election FROM PAGE ONE Wilchcombe had made his desire to return as the PLP’s

representative in West Grand Bahama and Bimini public.

However, his efforts to secure the nomination faced significant headwinds given his status as a senior, familiar face in the PLP and his decision in 2019 to challenge PLP Chairman Fred Mitchell for the chairmanship of the party against the wishes of party leader, Philip “Brave” Davis.

Before the PLP’s 2019 convention, Mr Davis offered Mr Wilchcombe a deal relating to the next election in return for standing down.

In addition to Mr Wilchcombe, the PLP also ratified Patricia Deveaux in Bamboo Town, Kurt Hollingsworth in Marco City, Ginger Moxey in Pineridge, James Rolle-Turner in East Grand Bahama, Kirk Russell in Central Grand Bahama, and Leon Lundy in Mangrove Cay and South Andros.

Mr Lundy became the frontrunner for the Andros seat after current representative Picewell Forbes controversially bowed out in March, citing insufficient support from PLP leaders. Mr Lundy, according to Andros residents, has told people he is Mr Davis’ godson.

The candidates were ratified during a brief outdoor meeting at the PLP’s headquarters yesterday.

“We revolutionised our candidate selection process and, in an open, transparent and transformative way, selected an eclectic, diverse

and talented group of women and men who will be the future of our party and the future of your next government,” Mr Davis said in a statement.

“We have been able to put together a mix of experience and youthful enthusiasm, a team of people who have no other motive but to serve our great party and play a role in the next government of our country.

“The last four years of FNM government has been one of smoke and mirrors – say one thing and do another.

“Say one thing and do nothing.”

Of the PLP’s election candidates, seven are women.

PATRICIA DEVEAUX

KURT HOLLINGSWORTH

GINGER MOXEY

JAMES ROLLE-TURNER

KIRK RUSSELL

LEON LUNDY

OBIE WILCHCOMBE

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 13, 2021, PAGE 3

HUMAN RIGHTS BAHAMAS HITS OUT AT BANNISTER, GOVERNMENT OVER SHANTY TOWN COMMENTS HUMANS Rights Bahamas has again criticised the government for its response to calls from United Nation experts to halt demolition works of shanty towns on Abaco, saying recent comments made by Works Minister Desmond Bannister only “emphasises that the government’s actions are driven by discrimination and xenophobia.”

Mr Bannister is the second Cabinet minister to be chastised by the local human rights watchdog group this week after Immigration Minister Elsworth Johnson was criticised for his statements on the matter.

The UN said the planned evictions and demolitions violate human rights to adequate housing and urged the Minnis administration to halt its plans to demolish dozens of homes on the storm impacted island.

However, both Mr Bannister and Mr Johnson have suggested that the government will not be swayed from its plans, arguing that the Bahamas is a country of laws that must be upheld.

On Tuesday, Mr

Bannister told reporters Bahamians must decide if they want to live in a country like the Bahamas or a country like Haiti where there is “dirt, garbage, shantytowns all over the place.”

He also said exercises involving shanty towns in

“As for the unfortunate remarks of the Deputy Prime Minister Desmond Bannister, they only emphasise that the government’s actions are driven by discrimination and xenophobia.”

Human Rights Bahamas New Providence will be conducted soon, as residents have complained about illegal structures springing up.

Responding to his remarks yesterday, Rights Bahamas said: “As for the

unfortunate remarks of the Deputy Prime Minister Desmond Bannister, they only emphasise that the government’s actions are driven by discrimination and xenophobia.

“He is now the second Cabinet minister, after Immigration Minister Elsworth Johnson, to make flippant public remarks reminiscent of the intolerant utterances a former US President Donald Trump, who called Haiti and African nations ‘sh**hole countries.’

“Nevertheless, Bannister is correct: the Bahamas should not want to be like what Haiti is today,” the group added.

“The breakdown of democracy, human rights and civil society in that long suffering country is the result of a number of geopolitical and historical factors – not least the total disrespect and utter disregard for the rule of law by successive governments, for example that of François ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier, the dictator, who rode roughshod overdue process, the judiciary, and individual

WORKS Minister Desmond Bannister and Immigration Minister Elsworth Johnson.

PHOTOS: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune staff rights and freedoms.”

It continued: “We urge Mr Bannister and his colleagues to stop pushing us in the direction of Haiti and other failed states through their dictatorial, ‘might makes right’ policies and actions. We implore them to act like they are in a modern democracy: “Respect the courts, respect the rule of law, respect due process. Stop riding roughshod over constitutional rights.”

The Supreme Court in 2018 granted an injunction protecting shanty town homes in New Providence from destruction pending an outcome of a judicial review over the matter.

Government officials, however, have said homes in The Farm in Abaco and elsewhere are not subject to that injunction.

Progressive Liberal Party Leader Phillip “Brave” Davis recently told a local daily that the government should wait until the judicial review is completed before it moves to demolish homes.

Yesterday, Rights Bahamas commended Mr Davis for his “defence of due process and the rule of law on the question of the government’s egregious, extra-judicial home demolition project.”

The Ministry of Works spearheaded the demolition

of 45 “incomplete and unoccupied” structures in The Farm in April.

Last week, Mr Bannister said the government was ready to continue its actions in the community which could begin as early as this week.

However, sources on the ground told this newspaper that no occupied buildings have yet been demolished.

For his part, Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell told reporters this week that his ministry will offer some assistance to displaced shanty town residents affected by the government’s demolition exercises, regardless of their legal status.

‘I WAS DRUGGED AND RAPED BY IMMIGRATION OFFICER AT SAFE HOUSE’ FROM PAGE ONE juice. The officer left the room after giving the woman the drink but repeatedly came back to refill her cup, the suit alleges.

The writ says: “After consuming about five to six cups of the drinks, (the woman) fell sick and became extremely nauseated and weak. She refused the additional alcohol that was still being poured by (the officer). (She) had alcohol before but never felt sick so she decided to go to sleep. “(The officer) returned when (the woman) was drowsy and very intoxicated and started kissing her and then proceeded to have sexual intercourse with her. (The woman) was too weak to resist (his) sexual exploits and at that point she became highly suspicious that she may have consumed more than just alcohol as she had alcohol before and didn’t feel that way.

“At first (she) thought it was her roommate who had entered the room and then she recognised that in fact (the officer) had re-entered her room and was having sex with her. (She) was concerned about what was happening and asked (he) if he wouldn’t get in trouble for doing this and he said, ‘no I straight.’ “(The woman) was so embarrassed about what happened that she did not tell her roommate immediately. Her roommate came to the room and she saw (the officer) leaving the room. The next morning (the woman’s) roommate told her that during the night while they were sleeping a man came into the room and she was scared.

Later, (the woman) asked (the officer) if he came into the room and he said yes he did but they were ‘knocked out’ and that he only wanted to kiss her. (The woman) was experiencing an unusual excruciating pain in her anus and she asked (him) if he had anal sex with her and he said he only had vaginal sex with her. (The woman) had two children before so she was concerned about that pain in her anus that persisted for several days.

“A few days after, a few immigration officers confronted (the woman) to ask about the sexual intercourse with (the officer).

She asked (the officer) how is it that so many people were asking her about it and if he was not afraid that he would get in trouble. (The officer) responded

that ‘It was too sweet to keep to himself and so he had to tell them about it.’

He also told her he would not be in trouble but if the information got to the right ears the department would quickly deport her and that would be the end of matter as they would not believe her,” the writ claims.

The woman said an immigration officer told her such acts were frequently committed by immigration officers and that the “unlawfulness needed to stop.”

Others allegedly told her she was a snitch and should not have admitted to having sex with the officer.

“One of the officers told her in a threatening manner that she was going to cause problems for their colleague and she was to prepare herself for trouble,” the writ says. “She became fearful that her complaint would not be handled properly by the Department of Immigration, because (the officer) told her that nothing would happen to him and that she would be deported and nothing would come of the incident. She felt intimidated that she was going to be punished with further imprisonment when she was the one who was violated by (the officer).

“Another officer told (her) that it was a frequent occurrence in the Detention Centre for detainees to be sexually assaulted by predatory officers. (She) noted that (the officer) frequently spoke about sex around them while he was on duty at the safe house but he never asked and she never consented to having sex with him.”

Detention Immigration officers interviewed the woman on April 18 and told her she would remain in detention until the matter is investigated.

According to the writ, because she feared that she would not be allowed to go home, she did not reveal all details to the investigating officers.

She was allegedly too embarrassed to say the officer may have drugged her and had sex with her without a condom and she was surprised to see immigration officers investigating themselves.

She was allegedly refused to have a lawyer present for the interview.

She then refused to eat or drink.

“On or around Monday 19 April 2021 (her) flight

to Suriname was cancelled and she was interviewed by members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force,” according to the writ. (“She) again asked for her lawyers to be present before giving a statement to the police but they again refused to allow her legal representation. She told the police that she would not speak with them unless her lawyers were present.

“On or around Tuesday April 20, 2021, the police came back to check on (her). They told her that they were concerned as they were advised that she had not eaten. She told the police that she wanted to go home to her children and if they didn’t allow her to go she was going to commit suicide. She again asked to consult with her lawyers and they refused her request. Later that day (she) learnt of her sister’s death in Surname and she became more anxious to return to Suriname.”

Approval On April 21, 2021, the woman was allegedly told her request for lawyers was awaiting approval from the director of immigration. She was subsequently allowed to speak to her sister in Suriname.

Her family then contacted Callenders & Co, asking the law firm to represent her.

Ultimately, the Department of Immigration allegedly rejected all attempts by lawyers to see the woman and she was subsequently “expelled from the Bahamas to Suriname,” arriving in that country on April 29.

She allegedly told lawyers details about her encounter with the officer immediately on arrival to Suriname.

According to the writ, conditions at the Detention Centre were unsanitary and the woman had to tote water to bathe because there was no water in the showers.

The dorms were said to be dirty and the toilets were out of service.

“The fans did not work and the place was infested with mosquitos,” the writ says. “(The woman) was verbally abused every day and witnessed the beating of some of the African detainees. (She) described the conditions as cruel and inhumane and she had anxiety attacks when she thought she was going to have to remain there until her case was fully investigated.”

The alleged victim is seeking aggravated damages, punitive, exemplary and vindicatory damages and has made claims pertaining to arbitrary and unlawful detention, false imprisonment and breaches of constitutional rights pursuant to Articles 15, 17(1), 19, 25 and 26 of the Constitution and Criminal Procedure Code.

The woman, according to the writ, experienced pain and suffering because of the actions of immigration officers.

The sexual violation she allegedly experienced has caused “severe emotional harm, humiliation and degradation to her” as well.

Last month, the Department of Immigration asserted that there was “no substance” to the allegation.

In a press statement at the time, the department said an investigation by its Corruption, Complaints and Intelligence Unit along with the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s Sexual Offenses Unit was concluded in the absence of the woman submitting a complaint.

The statement alleged that the woman denied there was any inappropriate conduct toward her.

Coming from your parents Ricardo and Pamela Deveaux, sister Paige and your entire village family.

PAGE 4, Thursday, May 13, 2021

SUSPENSION OF TRAVELERS FROM HAITI TO CONTINUE FOR 30 DAYS THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that the suspension of travelers directly from, or transiting through, Haiti will continue for another 30 days.

“The Bahamas government found it necessary to take this measure, given the continuing uncertainties regarding the management of the pandemic in Haiti,” the ministry said in a statement yesterday.

“The Bahamas government also remains concerned that the government of Haiti still has not accepted the AstraZeneca vaccine offered under the World Health (Organization) COVAX Facility, and still has not put an alternative measure for vaccination in place.

“As the Bahamas seeks to manage the spread of the virus within its own borders, the government, based on the advice of health officials, deemed it necessary to take this measure to prevent risk to the nationals and residents of the Bahamas, as well as visitors to our shores.”

The ban was first put in place in February and has been extended several times since then.

THE TRIBUNE

Emergency meetings on COVID concerns called at nursing homes

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

EMERGENCY meetings on coronavirus concerns were called at several private nursing homes yesterday after government officials revealed a local eldercare home had recently experienced a COVID-19 outbreak, resulting in the death of one patient.

On Tuesday, Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell told reporters that COVID-19 exposure at one of the government’s senior citizens homes led to six seniors and four staff members testing positive for the respiratory virus, one of whom has since died in hospital.

The outbreak prompted officials to reinstate several restrictive measures at all senior citizens homes to ensure that people receiving care at the homes are kept safe.

After news of the outbreak circulated, many private nursing homes held meetings with their staff, reminding them of their duties to both adhere and enforce COVID-19 protocols where needed.

Patricia Moxey, owner of Pat’s Senior Citizens Home, told The Tribune officials are now on high alert after the incident and will continue to take the necessary precautions to ensure that seniors in nursing homes are kept safe.

She said the message will also be stressed to workers, noting that employees caught disobeying current health rules will not be tolerated.

“I heard the minister this morning and I called for (an) emergency meeting with my staff today and absolutely we will abide by all rules,” she said. “We weren’t allowing visitation at this

time. By all means, they can bring I made sure to let them know that whatever goods they would want they have to protect themselves to bring and we will sanitise it. from the folks that are inside here “(For staff), we have one door because they are the ones that are that you must enter so when you going to come in. come through that door, you are “I tell them from day one, when tested for your temperature and they come in and get to that door, you are also sanitised...so, we they have to sanitise themselves have strict protocols and even from head to toe and they have persons that we have to spray themselves hired, I deal with them before they even go to with their lifestyle and the patients.” tell them to be careA meeting was also ful where they go and expected to be held who you hang around yesterday afternoon with and make sure at Unity House on you wear your masks similar concerns. at all time, especially Yesterday, The Tribwhen you’re on the une also sought to get premises.” an update on the vacShe added: “I try cination process at to talk with my staff the care facilities as to know their wherestaff and residents of abouts and what eldercare homes were they’re doing and I among the first group let them know that eligible to receive the if you’re going to be doses. (at) this function and SOCIAL Services Minister According to Ms the next function, then Frankie Campbell said on Moxey, none of this is not the place for Tuesday that COVID-19 Pat’s Senior Citizens you. Sometimes they exposure at one of the Home’s residents say, ‘Ms Moxey, you’re government’s senior have received their trying to get personal’ citizens homes led to six vaccine to date, seniors and four staff and I say ‘No, I have members testing positive though she insists the these people’s lives – one of whom has since home has remained entrusted to me and I died in hospital.

COVID-free since the have to do what’s best pandemic. The facility, for them.’” which employs some Similar warnings were given to 30 people, houses more than 50 staff members at Good Samaritan elderly residents, including some Senior Citizen’s Home, who have 22 boarders. since upped their guard against “We have the forms that were the virus. signed by the loved ones but no “I had to have a meeting with one (from health) has come to us the staff this morning,” said Dr yet, but they’ve been calling and Sinyma Capron, head of the I’m sure they will make their way eldercare home, when contacted to us very soon,” she said. “Most yesterday of them, they’re family is speak“It’s a very scary thing. I was ing for them and their family telling them that they are folks wants them to take it and those that are out there because they in their right mind are saying ‘yes, have to be coming in to work so they will take it.’ It’s very few of

them. All together, we should have between 28 and 30 persons (who will take the vaccine), somewhere in that neighbourhood.”

For her part, Ms Moxey said she is still consulting with her doctor and further educating herself until she makes a final decision.

At the Good Samaritan Senior Citizen’s Home, which is home to some 24 people, there is also a sense of vaccine hesitancy there.

Dr Capron told The Tribune that no one has received their first shot yet because they are still waiting to receive word from health officials.

She said: “The doctor, she told me that her team was going to get back to me and they would come in and give the shots to the set who want to take but she hasn’t gotten back to me yet but since all of this come up now, probably I will be hearing from them soon anyway.”

Dr Capron said she has received approval from about four relatives who want their loved ones to get the shot.

As for those who are in sound mind to make the decision for themselves, she said “you have like five or six of them” who have agreed to get vaccinated.

“Some seem to be afraid (to get vaccinated) because of their medical issues,” Dr Capron said.

“I know the people say that everyone who has those things like hypertension and all that should take it but I don’t know, they just afraid.”

When asked if anyone had been vaccinated at Unity House, supervisor Judith Smith replied:“ “No, not yet.”

Up to press time, The Bahamas had almost 11,000 total confirmed COVID-19 cases, however less than 800 of those are still active.

COVID-19 DEATH TOLL PAHO: ACT WITH ‘UTMOST CAUTION’ ON LOOSENING TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS RISES TO 215 ANOTHER COVID19 death has been reported, bringing the nation’s toll to 215.

The Ministry of Health said a 68-year-old Exuma woman who died on May 11 is the country’s latest COVID-19 death.

Twenty-six other deaths are currently under investigation.

The Ministry of Health also reported 33 new coronavirus cases yesterday, pushing the overall tally to 10,966. However only 742 of those cases are active.

Fifty-five people are in hospital with the virus.

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright tribunemedia.net

PAN American Health Organization officials have urged countries in the region to “act with the utmost caution” when it comes to loosening travel restrictions for fully vaccinated tourists.

Dr Sylvain Aldighieri, PAHO’s incident manager, gave the advice at PAHO’s weekly webinar update on COVID-19.

“PAHO is aware of this strain that the pandemic is posing on the tourism industry and on national economies depending on

tourism, specifically in the Caribbean,” Dr Aldighieri said.

“As well as we are aware of the efforts of cruise lines to establish preventive and mitigation measures onboard vessels, however considering the major COVID-19 transmission events that occurred

onboard cruise ships worldwide at the beginning of the pandemic, it is imperative to act with the utmost caution.

“At present with the evolution of the spread of the virus across the Americas and in Europe, the unknowns related to the impact of COVID-19

vaccines on the transmission of the virus and the challenges related to accessing the vaccine and to vaccination roll out campaigns in most countries of origins, we need to act with caution.

“The WHO paper published in February 2021, states that proof of vaccination against COVID-19 should neither be regarded as a guarantee to make one free of infection nor be required as a condition to undertake international travel. This is a complex matter.”

He also said that in early May, the Centres for Disease Control in the United States published technical instructions for assimilated voyages by cruise ships.

The approach of the CDC, he said, is an example of establishing regulatory frameworks at national levels for countries that would receive international travellers, including countries where the cruises originate.

Dr Aldighieri said the CDC instructions clearly define responsibilities of authorities on a national level, the cruise line operators and also the passengers.

As of May 1, international visitors travelling to The Bahamas who are fully vaccinated and have passed the two-week immunity period have been exempt from testing requirements for entry and inter-island travel.

Yesterday, PAHO also confirmed that a variety of common SARS-CoV-2 variants have been identified in The Bahamas..

The organisation also said although no variants have been identified by name so far, circulation cannot be ruled out. Therefore, it said, new samples have been sent to the PAHO Sequencing Reference Lab in Fiocruz (the Oswald Cruz Foundation) to maintain the surveillance.

The organisation will soon host a special webinar to specifically address variants.

PAHO’s director, Dr Carissa Etienne, said there is clear indication in the region that transmission of COVID-19 is not being controlled.

“Nearly 40 percent of all global deaths reported last week happened right here in the Americas,” she said. “This is a clear sign that transmission is far

from being controlled in our region, even as countries like the US and Brazil are reporting reductions in cases.

“In North America, Canada is seeing higher rates of infections than the US, particularly across eastern Canada and the northern territory, home to a majority indigenous population.”

Just last week, the region reported more than 1.2 million new COVID cases and nearly 34,000 COVID-related deaths.

Neighbouring Cuba continues to drive most new infections in the Caribbean, although smaller countries like Trinidad and Tobago are experiencing significant jumps.

Dr Etienne said that in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, COVID-19 cases in evacuation shelters continue to be a challenge, following the recent volcanic eruptions. National borders in the Americas are also creating a challenge with cases accelerating.

“Our health systems are challenged to care for an influx in COVID patients as they scale vaccination efforts. More than 140 million people have been fully vaccinated against COVID in the Americas. The WHO’s recent approval of the Sinopharm vaccine offers fresh confidence to countries in the region where the vaccine is already in use and brings hope for expanding access to vaccines in the Americas.

“But until we have enough vaccines to protect everyone, our health systems and the patients that rely on them remain in danger.

“Across our region, nearly 80 percent of our intensive care units are filled with COVID patients, and the numbers are even direr in some places.”

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health reported some 33 new cases of COVID19 with 25 of them in New Providence. The other eight include two in Grand Bahama, three in the Berry Islands and three in Cat Island.

Of the 55 people in hospital sick with the virus, five are in the Intensive Care Unit.

Two of the new cases have a history of recent travel. There are a total of 10,966 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 13, 2021, PAGE 5

Study: Living wage in New Providence is $2,625 and $3,550 in Grand Bahama

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A 2020 study by the Government and Public Policy Institute of University of The Bahamas concluded that a living wage in New Providence and Grand Bahama is $2,625 and $3,550 per month respectively.

The September 30, 2020 study is authored by Lesvie Archer, Olivia Saunders, Bridget Hogg, Vijaya Permual and Brittney Johnson.

“Our gross living wage estimate for New Providence is 26 percent lower than the Grand Bahama living wage estimate, nearly 200 percent higher than the national minimum wage, 127 percent higher than 2013 poverty line and nearly 75 percent higher than the minimum wage hike proposed by a local union,” the report says.

“Our living wage estimate for Grand Bahama is nearly 300 percent higher than the living wage, 200 percent higher than the 2013 poverty line and 140 percent higher than the minimum wage hike proposed by a local union.”

The country’s minimum wage is currently $210 a week.

To calculate the living wage, researchers considered costs of an affordable and nutritious diet, house and utility, education, healthcare, transportation, clothing, recreation, emergency and unexpected event funds, savings and investments, among other things.

Their research followed a model laid out by economist Richard Anker who defined a living wage in terms of what the researchers say is its ability to sustain a person’s “physical, emotional, social and cultural needs and that of their family beyond mere subsistence.”

Researchers concluded that the daily cost of food on a “model diet” averages $10 per person in New Providence and $1,150 per month for a nuclear family of four when accounting for free school lunch programmes.

“The model diet reflects a nutritious diet, local food preferences, low-cost selections, and is calorie sufficient,” they wrote.

In Grand Bahama, the

cost of food on a model diet is likewise $13 per day and $1,550 per month for a nuclear family of four.

Researchers concluded

“Our gross living wage estimate for New Providence is 26 percent lower than the Grand Bahama living wage estimate, nearly 200 percent higher than the national minimum wage, 127 percent higher than 2013 poverty line and nearly 75 percent higher than the minimum wage hike proposed by a local union.” that $650 and $900 respectively are the monthly costs for basic but decent housing in New Providence and Grand Bahama. This includes $400 and $700 respectively for rent, and $250 and $200 for utilities

THE STUDY was conducted by the Government and Public Policy Institute of University of The Bahamas.

like electricity, water and gas.

Non-food and non-housing costs were estimated at $2,200 in New Providence and $2,800 in Grand Bahama. For nuclear families of four, the costs were estimated at $4,000 and $5,750 respectively.

Researchers’ methodological strategy involved fieldwork on New Providence and Grand Bahama, including examining houses and the prices of items in food stores; and secondary data sources like the 2020 University of the Bahamas Housing Registry, 2019 Labour Market Information Newsletter, 2017 Labour Force Report, 2016 Government of the Bahamas Salary Book, etc.

Following Richard Anker’s work, researchers distinguished between a living wage for New Providence and Grand Bahama.

They wrote: “Our decision to estimate separate living wages signifies a sensitivity and respect for each island’s unique socio-economic composition. First, New Providence reflects an urban environment and houses more than 85

percent of the nation’s population…Grand Bahama, on the other hand, reflects more of a suburban jurisdiction, especially when compared to the more rural islands across the Bahamian archipelago. Per the latest Housing Expenditure Survey Report, Grand Bahama is under-represented in the poorest and second highest quintiles and is over-represented in the middle quintiles (quintiles 2,3 and 5). This middle over-representation suggests Grand Bahama island would benefit greatly the implementation of a living wage. This suburbanurban-rural difference is an important distinction as it has implications on each island’s poverty rate, level of employment and cost of living.

“Cost of living expenses vary across islands due to inter-island transportation expenses. This means that the cost of living on each island is largely influenced by the cost of transporting goods and services therein.

As a nation that imports over 90 percent of its food and materials, New Providence island operates as

the hub for related warehousing, administrative and distribution activity.

“New Providence receives bulk import orders, breaks them down and distributes them to the remaining islands, some of which are more than 200 miles away. Transportation costs generated from this distribution process affect the cost of living. For example, on March 11, 2020, the cost of gasoline was estimated at $4.50 on New Providence but $6.50 in the nation’s most southern island of Inagua. Accordingly, the variation in living expenses across all islands of the Bahamas suggests the inadequacy of proposing to calculate a single living wage for low-wage workers across the entire country. Therefore, inspired by the International Labour Organisation’s living wage specialist Richard Anker’s call to respect the differences between urban and rural environments by calculating their living wage estimates separately, this study offers two living wage estimates, one for New Providence and one for Grand Bahama.”

FAMILIES FOOD AID WON’T JUST DISAPPEAR FROM PAGE ONE working, that just won’t be the case.

“I think that there will definitely still be a need past June and I’m really excited to see what other innovative ways we can begin to address this now long-term food insecurity that’s been caused by COVID-19.”

She said while the demand for food has remained high during the pandemic, the numbers have been fluctuating recently.

“Well, you know what the numbers remain high but the names of the people that are on the distribution list that’s changing, because what we’re finding is that there are some people that had a very hard time at the start of the pandemic but are now finding their footing but at the same time there are people at the beginning of the pandemic that were able to kind of hold on a little bit.

“They weren’t in need at the very beginning but now because things are, you know, going on for so long and it’s taking quite a while for the economy to really bounce back.

“We’re finding that people that were able to hold on, that were okay for you know the first half of the pandemic are now presenting themselves as needing assistance.”

As for the number of people being assisted this quarter since January, she answered: “In this phase of the task force we are currently serving 3,500 families.”

She clarified that the number was within the organisation’s zone of the southwest and southeast portion of New Providence—from Fox Hill Road south in the east straight down to Adelaide.

Yesterday, Hands for Hunger’s pantry opened at the Shops at Carmichael Road plaza.

Ms Ellis gave a tour of the pantry which is now serving people, but only those on their distribution list.

“We’re serving our families that we have from the task force and they are served from this place.

We are not able to take on new people just yet,” she explained. “We’re asking people to book appointments to come.”

The pantry’s location is very important in helping Hands for Hunger assist persons in need.

“We actually saw in our research that there are a number of people seeking help from us from this Carmichael area and so

we thought this would be a really good place for us to really get into the heart of the community that’s asking us for help and the good thing about City 2000 is that it’s actually really accessible,” Ms Ellis said. “We found that from this location it was relatively easy for people to get to us from all over the island.”

She said the organisation is seeking donations to help further its work.

“Now those of you that know Hands for Hunger, for (a) long time our main bread and butter, so to speak, used to be food collected from the hotels. Of course with the hotels being closed, that’s not much of an option as it was before.

Now we hope to see that increase even more and get back to the numbers where they were. We do see an increase already….so with those items…..we’re still able to support all of our agencies that we’ve always supported.

“So what we want to do with this pantry is really increase assistance to individual families, not so much through our agencies, and, yes, because we now are stocking our shelves we absolutely are seeking donations from food stores, from wholesalers. I know people tend to think of us as fresh food only, but we absolutely love the donations of canned goods and pantry items.”

FROM left: Precious-Fortune Thompson, volunteer, community events coordinator; Aaron Sargent, multimedia manager; Ormanic Bien-Aime, office administrator; Jason Knowles, head of logistics; Keisha Ellis, executive director and Stacyann Walkine, task force clerk.

Photos: Racardo Thomas

HANDS for Hunger executive director Keisha Ellis.

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PAGE 6, Thursday, May 13, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

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Putting a dollar value on nature will give governments and businesses more reasons to protect it PRESIDENT Joe Biden calls climate change “the existential crisis of our time” and has taken steps to curb it that match those words. They include returning the U.S. to the Paris Agreement; creating a new climate Cabinet position; introducing a plan to slash fossil fuel subsidies; and announcing ambitious goals to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

But climate change is not the only global environmental threat that demands attention. Scientists widely agree that loss of wildlife and the natural environment is an equally urgent crisis. Some argue that biodiversity loss threatens to become Earth’s sixth mass extinction. But unlike efforts to fight climate change – which centre on clear, measurable goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – there is no globally accepted metric for saving biodiversity.

As an expert on budgeting and public finance, I know that governments and private businesses alike pay much more attention to resources when they have a well-defined price tag. I believe that overhauling society’s concept of wealth to include “natural capital” – the value nature provides to humans – is a critical step for slowing and reversing the loss of precious ecosytems.

What is natural capital?

Natural capital can be defined as the world’s stocks of natural assets – soil, air, water, grasslands, forests, wetlands, rocks and minerals – and all of its living things, from mammals and fish to plants and microbes. Conservation experts estimate that these resources contribute more than US$125 trillion to the global economy every year.

Humans depend on nature’s contributions for survival. For example, forests absorb carbon and filter the water we drink. Wetlands and coral reefs mitigate flooding. Bees and other insects pollinate crops, enabling us to grow food.

But human societies don’t formally recognize the economic value of these services. This oversight encourages people to recklessly deplete the natural environment.

A recent review of the economics of biodiversity, commissioned by the U.K. government and led by Cambridge University economist Sir Parth Dasgupta, warns that human prosperity is growing at a “devastating cost to nature” and estimates that it would take 1.6 Earths to maintain the world’s current living standards. The report calls for the world to treat nature like an asset to be reported in financial statements and national accounts.

The Capitals Coalition, a global consortium of 380 initiatives and businesses, is trying to “change the math.”

The organisation seeks to persuade at least half of the world’s businesses, financial institutions and governments to incorporate natural capital into their decision-making by 2030.

Valuing ecosystems Current accounting methods used by corporations and governments largely ignore what ecosystems and their services contribute to the economy and to human social well-being, jobs and livelihoods. As a consequence, modern societies spend far more on investments that deplete or exploit natural assets than they do to preserve them.

Under the current model, shortterm economic gains typically win out against longer-term ecological benefits.

For example, failing to maintain forests can spark wildfires. And constructing homes on fragile coastal wetlands can erode soil and reduce fish stocks, destroying local communities.

A recent study by the Paulson Institute, a research institute founded by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, estimated that global investments that degrade nature exceed

conservation efforts by $600 billion to $824 billion per year.

Natural capital accounting would require businesses and governments to calculate how human activity affects nature, much as they assess depreciation of buildings or machinery.

Analyzed in this way, nature is a financial asset, and damage to it becomes a liability. This approach creates incentives to conserve natural resources and restore others that have been degraded or depleted.

Global recognition of this issue is growing. In March 2021 the United Nations updated a statistical framework for standardizing ecosystem accounting, which was first published in 2012. These guidelines help countries track changes in ecosystems and their services and provide leaders with a baseline with which to compare their stocks and flows when making policy decisions.

Some 90 countries have adopted this System of Environmental Economic Accounting and produced baseline “national capital accounts.”

They include European Union members, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and more than 40 developing countries. The U.S. is planning to implement this approach but has not done so yet.

Assessing nature’s value Placing values on natural assets is really no different from government assessments of the benefits of new roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

People intuitively understand that natural resources are precious. And the COVID-19 pandemic has made clear how closely human health is intertwined with the health of the planet.

In response to the biodiversity crisis, President Biden has aligned the U.S. with the global 30x30 campaign, a plan to protect at least 30% of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030. Multiple scientific studies have shown that achieving this goal would conserve species, store carbon, prevent future pandemics and boost economic growth.

The year 2021 marks the start of the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide. Today, according to a recent study, less than 3% of the world’s land remains ecologically intact with healthy wildlife populations and undisturbed habitat.

The U.S has lost decades of potential progress since Congress suspended fledgling efforts by the Bureau of Economic Analysis to develop environmental accounting methods in 1995.

Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey and other federal agencies are now urging the U.S. to adopt national capital accounts using the U.N. framework.

In contrast, the U.K. created public environmental accounts and set up a Natural Capital Committee in 2012, led by its finance ministry, to help corporations develop natural capital accounts.

Today, the U.K. maintains these accounts, which capture data on the size, condition, quantity and value of habitats and ecosystem services. President Biden could empower the U.S. Treasury Department to spearhead a similar initiative.

Adopting metrics to measure and track the benefits people receive from wildlife and ecosystems would clarify how human activities affect nature and show how much investment is needed to reverse humanity’s current destructive trajectory. Conservation advocates will be much better positioned to protect our planet’s resources with a strong balance sheet to back it up.

This article is by Linda J. Bilmes, Harvard Kennedy School, for theconversation.com

UN appears to endorse shanty towns EDITOR, The Tribune.

IT WOULD appear by their recent bumbling statement that the United Nations is still grappling with putting a definition to our so-called Haitian problem.

Is ours a refugee problem, a migrant workers problem, a stateless people problem, an illegal immigration problem or a squatter’s problem? Perhaps there is a tinge of all the above.

But the UN obviously was impetuous in weighing in on the situation here.

Perhaps their press office should have consulted with legal and public affairs before hitting “send” on their last press release.

When hurricane Dorian hit in 2019, UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez was invited to come see what the future of climate change looks like for our planet.

He was Prime Minister of Portugal for seven years then UN High Commissioner for Refugees for 10 years after that.

As his helicopter circled Abaco, he looked down at scenes that ranged from mere damage to devastation.

As they hovered over the shantytown that was once known as the Mud, his minders surely would have given him a brief on who lived and died there and why.

Dorian was an epiphany for Prime Minister Minnis and many Bahamians.

Shock quickly turned to anger as we questioned why successive governments allowed the squalor to exist. No human being deserves to live in a hovel.

Especially not in a country that has the highest GDP per capita in all Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

The problem that vexes us all is that we must shoulder some the burden of the poorest nation in LAC.

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net

Haiti’s problems are intractable and after numerous military and economic interventions, even the United States seems to have washed its hands of Haiti’s problems.

When the Secretary General reads his daily brief on the 15 active peacekeeping missions in the world today, where UN soldiers are on the ground, only one is in our hemisphere, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), under the command of the Brazilian army.

There are 2,400 activeduty military personnel and 2,500 international policemen on the ground in Haiti right now.

But the UN overlooked that issue when they admonished us for demolishing the shantytowns to ensure we don’t suffer the human misery (not to mention international embarrassment) of another hurricane destroying another shantytown.

One thing the UN stresses in their treaties is that migrants/refugees/illegal immigrants be treated no worse than the nationals of the country. The flip side to this is that they should not be given special treatment not available to citizens and legal immigrants.

No Bahamian can build a squatter’s camp without risking hearing the rumble of bulldozers.

That the Haitians existed on the outskirts of the law and logic for so long is a cause for shame on all politicians.

The government is right to push back on the UN for their hasty decision that was perhaps made ex-parte after a single pleading by squatter’s rights shaman Fred Smith who appears to be at war with any word,

coma or hyphen in the Constitution that doesn’t meet his liking.

In his eyes the government – any government – is damned for what they do and damned for what they don’t do.

But we must not give in to pressure or cave on doing what’s right and what has already passed legal muster.

Those people displaced by the demolition of shantytowns who may have a claim to be here or those for whom a compassionate case to remain here can be made, should indeed not be left homeless. The government, the churches, family members and Samaritans should step in to assist them.

What the United Nations should have said instead was that they would pay for those here illegally to be returned to Haiti and perhaps given priority standing to apply from there for lawful re-admission to the Bahamas in a labour visa scheme.

Of course, Haiti has played games with us for decades.

They encourage their people to leave, and they make us jump through hoops to send their citizens back.

Until we realize that Haiti’s largest foreign exchange earner is remittances from migrants/ refugees/illegal immigrants abroad, and we come to understand that one of the most powerful Ministries in Haiti is the Ministry of Haitians Living Abroad, we will never come to understand that there are no simple answers to our Haitian problem.

If Haiti’s economic policy is to grow remittances, then it follows that its domestic policy is to tacitly approve of any Haitian who wants to leave.

THE GRADUATE Nassau, May 12, 2021.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 13, 2021, PAGE 7

PROBATION FOR BEHAVING IN DISORDERLY MANNER

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A HARBOUR Island man who behaved in a disorderly manner and cursed an officer who caught him buying a marijuana joint was yesterday placed on probation for a year.

Robin Smith Jr, 31, was arrested after he was found with a gram of Indian hemp on May 8.

Prosecutors said when officers approached and questioned Smith, Jr, he began using obscene language and “throwing his body from side to side”.

They also said he caused over $500 worth of damage to a plexi-glass screen in the police station’s charge room when he was taken in for questioning.

He admitted the offences when he appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis.

The court was told that that night, officers on mobile patrol in the Dunmore Street area observed two men sitting in a golf cart exchanging an object in a suspicious manner. When they approached the men and informed them that they would be searched for dangerous drugs and firearms, Smith Jr resisted.

He was subsequently arrested for disorderly

behaviour, but when he was taken to the Harbour Island Police Station he continued to “throw his body from side to side” and bang his head on the station’s door frame. The prosecution said the accused also hit his head against the plexiglass in the charge room, causing extensive damage. When officers eventually restrained him and searched him in custody, they found the marijuana joint.

When he was questioned, he admitted to using obscene language, behaving in a disorderly manner, causing damage and being in possession of illegal drugs.

Yesterday, Smith, Jr, was represented by attorney Ian Cargill. He told the magistrate his client was a fisherman who also ran a golf cart cleaning facility. He also said the accused was under the influence of alcohol at the time of his arrest and reacted the way he did because he was scared that he had been caught.

In response, Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis told the accused he needed to have a level head if he wanted to be a businessman.

As a result, he placed him on probation for one year.

He warned Smith, Jr, that if he was convicted within that time frame, he would be sentenced to nine months in prison.

VAGRANT PUNCHED DRIVER WHO REFUSED TO GIVE HIM A DOLLAR

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A VAGRANT punched a driver who refused to give him a dollar at a traffic light, a court heard yesterday.

Police arrested Anthony Swann after he assaulted a woman as she waited for a traffic light to turn green at Cordeaux Avenue on May 11.

The court was told that around 10.50am that day, the complainant was driving with her daughter when Swann walked up to their vehicle, punched her in the face and tried to take her wallet out of her lap.

The prosecution said the woman then contacted police who responded to her complaint a short time later.

However, when they attempted to arrest the accused, he resisted violently while kicking and shouting: “Y’all ain’t taking me nowhere.”

When Swann was eventually detained, he was taken to a nearby station where he admitted the offences and told officers the woman refused to give him a dollar when he asked.

When he appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis yesterday, he pleaded guilty to assault and resisting arrest.

When he was asked why he committed the offences, Swann told the magistrate he did not know which woman he “fooled with” because there were “so much other cars”.

As a result, Magistrate Rolle Davis remanded him into custody for a psychiatric evaluation. He returns to court on June 21 for sentencing.

DUAL REVERSE OSMOSIS SYSTEM INSTALLED AT RAND

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

WATER Mission has completed the installation of a dual reverse osmosis system at the Rand Memorial Hospital to ensure there is always access to a safe water supply, especially following a disaster.

Jake Voss, project engineer with Water Mission, said the system can desalinate water accessed by wells or the main city water source from the utility company.

“We were all here post Dorian during the initial response, and we saw a great need for safe water at the Rand, one of the largest hospital facilities in the Bahamas,” he said.

Mr Voss said that Water Mission—a nonprofit, Christian engineering organisation based in North Charleston, South Carolina—was the engineering side of the project and focused on implementation of the system, which consists of two reverse osmosis units that can run off multiple water sources.

He added that there is also post-treatment for the use of an existing water storage tank for completely safe potable water into the hospital so that there is access to drinkable, safe water anywhere in the facility.

Mr Voss said the system is designed for standard daily use and is also capable of producing upward of 150,000 gallons of water per day.

Additionally, it was designed with future resiliency in mind, he stated.

“It can be elevated above the flood level of three feet.

It is also designed to treat water and remove the salt of highly salinised water,” explained Mr Voss. “This has dual feeds and can pull off utility company water and pull water from the wells.”

The project started in early 2020 but was delayed due to COVID-19.

Mr Voss said Water Mission, SBP, and the CDC Foundation are partners in the project for the Rand Hospital. It is their largest project by far. They have also installed a reverse osmosis unit at the Eight Mile Rock Clinic, and systems at three small clinics in Abaco through other partnerships.

“Water Mission has been here with lots of different partnerships, and we also have a large solarisation project in the well fields and pumping station and all distribution in Marsh Harbour,” he said.

Hospital administrator Sharon Williams said that access to safe water is especially important to the hospital.

“That fact that we now have a water reservoir on our compound with purified water available… for the hospital is a great improvement in our ability to function effectively with this system.

We thank WM and SBP for their contribution to the stability of our system on a regular basis and for disaster preparation,” she said.

Pastor Eddie Victor, of the National Pastor’s Alliance, said Water Mission is a phenomenal NGO. He made a presentation to the organisation on behalf of pastors throughout the island.

He said that Water Mission has helped the Bahamas tremendously.

“They have provided safe and clean drinking water across this island, setting up a RO unit in Grand Bahama, Abaco, and now a system at Rand. And they are also setting up a solar system for water supply in Abaco and have provided RO to all government schools in the critical period during the aftermath of Dorian,” he said.

HARRY BEVANS, of McClean’s Town, charged with killing in the course of dangerous driving. Photo: Vandyke Hepburn

MAN CHARGED OVER FATAL TRAFFIC ACCIDENT

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A 45-year-old man of East Grand Bahama was charged yesterday in connection with a traffic accident that killed two people, one of them a 12-year-old girl.

Harry Bevans, of McClean’s Town, appeared before Magistrate Charlton Smith in Freeport on two counts

of killing in the course of dangerous driving.

He is accused of driving a GMC Yukon on Grand Bahama Highway around 4.30pm on December 16, 2020 in a dangerous manner, causing the deaths of Sarah Bevans, 12, and Stanford Glinton.

He was also charged with driving a motor vehicle without third party risk insurance.

Bevans was also injured in the

accident and was using a cane in the courtroom. He was not represented by an attorney during his arraignment.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Inspector Anthony Sawyer, the prosecutor, did not object to bail.

The case was adjourned to August 3 for trial, and Magistrate Smith granted Bevans $4,000 bail with one suretor on each count.

PAGE 8, Thursday, May 13, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Seasons of new growth & new life Determined

growth, unseen possibilities and sometimes the fitful start of hope.

But what is true for flora often evades the human animal and spirit.

Like all epochal events or periods, the COVID19 pandemic has been an

“A part of the good life requires the sort of self-reflection and introspection that allows us to survey and examine our fuller selves and consciousness, our appetites and pratfalls, our gifts and yearning.” edge event for most of humanity.

It has shattered many lives and futures.

Many of its far-reaching effects remain unknown.

The pandemic may last many years.

For many, isolated in homes, removed from family and friends and the regular drumbeat of daily life, the pandemic has produced a myriad of psychological, emotional, physical and spiritual rumblings, unease and affects.

The pandemic has induced deep reflection and the surveying of the past and possible future for many who may emerge with the clarity of a new vision for themselves and contributions to their communities and world.

Some have recognized that their pre-pandemic lives were mere drudgery and routine from which they are determined to break.

Some are emerging from the pandemic with new ideas for life, including in relationships and in the worlds of work and enjoyment.

A dear friend notes that he has let go of relationships which have run a certain course but are no longer fruitful or life-giving.

The pandemic has accelerated the discontinuation of various toxic relationships with former colleagues and friends who, given over to resentments and envy, remain stuck in certain pathologies and patterns.

While many are finding new life despite this season of death and suffering, many will not experience new dawns and life because change is frightening.

All periods of life and the ability to change require an openness to growth.

But growth demands self-reflection.

Introspection frightens the hell out of some people, desperately afraid of what they may discover about their true selves, inclusive of better angels and personal demons.

In the brilliant 1964 film, The Night of The Iguana, adapted from Tennessee Williams’s play of the same name, a female character is about to be confronted with the reality that she is a lesbian.

Before she is about to be confronted, one of the other characters tells the confronter to leave her alone, because the truth about herself would shatter her and that she did not possess the ability to hear more about her motivations and truer self.

Some spend their entire lives with their ears stuffed up, running away from themselves, always seeking distractions and constant avoidance, telling themselves, “Everything is okay.”

A refusal to grow.

Frightened by change.

FOR SALE

THE royal poincianas are blooming. Some of the tall umbrella-like trees with their extended canopies and smooth grey barks are nearly fully inflamed, commemorated meticulously in the brushstrokes of Bahamian artist Chan Pratt.

Some are slowly offering their blooms after months of seeming rest, filling in slowly as Georges Seurat might a canvas with his impressionistic pointillism.

When in full-bloom, the tree with its dappled shade and spreading branches of mostly deep-red and orange petals will catch up to the early bloomers.

A few boast yellowflowering cultivars, with “delicate, fern-like leaflets” as a backdrop for the “four spoon-shaped petals about three inches long, and one slightly larger petal, called the standard ... [resembling] orchids.”

Native to Madagascar, the fast-growing evergreen tree is also called flame tree or flamboyant.

The botanical name for the tree is Delonix regia, derived from the Greek words delos (conspicuous) and onyx (claw), both referring to their exuberant appearance.

One gets a sense that the trees recognize their brilliance.

One of the most dazzling trees in creation, the fruit of the royal poinciana is a seed pod which can grow to over a foot long.

Generations of Bahamian children have transformed the pod into a musical instrument and employed its seeds for art work, games and as instruments of mischief, scratching the seeds against a surface, and then stinging friends with the makeshift weapon.

Spring is once again rushing into summer.

Even more so during this second year of COVID-19 as vaccines and the desire for greater normalcy are hurtling us to something new and uncertain.

Sometimes we have to force the spring and the summer.

A change of seasons brings new life, new

Never truly experiencing new life.

This is heartbreaking tragedy.

Throughout his mesmerizing plays such as A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, the gay, alcoholic Williams never relents in forcing us to look honestly at the conceits, the lies, the pathologies, the repression and the detritus of our lives.

It is easier and less painful to look away from our demons while busily trying to locate and to cast them out of others.

But most of our demons are cleverer than our feeble selves.

Because they are so pernicious and wily, most of us need others to help us to wrestle with our demons.

Our mistakes and faults in life only define us when we are incapable of seeking paths of redemption and growth, when we are afraid to ask for help from friends, from family, from

therapists directors.

or

spiritual

Yearning Instead, many seek an elusive pleasure-filled happiness, often believing that material goods can satisfy a creature hungry, yearning for something much more, including love and a certain peace despite the disappointments and difficulties of life.

Writing on a BBC website, Nat Rutherford observed: “Self-help books and ‘positive psychology’ promise to unlock that psychological state or happy mood.

“But philosophers have tended to be sceptical of this view of happiness because our moods are fleeting and their causes uncertain. Instead, they ask a related but wider question: what is the good life?”

A part of the good life requires the sort of self-reflection and

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introspection that allows us to survey and examine our fuller selves and consciousness, our appetites and pratfalls, our gifts and yearning.

To be loved beyond one’s weaknesses and mistakes is one of the most empowering things for a human being.

It is to be loved for oneself.

If we are fortunate, at some point we also come to more deeply love ourselves, opening us to growth and greater true esteem for our human dignity.

But this ability to love oneself more fully, to forgive oneself and to seize the courage and to grow typically requires the help and the support of others from the isolated islands on which we build personal empires of the heart and soul.

Such growth and openness may bring us to new or deeper relationships, new vocations and careers, greater life adventures and possibilities we cannot see when mired in certain patterns of life.

The royal poincianas are blooming.

They are brilliant and exuberant because they remain in an endless cycle of renewal and new life.

They bloom at their own pace but they bloom indeed.

A beloved relative, a nonagenarian, recently stated that he would like to study Spanish again.

He is determined to keep growing.

A friend has a rock in her garden on which is painted the encouragement to her plants and to herself, “Grow, dammit, grow!”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 13, 2021, PAGE 9

We may be entering one of the most discouraging epochs in American political history

L

IZ CHENEY is an improbable saviour-martyr.

But as the overblown drama of her dismissal as the third-ranking Republican in the party’s House of Representatives leadership table has played out in the mass print media and on television news and opinion shows during the past week, Cheney was increasingly being portrayed as just that – a saviour-martyr.

In fairness to the Republican Party, it’s helpful to examine the position from which she was sacked yesterday morning. The number three spot in the House GOP hierarchy is titled the House Conference Chair, and its principal responsibility is messaging.

That means first and foremost the incumbent must relentlessly push the current Republican Party line. Under House minority leader Kevin McCarthy of California and his deputy, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, that course includes overall fealty to ex-President Donald Trump.

To observe that Cheney is out of step with her party’s House leadership is a colossal understatement.

Consider some of the things she has said in the past several days: “Today we face a threat America has never seen before. A former President, who provoked a violent attack on this Capitol in an effort to steal the election, has resumed his aggressive effort to convince Americans that the election was stolen from him. He risks inciting further violence.

“Millions of Americans have been misled by the former President,” Cheney continued. “They have heard only his words but not the truth, as he continues to undermine our democratic process, sowing seeds of doubt about whether democracy really works at all.”

It is entirely plausible to surmise Cheney was booted out of her party’s House leadership because she did almost nothing to avert such a fate.

Many observers feel this is part of an evolving strategic political plan whereby she assumes a leading role in returning to power the

Republican apparatus of her ex-Vice President father and his allies.

Even as she denounces Trump in stark, unambiguous terms, Cheney reminds those paying attention that “I am a conservative Republican and the most conservative of conservative principles is reverence for the rule of law. The Electoral College has voted,” Cheney said.

“More than 60 state and federal courts, including

historically played virtually no role in national politics.

She is being portrayed as an underdog, battling gamely for principle against a tyrannical demagogue of almost mythical proportions.

Among other things, what we are watching in America is convincing evidence that the mass media has learned virtually nothing from its many mistakes over the past half-dozen years.

“Liz Cheney has become almost a household name in the US overnight.

News shows on both sides of the political spectrum have seized on her defiance of Trump and her skilful oratory to showcase this lone congressperson from the remote, largely forgotten state of Wyoming that has historically played virtually no role in national politics.” multiple judges the former President appointed, have rejected his claims. The Trump Department of Justice investigated the former President’s claims of widespread fraud and found no evidence to support them.

“Those who refuse to accept the rulings of our courts are at war with the Constitution,” Cheney said, adding, “Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former President’s crusade to undermine our democracy.”

Liz Cheney has become almost a household name in the US overnight. News shows on both sides of the political spectrum have seized on her defiance of Trump and her skilful oratory to showcase this lone congressperson from the remote, largely forgotten state of Wyoming that has

During that period, all while proclaiming their role as the last bastion of defence against the “antidemocratic” Trump, the media continued to amplify and magnify a megalomaniac and shower him with more free publicity than even he could have ever afforded to pay for.

Now we’re seeing that behaviour begin to be repeated in the media treatment of Cheney. Commentators and pundits across the major TV networks and liberal cable outlets are starting to celebrate her as the last, best hope for the restoration of a responsible Republican Party.

Say what?

Liz Cheney, it turns out, voted for Trump policies and initiatives 93 percent of the time while he was President. Few can recall any of her principled defiance while Trump was riding high atop a booming economy and a wave of indulgent support from half

DONALD Trump (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Messages from Mount Trump

W

hile the US continues its search for a respectable path out of the mire left behind

by Trump, what of the master showman himself?

How is he doing as he leaves the summer heat and humidity of Palm Beach for the cooler climate at his suburban New Jersey golf club outside New York City?

According to numerous reports, he often delivers rambling, disjointed, untruthful but nonetheless classic extemporaneous diatribes to dinner guests from the platform of his Mar a Lago resort in Palm Beach.

Apparently, edited versions of these sermons from Mount Trump are then promulgated for the enlightenment of the masses through devices such as a blog entitled “From the Desk of President Donald Trump.”

It’s no surprise to discover Trump is up to his old tricks on this blog – attacking Republicans who refuse to obey him, continuing to insist that he actually won the November election, and finally, getting around to attacking the policies of the administration of President Joe Biden, who

actually won in November.

According to widely quoted expert analysts on the subject, Trump’s new blog has drawn a very much smaller audience than he once attracted on mainstream social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The reach and flexibility of Trump’s new blog is relatively limited, since users can’t comment or engage with the actual posts beyond sharing them to other platforms.

Before the ban on him imposed by outlets such as Facebook and Twitter in the wake of the January 6 assault on the US Capitol, a single Trump tweet was typically liked and retweeted hundreds of thousands of times, sometimes in a single day.

Trump continues to brood. Liz Cheney seems to be ascending, despite a partisan fall from grace. A new group of veteran conservatives yesterday threatened to form a new, spinoff party “true to traditional Republican values” if the current version of the GOP doesn’t come to its senses soon and reform itself.

Where will it all lead? It’s fascinating, but also profoundly scary, to consider the future.

or more of the American electorate.

But now, with Trump effectively muzzled for at least six more months from his favoured free public platforms and with some evidence that his popularity with Republicans is starting to sag a bit, Cheney has stepped forward to lead the way to the promised land for Republicans.

She has cleverly managed to become the newest bright shiny media thing. Cheney is a skilful politician. She’s smart, committed, passionate and clever enough to see a path forward to a different GOP than the one we see at present.

But where is she leading?

Most Americans, like most voters in many places around the world, have very short memories. They won’t likely recall many events from less than 20 years ago, after the stunning terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington on 9/11/2001.

After that unspeakable national trauma, a group of dedicated, focused conservatives led by Liz’s father Dick, then Vice-President, set about to enlarge presidential power in the name of national security, engage in terribly costly, misdirected overseas wars and

REP. LIZ CHENEY, R-Wyo., speaks to reporters after House Republicans voted to oust her from her leadership post as chair of the House Republican Conference. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) adventurism and generally eroding American constitutional norms under the banner of the national security interest.

We may be entering what may be one of the most discouraging epochs in American political history, during which the continuing menace of a brazen buffoon may lead the country to turn for redemption to a cynical conspiratorial cabal that drove the US into a political and military ditch less than two decades ago with the misbegotten Iraq war.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, still widely read and highly

regarded after decades in the public eye, wrote over the weekend that “shockingly, the Republicans who eroded America’s moral authority — selling us the Iraq war, torture, a prolonged Afghanistan occupation and Sarah Palin — have somehow become the new guardians of America’s moral authority.

“Trump built a movement based on lies. But the Cheneys had showed him how it’s done.”

There are times when it’s difficult to find reasons for optimism when considering America’s political future.

This is looking like one of them.

PAGE 10, Thursday, May 13, 2021

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How plastic pollution travels across the oceans

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THE blocking of the Suez Canal in March by a megaship named Ever Given delayed over 200 vessels laden with thousands of containers, serving as a reminder of the scale of the shipping industry and the global repercussions when something goes badly wrong at sea. Yet most people remain unaware of just how frequently the cargo carried by huge container ships doesn’t make it to port at all.

Several thousand containers are believed to be lost overboard each year – the result of bad weather, poor stowage, inadequate supervision and even the size of the ship itself.

The steel containers plunge quickly towards the seabed, with many rupturing under pressure or from the impact when they hit the ocean floor.

If the material in the container is significantly denser than seawater, its dispersion will be localised and confined to the sea floor.

But articles with a density close to or lower than seawater - including many common plastics - disperse to the ocean surface, where they’re often carried thousands of miles onto far-flung beaches.

In a previous study, my colleagues and I found evidence such plastics can survive in the ocean for up to 1,300 years.

Our recent study tracked a spill of Hewlett-Packard

inkjet cartridges, which is believed to have taken place 1,500km east of New York in 2014. Using social media to connect with beachcombers, we found the cartridges had spread as far south as Cape Verde and as far north as the Arctic Circle.

SPILLS AT SEA Most container losses go unreported and undocumented because, at present, there’s no obligation for lost cargo to be declared unless it’s of a hazardous nature and likely to pose an immediate threat to the environment. This means that evidence of cargo

“Several thousand containers are believed to be lost overboard each year – the result of bad weather, poor stowage, inadequate supervision and even the size of the ship itself. The steel containers plunge quickly towards the seabed, with many rupturing under pressure or from the impact when they hit the ocean floor.” from lost containers is usually restricted to groups of distinctive plastic items, noticed primarily by regular beachcombers.

In 1997, for example, over 60 containers were lost from the Tokio Express after a giant wave tilted the vessel 60 degrees to the side as it was rounding Land’s End in south-west England.

One of the containers was filled with nearly five million pieces of nauticalthemed Lego, which have been beaching along the coastline of Cornwall ever since.

Depending on the location of a spill, cargo that floats on the sea’s surface – which the UN estimates to comprise 15 percent of all marine litter – provides an opportunity for scientists to study ocean circulation.

This was the case in 1992 when a container of childrens’ bath toys, including a consignment of rubber ducks, was lost in the centre of the North Pacific.

They were subsequently reported by beachcombers over a range of thousands of miles, allowing scientists to learn about the circulation of the surface waters of the North Pacific Ocean.

Then, in 2014, small but distinctive Hewlett-Packard inkjet cartridges began to appear on the beaches of the Azores islands in

the centre of the North Atlantic. My colleague, Tracey Williams, posted calls for further sightings on an international beachcombing group on social media, with over 50,000 members.

Reports soon came flooding in. Sightings were shared along the coasts of western Europe, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Bermuda and Florida. Some cartridges were found on the shores of the North Sea and the beaches of northern Norway.

This extensive dataset on locations and timings revealed how buoyant plastic was transported across the North Atlantic Ocean by different currents, with cartridges spreading nearly 8,000km in less than four years at an average drift speed of 10cm a second.

We then used PlasticAdrift, an oceanographic model, to simulate cartridge transport from the spill site.

The model’s outputs were very similar to observations made by our beachcombing “citizen scientists”, but key discrepancies highlighted where the model could be improved and how beaching could be incorporated into oceanographic transport simulations.

OCEAN MICROPLASTICS After gathering our data, we extended our study to examine the biofouling and weathering of the cartridge plastic.

Over their relatively short exposure to the sea, the cartridges’ polypropylene shell already exhibited considerable deterioration – a source of microplastics we know are widespread in our oceans.

Electronic tags remaining on some cartridges also contained potentially hazardous chemicals, including brominated flame retardants and copper.

The presence of these tags classify the spill as electronic plastic, and as such the cartridges should be regulated under more stringent electronic waste regulations.

Currents tend to ferry and concentrate plastics into ‘garbage patches’ in certain areas of the sea.

Regarding spills more generally, the International Maritime Organization has recently established an action plan for 2025 that will consider a compulsory means of declaring plastic litter derived from containers lost at sea.

Such regulations will incentivise better stowage and provide scientists with a greater insight into the problem of ocean pollution from spillages.

theconversation.com

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 13, 2021, PAGE 11

By CARLO ALDROVANDI Assistant Professor in International Peace Studies, Trinity College Dublin

THE recent violence at the al-Aqsa mosque/ Temple Mount area and in the Old City of Jerusalem has spiralled into something bigger and more dangerous. Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters at the weekend have left hundreds injured.

Tensions rose further on Monday and Tuesday after Israeli airstrikes launched in retaliation for Hamas rocket attacks killed 35 people, including 12 children, in Gaza City.

This latest episode cannot be attributed to a single cause. It should rather be connected to a broader landscape of destabilising factors whose cumulative weight led to the current crisis after months of incubation.

A chain reaction was nevertheless triggered by ongoing attempts to evict Palestinian families living for generations in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. A legal battle is being waged between the Palestinian residents and Nahalat Shimon – a settler organisation tied to the Zionist movement in Israel which is trying to alter east Jerusalem’s demographics in favour of a Jewish population.

Support towards the Sheikh Jarrah families instantly came from several Palestinian constituencies, including an unprecedented number of Arab citizens of Israel from Umm al-Fahm and Jaffa. At the same time, thousands started demonstrating at Damascus Gate which in recent weeks has become east Jerusalem’s “Tahrir Square” – the centre of Egypt’s 2011 “Arab Spring” revolution.

Many of the protesters were Muslim worshippers who came together at the gate after having attended prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque.

It is worth noting that the crisis unfolded during the final days in the holy month of Ramadan: the climax of the Islamic calendar but also the most volatile time of the year in Jerusalem. On Friday May 7 alone, some 200 Palestinians were seriously injured and many more were arrested following fierce confrontations with the Israeli police.

Israeli police were aggressive in their attempts to curb demonstrations, which soon backfired with an with an expansion of Palestinian protests across Jerusalem,

the West Bank and many Arab villages in central and northern Israel.

TURMOIL ON BOTH SIDES Inability to contain violence in Jerusalem and other occupied territories is partly a result of internal issues with both the Palestinian leadership and the Israeli government. On the Palestinian side, there is a power struggle taking place between Hamas and the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas deliberately heightened tension with Israel by firing rockets from Gaza as a propaganda strategy to build political capital at Abbas’ expense. He, in turn, has postponed elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council for fear of losing ground against his Islamist rivals.

Israeli politics, meanwhile, has reached a debilitating impasse after four general elections failed to establish a workable government. This has had severe ramifications for the handling of the crisis.

And it’s important not to underestimate – as Israel’s security chiefs obviously have – the disastrous consequences that COVID-19 has had on east Jerusalem, leaving all too many young Palestinians unemployed and even more hopelessly alienated from their respective political leaderships. The young Palestinians demonstrating on the steps of Damascus Gate, the streets of the Old City and al-Aqsa are not animated by their parents’ ideologies, but mostly a sense of anger, revulsion and frustration.

PROVOCATION AND COUNTERPROVOCATION With such soaring tensions and political dysfunction on both sides, the situation appeared likely to spin out of control during the flag march scheduled on Jerusalem Day. That event takes place annually to commemorate the reunification of Jerusalem by Israel after the six-day war in 1967.

In recent times, with the growing influence of the settler movement within the Netanyahu government and Israeli society, the parade has become a cornerstone in the national consciousness of many religious Zionists. Every year, before reaching the celebrations at the Western Wall Plaza, hundreds of young Israelis make their way from Sheikh Jarrah, pause at Damascus Gate and then continue

along Al-Wad street – the main artery in the Muslim Quarter in the Old City.

During the march, young Israelis wave their national flags defiantly and chant patriotic songs.

Meanwhile Palestinians watch the procession from behind the security fences that the Israeli police forces put in place especially for the occasion.

The way this celebration cuts across their everyday spaces is felt by most Palestinians as a blatant provocation and a painful reminder of the humiliation Israel inflicted on their national aspirations in June 1967. Not only did the Six-Day War mean large-scale Palestinian dispossession, it also established Israeli control over al-Quds (Jerusalem’s Arabic name) and al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam and a primary symbol of Palestinian identity.

On Sunday night thousands of Palestinians barricaded themselves in the mosque with stones and Molotov cocktails in anticipation of the Jerusalem Day Parade.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, clashes between Israeli police forces and the demonstrators, which inevitably unfolded at al-Aqsa on Monday morning, left another 300 Palestinians wounded.

That prompted an Israeli decision to prevent Jews from entering the al-Aqsa mosque/Temple Mount area during Jerusalem Day. Sensing quite how dangerous it would be to allow a march to follow the route through some of the Palestinian population’s most symbolically important spaces – and, with Jerusalem already on a knife edge – the Israeli authorities announced that the flag march could go ahead but rerouted its course away from the Damascus Gate and the Muslim Quarter.

The Israeli High Court of Justice also deferred the hearings on the planned evictions of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah that had been scheduled for Jerusalem Day. But these attempts to de-escalate appear to have been too little and too late.

As we now know, Hamas made the decision to fire rockets at west Jerusalem and southern Israel, and the Israeli Defence Force retaliated with air strikes, killing 25 people.

Once more, Jerusalem is ablaze, with potentially dire consequences for the stability of the whole region.

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PAGE 12, Thursday, May 13, 2021

GOP DUMPS DEFIANT TRUMP CRITIC CHENEY FROM TOP HOUSE POST

ISRAEL STEPS UP GAZA OFFENSIVE, KILLS SENIOR HAMAS FIGURES

By ALAN FRAM AND KEVIN FREKING ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans dumped GOP Rep. Liz Cheney from her House leadership post Wednesday for her persistent repudiation of Donald Trump’s election falsehoods, underscoring the hold the defeated and twice-impeached former president retains on his party.

She defiantly insisted she’ll keep trying to wrench the party away from him and his “destructive lies.”

Meeting behind closed doors, GOP lawmakers needed less than 20 minutes and a voice vote to oust the Wyoming congresswoman from her job as their No. 3 House leader. The banishment, urged by Trump and other top Republicans, showed his ability to upend the careers of antagonists, even those from GOP royalty.

Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has repeatedly rebuked Trump for his oft-repeated falsehood that his 2020 reelection was fraudulently stolen from him and for his encouragement of supporters who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6. On Wednesday she unrepentantly lashed out anew.

“If you want leaders who will enable and spread his destructive lies, I’m not your person,” she told her colleagues before the vote, according to a person who provided her remarks on condition of anonymity. “You have plenty of others to choose from. That will be their legacy.”

Just minutes after she accused her fellow Republicans of dishonestly buttressing Trump, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters at the White House, “I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election.

I think that is all over with.”

McCarthy spoke a week after Trump released a statement saying, “The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!” Cheney’s critics say her offence wasn’t her view of Trump but her persistence in publicly expressing it, undermining the unity they want party leaders to display in advance of next year’s elections, when they hope to win House control.

Several also say GOP voters’ allegiance to Trump means the party’s electoral prospects without him would be dismal.

THE TRIBUNE

AN ISRAELI artillery unit fires toward targets in Gaza Strip, at the Israeli Gaza border, Wednesday. (AP Photo/Yonatan Sindel)

By FARES AKRAM AND JOSEF FEDERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel on Wednesday pressed ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing as many as 10 senior Hamas military figures and toppling a pair of high-rise towers housing Hamas facilities in a series of airstrikes. The Islamic militant group showed no signs of backing down and fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities.

In just three days, this latest round of fighting between the bitter enemies has already begun to resemble — and even exceed — a devastating 50-day war in 2014. Like that previous war, neither side appears to have an exit strategy.

But there are key differences. The fighting has triggered the worst JewishArab violence inside Israel in decades. And looming in the background is an international war crimes investigation.

Israel carried out an intense barrage of airstrikes just after sunrise, striking dozens of targets in several minutes that set off bone-rattling explosions across Gaza.

Airstrikes continued throughout the day, filling the sky with pillars of smoke.

At nightfall, the streets of Gaza City resembled a ghost town as people huddled indoors on the final night of Ramadan. The evening, followed by the Eid al-Fitr holiday, is usually a time of vibrant night life, shopping and crowded restaurants.

“There is nowhere to run. There is nowhere to hide,” said Zeyad Khattab, a 44-year-old pharmacist who fled with a dozen other relatives to a family home in central Gaza after bombs pounded his apartment building in Gaza City. “That terror is impossible to describe.”

Gaza militants continued to bombard Israel with nonstop rocket fire throughout the day. The attacks brought life to a standstill in southern communities near Gaza, but

also reached as far north as the Tel Aviv area, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) to the north, for a second straight day.

“We’re coping, sitting at home, hoping it will be OK,” said Motti Haim, a resident of the central town of Beer Yaakov and father of two children. “It’s not simple running to the shelter. It’s not easy with the kids.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the death toll rose to 65 Palestinians, including 16 children and five women.

Islamic Jihad confirmed the

have been killed since the fighting began.

While United Nations and Egyptian officials have said that cease-fire efforts are underway, there were no signs of progress. Israeli television’s Channel 12 reported late Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet authorised a widening of the offensive.

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres condemned the “indiscriminate launching of rockets” from civilian areas in Gaza toward Israeli popula-

AN ISRAELI man inspects the damage to a house that was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Wednesday. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov) deaths of seven militants, while Hamas acknowledged that a top commander and several other members were killed.

A total of seven people have been killed in Israel, including four people who died on Wednesday. Among them were a soldier killed by an anti-tank missile and a 6-year-old child hit in a rocket attack.

The Israeli military claims the number of militants killed so far is much higher than Hamas has acknowledged.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said at least 14 militants were killed Wednesday — including 10 members of the “top management of Hamas” and four weapons experts. Altogether, he claimed some 30 militants

tion centres, but he also urged Israel to show “maximum restraint.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken called Netanyahu to support Israel’s right to defend itself and said he was sending a senior diplomat to the region to try to calm tensions.

The current eruption of violence began a month ago in Jerusalem, where heavy-handed Israeli police tactics during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers ignited protests and clashes with police. A focal point was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, built on a hilltop compound that is revered by Jews and Muslims, where police fired tear gas and stun grenades at

protesters who threw chairs and stones at them.

Hamas, claiming to be defending Jerusalem, launched a barrage of rockets at the city late Monday, setting off days of fighting.

The Israeli military says militants have fired about 1,500 rockets in just three days. That is roughly onethird the number fired during the entire 2014 war.

Israel, meanwhile, has struck over 350 targets in Gaza, a tiny territory where 2 million Palestinians have lived under a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas took power in 2007. Two infantry brigades were sent to the area, indicating preparations for a possible ground invasion.

In tactics echoing past wars, Israel has begun to target senior members of Hamas’ military wing. It also has flattened three high-rise buildings in a tactic that has drawn international scrutiny in the past.

Israel says the buildings all housed Hamas operations centres, but they also included residential apartments and businesses. In all cases, Israel fired warning shots, allowing people to flee, and there were no reports of casualties.

The fighting has unleashed violent clashes between Arabs and Jews in Israel, in scenes that have not been seen since 2000. Netanyahu warned that he was prepared to use an “iron fist if necessary” to calm the violence.

But ugly clashes erupted across the country late Wednesday. Jewish and Arab mobs battled in the central city of Lod, the epicenter of the troubles, despite a state of emergency and nighttime curfew. In nearby Bat Yam, a mob of Jewish nationalists attacked an Arab motorist, dragged him from his car and beat him until he was motionless.

In the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said it thwarted a Palestinian shooting attack that wounded two people. The Palestinian Health Ministry said the suspected gunman was killed.

No details were immediately available.

Still unclear is how the fighting in Gaza will affect Netanyahu’s political future.

He failed to form a government coalition after inconclusive parliamentary elections in March, and now his political rivals have three weeks to try to form one.

His rivals have courted a small Islamist Arab party. But the longer the fighting drags on, the more it could hamper their attempts at forming a coalition.

It could also boost Netanyahu if another election is held, since security is his strong suit with the public.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since the Islamic militant group seized power in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.

The International Criminal Court has launched an investigation into possible war crimes by Israel and Hamas.

In a brief statement, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she had noted “with great concern” the escalation of violence and “the possible commission of crimes.”

The ICC is looking into Israeli actions in past wars in Gaza. Israel is not a member of the court, does not recognise the ICC’s jurisdiction and rejects the accusations.

But in theory, the ICC could issue warrants and try to arrest Israeli suspects while traveling overseas.

Conricus, the military spokesman, said Israeli forces respect international laws on armed conflict and do their utmost to minimise civilian casualties.

Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group fires rockets from residential areas.

Emanuel Gross, a professor emeritus the University of Haifa law school, said Israel should “take into consideration the concerns of the ICC.” But he said he believes the military is on solid legal ground while rockets are striking Israeli cities.

“That’s the real meaning of self defence,” he said. “If you are attacked by a terrorist group, you defend yourself.”

COLONIAL PIPELINE RESTARTS OPERATIONS DAYS AFTER MAJOR HACK

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ, BEN FINLEY and TOM FOREMAN, JR. Associated Press

CLEMMONS, N.C. (AP) — The nation’s largest fuel pipeline restarted operations Wednesday, days after it was forced to shut down by a gang of hackers.

The disruption of Colonial Pipeline caused long lines at gas stations in the Southeast due to distribution problems and panicbuying, draining supplies at thousands of gas stations.

Colonial initiated the restart of pipeline operations late Wednesday, saying in a statement that “all lines, including those lateral lines that have been running manually, will return to normal operations.”

But it will take several days for deliveries to return to normal, the company said.

In the meantime, drivers have been finding gas stations with little or no gas in some Southeast states.

The Colonial Pipeline, which delivers about 45% of the fuel consumed on the East Coast, was hit on Friday with a cyberattack by hackers who lock up computer systems and demand a ransom to release them. The hackers didn’t take control of the pipeline operations, but Colonial shut the pipeline down to contain the damage.

TANKER trucks are parked near the entrance of Colonial Pipeline Company Wednesday, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) The attack raised concerns, once again, about the vulnerability of the nation’s critical infrastructure.

“What you’re feeling is not a lack of supply or a supply issue.

What we have is a transportation issue,” said Jeanette McGee, spokeswoman for the AAA auto club. “There is ample supply to fuel the United States for the summer, but what we’re having is an issue with is getting it to those gas stations” because the pipeline is down.

The pipeline runs from the Gulf Coast to the New York metropolitan region, but states in the Southeast are more reliant on it.

Other parts of the country have more sources to tap. For example, a substantial amount of fuel is delivered to states in the Northeast by massive tankers.

Jamar Gatison, 36, was filling up his tank in Norfolk, Virginia, Wednesday before a doctor’s appointment.

“I’m about to run out of gas, so I have no choice,” the construction

worker said while waiting in line at a 7-Eleven.

“I’m also an Uber Eats driver. I also need gas for that,” said Gatison, who added he probably won’t deliver food Wednesday night because he doesn’t want to wait in line again while the shortage continues.

In North Carolina, 65% of gas stations were out of fuel, according to Gasbuddy.com, a technology firm that tracks real-time fuel prices across the country. Just outside Raleigh, two people were charged with assault after fighting and spitting in each other’s faces while arguing over their spots in line Tuesday at a Marathon gas station, authorities said.

North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper urged people Wednesday to only buy gas if their tank is low, and to report any instances of price gouging.

“This news is another reason people do not need to panic buy gas right now unless they really need it,” he tweeted after Colonial announced it was restarting the pipeline.

Georgians were also getting squeezed, with 43% of stations there out of gas, according to Gasbuddy.com. In Virginia, 44% of stations were out, and in South Carolina, 16% had no fuel.

Along the Appalachian Trail,

which stretches from Georgia to Maine through some of the most rugged and remote terrain in the Southeast, hikers depend on car and van shuttles to ferry them to and from the trail and get them back to civilisation.

“If I don’t have the gas, I’m not running,” said Ron Brown of Ellijay, Georgia, who operates Ron’s Appalachian Trail Shuttles and often takes hikers on hourslong trips from Atlanta’s airport into the north Georgia mountains, and to and from many points along the trail.

Mary Goldburg, 60, of Norfolk, Virginia, waited more than 20 minutes for a slow-operating pump at a 7-Eleven to fill up her tank on Wednesday. Her job includes delivering T-shirts for events and other promotional products.

“I can’t get paid until my customers get their products,” Goldburg said.

The disruption is taking place at the time of year when Americans begin to become more mobile, especially as the nation emerges from the pandemic.

Four to five cars were lined up at each pump at a Circle K in Clemmons, North Carolina. Several people said they had driven to multiple gas stations to find one that had gas. Across the street, gas stations were out of fuel.