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Volume: 119 No.160, July 14, 2022

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NIB FUND HIT FOR $190M BY COVID

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A $190M DEFICIT blowout triggered by COVID-19 resulted in the National Insurance Board’s reserves slumping to $1.54bn at yearend 2020, it can be revealed.

Draft 2020 financial statements, which have been obtained by Tribune Business, for the first time reveal the extent of the damage inflicted by the pandemic on The Bahamas’ national social security scheme which was already struggling in its worsening battle for long-term viability.

NIB’s reserve fund shrank by almost 11 percent, or nearly $189m, in just 12 months as it was forced to liquidate investments to meet unemployment payouts and other forms of COVID-related assistance

when the Bahamian economy collapsed virtually overnight.

The figures reveal that short-term benefits payouts, which would have included NIB’s 13-week unemployment assistance initiative, more than tripled yearover-year - increasing by 209 percent from $41.868m in 2021 to $129.84m - due to the scale of terminations and furloughs sparked by COVID-19 lockdowns and other restrictions.

As a result, total benefits expenditure soared to $405.876m for the 12 months to end-December 2020, representing a 30.2 percent year-over-year jump from 2019’s $311.64m, with the increase driven almost entirely by unemployment and other short-term relief payouts.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has accused National Security Minister Wayne Munroe of prejudicing investigations into an incident involving a Cabinet minister and a Royal Bahamas Police officer.

Dr Minnis levelled the accusation against Mr

Munroe after he doubled down on calls for police officials to provide an update on what allegedly took place between Transport and Housing Minister Jobeth Coleby-Davis and a police officer.

In May, Mrs ColebyDavis was accused of assaulting a Royal Bahamas Police officer with her vehicle during a Carnival event.

SEE PAGE THREE

- SEE PAGE EIGHT

ANTI-GANG OPERATION ENDS WITH 27 ARRESTS TWENTY-seven people were arrested early yesterday morning for alleged gang related crimes.

The 23 men and four women, according to police, were taken into custody from throughout New Providence as part of operation ceasefire.

“Officers attached to operation ceasefire arrested the suspects during an early morning operation on Wednesday July 13, 2022,” a statement released yesterday read.

SEE PAGE THREE

FUNDS SET TO RESOLVE AIRPORT DISPUTE

MINNIS ACCUSES MUNROE OF PREJUDICING POLICE PROBE LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FRONT PORCH: LESSONS FROM RISE AND FALL OF BORIS JOHNSON

CAN YOU HELP HIM? ONE of the dogs being cared for at the animal shelter in Grand Bahama.

By DENISE MAYCOCK Society, said the problem is in the United States, said Ms Tribune Freeport Reporter getting worse as there is not Burrows, who is anticipatdmaycock@tribunemedia.net enough space to humanely ing an increase in the next accommodate any more couple of weeks.

GRAND Bahama animal animals at the shelter on “Our funding has shelter is being forced to Coral Road. decreased, and we have put to sleep more than half “Since Dorian and the not been able to hold funof the animals being taken pandemic, it has just gotten draisers because of the to the centre. worse because people are pandemic, but the need for An influx of animals, the struggling,” she told The our services has increased lack adoptions and an acute Tribune. and cannot provide the funding shortage has led to The shelter houses 105 level of services that is the crisis. dogs and 20 cats. That is only needed right now for all Tip Burrows, executive because 44 cats were sent out these animals.” director of GB’s Humane last week to rescue partners SEE PAGE TWO

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net TOURISM, Investments and Aviation Minister Chester Cooper says the government has approved funding to honour all agreed terms of an industrial agreement with Airport Authority employees.

SEE PAGE FIVE

STATESIDE:

THE GAME OF PICKING NOMINEES

- SEE PAGE NINE

PAGE 2, Thursday, July 14, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Can you help pets in need? from page one

SOME of the pets in need of homes at the Grand Bahama rescue shelter.

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“Some days we might put ten or 12 to sleep, it depends on the circumstances. Looking at our euthanasia rate over the last six months to a year it had been staying below between 30 and 40 percent, and it has gone up over 50 percent.

“So, when you look at us taking in 1,100 animals a year, it is now over 50 percent of that.”

In terms of support HSGB receives half of their donations from abroad.

The Grand Bahama Port Authority funds about 30 percent of its operating budget and the government seven percent.

“When you think about it, we have to raise over $500,000 a year through our clinic, fundraisers, and through donations and it is difficult,” Ms Burrows explained.

“We are not operating in the black, we are constantly operating at a loss, and we are still taking in the number of animals that we averaged for the last 10 years, which is averaged at 1,100 to 1,200 a year. That is all we can take in,” she said.

If they respond to every animal they get called about or that people report, said Ms Burrow, their intake would probably double.

“We can’t respond to every single call like we used to,” she said. “And people do not realise when we send animals to the States, we cannot just put any animal on a plane and send them away. It is a lot of work involved and choosing which animal gets to go, and rescuers often choose the ones that they want to take.”

HSGB spends several hundred dollars per animal that is sent off for rescue, Ms Burrows reported.

She noted that each animal must receive shots, wormers, and other preventative care to be able to travel. Also, the animal must be a certain age and must have paperwork.

“Even If we had rescues willing to take all the animals we take in, there is no way we could afford to provide all of that for that many animals. So, we are having to make harder choices,” she said.

Euthanasia is usually the last resort for shelters when all other options have been

exhausted.

Ms Burrows said the shelter is not overcrowded but has reached its capacity.

“If we try to keep all the animals that come in, we would be (overcrowded) and we can’t afford for that to happen. We do not have enough staff and we cannot afford to hire more staff.

“And we do not have enough space because there is a certain amount of space an animal needs to be housed humanely. We are not going to cram them in tiny cages for 23 hours a day to keep more animals.

They don’t get adopted enough to make that justifiable,” she explained.

In the meantime, HSGB said they continue to provide free spays and neuters.

She said the campaign has helped but more funding and vets are needed.

“It is working with the limited amount we are able to do. We need more funding for that as well and we need more vets. We need to get our mobile clinic on the road. We can’t afford to supply it and we can’t spare our Vet to go out on the road because we will have no clinic revenue and that is what’s helping to keep our doors open.”

“We are not in a position to hire another vet financially, but that would be helpful if we can find an angel to sponsor the cost of a second vet that can do massive spays and neuters.

Everything boils down to money and people becoming more responsible.”

Ms Burrows said that they do not have enough people reaching out or wanting to have it done.

She said people can call the HSGB at 827-1477. “If people can afford to pay for the surgery that helps us continue to do more surgeries, but if they cannot we do not want that to be a prohibitive factor in them not getting their animals spayed, we will do it for free,” he said.

“Another thing that I want to stress that is not happening is enforcement of laws relating to animals.

That would go a long way if the government would make it a priority. There is a segment of people that will not do the right thing as far as taking care of their animals. If they never suffer any repercussions from that, it is just going to continue.”

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THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 14, 2022, PAGE 3

‘We need specialists to encourage inclusion’

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net A PERSON who identifies as gender neutral has said the country needs more people who specialise in LGBTQ+ issues to encourage greater inclusion in society.

Natino Thompson on Tuesday night at the University of The Bahamas questioned Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis about incorporating queer Bahamians into the National Development Plan. The event was opened to questions from the audience following the Prime Minister’s presentation on the plan.

In part, Thompson asked on Tuesday: “Considering your administration is one of the queerest administrations in Bahamian history - because there are a bunch of queer people that work within the administration the question is how are you going to take care of queer Bahamians?”

The question triggered others in the room to also voice their views about the community. In response, Mr Davis said he was speaking about Bahamians and that is the way he views all.

Yesterday, Thompson not only stood by the question but insisted any national development plan should take care of the LGBTQ+ community.

Thompson said: “It’s not just the blueprint for change – it’s the national development plan…It needs to include LGBTQ+ plus people. I would say that in order for the document itself to be inclusive of LGBT plus people or marginalised groups, you need to have people represented in that grouping who are working on the national

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis at the Meet The Policy Makers event at the University of The Bahamas on Tuesday night.

Photo: Austin Fernander development plan. They have to be open members, not closeted members.

“You need to include LGBTQ+ people in the planning stages. Even if they’re not LGBT plus, if they’ve worked on projects or their work specialises in that area they understand this area well.”

Thompson said the reaction the question garnered was intended to make people feel uncomfortable.

“I get those reactions every day, so I’m kind of desensitised to it. Its emotionally exhausting, let me be frank, but after a while you get used to it because that’s how you know they’re homophobic. They do stuff like that because they want you to shut up and one thing I’m not about to do is shut up. That’s not what I’m here to do. I’m here to speak up,” Thompson told The Tribune.

“It’s their reaction. They

feel uncomfortable and my whole aim is to make them uncomfortable because I’ve been uncomfortable my entire existence in The Bahamas.”

As for the comment that the Davis administration was one if the “queerest” in Bahamian history, Thompson said: “Queer people know and that’s all that matters. They know who I’m talking about.

They know what I mean and that’s who it’s for – it was for my community.

My community knows that exactly what I said was true and if anybody else wants to disprove my point then they’re welcome to.”

For its part, Equality Bahamas said in a statement yesterday there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, and the general approach is “lazy, ineffective, and results in inequity”.

“Equality Bahamas has consistently called for

feminist policymaking, centering people in situations of vulnerability,” the statement said. “The prime minister said the focus is on ‘all Bahamians’, but it is not possible to meet all needs without recognising different identities and different circumstances, which directly impact needs and ability to access (and) to use available resources and services.

“There must be specific consideration of women and girls, LGBTQI+ people, people with disabilities, people experiencing poverty, elderly people, and other marginalised groups.

There are no one-sizefits-all solutions, and the general approach is lazy, ineffective, and results in inequity.”

One woman, in reaction to Thompson’s question on Tuesday night argued queer people are treated like everyone else but the

NATINO THOMPSON, in this image from video of the university event. “government is not responsible for your choice”.

The organisation also responded in relation to this.

“The comment made after that question, by the person in the audience, is evidence of the need for a different approach to governance. That person was enraged by the very idea that we are not all the same and therefore have different needs, and her behavior is evidence that hostility toward marginalised groups exists, that people would prefer for us to be invisible, and that not including us in consultation and not naming us in a national development plan is gives

people permission to be disrespectful, hateful, and violent toward people who are not like them,” Equality Bahamas said.

“We cannot assume that we all see each other and treat each other with respect. We do not, and we need our representatives and those engaged in policymaking to commit themselves to the promotion and expansion of our access to human rights.

Nothing will work for all of us until we centre those at the highest risk, with the greatest vulnerability, and with the burden of helping themselves while being invisible or palatable for everyone else.”

MINNIS ACCUSES MUNROE OF PREJUDICING POLICE PROBE from page one

The Elizabeth MP has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis said last week he was satisfied with the minister’s explanation of what happened that day.

“I am now calling for the new Commissioner Clayton Fernander to provide the public with a written update on the investigation into the member for Elizabeth. The Prime minister has caused mass confusion on this matter,” the Killarney MP said in the House of Assembly.

“There is a TV news interview where former Commissioner Paul Rolle told the entire media and the world that he had an Assistant Commissioner of Police investigating the matter the public needs clarity on this.”

He added: “I say again as I’ve said before, I call on the Prime Minister to invite the member for Elizabeth, while the matter is being investigated to resign or

ANTI-GANG OPERATION ENDS WITH 27 ARRESTS from page one

“The suspects were arrested throughout New Providence for allegedly being a part of an organised criminal gang and various gang-related matters.

“Police wish to advise those involved in criminal activity that the police will have zero tolerance for those who seek to cause injury to any citizen and who violate the laws of The Bahamas. Active police investigations continue.”

step down from the post of transport, while an investigation is proceeding in transport and not housing.”

He also noted comments made by Mr Munroe to a local media outlet concerning investigations and accused him of directly interfering with the case.

“I am concerned an active investigation is going on,” Dr Minnis added.

“The Minister of National Security, when interviewed yesterday (Tuesday), said that the police had shown him and released footage and witness statements and reports and the minister (Munroe) said ‘these reports support the minister, not the police’.

“Now, I would have thought that there’s a Commissioner of Police and that police performing proper investigation, he would respond to the Commissioner. The minister is a policy maker and that is direct interference in an investigation by a minister.”

However, the Freetown MP rose on a point of order, asking Dr Minnis to withdraw the remarks.

Mr Munroe said: “Unless the member for Killarney has any evidence that this member has interfered with any police officer doing a duty, he ought to withdraw that. If he were to watch (it) because it’s a video so he doesn’t have to depend on a journalist’s interpretation of it, he would see that I said that I’m briefed on that as I’m briefed on violent crime by the police and that I do not get involved in investigations.”

But, Dr Minnis hit back and said he stood by his earlier statements.

“One has to ask the question - is the minister receiving such information?” Dr Minnis asked. “Is he prejudicing the investigation, and can it be interpreted as a form of interference or even intimidation since those individuals, I implore it indirectly through the minister and yet the minister himself is receiving information before the final investigation is completed?

Every Bahamian would know that that could be interpreted as interfering.

DR Hubert Minnis speaking in the House Of Assembly.

“One has to ask the question, Is he now the Commissioner of Police?

Is he the judiciary? He has already put out to the public that the evidence that he’s seen favours the minister. He has already distorted the minds of the public and has prejudiced the case,” Dr Minnis said.

PAGE 4, Thursday, July 14, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Records could be expunged for emergency order breaches

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net AN amendment to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act will allow for people convicted of certain criminal offences - including Emergency Order violations - to make “immediate application” to have their records expunged.

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe, who led debate on the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Amendment) Bill 2022 yesterday, said the legislation is demonstration of the Davis administration’s commitment to fulfilling its promises to the Bahamian people.

“This particular bill fulfils a commitment made to the Bahamian people in the blueprint for change,” Mr Munroe said during his contribution in the House of Assembly. “In page 14... we committed to expunge records of minor offences in violation of emergency orders.”

“In my view, these sections would do well to be considered because we say, and I quote ‘we will rescue the most vulnerable and discouraged in our society’.

“I refer to that because the sad history of the emergency orders saw the brutalisation of some of the most vulnerable in our society as was chronicled in page after page in the national press reporting of convictions of persons for breaches of the orders made under the emergency powers regime.”

Continuing his criticism of the Emergency Powers Orders, Mr Munroe lamented that some people have lost opportunities and suffered traumatic experiences

MINISTER of National Security Wayne Munroe speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday. because of the COVID related convictions.

However, with the new bill, the Freetown MP said the government will be able to “right the wrongs” of the past.

“It cannot be right that one could accept as an explanation from the then health minister that a plane is permitted to land because it has vital medical supplies and nothing adverse (happens). We do not see the matter before the court.

We do not hear a conviction, but the young men who have a need to go to the water park for water don’t have the benefit of that as an explanation good enough to explain why they can come out of their yards,” he said.

“It is just amazing that the impact of these laws seems to impact disproportionately on the poor, on

the homeless, on the disadvantaged and seem to skip right over the rich, the privileged and in one instance, a sitting Cabinet minister happened to admit breach of the law, I didn’t notice him being put before the court and being made subject to a conviction.

“We have the phenomenon, which is a national disgrace of Charles Johnson, a man in his 60s who was confined to his house without electricity and without running water who, after weeks, decided he needed some fresh air, stepped outside of his house and was hauled before the courts and has a conviction at 60 for a criminal offence.”

After the emergency orders were put in place, scores of people were prosecuted for various offences, including violating curfew.

The situation forced many to apply to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Committee to have their records expunged.

However, the process was not automatic and often took some time.

Yesterday, Mr Munroe said the amendment will allow for people convicted of certain offences, including COVID-19 violations, to make “immediate application” to his ministry for expungement.

“What we, therefore, have is the ability for any person to apply to the minister now, the other regime permitted for application to the rehabilitation of offender’s committee whose decision was then ratified or otherwise by the minister,” the Freetown MP continued. “This is a shorter process with immediate application to the minister

Photo: Austin Fernander for expungement of certain offences. The time period is shortened from two years under the advocate of the rehabilitation of offenders committee to six months.”

“And so just as the amendment to the Evidence Act provides, this amendment will almost automatically permit people who have been pestering the Ministry of National Security as to when we will address these offences to make immediate application for expungement.”

The Rehabilitation of Offenders (Amendment) Bill, 2022 includes a new section 15, which notes the minister’s discretion to declare certain people rehabilitated.

The bill says the “minister may by order, subject to affirmative resolution of both Houses of Parliament, declare any or all persons

convicted of any class of criminal offence specified in the order to be treated as a rehabilitated person in respect of that offence; have his conviction in respect of that offence treated as spent, and have his record for the conviction of the offence expunged, whether or not the rehabilitation period specified for that offence under Section 4(2) has been met.”

However, the amendment does not apply to people who have committed murder, manslaughter, treason, armed robbery, rape or possessed dangerous drugs with the intent to supply.

Central Grand Bahama MP Iram Lewis said while he supports expunging records for people convicted of minor offences, the bill needs to provide more clarity regarding which offences can be expunged by the minister among other things.

He was also of the view that the Bill left too much to the discretion of the minister.

“The Bill does not speak to the type of offences that the minister has discretion to expunge. There should be a specific schedule and there is already one included in the act,” he told parliamentarians.

“Why is it that this government wants to move away from what we already have that works. In principle I am for expunging the minor offences, but this bill must be more specific in terms of what offence the minister has purview over.

“Further, I believe the power should stay with the committee and not the minister and parliament. That’s my view.”

COLINA DONATES $25,000 TO MARK 25TH ANNIVERSARY

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

COLINA Financial Advisors Ltd donated $25,000 to five local charities as a part of a year-long series of events to commemorate their 25th corporate anniversary.

The events are under the theme “Celebrating our Past, Embracing our Future”.

Each beneficiary organisation, which included the REACH Bahamas Foundation, Bahamas Children’s

Emergency Hostel, Bahamas Harvest Church Angel Foundation, Bahamas Feeding Network, and the Bahamas Youth Climate Conference received $5,000 toward its community commitments.

VP of investments Pamela Ferguson explained the importance of the donations at this time.

She said: “The financial world is built on trust and at CFAL, we take extraordinary pride in maintaining the highest standards of integrity and transparency

while helping our fellow Bahamians. We’ve been extremely fortunate to have been able to do this for twenty-five years. We’ve had clients who took a chance on us at the very beginning and are still with us. We have a lot to be grateful for, and we believe in sharing our blessings.

“We believe that the business community should support social progress, and the organisations that we’ve selected for these donations are among so many that are helping our society

to move forward – through fostering innovative ideas, providing education, and providing much needed support services. We look forward to continuing to grow as an integral part of the investment and business communities while ensuring that the benefits of our work are passed on to our clients, shareholders, and others we can serve for generations to come.”

Chairman of REACH Bahamas Foundation Dwayne Gibson is thankful to CFAL for presenting

their organisation with this generous donation.

“We pride ourselves in trying to provide services to the less fortunate who are the families on the autism spectrum,” he said. “We push for training, we push for therapy, we push for general gatherings of our organisation and this would go a long way in funding our initiatives.”

Since the start of the organisation in December 2021, Bahamas Harvest Church Angel Foundation have aimed to assist orphans on a monthly basis.

Pastor of Bahamas Harvest Mario Moxey said the assistance shows the children that people care about them.

He said: “We have incredible corporate citizens like CFAL, who make it a reality of being your brother’s keeper. It’s more than just a contribution. They’re giving - it’s the joy, the connection, it’s the hope that they provide to these children that goes a long way.”

To date, CFAL has donated over $1m to local charities and organisations.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 14, 2022, PAGE 5

‘Unbecoming’ of Prime Minister to dismiss national development

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net FREE National Movement chairman Dr Duane Sands has described as “unbecoming” the Prime Minister’s comments in which he said there had been no positive impact on national development since 2017.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis made the comments on Tuesday while giving a lecture on the National Development Plan at the University of The Bahamas and outlined priorities along with historical context of the county.

Mr Davis also spoke at length about other administrations in an independent Bahamas and their contributions, including modern times.

“So, we come to the more recent years,” Mr Davis said. “In many ways it’s far too soon to tell what its ultimate legacy will be. I wouldn’t want this lecture to stray into some of the current political battles, but I struggle to see any positive impact on national development since 2017 “Before Dorian, and before COVID, it appeared that the approach to the economy was that of the small business-owner, where so-called ‘balancingthe-books’ was the holy grail of governance, with other goals for the nation barely articulated, and certainly not prioritised.

“We also see signs of systematic efforts to hand over many ordinary functions of the state, to the private sector. Although obscured by the lack of

transparency exercised by a single man during the rule by Emergency Orders, the scale of the exercise recalls pre-1967, where extremely narrow economic interests were prioritised and favoured others over others.”

When asked if the Prime Minister made unnecessary swipes at previous governments, Dr Sands told The Tribune: “I think it was unbecoming of the forum and it was unbecoming of the Office of the Prime Minister when speaking about important issue as consensus building in national development.

“How do you come up with a national plan that we all buy into and the premise of your presentation is we are the only ones that are doing the heavy lifting and the rest of you are doing nonsense but you know we want you to approve this anyway.

“Notwithstanding the merit of the work that has been done, I think you make it that much difficult to get that in and reaching across the aisle is very important in order for us to build and to move forward …onward, together.”

The chairman said this was a “brilliant opportunity” missed by the Prime Minister to bring the country together.

“Here we are talking about a National Development Plan which ought to be a consensus document and it was in a forum of intellectual exchange at the University of The Bahamas and it could have been a wonderful evening for nation building. There were

some moments where he hit some home runs,” Dr Sands said.

“Unfortunately, the partisan bickering distracted significantly from the presentation and the prime minister basically made it sound as if there are only certain people who have contributed and the others were in large part responsible for everything that’s wrong. Now whether that was intended to be some journey through ancient history, he was very pointed in his commentary about successive administrations in an independent Bahamas and I find those types of commentary unfortunate.”

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister revealed at the event that the country could expect a formal adaptation of the National Development Plan but noted a timeframe has not been set.

“The draft National Development Plan has been taken off the shelf and in very short order it is intended to have the committee reconvene to see how we could settle and not have a draft but a final national development plan for us all,” Mr Davis said.

“A timeframe hasn’t been set but… I did have a very brief conversation earlier this year with Dr Virgil when she paid a call on me and we just have to put those pieces together.

There are a lot of things happening now and we need to prioritise.”

The Progressive Liberal Party’s blueprint for change said the party would implement the National Development Plan that was

FUNDS SET TO RESOLVE AIRPORT DISPUTE from page one

Mr Cooper spoke after the group threatened to take industrial action this week to protest outstanding payments and unresolved workplace grievances.

The issue has long been a bone of contention for airport staff, who said they are tired of waiting to have their problems resolved.

“We were advised by the airport authority human resources director that the monies would have been paid in instalments over a six-month period. We have now been advised that they no longer have that money,” Bahamas Public Service Union president Kimsley Ferguson said during a press conference this week.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mr Cooper said the workers’ concerns are being addressed and committed the Davis administration to living up to its obligations.

“Let me say that the government takes labour

relationships very seriously,” he said. “We consider ourselves a friend of labour and a friend of workers. There is an agreed industrial agreement between the airport authority and the unions.

“The government will honour the commitments of the agreement. We find it concerning that this agreement has been in place since 2018 and we have already committed the funding for the payments due under the agreement.

“We’ve come a long way in this process over the period of nine months. We will continue to press forward and talking openly with the union and the Cabinet has approved the appropriate funding to honour the agreements with the union and the ministry of finance are working out the logistics.

“I am satisfied that the government is doing all within its power to live up to the obligations laid out in the agreement.”

Earlier this year, the

ministry released a statement on workers’ outstanding pay concerns, saying the government had agreed to pay all money owed to Airport Authority employees over a six-month period starting in the March pay period.

However, it is not clear why funds were not paid out.

Asked when the government hoped to sign off on worker’s industrial agreement, Mr Cooper replied: “We don’t negotiate with unions in the media. We have an open dialogue with the trade union movement.

“The executives of the Airport Authority has spoken directly with the president of the union on these matters and we anticipate that that dialogue will continue but what we will not do is get into details with the specifics in the public domain. I am satisfied that the government of The Bahamas has allocated and approved the funding and it’s a matter now between the Ministry of Finance and the Airport Authority.”

POLICE HUNT FOR RAPIST AFTER ATTACK POLICE are hunting for a rapist after a reported attack on a woman in western New Providence.

Officers are looking for a man suspected of the attack.

In a statement yesterday, police said: “According to reports around 7pm on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, the victim, who was visiting The Bahamas, connected with a male, whom she met on

social media.”

Officers said they were actively investigating and appealed to members of the public to be extremely vigilant when meeting strangers on social media platforms.

FNM chairman Dr Duane Sands. initiated by the last PLP administration.

“Without a National Development Plan, the government of the day has to make decisions and choices, most of which are based on short-term needs. Given our five-year electoral cycle, it is easy to spend money on visible outcomes which might be sufficiently impressive to inspire a few votes,” Mr Davis stated.

“But the money might be better spent on less visible outcomes, such as improving coastal defenses, which would prevent long-term coastal erosion. Without a plan, governments would also have to start every

initiative from scratch, obtaining basic data, formulating options, and consulting the public before determining a course of action.”

He also spoke about the issue of a lack of trust.

“Principal among these is the issue of trust. We are at a stage in history, where there is very little trust between the people and the government. This is true not just of us here in The Bahamas, but we can do something about it here. In our view, the lack of trust has arisen because of a lack of transparency, a lack of accountability, and a lack of delivery. We have

already taken steps and will continue to take steps to improve on each one.

“Our weekly press conferences, statements and video news reels are all produced in an attempt to keep the Bahamian people informed about what we are doing. We have also improved media access to ministers, so that ministers can give thoughtful answers to questions. Even though it is still early days, we expect to be held accountable for our decisions and actions. And we hope and expect that everyone in political life shares the same willingness to be held accountable.”

PAGE 6, Thursday, July 14, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

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Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991

EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON,

C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B. Publisher/Editor 1972-

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Digging a hole ever deeper at NIB IN today’s Tribune, we reveal the scale of losses to the National Insurance Board due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

What we cannot reveal is what anyone is doing about it.

COVID has left a $190m hole in NIB’s reserve fund – but that is just one more big blow to our social safety net after years and years of not facing up to the problem of dwindling resources.

That COVID should have cost a sizeable amount should be no surprise. The pandemic brought with it furloughs and a spike in unemployment. Fewer people working means less income for NIB. On top of that, there will have been a greater call on its resources as people turn to the fund to get by in times of hardship, or to meet costs they would otherwise have met out of their salary. Lower income, higher outgoings – there’s no rocket science needed here.

Still, if the fund was building up before COVID rather than running down, that hole could have been handled. As it is, it merely compounds the problems we were already facing.

We were already on a timer counting down to when the NIB fund would run out – COVID has just accelerated it.

In the House of Assembly yesterday, Myles Laroda, the minister of state with responsibility for NIB, confirmed that total payouts have exceeded contributions and investment combined every year since 2016.

That means the fund has been digging into its reserves. Those reserves are getting smaller and smaller.

So what do we do? Mr Laroda, to his credit, has spoken of the need to address the problem. It may not win him many friends politically to say so – but it has to be said. He has previously said that he anticipates NIB contribution rates will increase in the next year.

Government press secretary Clint Watson, meanwhile, denied any plan to tax Bahamians to save NIB and said that taxing was “the lazy way out”.

Without spelling out any details, he said the government was finding other ways to fund the National Insurance Board. There was no such funding detailed in the Budget, which may make some inclined to think Mr Watson was talking nonsense.

As for Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, he has previously said a rate

increase was not going to happen.

The latest financial statements detail the extent to which action needs to be taken to shore up NIB’s position. It spells out that NIB is in a financial hole years in the making and that is only getting deeper.

What has not been spelled out is how the government intends to remedy the situation. There is no easy solution.

There is no magic wand. The fund needs to get to a position where its income exceeds its outgoings, it is as simple as that.

Increasing contributions, increasing taxes is never a popular solution – but how popular will a government be if it oversees the moment our safety net reaches bankruptcy?

Bold decisions are needed. And the longer the wait, the bigger that hole gets.

Homeless pets The news that animals at the shelter in Grand Bahama are often being put to sleep – more than half of them – shows how overwhelming a situation the centre faces.

Too many animals coming in, not enough adoptions, and not enough money.

As executive director Tip Burrows points out, “Since Dorian and the pandemic, it has just gotten worse because people are struggling.”

There are three things that can be done, though.

First, if you’ve got the space, and can cope with an animal around the house, adopt. You would be very welcome as a volunteer to take an animal home.

Secondly, if you can spare some money towards the shelter’s costs, it would be gratefully received.

There is a third option, however – too many of these animals are being born to no homes because not enough of our pets are being neutered. There are programmes such as BAARK, which aims to spay and neuter animals, with the goal of reducing the number of strays on our streets. Many veterinary surgeries have their own schemes too.

These animals never asked to be abandoned – so if you can help, please do.

PICTURE OF THE DAY THE FULL moon rises over a house in the village of Putilovo, east of St Petersburg, Russia, yesterday.

Photo: Dmitri Lovetsky/AP

Will a new Commissioner change things?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

POLICE Commissioner Clayton Fernander’s pedigree, mostly CID-DIU, could change things, but the data on where the guns come from causes me, and should cause everyone, serious anxiety that little will change.

94% of all guns found connected with crime, so the PM says, are directly linked to Bahamianconnections in The US... problem: Second Amendment a resident may own and carry a firearm legally, must have licence and comply with US laws. Do licence owners have to report annually to ATF or Police showing their fire arm?

ATF might not check annually at least that Bahamian ‘A’ still has the gun licensed in his possession and that it is not now resident in Nassau? Big issue – if ATF were annually checking this would greatly assist.

Ports of entry into The Bahamas - porous and wide open are good descriptions as no one can say differently. I have read numerous

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net letters with excellent ideas over the years how to close that openness, but nothing seems to have changed... business as usual which logically pre-empts the comment that corruption prevails.

The devil is in the master – diplomatically we constantly hear the negative criticism from the US - the Embassy here - and statements when, for example, the US Secretary of State might comment about us and the region, but the issue the prime reason and cause for gun smuggling is the lack of security at the ports of exit – the US. TSA the US Airport security agency reports ‘000’s of guns are caught at their inspections at airports.

I believe Miami is one of the hot-spots even guns loaded so seems the US has a problem which overspills into us.

Cargo freight how secure is the freight coming off the Miami River? Are ‘all’ items at all ports of

disembarkation scanned and verified to a reasonable level no guns – no drugs, including medications? If secured at the US end and further inspection at The Bahamas end chances are that smuggling will abet.

Is Customs Click-N-Clear programme operational... do the shopping brigade the duffle bag merchants go through commercial inspection on the Airport Road or at LPIA? Honestly, we know precisely where the leaks are – we know who and when the issue is, but we refuse to act and clean up the criminal element in our midst.

Foreign Affairs needs to sit down with their opposite people - Secretary of State and tell them as it is and what we essentially need to quell this slaughter of our younger people....as our closest State and taking their complimentary words as signs of friendship, surely friends help each other out? Hon Loftus Roker would never have allowed this mess.

D ROLLE Nassau, July 13, 2022.

Push for reverse sexual orientation discrimination EDITOR, The Tribune.

MEMBERS of the LGBTQ+ community in The Bahamas seem to have a sense of entitlement and an us against them mentality.

This is what I gathered from the interaction between Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis and an LGBTQ+ member at the University of The Bahamas, as was reported by The Tribune.

To the members of the Progressive Liberal Party administration, no national development plan will succeed without God’s blessing. I know that the word “sin” is taboo among members in the academia fraternity and the political directorate looking to bend over backwards to

appease the US, Canada and Great Britain. For too many politicians while crafting policies, God is an afterthought.

The LGBTQ+ member took umbrage that his community was not specifically mentioned in Davis’ blueprint for change.

Then again, Davis, from what I gathered, did not specifically mention the heterosexual community either. So, what’s the point, especially since the LGBTQ+ person stated that many of his colleagues are working in the current administration?

By seeking to get the Davis administration to single out his community, the LGBTQ+ member was essentially calling for his group to receive preferential treatment. Any move to

meet this irrational demand would automatically lead to the perception that the government is engaging in reverse sexual orientation discrimination against heterosexual Bahamians, who make up the overwhelming majority of the electorate.

If this administration feels the need to pander to the LGBTQ+ demographic, with little regard to the evangelical church, then it will do so to its own political peril.

I don’t see heterosexuals flaunting their sexuality in public. Why do members of the LGBTQ+ community always feel the need to do so?

Bahamian homosexuals need to stop playing the victim.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama.

July 13, 2022.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 14, 2022, PAGE 7

Woman threw rock at car in revenge

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A WOMAN was ordered to attend 200 hours of community service yesterday after admitting to throwing a rock at a man’s car who she was described as having an “intimate exchange relationship” with.

The man - Michael Moss’ - had put her belongings on the side of the road.

Latiqua Perpall, 28, stood before Magistrate Kendra Kelly on a charge of damage.

At around 10.30pm on July 7 in New Providence Perpall reportedly threw a rock at Moss’ Honda Step Wagon causing $590 worth of damage to the windshield.

In court, the defendant pleaded guilty to the charge with explanation.

Perpall told the magistrate she had an “intimate exchange relationship” with Moss and that she fulfilled his desires. However, she went on to say she didn’t want to date Moss and that he got mad at her when he found out she had a boyfriend.

This led to Moss putting the defendant’s belongings, including Perpall’s government IDs and jewellery, outside his house where they would later be taken by garbage collectors.

When Perpall found out what transpired she ended up throwing the rock at Moss’ car out of anger and revenge. She also said Moss owes her money for their previous exchanges as well after previously claiming that “he likes to pay for bread”.

After hearing the defendant’s story and that she had

antecedents, Magistrate Kelly called Perpall’s relationship with the complainant akin to prostitution. The magistrate further said that Perpall is better than that and that she needs to look out for herself as she could have faced a maximum sentence of ten years for the charge.

As such, the court ordered her to complete 200 hours of community service. Perpall was further ordered to compensate Moss $590 for the damage to his vehicle and that she has to pay $100 of her debt off before her release. She

is then expected to pay another $200 by the end of August.

Should the defendant fail to comply with any of these conditions, she would face three months in the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

The magistrate then told Perpall that she hopes she can change her life and find meaningful employment.

Perpall is expected to return to court for mention and determination of the remainder of her compensation payments on August 31.

‘PAY $1,200 COMPENSTION TWO MONTHS JAIL FOR GRABBING POLICE OFFICER FOR DAMAGED WINDSHIELD’

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was ordered to pay $1,200 in compensation to another man yesterday for damaging his car’s windshield.

Jaquan Huyler, 25, represented by Attorney Tonique Lewis, appeared before Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain on a charge of damage.

On January 16, 2020, Huyler was accused of causing $1,200 damage to Simon Dean’s 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander’s rear windshield by throwing a rock at it.

Huyler pleaded guilty to the offence.

As part of her plea of mitigation, Ms Lewis stated that her young client is gainfully employed at a snack shop with no prior run-ins with the law. Ms Lewis said that Huyler had admitted to the offence at the earliest opportunity thus saving the court’s time and that he was remorseful for his actions.

Huyler’s attorney then pointed out that Mr Dean, the complainant, lived with Huyler’s aunt at the time and that Huyler only did what he did because he claimed Dean was “roughing” his aunt up.

Attorney Lewis said her client now knows that he should call the police in such a scenario and asked that the court be lenient and not impose a custodial sentence, pointing out that Huyler is capable of reform.

In view of this Magistrate Swain placed Huyler on a conditional discharge for one year. During that time should Huyler fail to behave, he will face six months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

Huyler was further ordered to pay Simon Dean $1,200 as compensation for the damage done to his car.

Huyler is expected to return to court with proof of payment by July 21.

TWO ARRESTED AFTER GUN FIND

BY DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunmedia.net

THE discovery of firearm and ammunition in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, has led to the arrest of two men.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Stephen Rolle reported that officers recovered a Black Glock .43 pistol and ammunition on Tuesday.

Shortly before 2pm, a team of officers from the Marsh Harbour Police Station, acting on information,

executed a search warrant at a residence situated on Albury Lane in Marsh Harbour.

Police conducted a search of the residence but found nothing illegal.

The two male occupants then directed officers to a bushy area near the property where the Glock .43 Pistol with seven live rounds of ammunition was recovered.

The two men were arrested and taken into Police custody. Investigations are continuing.

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was sentenced to two months behind bars yesterday after admitting to assaulting a police officer as she tried to arrest his cousin.

Spencer Thompson, 26, represented by attorney Wilber Deleveaux, stood before Magistrate Kendra Kelly on charges of assaulting a police officer and obstruction.

On May 27 in New Providence, the accused reportedly assaulted Sgt Wilson while she was in the process of executing her duties by arresting Thompson’s cousin.

In his latest court appearance,

Thompson reversed an earlier plea and pleaded guilty after spending almost two months on remand after failing to make bail.

During his plea of mitigation, Mr Deleveaux told the magistrate his client expressed remorse for his actions and had spared the court a lengthy trial by changing his plea.

After explaining that Thompson said that he only touched Sgt Rolle on the shoulder while she was recording the incident, Mr Deleveaux implored the court to let his client go for time served.

The prosecution then stated that the police report indicated that Thompson did come between the arresting officer and his cousin during

the incident. It also confirmed that he grabbed Sgt Rolle’s left shoulder and told her to “get off my little cousin”.

The prosecution also indicated the defendant had three previous court matters, some of which are drug related, with his latest conviction being in 2018 for which Thompson served one year.

As such, Magistrate Kelly sentenced him to two months in the Bahamas Department of Corrections.

Due to his time on remand Thompson was told he will be released for time served.

Before leaving court, the magistrate warned Thompson not to obstruct officers in the future or take the law into his own hands.

MAN ‘HAD ILLEGAL DRUGS TO DEAL WITH DEPRESSON’

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN has been ordered to attend six months of drug counselling after being found with Indian Hemp.

Cleso Rolle, 28, appeared before Magistrate Shaka Serville on a charge of possession of dangerous drugs.

On July 11, Rolle was arrested in New Providence after he was found with 1oz of Indian hemp with a street

value of $100.

In court, the accused pleaded guilty to the offence.

Rolle told the magistrate he takes drugs to deal with depression after the death of his parents and that he was just trying to enjoy the holiday weekend when he was caught.

He said he knew what he did was wrong and asked for the court’s help with his substance use.

After crediting Rolle for his early plea of guilty and noting that he

seemed remorseful, Magistrate Serville granted the accused a conditional discharge.

As such, Rolle is expected to attend drug counselling and grief management classes at CCAC for six months.

Should he default on this condition or fail to produce a satisfactory report at the end of his counselling he will be convicted for the offence and face a fine of $500.

Rolle is expected to return to court for a report on December 16.

PAGE 8, Thursday, July 14, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

– Abraham Lincoln “Character is fate, and the Prime Minister [Boris Johnson] was undone by his lifelong pathological inability to tell the truth.”

– Marina Hyde AS Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson finally succumbed to reality, emerging from the reality show cum bunker of 10 Downing Street to announce his resignation, “Yakety Sax”, the theme song for the Benny Hill Show blared, while a jubilantly clapping audience cheered his impending departure.

The show, starring Alfred Hawthorne “Benny” Hill, was a British comedy setup cum television show airing from 1955 to 1989, with large audiences in the UK and abroad, featuring filmed segments and live comedy.

The show’s ensemble delighted audiences with sketches of burlesque, gags, mime, parody, slapstick – and double entendre. Hill jibed: “That’s what show business is, sincere insincerity.” Replace “show business” with “politics” and one might define Boris Johnson’s journalistic and political career.

Johnson is in some ways a Benny Hill-like character. Both men shared a mastery of entertainment and the performative arts. Both reveled in puns, deploying them like sophisticated heat-seeking missiles intended to destroy targets ranging from opponents to pretentiousness.

The double entendre, or double meaning, mischievously exploiting nuance and ambiguity, was a shared forte of the two comic figures.

The show – Hill’s, not Johnson’s – was rife with sexual innuendo and what some critics described as the sexist objectification of women. Hill was often portrayed as a lecher constantly chasing pretty women. The inside joke, which audiences were in on, was that Hill was gay.

BRITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson

The British public was in on the lechery of Johnson, who was renowned for his sexual exploits. In 2004, then-Conservative leader, John Howard, removed him from the opposition front bench for lying about an affair with a journalist, after vigorously assuring Howard the allegations were untrue.

Johnson, who was married with four children at the time, categorically stated the allegations of the affair were an “inverted pyramid of piffle”. He was, of course, not telling the truth.

LIAR

The lying about the affair was an example of a pathological and entrenched character flaw in Johnson, who was described by observers over the years as a “prodigious”, “habitual”, “pathological”, “congenital”, “unrepentant”, “inveterate” “liar”.

He was the master of deploying untruths, small, medium, large and supersized.

Rory Stewart, a former competitor for the Tory leadership suggested Johnson may be “the most accomplished liar in public life – perhaps the best liar ever to serve as Prime Minister”.

Stewart declared that Johnson “has mastered the use of error, omission, exaggeration, diminution, equivocation and flat denial.

He has perfected casuistry, circumlocution, false

equivalence and false analogy.

“He is equally adept at the ironic jest, the fib and the grand lie; the weasel word and the half-truth; the hyperbolic lie, the obvious lie, and the bullshit lie – which may inadvertently be true.”

Anyone who has had any experience with such an individual is often bewildered by the boldness and confidence of the liar, especially given that the falsehoods are easily discoverable.

One must check every claim they make, effortlessly lying about others, including supposed friends and colleagues. They are given to gross exaggeration and a life built on a foundation and scaffold of lies.

Yet, despite the falsehoods and dissembling over a lifetime, Johnson often succeeded because of his opponents and the willingness of his allies and voters to look the other way because it was in their interest to do so.

Citizens and voters crave entertainment, bread and circus and often “superficial appeasement” from politicians, ranging from certain antics to handouts to slug matches between

LESSONS FROM THE MAGICAL RISE AND FALL OF BORIS JOHNSON

opponents and internal tribal battles in a political party.

NARCISSISM

Johnson offered such rollicking political theatre accompanied by memorable quips, bon mots and PR stunts. His theatrics fed his unquenchable narcissism and the hunger by many to be entertained by politician-celebrity types.

During the 2012 Olympics in London, Johnson rode a zip line in Victoria Park. The UK Guardian reported at the time: “It was the sort of stunt from which any sensible politician would have sprinted.

Instead, Johnson climbed a tower, allowed himself to be strapped into an undignified harness and, with a small plastic union flag in each hand, he set off.”

Though he got stuck, pranks such as these and his willingness to brazenly do and to get away with things which would have sunk other politicians, bolstered his appeal and celebrity, with some voters vicariously delighting in his outlandish and often rakish conduct.

He often poked fun at and derided many establishment norms and individuals, which would eventually help derail his premiership.

Voters often enjoy such high wire distractions, treating politicians as celebrities whom they enjoy alternatively celebrating and tearing down, sometimes with vicious abandonment and enjoyment.

Voters delight in the thrill and rush of electing a new head of government, crowning them with tremendous power as the leader headily basks in glorious victory, often believing that the throne on which they sit is made of platinum, rather than straw or some other easily dismantled material.

Yet, voters delight even more in the ignominious downfall and humiliation of the very hero in whom they reposed their temporary trust and adulation.

Johnson, adept at quoting Grecian and Roman ancients, should have known his character traits and unwieldy hubris would eventually lead to his downfall. Hill and Johnson appreciated how humour is an antidote to pomposity and arrogance.

Referring to himself in a fit of self-mockery, Johnson self-ribbed: “You can’t rule out the possibility that beneath the elaborately constructed veneer of a blithering idiot, there lurks a blithering idiot.”

Despite various political gifts, Johnson’s hubris and

various pathologies were always likely going to doom him, just like ancient figures and modern politicians, the seeds of whose destruction are evident at the height of their greatest triumphs and victories.

After a British Prime Minister is forced from office, party members and leaders typically opt for the near-opposite of the outgoing leader.

PERSONALITY

The phlegmatic Theresa May, who preceded Johnson, was dull in comparison with her successor, resembling high-fibre multigrain unbuttered toast. Johnson is a high caloric, high fat, high cholesterol English breakfast-like (or “fry-up”) personality.

The typical English breakfast comprises: bacon, sausages, fried eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, fried bread, white or black pudding and buttered toast, accompanied by tea or coffee. It is a hearty, savory meal, satisfying for a time.

But too much of such a breakfast is not good for one’s waistline.

We can extend the metaphor with a story. A friend visiting London recalls eating two helpings of a free English breakfast at his hotel during a two-week vacation. By the end of his stay, he was stalled and gaining weight.

Though enjoyable at the time, it became all too much. Eating such a breakfast every day could lead to long-term health problems.

The entertaining and at times satisfying Johnson shtick gave voters what they sometimes hungrily craved, whether it was healthy for them or not, whether it was based in reality or not, whether what he was saying met certain truth tests or not.

Ever the conjurer and illusionist, he mastered the delivery of dog whistles and a wink and a nod, which many voters either enjoyed or constantly let slip. The impractical and unethical decision to send certain migrants seeking asylum in the UK to Rwanda was a prime example of this wellpractised art.

In the obverse of the car mirror warning, “objects in mirror are closer than they appear”, Johnson breezily told voters he would “get Brexit done” quickly. Brexit was always further away than Johnson suggested and it is far from done.

The UK is going to continue to experience long-term economic and trade dislocation because of the vote. Britain applied to join the EU in 1961.

Because of two French vetoes it did not join until 1973, 12 years late.

The fuller exit and disentanglement from the EU is going to take many years, something Johnson and many of the full-throated Brexiters often elided.

During the Brexit campaign in 2016, Johnson insisted that leaving the European Union would save taxpayers £350m a week in funds being sent to Brussels.

He boasted that the savings could be invested in the National Health Service. The claim was bogus.

HYPOCRISY

There is a classic political equation and equilibrium: Voters are willing to put up with certain levels of hypocrisy, untruth and corruption by politicians, sometimes even closing eyes and ears to poor conduct and cant, especially if the politician is satisfying them emotionally, economically or politically.

But eventually, especially in times of crisis, citizens grow angry, wary of gross excess and the lies covering up such excess and arrogance. COVID-19 and the global economic crisis were just those crises, ingredients in the cauldron of events in which Partygate exploded unrelentingly.

Late last year, a friend argued that most UK voters were unconcerned about Partygate, the various parties held at No. 10 during COVID lockdowns, a number of which were attended by Johnson, who aggressively misled the public and his colleagues on the matter, and perhaps misled Parliament.

The friend and others did not appreciate that the degree of hypocrisy and the cavalier attitude toward both truth-telling and the sacrifices and suffering of others, were now too much for voters, including most of the Tory base.

Power and crises reveal a leader’s strengths and weaknesses, good character and flaws. Johnson was not undone because of policy matters. His outsized character flaws, especially his pathological lies, finally ended his brief and shambolic premiership.

It was near fateful that the flaws that ejected him from office were inevitably bound to end his political career.

Lesson for leaders and voters: The flaws and Achilles heels of those elected are the very instruments of their political demise if they are not tamed by one’s inner voice and the voices and corrective advice of colleagues and observers issuing warnings that one’s wings are melting in a fireball freefall as one hurtles to the dusty ground of political demise.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 14, 2022, PAGE 9

Roll up, roll up for the great game of ‘pick your nominee’ “I’M just disgusted by what’s happening in the US,” the Bahamian lady said over the telephone. WhatsApp, of course. “What a colossal mess! You know, I heard the other day someone was talking, and they said that the Democrats actually figured out how to entice the conservatives on the Supreme Court to vote on Roe v Wade right now, because it’s the only thing that can prevent a Republican takeover of Congress in November.”

How could the Democrats accomplish that? “I have no idea,” she said.

“But you know how things are in Washington. Anything is possible, and these characters are capable of anything.”

Another local acquaintance adopted a different perspective. “The Democrats had better hope that Donald Trump somehow hangs on and gets the Republican nomination in a couple of years. He would be the only reason for any sensible person to vote for Joe Biden another time.

“Look at all the Republicans who might be getting prepared to run for office in 2024,” he continued. “Mike Pence, who may have saved American democracy when he defied Trump on January 6 last year. Mike Pompeo, look at his resume: West Point, businessman, member of Congress, CIA director and Secretary of State. And he’s lost a bunch of weight.

Nikki Haley, how well she carries herself. Former UN ambassador. Good executive experience in South Carolina. All of these sat at the cabinet table in Trump’s White House.”

His brother got on the line. “How about those that didn’t serve under Trump? They might have an advantage if some of these court cases turn out badly for Trump. Look at Ron DeSantis. Everyone in the GOP seems to really like what he is saying and doing.

He feels the frustrations of everyday people who are unhappy with the education their kids are getting in school. He doesn’t just talk; he acts. This guy seems like Trump without all the tweeting and craziness.

“There’s plenty of other Republicans to choose from if Trump doesn’t run after all or if he gets knocked off

by Democratic prosecutors. You’ve got Rick Scott and a couple of others in Florida alone. And don’t forget Ted Cruz in Texas and Tom Cotton in Arkansas. There’re several women governors and senators, too. Lots of attractive possibilities.”

Another Bahamian has lived for many years in the US, but has now been back home for a while. “To be honest,” she said, “I’m glad I’m not over there anymore.

Biden just can’t seem to get any traction. The jobs reports are looking pretty rosy and unemployment is back under four percent.

But I was just over in Miami a couple of weeks ago, and I’ll tell you: the rise in prices is clear almost everywhere you go. It’s not at all just at the gas station. Stuff that might have cost a couple of dollars in the spring now costs what seems like 50 percent more. Your dollar just doesn’t go as far. I figured that a pound of butter is up way over a dollar a month since March.

“So what has Biden been able to do about any of this? He mostly talks a good game, seems animated and determined most of the time. But are gas prices or any other prices – including interest rates and home prices – coming down? Not that I can see. It’s no wonder people are so discouraged.”

Bahamians always have some pretty well-informed views on the goings-on with our giant neighbour. And

the views above are very well reflected in some of the polls now starting to appear in the early stages of November election frenzy in America.

The New York Times, for instance, just issued its first comprehensive poll of American voter attitudes four months ahead of the next elections. The Times found that more than three-quarters of registered voters see the United States moving in the wrong direction. Their pollsters found a sense of pessimism that seems to infect every part of the country, every age and racial group, cities, suburbs and rural areas. The two major political parties aren’t seen as part of the solution, either.

Headlines across the country are focused on the poll’s findings that even many Democrats and independents who voted for Biden two years ago now wish he wouldn’t run again. Only 26 percent favour a second Biden term. Additionally, more than two-thirds of independents also say they now disapprove of Biden’s performance, and nearly half of those say they disapprove strongly. For Democrats, his approval is 70 percent, not a comforting figure for an incumbent President.

Biden’s advanced age is increasingly held against him.

Biden is already, at the age of 79, the oldest President in American history.

It’s probably not very surprising that in the new poll, pushback against Mr Biden and a preference to move in a new direction were particularly acute among younger voters. But look at this figure: In the survey, 94 percent of Democrats under the age of 30 said they would prefer that someone else run for the Democratic nomination.

Who would that be, exactly? The constitutional first choice would be the Vice President, former California attorney general and then US Senator Kamala Harris, the first black woman to hold the nation’s second-highest job.

But the problem with Harris is that literally almost no one thinks she has yet shown anything to suggest she is up to the job of President. This is of course altogether unfair, since she has been given relatively few headline assignments, at least publicly. And one of her assignments that did garner headlines – the effort to squelch illegal immigration across America’s southern border with Mexico by stimulating Central American economies – was rancid old wine in a new bottle and was appropriately dead-on arrival as a policy initiative.

Who else do the Democrats have?

There’s Transportation Secretary and former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete

Buttigieg. He was a primary election star in 2020, but is still awfully young and young looking. Probably not ready for prime time. The Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, brought with her to Washington the reputation of having been a terrific governor of Rhode Island. But have you ever heard of her? The current governor of California, Gavin Newsome, is making noises that suggest he is looking forward to a presidential run sometime. There are of course others, but we’re reaching here. Bernie Sanders has said he is done with presidential election participation, at least as a candidate.

Somewhat ironically, then, we have the Republicans with a pretty deep bench of potential standardbearers for 2024, despite the elephantine shadow of Donald Trump’s likely candidacy dimming everyone else’s chances to run for the top job. The Dems, at least now, are thin on the ground by comparison.

Furthermore, historically, challenges to a sitting President from within his own party have led to devastating defeats not only in the immediate term but also beyond.

Veteran Democratic strategist Joe Trippi told the Times he hopes anyone thinking of a Biden primary challenge realizes it would be “murder-suicide,” and warned his fellow Democrats that “nothing good can come from it”.

“I learned that lesson the hard way as a young idealistic progressive in the late 70s early 80s,” Trippi said.

“What we got for it was eight years of Reagan and four years of George H.W. Bush.”

Getting back to the Times poll, its results did show Biden enjoys a slight but not insignificant advantage over one potential 2024 opponent – the same man he defeated two years ago. The margin is three points right now. The poll showed Democratic voter concerns about Mr Biden’s age or other issues basically disappeared when those voters were presented with a choice between him and Trump - 92 percent of Democrats said they would stick with Mr. Biden.

This recalled for the reporter of one of Biden’s favorite aphorisms: “Don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.”

For now, Biden is burdened with what looks like runaway inflation; a potential looming recession; pain at the gas pump; the recalcitrant resistance to any initiatives from his Republican opposition; his advancing age and an inexorably deepening involvement in a European bloodbath that shows no signs of receding.

Reaching and surviving November will be a challenge.

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US President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump.

US Vice President Kamala Harris and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

PAGE 10, Thursday, July 14, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Steps that could have been taken in latest COVID surge

By CARLA K JOHNSON AP Medical Writer

SERVICE HONOURS GLORIA RUSSELL

TRIBUTES were paid at St Barnabas to Gloria Eleanor Russell ahead of a funeral at Woodlawn Gardens Cemetery.

Gloria left an indelible mark in the educational tapestry of The Bahamas.

She was born in Arthur’s Town in Cat Island to George and Sarah Russell, the fifth sibling of six children.

She attended the Arthur’s Town All Age School and showed an insatiable appetite for education and the academics.

Because of her prowess for education, she was invited to be a school/class monitor. This culminated in her attending Teacher Training College, leading her to move to New Providence.

Upon arrival in New Providence, she was invited to share a home with her younger sibling, Queenie Burton nee Russell who recently given birth and her son, who would go on to becoe Doctor Vincent Ricardo Burton.

The Russell clan made their homestead in Big Pond Subdivision which was in close proximity to Gloria’s first teaching post the Mable Walker Primary School.

After a decade of teaching children in the Bain Town area, she was transferred to T Gibson Primary, now the CR Walker High School.

At T Gibson, she served as the school’s senior mistress.

In 1988, she was honoured by the Kiwanis Club of New Providence for exemplary service to the teaching profession. This year would also see her honoured by the Primary School Principal and was selected Teacher of the Year.

Gloria also took part annually in fundraising event for her Anglican Church of St Andrew in Arthur’s Town. She was a devoted Anglican and was once a member of St Barnabas Anglican Church Woman.

She would always remind people: “All smart people descend from Cat Island.”

In her latter years of teaching, she was transferred to Columbus Primary where she ended her career.

A relative said: “Aunt Glo wanted the best for her nieces and nephews because she saw them as her children because she never had a child.

“She would say in gest ‘you may be born in the ghetto but you don’t have to stay in the ghetto’.”

She also quoted her alma mater’s motto, “Non Scholae sed vitate dismiscuss” which means Not for school but for life we learn”.

In later years, Gloria developed Alzheimer’s disease.

One of her nephews, Fr Burton, said at the time: “If one woman can take of five children, why cant five children take care of one woman.”

She died on May 13 at her home on Fire Trial Road.

A number of clergy attended, including Fr Andrew Toppin, rector of St James Adelaide, Canon Sebastian Campbell, Canon Crosley Walkine and Canon Warren Rolle, Archdeacon Kingsley Knowles, Fr Roderick Bain and Fr Kristopher Higgs rector and assistant of St Barnabas Church respectively.

WITH new omicron variants again driving COVID-19 hospital admissions and deaths higher in recent weeks, states and cities are rethinking their responses and the White House is stepping up efforts to alert the public.

Some experts said the warnings are too little, too late.

The highly transmissible BA.5 variant now accounts for 65% of cases with its cousin BA.4 contributing another 16%.

The variants have shown a remarkable ability to get around the protection offered by infection and vaccination.

“It’s well past the time when the warning could have been put out there,” said Dr. Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, who has has called BA.5 “the worst variant yet”.

Global trends for the two mutants have been apparent for weeks, experts said — they quickly out-compete older variants and push cases higher wherever they appear. Yet Americans have tossed off their masks and jumped back into travel and social gatherings. And they have largely ignored booster shots, which protect against COVID-19’s worst outcomes. Courts have blocked federal mask and vaccine mandates, tying the hands of US officials.

“We learn a lot from how the virus is acting elsewhere and we should apply the knowledge here,” said Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle.

White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr Ashish Jha appeared on morning TV on Wednesday urging booster shots and renewed vigilance. Yet Mokdad said federal health officials need to be push harder on masks indoors, early detection and prompt antiviral treatment. “They are not doing all that they can,” Mokdad said.

The administration’s challenge, in the view of the White House, is not their messaging, but people’s willingness to hear it — due to pandemic fatigue and the politicisation of the virus response.

For months, the White House has encouraged Americans to make use of free or cheap at-home rapid tests to detect the virus, as well as the free and effective antiviral treatment Paxlovid that protects against serious illness and death. On Tuesday, the White House response team called

WORKERS in face masks inside Grand Central Market yesterday in Los Angeles.

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP on all adults 50 and older to urgently get a booster if they haven’t yet this year — and dissuaded people from waiting for the next generation of shots expected in the fall when they can roll up their sleeves and get some protection now.

Los Angeles County, the nation’s largest by population, is facing a return to a broad indoor mask mandate if current trends in hospital admissions continue, health director Barbara Ferrer told county supervisors Tuesday. “I do recognise that when we return to universal indoor masking to reduce high spread, for many this will feel like a step backwards,” Ferrer said. But she stressed that requiring masks “helps us to reduce risk.”

LA County has long required masks in some indoor spaces, including health care facilities, Metro trains and buses, airports, jails and homeless shelters. A universal mandate would expand the requirement to all indoor public spaces, including shared offices, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, retail stores, restaurants and bars, theaters and schools.

Sharon Fayette ripped off her mask the moment she stepped out of a Lyft ride in LA and groaned when informed another universal mask requirement might be coming. “Oh man, when will it end?” she wondered about the pandemic.

Fayette said she was exhausted by shifting regulations and dubious another mandate would be followed by most residents. “I just think people are over it, over all the rules,” she said.

The nation’s brief lull in COVID deaths has reversed. Last month, daily deaths were falling, though they never matched

last year’s low, and deaths are now heading up again.

The seven-day average for daily deaths in the US rose 26% over the past two weeks to 489 on July 12.

The coronavirus is not killing nearly as many as it was last fall and winter, and experts do not expect death to reach those levels again soon. But hundreds of daily deaths for a summertime respiratory illness would normally be jaw-dropping, said Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at the University of California, Irvine. He noted that in Orange County, California, 46 people died of COVID-19 in June.

“That would be all hands on deck,” Noymer said. “People would be like, ‘There’s this crazy new flu that’s killing people in June.’”

Instead, simple, proven precautions are not being taken. Vaccinations, including booster shots for those eligible, lower the risk of hospitalisation and death — even against the latest variants. But less than half of all eligible US adults have gotten a single booster shot, and only about 1 in 4 Americans age 50 and older who are eligible for a second booster have received one.

“This has been a botched booster campaign,” Topol said, noting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still uses the term “fully vaccinated” for people with two shots of Moderna or Pfizer. “They haven’t gotten across that two shots is totally inadequate,” he said.

Noymer said if he were in charge of the nation’s COVID response he would level with the American people in an effort to get their attention in this third year of the pandemic.

‘BIGGEST THEFT OF CLASSIFIED INFO IN CIA HISTORY’ NEW YORK Associated Press

A FORMER CIA software engineer was convicted yesterday of federal charges accusing him of the biggest theft of classified information in CIA history.

Joshua Schulte, who chose to defend himself at a New York City retrial, had told jurors in closing arguments that the CIA and FBI made him a scapegoat for an embarrassing public release of a trove of CIA secrets by WikiLeaks in 2017.

Schulte watched without visibly reacting as US District Judge Jesse M Furman announced the guilty verdict on nine counts, which was reached in mid-afternoon by a jury that had deliberated since Friday.

The so-called Vault 7 leak revealed how the CIA hacked Apple and Android smartphones in overseas spying operations, and efforts to turn internet-connected televisions into listening devices. Prior to his arrest, Schulte had helped create the

hacking tools as a coder at the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

A sentencing date was not immediately set because Schulte still awaits trial on charges of possessing and transporting child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty.

Attorney Sabrina Shroff, who advised Schulte during the trial, told Schulte’s mother after the verdict that the outcome was a “kick to the gut, the brain and heart”.

It was unclear if Shroff was expressing her own sentiments or Schulte’s.

In his closing, Schulte claimed he was singled out even though “hundreds of people had access to (the information). … Hundreds of people could have stolen it.”

“The government’s case is riddled with reasonable doubt,” he added. “There’s simply no motive here.”

Prosecutors alleged the 33-year-old Schulte was motivated to orchestrate the leak because he believed the CIA had disrespected him by ignoring his complaints about the work environment. So he tried

“to burn to the ground” the very work he had helped the agency to create, they said.

Assistant US Attorney David Denton encouraged jurors to consider evidence of an attempted cover-up, including a list of chores Schulte drew up that had an entry reading, “Delete suspicious emails.”

US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that Schulte was convicted of “one of the most brazen and damaging acts of espionage in American history”.

Williams said Schulte, motivated by resentment toward the CIA, leaked to the public and to U.S. adversaries some of the nation’s “most valuable intelligence-gathering cyber tools used to battle terrorist organisations and other malign influences around the globe”.

The prosecutor said Schulte knew the leak would render the CIA’s tools “essentially useless, having a devastating effect on our intelligence community by providing critical intelligence to those who wish to do us harm”.

JUDGE REJECTS APPEAL BY AMBER HEARD FALLS CHURCH, Virginia Associated Press

A VIRGINIA judge yesterday rejected an effort by actress Amber Heard to set aside the $10m judgement awarded against her in favour of her ex-husband, Johnny Depp.

Depp won a defamation suit against Heard last month in a high-profile civil trial. Heard won a smaller, $2m judgement on a counterclaim she filed against Depp.

Earlier this month, Heard filed a motion seeking to have Depp’s verdict set aside, or have a mistrial declared. Her lawyers cited multiple factors, including an apparent case of mistaken identity with one of the jurors.

In a written order, Judge Penney Azcarate rejected all of Heard’s claims and said the juror issue specifically was irrelevant and that Heard can’t show she was prejudiced.

“The juror was vetted, sat for the entire jury, deliberated, and reached a verdict.

The only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Court’s instructions, and orders.

This Court is bound by the competent decision of the jury,” Azcarate wrote.

Depp sued for $50m in Fairfax County after Heard wrote a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post about domestic violence in which she referred to herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”.

The article never mentioned Depp by name, but his lawyers said several passages in the article defamed him by implication by referring to highly publicised abuse allegations she made in 2016 as she filed for divorce.

Heard then filed a $100m counterclaim, also for defamation. By the time the case went to trial, her counterclaim had been whittled down to a few statements made by one of Depp’s lawyers, who called Heard’s abuse allegations a hoax.

The jury awarded $15m to Depp and $2 million to Heard on her counterclaim. The $15m judgment was reduced to $10.35m because Virginia law caps punitive damages at $350,000.

SPORTS PAGE 11

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2022

Team Bahamas falls to Cuba 76-44 in opener

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

T

he Bahamas senior women’s national basketball team opened the 2022 Caribbean Women’s Championship with a lopsided loss to the host country on the first night of competition.

Cuba took a dominant 76-44 win over The Bahamas last night at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum in Havana, Cuba.

High school sensation Denika Lightbourne finished with 17 points and five rebounds - both team highs - while Valerie Nesbitt added 13 points, four assists, three steals and two blocks.

The Bahamas shot just 25 percent from the field (11-43) and 20 percent from three-point range (2-10). Cuba also struggled from three-point range at just 9.5 percent (2-21) but dominated the interior with a nine-rebound advantage and 47 percent shooting from the field (27-57).

TEAM BAHAMAS at the Caribbean Women’s Championship last night at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum in Havana, Cuba.

Nahomis Vargas led three Cubans in double figures with 15 points, Isabella Jourdain had 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Yamara Amargo had 11 points.

Cuba took a 20-8 lead after the opening quarter and led 38-22 at the half.

The Bahamas had their best scoring quarter in the third when they edged the Cubans 16-14, but followed that with their worst quarter in the fourth when they were outscored 24-6.

The Bahamas will face the Dominican Republic

at 5pm today and Jamaica at the same time on Friday, July 15.

The playoffs will take place on Saturday and Sunday, July 16-17.

The CBC grants three spots in the Women’s Centrobasket Championship 2022, scheduled for the month of November.

This marks the first time Cuba has hosted a regional senior women’s basketball event in more than 20 years.

Recently, the Ciudad Deportiva de La Habana coliseum hosted their

men’s senior team in two FIBA World Cup 2023 Americas Qualifiers games during the second window in February.

Team Bahamas is coached by Donnie Culmer, who is assisted

by Deven Johnson and Di’Asti Delancy.

The roster includes Nesbitt, Lightbourne, Philicia Kelly, Britenique Harrison, Roberta Quant and Latoya Rolle, Tiffany Wildgoose, Lativia Brennen, Antonicia Moultrie, Valicia Demeritte, Denika Lightbourne, Lorraine

Oliver and Karolyn Baptiste.

The team is managed by Anastacia Sands-Moultrie with Charlis Robbins as the director of basketball operations, Latoya Silver as the head of delegation and Sasha Johnson as the trainer.

In addition to winning the CBC Championship for Women in 2015, the Bahamas also won the 1998 Caricom Basketball Championship for Women and placed third at the CBC Women’s Championships in 2018.

BODYBUILDING & FITNESS 49TH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS ALL SET THE Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation returns to competition with its marquee event - the 49th National Championships.

Over 50 athletes are expected to take the stage in the Atlantis resort’s Imperial Ballroom at 7pm on July 16.

“Everybody is in a good mindset, the athletes are ready to compete,” said Joel Stubbs, president of the Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation.

“We are encouraging the general public to come out and give us your support, come see the various categories, come and see where you fit in each category and it may be your desire to one day be a participant.”

The weighins will be hosted on July 15 at JLine Fitness on Shirley Street from 5-8pm, and is open to the general public.

“Ticket sales for the event have been expeditious in their last days

leading up to the show,” Stubbs said.

“We will probably end up with a sold out room, which is good news to us as a federation.”

The BBFF recently hosted a competitive Northern Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships, which set the tone for what many expect to continue at the nationals.

“It was a great showing. Those athletes were happy to get their feet wet after the long pandemic.

They were able to train and perfect their craft,” Stubbs said.

“They are looking forward to coming to Nassau to be apart of this year’s nationals and we anticipate this being a great field.”

They are hoping to send a team to the Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships, set for July 27 to August 1, at Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Center in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Several professionals will guest pose at the event, along with familiar names to the sport and newcomers. “A lot of popular names as well as new persons will be out hoping to represent The Bahamas at the CAC Championships. This is the return of the sport and it shows that we have new talent ready to be involved in the sport,” BBFF executive Nardo Dean said. “Considering when we got the go ahead, the turnout has been really good. It made them show how driven they were to compete and stay healthy. Our message goes beyond the stage.

Anything that goes into the youth and development of all persons.

The message is the development of health and fitness.”

The event features 11 open categories, including bodybuilding, figure, men’s/women’s physique, wellness, men’s/women’s fitness, bikini and muscular physique among others.

In addition to national team roster spots, competitors will also be vying for cash, trophies, prizes and the return of the sport’s cover spokesmodel category.

The winner will be the official face of the BBFF’s Health and Fitness 2023 campaign.

Veteran sportscaster Marcellus Hall will go from reporting on the event to the stage as a competitor.

“These last four to five weeks in particular have been about buckling down and putting in extra workouts, really concentrating on nutrition, not taking in too many calories, more protein, that kind of stuff. It starts to take a toll on you these last weeks because your energy levels are low but this is the time you really have to focus because it’s coming down to the nitty gritty and every moment counts,” he said. “It’s a tough sport, have a new appreciation having gone through it, for the athletes and for the sport itself.”

JONQUEL REACHES 2,500-POINT CAREER MILESTONE

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net JONQUEL Jones continued her momentum from the WNBA All-Star break and posted her seventh double double of the season.

She finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds as the Sun defeated the Indiana Fever 89-81 yesterday at the Farmer’s Colesium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The All-Star forward shot 7-15 from the field and also added four blocks and two assists.

Connecticut improved to 15-8 and is now two games back of the Chicago Sky for first place in the Eastern Conference.

The reigning MVP also reached the 2,500 point milestone for her career. She now has a total of 2,517 points.

Jones reached her doubledouble in the first half with 15 points on 6-13 shooting, 11 boards and three blocks.

The Sun used a 9-0 run over the first two quarters - which included six points from Jones - to take control for good.

Connecticut shot 47 percent and outrebounded the Fever 38-26 to get back in the win column after losing four of its previous six games.

Jones also scored five consecutive points on a run to give Connecticut a 34-21 lead.

Connecticut posted a 14.3 point average margin of victory while going 4-0 against the Fever in 2022.

The Sun will remain on the road Friday, July 15 against the Atlanta Dream.

Last weekend, Jones displayed why she is a star among WNBA stars and shined on the brightest stage among the league’s best players at its midseason classic.

She finished with a team high 29 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and two steals, but her Team Stewart lost 134-112 to Team Wilson on July 10 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois.

In her fourth All-Star appearance, she shot 11-20 from the field and 5-11 from three-point range. She was the only player in the game to total a double double.

Jones leads the Sun with averages of 14.9 points per game, ranks third in the league with 9.1 rebounds per game, and is tied for fourth in blocks at 1.3 per game.

Tiger Woods now an Vingegaard seizes honorary member Tour lead after 1st of Royal & Ancient big mountain stage

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

ST ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) — Already a two-time winner at St Andrews, Tiger Woods picked up another honour before he even struck a shot in the 150th edition of the British Open.

He’s now an honorary member of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

The R&A used the occasion of its big celebration this week to confer honorary membership to Open champions Woods, Rory McIlroy and Paul Lawrie.

It’s not like Woods needs any help getting a tee time on the Old Course, or even gaining entry into the famous clubhouse.

But it’s a nice honour.

“It is not only the home of golf but a place in this

TIGER Woods is now an honorary member of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.

(AP Photo) world that I hold near my heart,” Woods said in a statement. “I am humbled to accept this invitation alongside these outstanding players today, as well as those who came before us.”

Woods won in 2000 and 2005 at St Andrews, and then at Royal Liverpool in 2006. The next time at Royal Liverpool, in 2014,

SEE PAGE 15

COL DU GRANON, France (AP) — The first big mountain stage shook things up at the Tour de France as defending champion Tadej Pogacar wilted toward the end of yesterday’s 11th stage and lost the yellow jersey.

Jonas Vingegaard and his team Jumbo-Visma were the big winners on the stage as the Danish rider claimed the famed jersey from Pogacar, the two-time defending champion who had been the dominant rider so far but cracked in the final ascent yesterday and fell more than 2 minutes behind.

Vingegaard and his teammates put on an impressive collective display throughout the day, with clever tactics early

STAGE winner and new overall leader Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard climbs Granon pass during the 11th stage of the Tour de France yesterday.

(AP Photo/Thibault Camus) in the race and multiple brutal climb to the top attacks that ultimately of the Col du Granon to unsettled Pogacar. enjoy a winning finish to Vingegaard moved away from Pogacar in the SEE PAGE 12

PAGE 12, Thursday, July 14, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

McLaughlin leads speedy group to 1st track worlds on US soil

By EDDIE PELLS and PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writers EUGENE, Oregon (AP) — Most runners, throwers and jumpers at the upcoming world championships only need look to their left, or right, to see where the biggest challenges lie.

For a select few, the main competition will be the clock.

A year after records fell fast and furious at the Olympics, track and field returns to the world stage at one of the sport’s most hallowed stomping grounds: Eugene, Oregon.

The city called “TrackTown USA” was put on the map by a great middle distance runner, Steve Prefontaine, then kept there by a colossus called Nike.

It now has an upgraded $270 million stadium — the iconic Hayward Field — that features a very fast track for this, the first world championships to be held on US soil.

Eugene had been slated to host in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the Olympics by a year, which pushed track and field’s calendar back one year, as well.

“There’s always a chance that records will fall during championships, but at the same time you can never order them,” said Norwegian standout Karsten Warholm, who broke the longstanding 400-metre hurdles world record twice last summer, including leaving where it is today, 45.94 seconds, when he won gold at the Tokyo Games.

“For me when I go to championships, it’s all about running for the medals, firstly. If it takes a world record, then hopefully it will be me that takes it.”

Almost certain to be a headliner over the 10-day meet, which begins Friday with medals being awarded in race walk and the 4x400 metre mixed relay, is 22-year-old hurdler Sydney McLaughlin. It is not hyperbole to say she’s a threat not only to win, but to smash a world record every time she sets foot on the red track at Hayward that features a force-reduction surface.

On June 25 at the US championships, also in Eugene, McLaughlin lowered her record in the 400 metres to 51.41 seconds.

Last year on the same track at Olympic trials, she set a world record (51.90) — one she would lower nearly six weeks later on a similarly fast track in Tokyo (51.46).

She’s being pushed by reigning world champion Dalilah Muhammad, who had the record before McLaughlin and took silver in Tokyo. Also in the mix is Olympic bronze medallist Femke Bol of the Netherlands.

“You’re going to need to run really fast for gold,” Bol said after McLaughlin’s latest world record.

“Because it shows that Sydney is in great shape.”

SYDNEY McLaughlin crosses the finish line to set a new world record in the women’s 400 metre hurdles at the US outdoor track and field championships on June 25, in Eugene, Oregon.

(Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard via AP, File)

THE UNITED States’ Ryan Crouser competes in the men’s shot put during the Prefontaine Classic track and field meet at Hayward Field on May 28 in Eugene, Oregon.

(AP Photo/Amanda Loman) Ryan Crouser won Olympic gold in Tokyo last year, but his world record in the shot put — 23.37 metres — was set at Hayward, leading many to believe there’s more to “Hayward Magic” than merely the new-fangled composites in the track.

Jamaica’s sprint star Elaine Thompson-Herah — dominant, just like her countryman Usain Bolt — is a threat to break one of the most legendary marks on the books: the 10.49 run

by Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988. It should come as no surprise that ThompsonHerah’s personal best of 10.54 came last August — three weeks AFTER the Olympics — at the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward.

She and Flo-Jo are the only women to break 10.6.

Don’t discount Thompson-Herah’s biggest rival, teammate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, whose fastest time is 10.6 seconds. She is, after all, the reigning world champion.

At the very least, Marion Jones’ nearly 23-year-old world-championship record of 10.70 seconds could fall.

JACOBS VS KERLEY In Tokyo, Marcell Jacobs of Italy edged American Fred Kerley for the Olympic gold. In Eugene, Kerley is the favourite.

Kerley has the fastest time this season while Jacobs is just getting up to speed after dealing with a glute muscle injury.

Jacobs has yet to break the 10-second mark this season, while Kerley has dipped under that time on seven occasions.

“I have a very good friendship with Fred, so I’m very happy when I seen him competing very well,” Jacobs said in the leadup to a Diamond League meet in Sweden last month before electing to withdraw as a preventative measure. “Fred is running faster this year but I’m always able to express myself when it really counts. I’m confident at the world championships.”

Also in the field are reigning champion Christian Coleman, who missed the Olympics due to a suspension over missed drug tests, and Olympic bronze medallist Andre De Grasse of Canada.

RARE AIR Mondo Duplantis’ hashtag on Instagram is apropos: “#BornToFly.” The Olympic pole vault champion who grew up in Louisiana, attended LSU and represents Sweden cleared 6.16 metres (20-2 1/2) at a Diamond League meet last month in Stockholm to improve his own outdoor world record. It topped his previous mark of 6.15, set in Rome in 2020 — when he surpassed Sergey Bubka’s 26-year-old outdoor record.

Duplantis holds the indoor world record of 6.20 (20 feet, 4 inches), set at the

ELAINE THOMPSON-HERAH, of Jamaica, reacts as she wins the women’s 100-metres final at the 2020 Summer Olympics on Saturday, July 31, 2021, in Tokyo. Among those who might break their own world records at the world championships are hurdlers Sydney McLaughlin and Karsten Warholm and shot putter Ryan Crouser. Jamaican speedster Elaine Thompson-Herah could make a run at 100-metre record that Florence Griffith-Joyner has held since 1988.

(AP Photo/David Goldman)

KARSTEN WARHOLM, of Norway, wins the 400 metre hurdles during the 100th ISTAF athletics meeting at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, on Sunday, September 13, 2021.

(AP Photo/Michael Sohn) world indoor championships in Serbia this year.

The 22-year-old was a silver medallist at worlds in 2019.

THE LEGEND OF PRE Count Norwegian Olympic 1,500-metre champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen as a fan of the late Prefontaine, who died in a car crash in 1975 at age 24 near the University

of Oregon track where he became a star. Ingebrigtsen has heard stories and has watched some of Prefontaine’s races.

“He seemed like a cool guy, with some sort of the same mindset that I see myself having,” Ingebrigtsen said.

“Trying to leave everything on the track.”

END OF FELIX ERA On Friday in a mixed 4x400 relay, Allyson Felix is set to run for the final time as the 36-year-old heads into retirement. Her 18 medals are the most in world-championship history.

“I want to have fun and just really appreciate the moment,” Felix said.

TOUR

Pogacar moved down to third, 2:22 back.

With his teammate Primoz Roglic, Vingegaard relentlessly attacked Pogacar in the thin air.

But every time they tried to isolate the leader from the UAE-Emirates team on the Galibier — the highest point of this year’s route at 2,642 meters above sea level — the Slovenian rider responded calmly.

Pogacar even smiled at TV cameras at the foot of the punishing final climb.

Guided by teammate Rafal Majka, Pogacar rode at the front of the main contenders’ group but the Jumbo-Visma riders’ attrition work finally paid off.

“On the Galibier, over the top, he was very strong,” Vingegaard said.

“I was insecure whether he was going full gas or not. Then I thought that, if I didn’t try all out, I was never gonna win. And of course a second place is nice, but I did it last year already.”

When Vingegaard attacked again with 5

kilometers to go, Pogacar just couldn’t respond and got dropped.

With his yellow jersey wide open, the battered champion struggled until the end.

Vingegaard said the team’s strategy for the day had been planned months in advance, in a bid to make the most of their strong collective.

“We thought it would go in my favor and in the favor of Primoz,” he said.

“I took a lot of time today, and I would have never done it without my teammates. They have been incredible.”

Pogacar will have only a night of sleep to recover from his bad day since today’s Stage 12 is another mammoth stage.

The stage has three climbs that are beyond category, including a mountain-top finish at the Alpe d’Huez ski resort.

“I want a revenge,” Pogacar said. “It’s not over yet.”

The Tour ends on July 24 in Paris.

FROM PAGE 11 an epic day in the Alps.

The 152-kilometre stage featured two other monster ascents, the daunting Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier.

It was Vingegaard’s first stage win at cycling’s biggest race.

The Danish rider was runner-up last year in the general classification behind Pogacar.

“When I attacked I felt he was going to crack,” Vingegaard said.

“This time I wanted victory. And I succeeded, and now I have the yellow jersey to keep on fighting all the way to Paris.”

Vingegaard was first at the summit, 59 seconds ahead of Nairo Quintana, with Romain Bardet in third place, 1:10 behind.

Geraint Thomas, the 2018 Tour winner, was fourth, 1:38 off the pace.

After 11 stages, Vingegaard leads Bardet by 2 minutes, 16 seconds.

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Thursday, July 14, 2022, PAGE 13

Six athletes earn college scholarships

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net SIX Grand Bahama athletes have received track and field scholarships to attend colleges and universities in the United States.

The recipients – Lynden Johnson, Thomas Grant, Isaiah Bain, Deangelo McKie, Stephanique Dean, and Zion Campbell – were presented their scholarship award letters yesterday from their school principal at the Tabernacle Baptist Christian Academy.

Principal Ashell Bain congratulated the students for their outstanding performance as athletes on the school’s Falcons track club, which has won the Track and Field Championships in Grand Bahama.

“We have won nine championships in a row; our track & field team has been doing an awesome job under the direction of Coach Mr Nickito Johnson,” she said.

“We are here to celebrate with the six athletes who have been awarded a scholarship to attend various universities and institutions.

Some are full-ride and partial scholarships, and we are so grateful for that.”

Coach Johnson said Tabernacle Baptist Christian Academy is not only known as a sports school but also promotes academics and assists its athletes in getting scholarships abroad. “We are pleased to highlight these magnificent young students. Over the years

since 2016, we have sent an average of four to five kids off to school for track every single year,” he stated.

Lynden Johnson will be attending Munroe College in New York.

He is excited about the opportunity to compete and study at the college level. “This scholarship is a blessing. The long nights of prayers and hard work practicing have really paid off,” said Johnson, who specializes in the 100 and 200 metres and the long jump.

“My expectations of going off to college is simply to better myself as a young man and remember why I started (journey) and to keep pushing.”

Thomas Grant, a 100m and 200m sprinter, accepted a scholarship to Colby Community College in Kansas.

He said: “I put my trust in God in getting a scholarship and I look forward to getting better, not only athletically, but academically and bringing my talents back home.”

Sprinter Isaiah Bain received a full-ride scholarship to Talladega University, in Alabama. He is grateful for the opportunity to attend college and compete in track.

“I really feel blessed to be provided with such an opportunity because a fullride scholarship does not come often and so I am very blessed and thank God for it,” he added.

Attending Iowa Western Community College, in Bluff, Iowa, are Deangelo McKie and Zion

SIX students from Tabernacle Baptist Christian Academy are off to college after receiving track and field scholarships in the United States. Seated from left are Thomas Grant (Colby Community College), Isaiah Bain (Talladega University), Stephanique Dean (Southwestern Baptist University), Deangelo McKie (Iowa Community College). And standing from left are Zion Campbell (Iowa Community College) and Lynden Johnson (Munroe College).

Photo by Denise Maycock Campbell. Both are 100m races. Campbell also hopes to compete and hopes to Bahamas with a nursing and 200m sprinters. “I feel to lower his times in both obtain a nursing degree. degree.” blessed, said McKie, and races and return home with Miss Dean, who also Tabernacle Baptist ChrisI thank God for giving me a college degree. specializes in the 100 and tian Academy opened in this opportunity, and my Stephanique Dean will 200 metres, said: “I feel 1985. The institution is (mother) for (supporting attend Southwest Bap- very excited and blessed to known for its sports prome). He said his goal is to tist University, in Bolivar, receive the scholarship. I gramme, particularly in improve his times in both Missouri. She is looking expect to improve and get basketball, track and field the 100 and 200m sprint forward to the opportunity better and to return to the and academics.

BREEZES WELCOMES SENIOR MEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL TEAM

WARM WELCOME: The Bahamas senior men’s national basketball team was in town recently to participate in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers. The team played the Dominican Republic and though they did not come out on top, they still qualified for the next round of the World Cup and are scheduled to play Venezuela in Nassau in August. Coach Rodero Miller, far left, is seen welcoming the team to Breezes, Cable Beach.

Orioles beat Cubs 7-1, extend winning streak to 10 games

By MARK GONZALES Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Anthony Santander hit a two-run double to spark Baltimore’s three-run first inning, Spenser Watkins and four relievers scattered six hits and the Orioles extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs last night.

It’s the Orioles’ longest winning streak in a single season since they won 13 in a row from September 7-22, 1999.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, the only team with a longer current drought without a double-digit win streak in a season is Miami, which has never had one.

With the victory, the Orioles (45-44) also went over the .500 mark for the first time since April 8, 2021, when they were 4-3. Baltimore finished off the game

to chants of “Let’s Go O’s!” at Wrigley Field, where the Orioles were playing their first series since 2014.

“We feel every bit of Birdland, especially here,” Watkins said. “You have ‘O’ chants going on in Wrigley Field. That’s pretty cool.”

The Cubs lost their sixth consecutive game, their longest skid since dropping 10 straight games June 4-16.

Watkins (3-1) limited the Cubs to four hits in fiveplus innings.

Watkins is 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA in his last four starts since being recalled from Triple-A Norfolk on June 25. He allowed a single to Ian Happ to start the sixth and was lifted in favor of Dillion Tate.

“Spenser was fantastic,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “He set the tone.

He put zeroes up early.”

Tate, Cionel Perez, Joey Krehbiel and Bryan Baker

combined to allow two hits the rest of the way.

“We’re pitching with confidence,” Hyde said. “We’re aggressive. We’re pitching with emotion. I think our pitching has really turned the corner.”

Meanwhile, Cubs starter Justin Steele (3-6) — pitching on eight days rest after his girlfriend gave birth Monday to the couple’s first child — retired the final 11 batters he faced over six innings.

“The best of my life,” Steele said of the last few days. “Becoming a dad was just so special. Bawled my eyes out as soon as it happened. We decided on the name, Beau. Literally so ready to get back home to him right now and just love on him.”

But the damage was done in the first two innings. Three of the first four batters reached base, prompting pitching coach

Tommy Hottovy to make a mound visit after Santander’s double. But Austin Hays followed with a single, and Santander scored after left fielder Happ misplayed the hit.

The Orioles extended their lead in the second when Trey Mancini hit a double to score Rougned Odor and Cedric Mullins, who was initially ruled to have beaten the relay throw from shortstop Nico Hoerner to catcher Willson Contreras.

But a replay overturned the safe call on Mullins, and Steele got Ryan Mountcastle to ground to short to end the inning.

The Cubs scored their lone run off Watkins in the fifth when Christopher Morel tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Rafael Ortega.

The Orioles added three runs with two outs in the eighth on a double by

Adley Rutschman, a single

by Odor and a balk by reliever Daniel Norris.

HENDRICKS OUT INDEFINITELY Cubs ace Kyle Hendricks will need at least two or three weeks before he can consider playing catch, manager David Ross said.

Hendricks hasn’t pitched since July 5, when he threw only three innings at Milwaukee because of a right shoulder strain.

Hendricks, 32, missed a start in early June because of shoulder fatigue but still leads the team with 84 1/3 innings pitched.

HAPP HUMBLED BY EPSTEIN TEXT Happ was moved by a congratulatory text message on his All-Star selection from Theo Epstein, the Cubs’ former president of baseball operations who oversaw his selection as the ninth overall pick in the 2015 draft.

“And I thanked him for giving me the chance here and to be able to do it in front of these fans and this city,” Happ said of Epstein, now a consultant with Major League Baseball.

Happ rebounded from a miserable 2021 season, when he had a slash line of .175/.284/.318 on Aug. 11.

“He’s becoming an allaround player, and I don’t know I could have said that last year,” Ross said.

RETURN OF THE STOLEN BASE Jorge Mateo (22) and Mullins (18) have accounted for 40 of the Orioles’ 55 stolen bases, and Hyde will continue to give them the green light.

“Those two guys are such elite base stealers, it’s weapon for us, and a weapon for them,” Hyde said. “I still think it’s an important part of the game.”

PAGE 14, Thursday, July 14, 2022

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Thursday, July 14, 2022, PAGE 15

Qyemah Gibson goes professional

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net QYEMAH Gibson will take his talents to professional basketball and will begin his career in Spain’s LEB Gold League.

Gibson has signed with Palmer Almer Mediterranea Palma for the upcoming 2022-23 season.

Palma head coach Pau Tomas said he expects Gibson to have an immediate impact on the programme once he joins the club.

“Qyemah is here to be ​​ one of our offensive references, a player with a lot of points in his hands, capable of scoring from catch-andshoots and from bounces.” he said. “He comes to add to the team and contribute his grain of sand both in attack and defence. I am convinced that he is going to be one of the players to follow in this LEB Plata.”

The 6’5” wing recently completed an

BOXING CHAMPION BELT GIVEN TO MANDELA STOLEN IN SOUTH AFRICA

BASKETBALL PLAYER TO BEGIN HIS CAREER IN SPAIN’S LEB GOLD LEAGUE accolade-filled career with the St Mary’s Huskies in Canada’s Atlantic University Sport Conference.

The Liga Española de Baloncesto, also known as LEB Gold, is the second basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system after the Liga ACB. The Liga Española de Baloncesto is divided into two categories (alongside LEB Silver).

The LEB league was founded in 1996 and is played under FIBA rules.

The league is contested by 18 clubs. Each season, the top-finishing team in the LEB Oro are automatically promoted to the Liga ACB. The teams that finish the season in 2nd to 9th place enter a playoff tournament, with the winner also gaining promotion to the

Liga ACB. The three lowest-finishing teams in the LEB Oro are relegated to LEB Plata.

In his final season with the Huskies, Gibson won the Male Athlete of the Week award and was ranked top 10 in the AUS in points scored, points per game, field goals made, three-pointers made, total rebounds, rebounds per game, blocks, minutes and minutes per game.

In his final collegiate season, he averaged 19.2 points and grabbed 7.9 rebounds per game.

Gibson was a role player in his first year with the Huskies and averaged 5.9 points with 2.5 rebounds per game in 20 appearances off the bench.

In his second season in the 2019-20 season, Gibson took on a larger role and

QYEMAH Gibson has signed with Palmer Almer Mediterranea Palma for the upcoming season in Spain’s LEB Gold League. started all 20 games, averaging 15.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.

The COVID-19 pandemic cancelled what would have been his third season with the Huskies but a strong finish for 2022 set him on the path for the

professional ranks. Gibson was recruited to St Mary’s by former Huskies and current Niagara Prep coach Ollen Smith.

Smith’s Ontario, Canadabased Empower Sports Network hosted tryouts as a part of its exchange programme in 2018.

BACK AT JUVENTUS, POGBA HAS NO REGRETS OVER TIME IN ENGLAND TURIN, Italy (AP) — Paul Pogba has no regrets over his time at Manchester United and insists he feels no pressure as he returns to Juventus after a few disappointing years back in England.

Pogba completed a free transfer to Juventus on Monday, bringing an end to an underwhelming second stint at United, which he joined for a world record fee of around 105 million euros ($116 million) in 2016.

Pogba made 226 appearances, scoring 39 goals, in six injury-affected years in Manchester.

During that time, he won the World Cup with France in 2018 but his performances for United never matched those for his national team, with United managers unable to find his best role.

“I’m happy with the choices I’ve made, that’s life, sometimes you make decisions that don’t go as you would have liked,”

Pogba said in his first news conference back in Turin on Tuesday.

“I’m happy with the years I spent at United: I grew up, I learnt a lot, and I became a man. I don’t think I made a mistake.”

Pogba was a fan favourite in his first spell at Juventus and helped the team win the Serie A in each of his four seasons. He also won two Italian Cups, and two Italian Super Cups, as well as earning a Champions League runner-up medal in 2015, before returning to United.

Despite his less than impressive performances in England, Juventus fans will be hoping to see the Pogba of old as they look to the 29-year-old midfielder to bring back glory to the storied Italian club after two seasons of disappointment.

“No pressure, there’s no pressure,” Pogba said. “I know that I had amazing seasons at Juventus, I have faith in myself to do well again.”

TIGER

in a statement to the website. “In considering that Bryson DeChambeau will no longer be participating in these events, Bridgestone and Bryson have agreed to end their brand ambassador partnership.”

DeChambeau had been with Bridgestone since 2016 and signed an extension in 2020.

The idea was to take a bigger role in developing new golf balls.

DeChambeau is the first player to lose an equipment deal in the LIV Golf era. Callaway said it was pausing its relationship with Phil Mickelson.

MACINTYRE’S ‘GOOSEBUMPS’ Hometown hopes at St Andrews are resting on the burly shoulders of Robert MacIntyre, one of three Scots in the field this week.

And the locals will hope MacIntrye can back up top-10 finishes in his first two appearances in the British Open with another strong run at the claret jug.

Those came in Northern Ireland (Royal Portrush) and England (Royal St George’s) and playing in his native Scotland — at the home of golf, no less — gives it a different feel.

FROM PAGE 11 was McIlroy’s turn, winning wire-to-wire for the third leg of the career Grand Slam. Lawrie won in historic and memorable fashion at Carnoustie in 1999, a 10-shot comeback against Jean Van de Velde and winning in a playoff.

“It’s a privilege to represent a club that has done so much for golf over so many years and I’m proud to play my part in promoting golf around the world,” McIlroy said.

DECHAMBEAU SPONSOR Bryson DeChambeau no longer has a golf ball sponsorship with Bridgestone, the latest example of sponsors breaking with players who signed with Saudifunded LIV Golf.

Golf.com reported DeChambeau will be using the Bridgestone ball. He just won’t get paid for it.

“The PGA Tour is an extremely important part of professional golf, and Bridgestone has a sports marketing relationship with this highly visible series of tournaments,” Bridgestone said

MIDFIELDER Paul Pogba gives the thumbs up as he arrives at Juve’s Medical Center, in Turin, northern Italy, on Saturday, July 9. More than 1,000 fans welcomed Paul Pogba back home as he returned to Juventus on a free transfer from Manchester United on Saturday.

(LaPresse via AP) Pogba said it was “more than a dream” to be back at Juventus, adding he was “very happy to return home.”

Pogba will be reunited with coach Massimiliano Allegri, who was in charge for the Frenchman’s last two seasons at Juventus.

“Even when I was in Manchester I always talked with Allegri, I always had a good relationship with

him,” Pogba said. “I had great years with him and it was the right time to come back, with the right person.”

Allegri returned last year — two years after being fired — to replace Andrea Pirlo. But Juventus finished the season in fourth for the second straight year.

When Pogba was first signed by Juventus, in 2012, he was a precocious

teenager. Now older and wiser, he insists one thing hasn’t changed.

“Which Pogba is back at Juve? A Pogba that wants to win like before,” he said.

“I don’t like losing, it’s the same for Juve.

“I have the same aims.

I return to a family and this time like a father but I am still the same. I always want to win, I’m hungry for success.”

“When I was driving in on Sunday, that’s the first time I’ve ever had goosebumps coming to St Andrews,” the 25-year-old MacIntyre said. “I always drove into town and it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re in St. Andrews.’

“But when I came in from above the town and I had the music on, I actually had goosebumps.”

Scotland’s last Open champion was Paul Lawrie in 1999 at Carnoustie. He will hit the opening tee shot Thursday.

SPIETH AGAINST SPIETH There are some parts of Jordan Spieth’s game that he thinks are better now than when he first played at St Andrews in 2015. But then again, he was winning more seven years ago.

So who wins between Spieth at St Andrews in 2015 and Spieth at St Andrews in 2022?

Spieth leaned toward 2015 because of his momentum.

He had won the previous week at the John Deere Classic, and his tournament before that he won the US Open for the second leg of the calendar Grand Slam.

“I would say if I played against myself then, if I beat myself then this week, then I would be holding a trophy,” Spieth said.

That would be simple math. Spieth finished one shot out of the three-man playoff.

“I don’t necessarily know that I could answer that because I feel I hit it further, I feel that my knowledge of seeing a lot more majors and a lot more tournaments can mentally ... maybe I have some advantage on a shot that I wouldn’t have thought about then,” he said.

“But I was also canning everything that I looked at then, and I can’t say that’s going to happen every week.

“But it certainly can happen in four days.”

SCHEFFLER’S OUTLOOK Scottie Scheffler comes to the British Open as the No. 1 player in the world.

For him, that doesn’t mean he’s the player to beat. He’s not sure anyone thinks that.

“I guess I am No. 1 in the rankings. I’m not sure if I’m necessarily perceived that way by you all or whoever it is, but that’s

not stuff that I really ever think about,” he said. “For me I’m just trying to go out and play good golf.”

He can be easy to overlook. Scheffler had not won on the PGA Tour until the Phoenix Open in February.

And then he couldn’t lose.

He won Bay Hill and Match Play to reach No. 1, and then he won the Masters.

He missed the cut at the PGA Championship, but then he was right there was a chance to win the US Open. He finished one shot behind.

Scheffler isn’t complaining.

“I don’t feel like there’s any extra attention on me.

I haven’t read much, but I would assume not everybody’s picking me to win this week,” he said.

“I don’t think I was the favourite maybe going into the Masters. I’m not sure if I’ve been the favourite maybe going into any tournaments.

“That may not be the true perception. That’s just mine, but I don’t read a ton of stuff,” he said. “So for me I don’t really feel like whatever being No. 1 would be.”

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A World Boxing Council championship belt belonging to former South African President Nelson Mandela has been stolen from a museum in Soweto, according to police.

The belt was given to Mandela by American boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard during one of his visits to South Africa.

It was one of many artifacts inside the Nelson Mandela National Museum, a major tourist attraction for local and international travellers.

Mandela, a former amateur boxer, revered the belt and it was prominently displayed in the museum in a house where he once lived in Soweto township, west of Johannesburg.

The museum is one of the top attractions on Vilakazi Street, the only street in the world to claim two Nobel laureates as former residents. Mandela and the late anti-apartheid stalwart Archbishop Desmond Tutu both lived on the street.

According to police, the belt was stolen when thieves broke into the museum, popularly referred to as Mandela House, and the theft was reported to police on July 1.

No suspects have been arrested and police have appealed for any information related to the theft, police spokeswoman Dimakatso Sello said.

Mandela became South Africa’s first democratically elected leader in 1994 after spending 27 years in prison for his battle against apartheid, the brutal system of white minority rule in effect in the country from 1948 to 1994.

AMOS SUSPENDED FOR DOPING AHEAD OF WORLDS MONACO (AP) — Nijel Amos, an Olympic silver medallist in the men’s 800 metres, has been suspended ahead of the world championships after testing positive for a rare banned substance.

The Athletics Integrity Unit said Tuesday that the 28-year-old Amos gave a sample on June 4 which was found to contain GW1516, an experimental drug which can modify the body’s metabolism but has been considered too dangerous for human use.

Amos had been set to race the 800 heats of the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, on July 20. He won silver at the 2012 Olympics, becoming the first-ever medallist for Botswana.

“The athlete was notified of the adverse analytical finding and his mandatory provisional suspension this afternoon in Eugene,” the AIU said.

GW1516 was developed to help build endurance and burn fat but was found to cause cancer during tests on rodents. Anti-doping organisations have warned athletes not to use it on safety grounds.

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2022 CARIBBEAN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

CUBA TOPS BAHAMAS 76-44

IN THE PAINT: The Bahamas senior women’s national basketball team opened the 2022 Caribbean Women’s Championship with a lopsided loss to the host country on the first night of competition. Cuba took a dominant 76-44 win over The Bahamas last night at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum in Havana, Cuba. High school sensation Denika Lightbourne (8) finished with 17 points and five rebounds - both team highs - while Valerie Nesbitt added 13 points, four assists, three steals and two blocks. SEE THE FULL STORY ON PAGE 11

REPORT: MISTAKES, NOT LIVERPOOL FANS, CAUSED CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL FIASCO

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN AP Sports Writer FRENCH senators said the chaos outside the national stadium that marred the Champions League soccer final was due to a series of mistakes by police and officials — and not the actions of previously blamed Liverpool fans — with “malfunction at every stage” before, during and after the game.

The senators made a series of recommendations to fix problems ahead of the Rugby World Cup next year and the 2024 Olympics that France will host.

The findings of a report into the May 28 final were released yesterday after the fiasco drew worldwide attention to heavy-handed policing and raised questions about how France manages security at big events.

Laurent Lafon, the head of one of the Senate commissions involved in the fact-finding mission, urged French authorities to draw lessons from the multiple incidents.

“The seriousness of what happened at the Stade de France shows that there are still many adjustments to be made, and many decisions to be taken to ensure

that these incidents do not happen again,” Lafon said.

He had no doubt that France is capable of organising major events in the future but said assurances should be given at the highest level, including French President Emmanuel Macron, about the country’s determination to prevent any repeat.

Since the final, where kickoff was delayed by more than 30 minutes, French senators have quizzed supporters and officials.

Introducing their findings, Lafon blamed a general lack of coordination and authority, saying there was “malfunction at every stage” of the final.

UEFA has also started gathering evidence about issues that marred one of the world’s biggest games in sports. Real Madrid went on to beat Liverpool 1-0 in the final.

Lafon also apologised to Liverpool and Real Madrid fans, saying they were victims and not responsible for the events as French authorities had initially suggested.

France’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, initially maintained that the presence of up to 40,000 supporters — allegedly

FRENCH senators said the chaos outside the national stadium that marred the Champions League soccer final was due to a series of mistakes by police and officials — and not the actions of previously blamed Liverpool fans. (AP Photo) mainly Liverpool fans — without tickets or with forged tickets led to the incidents that marred the event.

But only 2,471 forged tickets were identified at the Stade de France.

Darmanin also said that dispersing the crowd that had amassed near the stadium’s fences with tear gas was the only way to prevent people getting crushed.

Many supporters also complained about thefts

and assaults after the match as they left the stadium.

Francois-Noel Buffet, the president of the Senate’s law commission, said fans’ security was not sufficiently ensured, noting that police forces struggled to put an end to the petty crime that took place around the stadium, He said this should have been foreseen and better handled.

“The number of people mobilised to fight against

delinquency was therefore undersized,” he said.

Senators also criticised the decision by the police prefecture to set up a prefiltering system of fans designed to prevent terror attacks in combination with ticket checks by stewards.

Buffet said this had unintentionally created a bottleneck, and should not be repeated in the future.

Lafon also criticised the ticketing system by UEFA and said paper tickets were

SANDRO HELPS BUCKS TOP T-WOLVES IN SUMMER LEAGUE LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sandro Mamukelashvili had 18 points and 15 rebounds and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 87-75 yesterday at the Las Vegas Summer League.

Mamukelashvili, who was coming off a 28-point game Monday, also had four of Milwaukee’s 25 assists on 30 field goals.

MarJon Beauchamp made four of Milwaukee’s 15 3-pointers and finished with 15 points. Rayjon Tucker, Lindell Wigginton and Zylan Cheatham each scored 14 points.

Milwaukee (2-1) led 65-63 after three quarters before opening the fourth on a 11-2 run to take control. Minnesota didn’t make its first field goal of the fourth quarter until the 5:17 mark.

Kevon Harris scored 16 points for Minnesota (1-2).

Terrell Brown Jr. added 14 points, Wendell Moore Jr. had 13 and Marial Shayok 11.

HORNETS 91, CAVALIERS 80 Bryce McGowens made five 3-pointers and scored 24 points as Charlotte beat Cleveland.

Mark Williams, Brady Manek and LiAngelo Ball each scored 12 points, and Kai Jones added 11 for Charlotte (2-1).

Ochai Agbaji scored 24 points, with four 3-pointers, for Cleveland (1-2).

Cameron Young added 11, Amauri Hardy had 10 and Isaiah Mobley grabbed 11 rebounds. The Cavaliers were 5 of 25 from distance.

PELICANS 106, WIZARDS 88 Deividas Sirvydis scored 25 points, going 6 of 10 from 3-point range, to help New Orleans beat Washington.

New Orleans trailed at halftime, but outscored Washington 28-15 in the third quarter to take the lead for good.

Jared Harper made 10 of 14 free throws and had 18 points and six assists for New Orleans (2-1). Daeqwon Plowden added 16 points and Dereon Seabron had 13.

Vernon Carey Jr. made his first five shots and scored 11 points for Washington (1-2). Tyler Hall also scored 11 points and Tahjere McCall added 10.

RAPTORS 80, JAZZ 74 D.J. Wilson had 22 points and nine rebounds, Jeff Dowtin added 19 points and Toronto handed Utah its first loss.

Dowtin made a contested layup with 45.6 seconds left for a four-point lead. Utah missed 3-pointers on its next two possessions and Dowtin sealed it with two free throws.

Jared Butler scored 12 points, Leandro Bolmaro added 11 and Darryl Morsell had 10 for Utah (2-1)

easily forged. Senators regretted the automatic deletion of CCTV footage of events outside the Stade de France since judicial officials did not request the seizure of the footage within seven days after the incidents.

Buffet recommended that keeping such video for 30 days would become mandatory. “What we will miss forever are the images.

The real regret is there,” said Buffet.

Senators also pointed to the poor handling of fans, and where they tried to enter the stadium, as a consequence of a transport strike.

Stewards needed better training in future, with improved coordination with police forces.

The Paris police chief, Didier Lallement, has previously justified the pepper spraying of fans, many with families, amid the chaos.

Lafon said Lallement had a clear responsibility in the failure, and Buffet recommended more clarity over when the use of tear gas was justified.

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Thursday, July 14, 2022, PAGE 17