POLITICIANS “must move away from selfgratification and bragging rights”, an ex-prime minister asserted yesterday, joining his former health minster over fears the new hospital will become a “white elephant”.
Dr Hubert Minnis told Tribune Business that
Bahamian Cabinet ministers should focus on ensuring existing facilities “function” properly, rather than simply constructing new buildings which they can attach their name to and claim responsibility for their development. And, rather than simply boast of passing laws in Parliament, the Killarney MP argued that ministers and MPs need to concentrate on ensuring there is sufficient
MP’s law firm closed by BPL Village Rd. outage
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor
AN OPPOSITION MP yesterday revealed his law firm suffered “a major handicap” when a Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) outage left Village Road residents and businesses without electricity for a day-and-a-half.
Adrian White, the St Anne’s MP, told Tribune Business his company was forced to close and endure “extreme disruption” in the absence of a generator after BPL seemingly suffered a series of equipment malfunctions that knocked out power supply to many in the eastern New Providence district.
He added that his constituents in the Breezy Hill area, with the eastern side of Village Road lying in St Anne’s, were forced to endure a hot Monday night without air conditioning in the absence of a generator with energy supply only restored at mid-morning yesterday.
A BPL spokesperson did not respond to Tribune Business inquiries before press time last night, but the Village Road woes occurred just as Bahamas Grid Company, the entity to which the Government has outsourced management and improvements to New Providence’s transmission
and distribution grid, hailed the first three months’ progress under its $130m upgrade initiative.
Bahamas Grid Company, in which BPL holds a 40 percent equity ownership interest, asserted that its work has prevented 48,000 New Providence electricity customers from suffering more than 170,000 service interruptions caused by 182 “potential outages” that never happened.
The electricity grid operator, in a statement arguing that its work is already resulting in improved reliability for New Providence’s businesses and households, said: “Since breaking ground, Bahamas Grid Company crews have installed or replaced 80 overhead distribution poles, upgraded 56,000 feet of wire and load balanced
manpower, resources and any technical assistance required to properly enforce and implement the legislation in practice.
Dr Minnis spoke out in the context of the proposed new $267m New Providence hospital, for which the Davis administration signed a $195m financing agreement with the state-owned China ExportImport Bank last week. Both he and Dr Duane
Sands, who was minister of health for part of his administration, described the investment as a potential “white elephant” given the existing system’s challenges. The duo, in separate interviews with this newspaper, challenged why the Government is pursuing a third hospital in The Bahamas given the manpower,
• Minnis: Put The Bahamas before ‘self-gratification’
• Agrees with Sands on hospital ‘white elephant’ fear
By FAY SIMMONS
THE Bahamian commercial banking industry enjoyed a nine-figure year-over-year increase to $509.9.m in collective profits for 2024, the Central Bank revealed yesterday.
The regulator, unveiling its 2024 Financial Stability Report, said domestic banks saw a 26.7 percent increase in net income compared to 2023 due to an increase in non-interest income and a reduction in bad debts.
“In particular, net profits expanded by $107.5m (26.7 percent) to $509.9m, significantly boosting the year earlier $5.4m (1.4 percent) rise. As a result, the ratio of net income to equity (ROE) rose to 23.2 percent from 18 percent in 2023, while the ratio of net income to average monthly assets (ROA) increased to 4.2 percent from 3.4 percent
in the prior year,” said the Central Bank.
“Total provisions for bad debts fell by $28.2m (8.6 percent) to $301.8m, albeit lower than the previous year’s $41.8m (11.2 percent) decline. Consequently, the associated ratio to average assets narrowed by 56 basis points to 0.39 percent. Meanwhile, the rise in depreciation costs moderated to 5.2 percent in 2024 from 6.2 percent last year, although the attendant ratio edged up by one basis point to 0.21 percent.
“Also, the ratio of net interest income to average assets firmed to 5 percent from 4.9 percent, while the ratio of commission and foreign exchange income to average assets rose by 17 basis points to 0.88 percent. Further, total operating costs increased by 9.6 percent, but trailed the 12.4 percent rise in the previous year, with the corresponding ratio higher by 24 basis points at 4.25 percent.”
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A TEN-ACRE undeveloped private island in the Exumas is being advertised for sale in a bid to recover millions of dollars for the alleged victims of a former MP and Supreme Court judge.
Darron Cash, the former Free National Movement (FNM) chairman and Senator, who is the Supreme Court-appointed receiver for assets identified as owned by Elliott Lockhart KC, confirmed yesterday to Tribune Business that Goat Cay is among the latter’s properties now in his control and possession.
The ten-acre island, located off Williams Town at the south-eastern end of Exuma, is set to be sold-off by Mr Cash in a snap auction with all bids due to be submitted by a tight 1pm deadline this upcoming Monday, July 21. Potential
• Tackle existing staff and resource woes, they urge
Ex-judge’s private island for sale in victim recovery
• Bids sought for 10-acre Goat Cay by Monday
• ‘Slow but positive progress’ on ex-MP’s assets
• Receiver awaits Bar decision on Lockhart files
OUTAGE - See Page B7 BRAGGING - See Page B6
buyers will have just two hours in which to submit offers that day, with the bidding due to start at 11am, although they can also present offers during Friday’s inspection of Goat Cay.
Mr Cash confirmed to this newspaper that he is making “slow but positive progress” in locating, securing and then attempting to sell real estate and other assets identified as belonging to Mr Lockhart.
Once closing and others due costs are paid, the proceeds will be used to compensate the ex-MPs former clients who paid him multi-million dollar sums to complete real estate transactions that were never closed.
The funds were never returned to these clients, foreign investors in The Bahamas, despite Mr Lockhart failing to perform or deliver the services for which he was hired.
“The best way to describe it is that it is slow but positive progress as we try to preserve the assets and protect the rights of all the parties concerned,” Mr Cash said of the receivership’s sales process. He also disclosed that he is awaiting a decision by the Bahamas Bar Association, although this would likely have to come from the Council, as it relates to the fate of Mr Lockhart’s client files. “It is appropriate to say that the
determination of the Bahamas Bar Association will be important in the receiver’s treatment of the files which represent a component of KC Lockhart’s practice,” Mr Cash said.
“That determination by the Bahamas Bar Association remains outstanding.” Mr Cash declined to
Tribunal: No evidence of Atlantis casino ‘bullying’
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
THE Industrial Tribunal has found “no compelling evidence” to support an Atlantis table gaming supervisor’s claims she was bullied by a casino “coven” during her probationary period.
Sharada Ferguson, its vice-president, ruled that Chrishan Swann’s allegations of “an extremely toxic work culture” at the Paradise Island mega resort’s gaming facility did not stand up in rejecting her wrongful dismissal claim. She found that Atlantis’ actions were justified after it determined she was “not a good fit for the casino division”.
Detailing the background to the dispute, the Industrial Tribunal found Ms Swann signed her employment contract with Paradise Enterprise Ltd, the entity that operates the Atlantis casino, on January 31, 2024. Her employment took effect from February 5, 2024, and she was placed on a three-month probationary period working 40-hour weeks for $173.04 per shift.
“The contract also indicated that the applicant [Ms Swann] could be terminated by the respondent at any time during the three-month probationary period
without advance notice or pay in lieu thereof.
Additionally, the applicant’s contract stated that upon successful completion of the three-month probationary period, the applicant would be confirmed as a full-time employee,” the Tribunal’s verdict said.
“On April 5, 2024, the applicant met with Glendina Williams, director of human resources for the casino division, who explained that she was terminated for not successfully completing her three-month probationary period. The applicant was also provided with a termination letter dated the same date and she accordingly signed and acknowledged receipt of it.”
However, three days later, on April 8, 2024, Ms Swann “requested that Ms Williams investigate her allegations of bullying and discrimination by certain
DR HUBERT MINNIS DR DUANE SANDS
ADRIAN WHITE
DARRON CASH
ELLIOTT LOCKHART KC
ATLANTIS
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NURSES PRESIDENT VOICES STAFF CONCERNS OVER NEW HOSPITAL
By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business
THE Bahamas Nurses Union’s (BNU) president yesterday challenged whether there will be enough trained medical staff to cover New Providence’s new $267m hospital and all other facilities.
Muriel Lightbourn, pointing to present shortages, said that The Bahamas does not have enough nurses to service three hospitals - Princess Margaret in Nassau, the Rand Memorial in Freeport and the proposed Perpall Tract facility - plus the numerous health clinics throughout the islands.
She added that The Bahamas needs more trained pediatric nurses and midwives, in particular, to ensure New Providence’s proposed specialist hospital,
which will offer maternal, paediatric and adolescent services, can run efficiently and effectively.
The union president, voicing hope that the Government’s 2025-206 Budget includes funding for the recruitment of more specialised nurses, said The Bahamas also has to address the deterioration in its existing healthcare infrastructure and funding challenges for the union to welcome the new hospital.
“Let me speak from the nurses’ point of view,” Ms Lightbourn said. “We don’t have sufficient nurses to attend to the hospitals that we have presently, along with the over 70 clinics that we have throughout The Bahamas. We don’t have sufficient nurses to deal with that.
“You’re talking about a new hospital with over 300 beds. Where are you going to find the staff to put in those things? When our
ACTIVITIES, NOT HOTELS, IS WHAT DOWNTOWN NEEDS
By ANNELIA NIXON
DOWNTOWN Nassau
merchants and straw vendors yesterday urged the Government to focus on creating more activities for locals and tourists rather than attracting new hotels to the area.
Elizabeth “Pinky” Wilson-Robinson, owner of Pinky’s Unique World Of Straw, questioned which locations are being targeted after Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, aviation and investments, said “the Government has identified sites downtown, and one on Cable Beach, for new developments” in an attempt to “revive Bay Street nightlife”.
She added that the Government is likely targeting “mouldy” derelict, abandoned structures and, while she believes in getting rid of such buildings, she does not see the need for more hotels in downtown Nassau and believes the spaces should be given to Bahamian entrepreneurs.
“The only site I can see, and I know you can see it as well, is those mouldy buildings,” Ms Wilson-Robinson said. “...So if I’m passing a building and I’m coughing and scratching, it look like I have lice on the street, that’s because where I’m passing and inhaling. It’s a mouldy building. So that’s the only thing they have in sight.
“Those old structures what are there, but they’re not doing anything, and the owners are dead already or don’t want to fix it, don’t want to invest no money in it, only them they’re going to fix over to make hotels.
“Now, when we talking downtown, we’re going west as far as when you pass around The Pointe. There’s no more hotel to go there. There’s nothing you could put there. Why do it? There’s no parking, there’s no walking, there’s no nothing. Build up with stores, give other business places grants to build their stores, to build up restaurants, to put nightlife and stuff. Keep that going,” Ms WilsonRobinson said. “That’s all left. You can’t put a hotel. You already have... all those who need help. Help them. They’re already there. Help them help themselves. And that would help the Bahamian people. Stop trying to do new stuff that makes no sense right now. Open up some restaurants. Do some nightlife. Have some place where entertainers could perform around the time persons come off the ships, come out the other hotels. Come there and enjoy it.”
Ms Wilson-Robinson said more hotels would help control how many vagrants roam Bay Street because there would be more “policing and security”. Noting the potential job opportunities that may become available to Bahamians, she also voiced concerns that any hotels may be all-inclusive and no traffic would be directed to her or other vendors in the Bay Street Straw Market. Explaining that her concerns stems from the experience with the Nassau Cruise Port, Ms WilsonRobinson said: “I’m not going to get a dollar from that. Because they’re going to channel all the things away from me. I’m not going to receive anything
people have something in their mind, we tend to do what we have in our mind to do. But I think that I would welcome it.... Nurses would welcome a new hospital if what we have now was conducive to what we need to do.
“Even with the new hospital, it’s a specialty hospital. That means we need to train more persons, our nurses, in a specialty. When we going to do it? We going to wait until the hospital is built and then train them? We just got to have some succession plan in mind,” she added.
“How many pediatric nurses? We have trained nurses. We have midwives trained. But even with the amount of midwives we train it’s still not sufficient. We short on midwives. Midwives need to be all over and our Family Islands. We don’t have them.
“And so you’re building a new hospital for that
particular reason; you need the midwives,” Ms Lightbourn continued. “When we talk about it, I’d like to see what their plans are. I’d like to see what they plan in terms of training, so when this hospital is completed you have a cadre of certified midwives, you have a cadre of certified pediatric nurses, all those things.
“So I feel like if you’re going to do that, make sure you have these things. Please don’t scramble after you done build a pretty hospital or state-of-the-art hospital. Don’t scramble then. Make sure these things are in place. That’s what we need to do.”
Ms Lightbourn stressed the importance of maintaining PMH and other healthcare facilities whose conditions are less than optimal for both patients and staff. She said The Bahamas needs to have a plan to not only maintain healthcare facilities
currently in use but the new hospital as well.
“The thing about it is, the new hospital, we could say we welcome it,” Ms Lightbourn added. “You can welcome it if the state of our present hospitals was in the condition that would be suitable for rendering the kind of care and service that you would like to render to our citizens.
“When we look at the new hospital, it is designed primarily for a specific group of persons. It’s for maternity and and pediatrics. But we still have a hospital that is in not in the best condition, that deals with the populace. Those same persons that we are talking about that this hospital would serve, they are presently still getting service in the hospital that we presently have that is not in a good condition.
“My thing is why are we not improving what we have? We have spent
thousands of dollars, and for years they’ve been talking about renovating these hospitals. I mean, nothing is happening. We have hospitals in Grand Bahama. We have the SRC (Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre). These hospitals service all of our people. They’re not in the condition that they need to be in, and so we need to fix that. On top of that, we have clinics, over 70 clinics throughout this Bahamas that deal with those specific category of persons as well. Fix them. Would I welcome a new hospital? Yes, I would. But what about the ones that we have here now? What about those things? I welcome it, as long as we have a plan moving forward, not just for building it, [but also] maintaining it and making sure that it gives the populous the best care that we can get from it.”
BTC CHIEF TARGETING DIGITAL DIVIDE’S CLOSE
By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter
THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) chief executive says that bridging the digital divide through increased Internet connectivity can significantly boost this nation’s economic output.
Sameer Bhatti, speaking at the CANTO communications conference, added that enhancing digital inclusion can increase Bahamian gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 2-3 percent for every 10-percentage basis point increase in broadband penetration.
“We know that connectivity is the engine to economic growth and, powered by programmes like JUMP and digital inclusion, every 10 percentage basis points in broadband penetration is going to drive a 2 to 3 percent increase in GDP on average in our region,” said Mr Bhatti.
He added that the push for increased connectivity is more than just providing access to mobile and broadband Internet, but enhancing the digital ecosystem that fuels businesses, governments and communities.
“It’s more than mobile. It’s about powering this progress of economic growth. It’s about protecting critical services, driving community progress, raising our global standards and securing our future. It’s about digital ecosystems, powering businesses, governments and communities,” said Mr Bhatti.
“Even with 5G it’s more than speed. 5G is about taking these digital ecosystems and making them work better, enabling smart agents across the region to work and making these ecosystems work better.”
Mr Bhatti said “digital backbone” formed with Caribbean partners will ensure future economic resilience and digital sovereignty, and encouraged ongoing collaboration.
“The foundation of this digital backbone is going to enable economic resilience. We heard about resilience, and we know how important it is. I’m talking about economic resilience in our region, digital sovereignty in our region,” said Mr Bhatti.
Dickon Mitchell, prime minister of Grenada and CARICOM’s lead head of government for science and technology, also encouraged participants at CANTO to collaborate in securing the region’s digital future.
He noted that through an integrated CARICOM
information and communications technology (ICT) system, regulations and data can be shared seamlessly to allow the region to unlock new markets and protect data sovereignty.
“Building a single CARICOM ICT space will harmonise regulations, enable seamless data flows and protect our collective
sovereignty. Only by speaking with one voice can we bridge fragmented markets and unlock the full promise of a gigabit-enabled Caribbean,” said Mr Mitchell.
He identified urgent priorities such as ensuring satellite connectivity for disaster resilience, establishing a federated cloud that respects regional data laws, embedding trust through digital ID and fraud prevention, and embracing open Radio Access Networks (RAN) and interoperable 5G rollouts.
“Governments cannot deliver this transformation alone. The private sector must move beyond service provision to become genuine partners in policy, infrastructure investment and inclusive growth. Your success is the success of our societies, and we must share responsibility for expanding access, sharing infrastructure and upskilling our youth,” said Mr Mitchell.
SAMEER BHATTI
percent and 38.5 percent.
Bank profits soar again after relatively flat 2023
PROFIT - from page B1
The Central Bank said the banking system remained stable during 2024 with commercial banks maintaining “robust capital buffers and satisfactory provisioning levels”.
“During 2024, no new financial stability concerns arose within the banking system, as commercial banks continued to maintain robust capital buffers and satisfactory provisioning levels,” the regulator added.
“The results of the consolidated stress tests, which comprised credit, liquidity and interest rate risks, revealed that Domestic Systemically Important Banks (DSIBs) remained buoyant to sudden shocks, with banks’ capital ratios exceeding the regulatory minimum of 17 percent.
Further, the Bank Stability Index (BSI) showed that financial sector stability strengthened in 2024, as compared to 2023. Meanwhile, the aggregate financial stability index (AFSI) revealed that overall financial stability continued to normalise in line with the improvement in the domestic economy.”
“In particular, the banking sector’s average capital to risk-weighted assets ratio fluctuated between 29.4
Resort justified to cease worker’s probation period
COVEN - from page B1
against her. The applicant was informed by Ms Williams that her matter had been resolved on April 5, 2024, and that her termination stood for the aforementioned reason”.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, Ms Swann filed a trade dispute with the Department of Labour some 17 days later on April 25, 2024. After mediation and conciliation efforts proved fruitless, the minister of labour referred the wrongful dismissal claim to
the Industrial Tribunal on July 29, 20-24. Ms Swann, outlining the basis for her claim, alleged: “I attempted to have human resources investigate my claims against shift manager Sophie Johnson, who fired me for personal reasons, but Miss Glendina told me my case was settled on April 5, 2024. I can prove that a few managers knew I was being bullied on the job but they chose to fire me instead of addressing the issues.
“The reasons were there is an extremely toxic work culture at that casino and the ring leaders of the coven
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knew I could not fall in line with their system. A few did not feel as if I deserved that amount of dollars and benefits so they decided to fire me before I became a permanent employee.”
Atlantis, though, defended its actions as being in accordance with Ms Swann’s contract which gave the resort the right to terminate her employment at any time during the three-month probationary period without notice or pay in lieu of notice.
At trial, Ms Swann alleged “she experienced difficulties on her job from her initial employment”. She claimed that the Atlantis training manager informed her trainer that Ms Swann’s pay was the same as that they had just received in their salary increase, and this was also told to her co-workers.
“It was further the applicant’s evidence that on Monday, February 12, 2024, she inquired of her pit manager whether she had the
As to the Government’s fiscal deficit, Central Bank revealed it was “reduced significantly” from $534.6m to $194m during the
liberty to ‘write up’ a dealer who deliberately defied her instructions on a live game. The applicant testified that the dealer ‘did not follow game procedures and made an error that could have earned me a writeup on my first day on the casino floor’,” the Tribunal recorded.
“It was her evidence that the pit manager informed the other employees that ‘I said I came to write them up and I came under a heavy attack from the dealers’. The applicant further testified that some of the dealers went as far as to aggressively approach her about the issue.
“It was her evidence that she wrote a ‘Thank You note’ to bring about a peaceful resolution to the issue but that thereafter her pit manager blatantly and consistently bullied her whilst she worked in her pit. It was the applicant’s evidence that pit managers ‘allowed misfit dealers to show me up in front of players about issues I was correct on, allowing dealers to correct their own mistakes..’.”
Ms Swann also claimed that a “dealer threatened her twice, without consequence”, and alleged that her shift hours were “manipulated” so that she was placed in the “more demanding sections of the busiest pit”. She also asserted that she decided not to report the incidents, and individuals purportedly involved, for fear this would lead to “more victimisation”.
2023-2024 fiscal year, and from $515.5m to $339.4m during the 2024 calendar year. The regulator attributed this reduction to 10.6 percent increase in revenue collections that was “overshadowing” the 3.9 percent increase in spending.
“During the fiscal year 2023-2024, the Budget deficit reduced significantly to $194m from $534.6m in fiscal year 2022-2023. Underlying this outturn was VAT-led growth in aggregate revenue by $213.7m (7.5 percent) to $3.069bn,
However, under crossexamination by Atlantis attorneys, Ms Swann agreed that it was the resort’s decision whether to continue employing her once the probationary period expired and that it “had every right contractually to dismiss her, without advance notice or payment, by the third month of her engagement”.
Ms Williams, giving evidence on Atlantis’ behalf, asserted that Ms Swann’s termination was carried out in compliance with Bahamian law and the employment contract’s terms. “Ms Williams clarified that the applicant was terminated on the basis of her not being a good fit for the casino division and thereby her not passing her probationary period,” the Tribunal added.
“The witness also clarified that there was no particular shift manager’s report, ratings or opinion which impacted the respondent’s decision to terminate the applicant during her probationary period. Specifically, the witness clarified that the applicant was not terminated for any misconduct on her part but per clause one of the applicant’s contract of employment.”
Ms Ferguson, for the Tribunal, ruled that there was “no evidence to support the applicant’s claim that she was wrongfully dismissed by the respondent. Quite simply, there was no breach of the applicant’s contract of employment by the respondent.... The Tribunal finds that the applicant was
combined with a $126.9m (3.7 percent) decrease in total expenditure to $3.263bn relative to the previous fiscal year,” said the Central Bank.
“For the calendar year, the overall budget deficit reduced to $339.4m from $515.5m in 2023. Leading this development, aggregate revenue rose by $308.8m (10.6 percent) to $3.208bn, overshadowing the $132.7m (3.9 percent) rise in total expenditure to $3.547bn.”
dismissed in accordance with the express terms as stipulated in her contract of employment”.
As for the bullying claims, Ms Ferguson ruled: “For completeness, despite the various aspersions made by the applicant, the Tribunal finds no compelling evidence to support her claim of gross misconduct, namely, discrimination, bullying and/or harassment committed against her by any of the respondent’s employees or managers.
“Specifically, with respect to the applicant’s allegations of discrimination by fellow employees and management, she has not adduced any cogent evidence to support the fact that she experienced discrimination or that she was refused an offer of employment by the respondent for any of the discriminatory grounds delineated under... the Employment Act.”
And, ruling that Atlantis was entitled to dismiss Ms Swann during her probationary period, the Tribunal added: “The Tribunal finds that the respondent could not be faulted for its reliance on the express contractual provision which allowed for the applicant’s termination during her three-month probationary period.
“Also, the applicant, who was not engaged on a fixed-term contract, herself agrees that the respondent was well within its right to dismiss her at any time during her probationary period.”
NASSAU/PI IN LINE FOR MAJOR TRAVEL AWARDS
THE Nassau & Paradise Island Promotion Board (NPIPB) yesterday announced the destination has been recognised by multiple international and regional travel awards programmes.
The Board, in a statement, said these honours highlight Nassau/ Paradise Island’s ongoing appeal, marketing and emerging leadership in sustainable tourism. It added that Nassau and Paradise Island have received
multiple nominations in Caribbean Journal’s 2025 Bahamas Travel and Sustainability Awards, a programme honouring those committed to advancing tourism and sustainability across the islands.
The awards feature 24 categories, ranging from ‘Best Beach’ and ‘Best Luxury Resort’ to ‘Sustainable Tourism Leadership’ and ‘Best Experience/ Attraction’. Nassau and Paradise Island have been
MSC Cruises gives young Bahamians tour of vessel
MEDITERRANEAN
Shipping Company’s (MSC)
cruise arm has given a group of young Bahamians an insight into the opportunities available in the global maritime industry.
MSC Cruises welcomed a group from the NexGen Mentorship Programme aboard MSC Seascape while it was docked at Nassau Cruise Port. The visit gave attendees a first-hand look at ship operations, global hospitality and career pathways.
The visit was made possible by Rick Sasso, chairman of MSC Cruises (USA), who has a long-standing connection to The Bahamas. “The Bahamas holds a special place in my heart,” he said. “Investing in young people, particularly those from a region so vital to
our operations, is not only a responsibility but a privilege. We want these young men to see that a future in this industry is within reach.”
Senator Duncombe said: “This was more than a ship tour; it was a vision-setting moment. These young men left MSC Seascape inspired, motivated and with a broader sense of what’s possible. Our mission is to build disciplined, purposedriven leaders and this opportunity aligns perfectly with that goal.”
Hosted by Captain Francesco di Palma, the group was given a guided tour of MSC Seascape and afforded a behind-thescenes look at the vessel’s operations and amenities.
nominated for both Destination of the Year and Sustainable Destination of the Year, with additional nominations for partner resorts and tourism providers across several categories.
Nassau has also been nominated for ‘Most Desirable Island – Worldwide’ by the Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards, one of the UK’s largest and longestrunning travel magazines. This category celebrates destinations that deliver
unforgettable island experiences with rich culture, natural beauty and exceptional hospitality. Voting is open to the public through October 17, 2025.
The Nassau & Paradise Island Promotion Board has also been nominated for ‘Industry Marketing Campaign of the Year’ by the Travel Industry Awards by TTG, which honours marketing excellence across the global travel sector.
The nomination recognises the Board’s new brand
campaign - its first in seven years - which reintroduced Nassau & Paradise Island with refreshed messaging that celebrates the destination’s unique culture.
“We are incredibly honoured that respected international and regional awards programmes have recognised Nassau & Paradise Island,” said Joy Jibrilu, the Nassau & Paradise Island Promotion Board’s chief executive.
“These acknowledgements are a powerful
reflection of what makes our destination so special - from our award-winning resorts and crystal clear waters to our vibrant Bahamian culture and culinary scene.
“To be celebrated on a global stage by travellers and industry professionals alike is deeply meaningful, and we are proud to continue welcoming the world to experience all that makes Nassau and Paradise Island unforgettable.”
NOTICE
In the Estate of VIOLET ELOISE CORNISH late of #Dundas Town Abaco, another one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, deceased.
Notice is hereby given that all persons having any claim or demands against the above named Estate are required to send their names, addresses and particulars of the same duly certified in writing to the undersigned on or before the 15th day of July A.D., 2025 and if required, prove such debts or claims, or in default be excluded from any distribution; after the above date the assets will be distributed having regard only to the proved debts or claims of which the Administrator shall then have had Notice.
And Notice is hereby given that all persons indebted to the said Estate are requested to make full settlement on or before the aforementioned date.
MICHAEL A. DEAN & CO., Attorneys for the Administrator Alvernia Court, 49A Dowdeswell Street P.O. Box N-3114 Nassau, The Bahamas
SENATOR Ronald C Duncombe, founder of the NexGen Young Men Mentorship Programme, with mentorees on board MSC Seascape with Captain Francesco di Palma as NextGen tours MSC Seascape.
Bar’s verdict awaited over KC’s client files
RECEIVER - from page B1
notice advertising Goat Cay for sale noted discrepancies between the seven-acre size detailed on the island’s last conveyance and the ten acres calculated by Google Earth. All interested parties have been invited to inspect the property on Friday, July 18, where a boat will be made available to transport those who have registered to the island from Williams Town. For any sale to be finalised, the bid must have been
approved by the Supreme Court.
“It isn’t much of an island, nothing to brag about. To be truthful, there’s not much to think about. It’s nothing special. I don’t know what it’s going to sell for,” one real estate source familiar with Goat Cay said yesterday. The island is vacant and undeveloped. Still, Goat Cay represents the second of Mr Lockhart’s properties to be advertised for sale by Mr Cash. In late April 2025, he sought offers on the former offices of Lockhart & Company, Mr Lockhart’s former law firm,
located at 35 Buen Retiro Road off Shirley Street. Other assets that could be targeted include his personal residence, with a last known address listed as 67 Ocean Drive, Adelaide Village. Other real estate and chattels of value in both New Providence and Exuma, the latter being the constituency Mr Lockhart represented in Parliament between 1997 and 2002, will also likely be of interest to Mr Cash. The Supreme Court previously approved a ‘fieri facias’ application brought on behalf of US investor, Dr
Sands: New hospital won’t combat the top five killers
BRAGGING
- from page B1
shortages impacting the current public healthcare systems. They pointed out that these concerns are not simply political because doctors, via the Medical Association of The Bahamas, and nurses have identified similar issues.
Dr Minnis challenged why the Government would “embark” on investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a new facility when
it is already facing “white elephants” in the two mini-hospitals located in Abaco and Exuma. Developed more than a decade ago, he added that while equipped with “brand new equipment” they still lack sufficient trained staff to be used to their full potential.
“Us and the medical community, the MAB, came out with our concerns previously over supplies, equipment and manpower needs,” the former prime minister told Tribune Business. “We don’t have staff
to deal with what we have now, and to try and construct another hospital....
“I pointed out the condition of the mini-hospitals, one in Abaco, one in Exuma. For want of a better word, they are two [white] elephants. We have brand new equipment in there and don’t have the manpower to use it. They have examples to follow. Why would you embark on that [hospital project] when you have examples to follow?
“Provide the proper supplies, manpower and
Paul Fuchs, which authorises officials to seize assets from persons who fail to pay court judgments.
Dr Fuchs is asserting that Mr Lockhart owes him $3.033m over a real estate deal that fell through. Following an October 11, 2023, hearing, the Supreme Court ordered that Mr Lockhart and Lockhart & Co were “jointly and severally liable” to return the $3.033m to Dr Fuchs.
Interest was to be added at an annual rate of three percent from September 8, 2023, and this subsequently rose to 6.25 percent per annum until full payment.
Mr Lockhart’s whereabouts are currently unknown, with some sources saying he is still in The Bahamas and others suggesting he may have fled abroad.
equipment for Abaco and Exuma, where you have state-of-the-art facilities. We have theatres at the Princess Margaret Hospital that cannot function because they don’t have the manpower and equipment, and there is a lot of repair work needed at that facility. Why not concentrate on what is present rather than create a white elephant?”
Dr Minnis, calling on Bahamian politicians to fix existing problems rather than construct new facilities to cover over any flaws, argued: “Politicians must move away from self-gratification, saying this building was built by or named after me. Let’s make things function.
“We must move away from self-gratification. That’s not how you move government forward, how you move the country forward. We move forward by trying to keep up with the supplies and manpower, and international standards. We must all move away from self-gratification and bragging rights.”
Taking aim at Parliament, Dr Minnis said Cabinet ministers and MPs on the governing side too often boast about having passed legislation into law without paying sufficient attention to the detail required when it comes to implementing these Acts.
“That’s the problem with Parliament,” he added. “We have bragging rights. Politicians talk about having passed this into legislation and that legislation, but how are they enforced? These laws require a certain amount of resources and manpower.
“But this party is happy it has come and passed the law, and the next party comes and passes another law. We have to move away from self-gratification and bragging rights, and concentrate on the country.”
Meanwhile Dr Duane Sands, the Opposition’s chairman who was minister of health of part of the Minnis administration, yesterday reiterated the FNM’s position that phased improvements to the existing PMH campus on Shirley
Back in June 2024, Mr Lockhart was the subject of an Interpol ‘red notice’, which is a worldwide alert issued to all law enforcement authorities, asking them to help locate, and provisionally arrest, the former MP and ex-Supreme Court judge who was once chairman of Nassau Flight Services, the Gaming Board and the Police Inspectorate.
Prior to the Interpol action, the Royal Bahamas Police Force in early 2024 had issued a ‘wanted poster’ for Mr Lockhart after Dr Fuchs lodged a criminal complaint against him. The Interpol action also revealed that other aggrieved investors were making similar allegations to those asserted by Dr Fuchs.
Daniel Clay Smith Jnr was revealed to have made
Street would have had greater impact, and been more efficient and economical, than splitting tertiary care between two separate New Providence campuses.
The Minnis administration has secured $115m in financing, provided by Banco Santander and underwritten by the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), with around $85m of this sum dedicated to construction of a fourstorey tower at the existing PMH site similar to the Critical Care Block.
This would have included an accident and emergency (A&E) unit on the ground floor, with additional beds on the third and fourth levels to address the hospital’s capacity challenges. The World Bank-guaranteed loan also had an interest rate of just 1.879 percent - similar to the 2 percent rate obtained from the China Export-Import Bank for the hew hospital. However, following the 2021 general election, the Davis administration elected not to proceed with the PMH plans and returned the funding back to the lender. Dr Michael Darville, minister of health and wellness, explained that the Government was uncomfortable that $20m of the financing had been allocated to funding the start-up and expansion of micro, small and mediumsized enterprises (MSMEs).
Dr Sands, asserting that plans for PMH’s redevelopment were “very far” advanced when he was in office, said: “We had two turnkey proposals on the table when I was minister for development of a new accident and emergency, maternal/child healthcare facility and imaging.
“Then, subsequent to my resignation, I know plans were not only very far advanced but there was funding in place for the phased redevelopment of the PMH campus. They [the Government] sent the money back, cancelled the plan and here we are four years later with nothing being done. There has been very little infrastructure
a separate but similar complaint to the police force’s Financial Crimes Investigation Branch on August 18, 2023. He alleged that, between May 2022 and November 2022, he paid some $3.205m to Mr Lockhart and his law firm to assist with Crown Land on Staniel Cay, Exuma, that he wanted to convert to commercial use.
“In addition, some of the funds were to assist in applying to The Bahamas’ Immigration Department for citizenship (likely permanent residency) for Mr Smith and his family,” the Interpol alert alleged. “By November 2022, nothing had materialised and Mr Smith requested his monies to be returned...The funds have not been received to date.”
progress in health despite all the talk.”
The Opposition’s chairman argued that “the attention ought to have gone” on solving the existing public healthcare system’s financing and infrastructure challenges, especially at PMH as well as the two mini-hospitals and health clinics scattered throughout the Family Islands.
“This whole concept of a maternal/child care facility remote from the dilapidated, broken down facility at PMH is a bad idea,” Dr Sands argued. “When you look at the top three, four, five things that either kill or destroy the quality of life of Bahamians, none of those - diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, violence and trauma - will be impacted by this facility.”
He added that Bahamians seeking hospital care will still “suffer the indignity of being subjected to a rundown, neglected, under-resourced and understaffed facility, whether it’s PMH in Nassau, the Rand Memorial in Freeport, or both mini-hospitals which are 13 years-old and still not open.
“We are going to hypothecate several hundred million dollars for construction of a white elephant that does not impact the problems that are destroying the quality of life for Bahamians, and that is the greatest tragedy of all,” Dr Sands said. “It’s not going to impact 80 percent of the medical problems people have in this country.
“Why they could believe this makes sense is absolutely beyond me.. The Bahamian people will be the ones who pay the price. I don’t know where they will find the money to pay for this, but because it is a low interest rate and deferred payment has been granted, the expectation is that when taxation is required people will forget who hypothecated funds in this fashion.”
Downtown seeks Greater activities
HOTELS - from page B3
from that. Everything is going to be within the hotel.
It’s going to be all inclusive, and it can be within there. Everybody’s going to be in there. Nobody’s going to come out for anything.”
Olivia Bain, owner of Heart and Home Design Studio, added that instead of more hotels the Government should strive towards filling downtown Nassau with more activities that both tourists and locals can enjoy. She suggested that more hotels be placed on the Family Islands where they are needed.
Bahamas Grid touts 48k client outage save
OUTAGE - from page B1
more than 20 circuit miles of the primary voltage system.
“To support growing demand and improve grid resiliency, 3,800 feet of underground cable has been laid and 18 new service connections have been added. These early upgrades are directly benefiting approximately 6,000 customers and represent vital steps toward stormhardening the island’s energy network.
“On the transmission side, the company has installed 105 new steel poles and pulled over 83,000 feet of high-capacity conductor. Bahamas Grid Company teams have also delivered more than 1,100 hours of emergency response support to help stabilise the grid and address urgent service needs.”
Bahamas Grid Company’s operating partner is Island Grid. That is an entity formed by Eric Pike, Bahamas Grid Company’s chairman, whose North Carolina-based electrical outfit, Pike Electrical, has been hired to effect the grid improvements that also involve the installation of 47 IntelliRupter fault interrupters throughout New Providence.
These devices detect and isolate faults in real time, thus reducing outage duration and scale. “Thanks to these installations, Bahamas Grid Company has prevented 182 potential outages this year, which would have caused over 170,000 service interruptions among the 48,000 customers living along the affected circuits,” the grid operator added.
“In terms of percentages, the IntelliRupters have led to a 73 percent reduction in total outages and an 86
America’s
percent reduction in potential power interruptions for customers in 2025.” Mr Pike added: “This is about building a stronger, smarter energy grid for The Bahamas. Every pole we set, and every line we upgrade, brings us closer to making reliable power the standard, not the exception.”
“We are implementing more than a standard grid upgrade; it’s a long-term investment in our communities,” said Mei Shibata, Bahamas Grid Company’s chief executive. “We’re proactively building a system that has the ability to self-mitigate issues, so that every household and business in New Providence can count on consistent, dependable power.”
However, Mr White yesterday questioned whether - given this week’s Village Road challenges - the woes BPL faces on Eleuthera and Harbour Island are now spreading to Nassau. “We
“I think we need more activities,” Ms Bain added. “I think the tourists and even just locals are bored, and we’re relying way too heavily on foreign income to keep our own economy afloat when people are looking for things to do. It’s not good in your own country that you don’t have things to do or, if there’s
may have to learn how to build boats again because the infrastructure seems to have limited resources to repair it,” he said. “We’ll be back over 100 years when our forefathers and mothers lived a sustainable life from the sea.
“Power was out all of yesterday [Monday]. We were closed; it was too hot to be inside. There was no computer or phone access. We were closed and had to wait until mid-morning today [Tuesday] to be back in office and address business from our clients. It was a major handicap. You are losing revenue.
“It was extremely disruptive. We had to attend matters with clients and couldn’t get in contact with them. We have quite a few hundred clients who may or may not be reaching out to us with new matters or other matters we have started,” Mr White continued.
“We had to determine whether or not to enter the office to work. As employers we cannot force persons to work in such conditions, and there is no point being in office when you don’t
something new being developed, it’s not for you. It’s for someone who doesn’t even live here. “We have 700 islands and cays. I am currently in Bimini right now on a work trip, and there’s a lot that can be done. Nassau is not the only island in the country, and we keep treating it as if it is. So when you have
have access to computers or online files. It was impossible to be in office, and there is only a certain amount of errands you can do outside the office to take up one or two hours before you order staff to go home for the day.
Explaining that the presence of homeless persons, and his office’s location, had caused difficulties when it came to installing a backup generator, the St Anne’s MP said the power challenges appeared to have been sparked by a fire at one of BPL’s transformers on the northern end of Village Road.
While this appeared to have been fixed at 3.30pm on Monday, with BPL crews leaving the areal, the state-owned utility’s network infrastructure then suffered a blown fuse or “issue underground” that knocked out energy supply until mid-morning Tuesday.
“Last night, a number of residents were affected on the eastern side of Village Road, which is the St Anne’s boundary,” Mr White told this newspaper.
“I know down Breezy Hill they were without power
only rare earth producer gets a boost from Apple and Pentagon agreements
By JOSH FUNK Associated Press
MP Materials, which runs the only American rare earths mine, announced a new $500 million agreement with tech giant Apple on Tuesday to produce more of the powerful magnets used in iPhones as well as other high-tech products like electric vehicles.
This news comes on the heels of last week's announcement that the U.S. Defense Department agreed to invest $400 million in shares of the Las Vegas-based company, establish a floor for the price of key elements and ensure that all of the magnets made at a new plant in the first 10 years are purchased.
That unusual direct investment in the company makes the government the largest shareholder in MP Materials.
agreement will let it start producing magnets for Apple in 2027.
The Apple deal represents a sliver of the company's pledge to invest $500 billion domestically during the Trump administration. And although the deal will provide a significant boost for MP Materials, the agreement with the Defense Department is likely to be even more meaningful.
people who live on other islands who are not seeing income, because everyone is going to Nassau for everything, how are they supposed to survive?”
Businesses also expressed the need for more parking options, noting that downtown Nassau lacks parking, especially easily accessible parking.
during the night. They were without power all night.
“They were praying, hoping to have power by 6pm but they didn’t have power until 10am. They didn’t have power until around 10.20am. That’s an entire night and a number of people were without a generator, whose fridges are empty, homes almost too hot to bear.”
Brent Fox, Montague Motors’ principal, confirmed to Tribune Business that his auto dealership’s operations were also impacted by the BPL outages. “We tried to call them a couple of times, but we kept getting referred and put on hold,” he added of BPL.
“We were inconvenienced a bit. We were lucky we have a generator, but it cannot run the AC. We were kind of on a skeleton staff. It’s unusual to have us off for so long. I think it went off Monday morning around 9am or 10am, and it came back on briefly for 20 minutes in the afternoon around 2-3pm, but went back off and didn’t come back till mid-morning [Tuesday].”
sources of these elements are still needed.
Steve Christensen, executive director of the Responsible Battery Coalition, an association representing battery makers, automakers and battery sellers, said he's optimistic that these new investments in MP Materials might be part of a larger trend of increasing domestic production and processing of these key elements.
"Expanding extraction is great, and we need more of it and investments along the value chain," Christensen said. "The metals produced from MP will lessen our dependence on China."
"This is the kind of longterm commitment needed to reshape global rare earth supply chains," Neha Mukherjee, a rare earths analyst with Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said in a research note on the Pentagon deal. Rare earths are a key concern in ongoing U.S. trade talks. China dominates the market and imposed new limits on exports after President Donald Trump announced his widespread tariffs. When shipments dried up, the two sides sat down in London.
wind turbines and fighter jets.
Despite their name, the 17 rare earth elements aren't actually rare, but it's hard to find them in a high enough concentration to make a mine worth the investment. They are important ingredients in everything from smartphones and submarines to
The agreement with Apple will allow MP Materials to further expand its new factory in Texas to use recycled materials to produce magnets that make iPhones vibrate.
The company expects to start producing magnets for GM's electric vehicles later this year, and this
Mukherjee, the analyst, says the Pentagon's 10-year promise to guarantee a minimum price for the key elements of neodymium and praseodymium will guarantee stable revenue for MP Minerals and protect it from potential price cuts by Chinese producers that are subsidized by their government.
The Apple deal to produce magnets from recycled materials will also help, she said, but it won't provide enough magnets to satisfy demand, meaning more
That's a priority for Trump, and his administration is both helping MP Materials and trying to encourage the development of new mines that would take years to come to fruition. China has agreed to issue some permits for rare earth exports but not for military uses, and much uncertainty remains about their supply.
The fear is that the trade war between the world's two biggest economies could lead to a critical shortage that could disrupt production of a variety of products.
THIS 2024 photo provided by MP Materials shows an aerial view of the company’s mine in Mountain Pass, Calif.
Photo:MP Materials/AP
Trump wields tariffs to sway Putin on Ukraine. Here’s
how they might work, or not
By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer
RUSSIAN President
Vladimir Putin has sacrificed an estimated 1 million of his soldiers, killed and wounded, in a three-year campaign to crush Ukraine.
Now President Donald Trump is betting that his go-to economic weapon — tariffs — can succeed where Ukrainian drones and rockets haven't, and finally persuade Putin to end his war.
Tariffs, which the U.S. president has called " the most beautiful word in the dictionary,'' are taxes on imports. They are Trump's all-purpose fix — a tool he deploys to protect American industry, lure factories to the United States, tackle drug trafficking and illegal immigration, and raise money to pay for his massive tax cuts.
On the campaign trail last year, Trump promised he'd negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 24 hours. But months have passed without a peace deal, and the president has recently expressed frustration with the Russians.
"We're very, very unhappy with them ... I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn't seem to get there," Trump told reporters Monday.
So in addition to agreeing to send more weapons
to Ukraine, he's once again unsheathing tariffs.
He said Monday the U.S. would impose 100% tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil, natural gas and other products if there isn't a peace deal in 50 days. The levies are meant to cause Russia financial pain by making its trading partners think twice before buying Russian energy.
"I use trade for a lot of things,'' Trump said, "but it's great for settling wars."
Trump did not spell out exactly how these "secondary'' tariffs would work, and trade analysts are skeptical.
"Unilateral tariffs are likely to be ineffective in influencing Putin's actions," said Douglas Irwin, a Dartmouth College economist who studies American trade policy. "Financial sanctions in cooperation with European and other allies are much more likely to damage Russian economy, but whether they soften Russia's approach is also uncertain.''
The secondary tariffs idea isn't new. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut earlier this year introduced legislation that would impose a 500% tariff on countries that buy Russian oil, petroleum products and uranium.
If Trump goes through with his threat, his 100%
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that MOHAMMED ABDUS SALAM AHMED of #32 Wells Lane off Kemp Road, New Providence, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/ naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 16th day of July, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.
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NOTICE is hereby given that LAWREN STEPHANIE TASSY of New Jerusalem Way , Nassau, Bahamas, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 9th day of July 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
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NOTICE is hereby given that RAYONNE KIARA DUFF of #29 Sancombe, Freeport, Grand Bahamas, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 9th day of July 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
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NOTICE is hereby given that WILYONETET PAUL of Garden Road, Exuma, The Bahamas, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 16th day of July 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
tariffs have the potential to disrupt global commerce and push oil prices higher. They might also complicate Trump's efforts to strike separate trade deals with countries like China and India.
The 100% tariffs would likely target China and India
Since December 2022, when the European Union banned Russian oil, China and India have bought 85% of Russia's crude oil exports and 63% of its coal, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a Finnish nonprofit. So they would likely be the two countries most affected by Trump's 100% import taxes.
Trump has already tangled with China this year, and things did not go well.
In April, Trump plastered a 145% levy on Chinese imports, and Beijing counterpunched with 125% tariffs of its own. The triple-digit tariffs threatened to end trade between the world's two biggest economies and briefly sent financial markets reeling. China also withheld shipments of rare earth minerals used in products such as electric vehicles and wind turbines, crippling U.S. businesses.
After showing how much pain they could inflict on each other, the United
States and China agreed to
a ceasefire. A new 100% secondary tariff "would blow up that deal," said Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
"China is particularly well-placed to hold out," said Nicholas Mulder, a Cornell University historian. "All this would get us back to a position of full confrontation that would be uncomfortable for all sides.''
Hufbauer also noted that the secondary tariffs would also likely end "any rapprochement with India'' — the world's fifth-biggest economy and one with which Trump is pursuing a trade deal.
Energy prices could climb
If Trump goes ahead with the tariffs, "it would invariably lead to higher global energy prices,'' especially for natural gas, economists Kieran Tompkins and Liam Peach of Capital Economics wrote in a commentary Monday.
Other oil-exporting countries have enough spare capacity to ramp up production and offset any loss of Russian oil exports in global market. But if they did, the world would have no buffer to rely on if there were an oil shock caused by, say, conflict in the Middle
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NOTICE is hereby given that PATRICK VEDRINE of Imperial Park, Freeport Grand Bahama, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 16th day of July 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
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NOTICE is hereby given that YVENET LIBERIS of P.O. Box N-9426, Bacardi Road off Carmicheal Road, New Providence, Bahamas, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/ naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 9th day of July, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that JAMESLY JOSEPH of Lincoln Boulevard, Nassau, Bahamas, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 9th day of July 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
East — and prices could skyrocket.
"Removing that spare capacity would be akin to riding a bike with no shock absorbers,'' Tompkins and Peach wrote.
The Russian economy has been resilient
After Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States and its allies slammed Russia with sanctions.
Among other things, the U.S. froze the assets of Russia's central bank and barred some Russian banks from using a key international payments system run by Belgium. With its allies from the Group of Seven rich nations, it also capped the price that importers could pay for Russian oil. The sanctions were expected to crush the Russian economy, but they didn't. Putin put Russia on a wartime budget, and high defense spending kept unemployment low.
Military recruits were given big sign-up bonuses and the families of the fallen received death benefits, pumping income into
some of Russia's poorer regions. To keep its oil sales going, Russia deployed "shadow fleets,'' hundreds of aging tankers of uncertain ownership and dodgy safety practices that delivered oil priced above the G7 price cap.
"The experience of the G7 oil price cap against Russia showed how challenging the enforcement of measures against the Russian oil trade can be," Mulder said.
Last year, the Russian economy grew 4.1%, according to the International Monetary Fund.
But strains are showing, partly because Putin's war has made Russia a pariah to foreign investors. The IMF forecasts growth will decelerate to 1.5% this year, and last month the Russian economy minister warned the country is "on the brink of going into a recession.'' Trump's tariffs could increase the pressure, in part by driving down Russia's energy exports — and the revenue the Russian government collects from an energy tax.
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NOTICE is hereby given that SALVANT SAINTMERANT of Fritz Lane, East Street, Nassau, The Bahamas, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 16th day of July 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
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NOTICE is hereby given that DEJAMAIS DECIUS of Hanna Road, New Providence, Bahamas, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/ naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 9th day of July, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.
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Bahamas.
PRESIDENT Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One, Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Joint Base Andrews, Md. Photo:Evan Vucci/AP
Trump promotes energy and tech investments at a summit in Pennsylvania
By SEUNG MIN KIM and MARC LEVY Associated Press
PRESIDENT Donald Trump touted tens of billions of dollars of recent energy and technology investments Tuesday in Pennsylvania while boasting of a "true golden age for America" in energy policy and artificial intelligence.
Trump traveled to Pittsburgh at a summit helmed by Republican Sen. David McCormick that included dozens of top executives from companies aiming to make the city and the state a hot spot for advancements in robotics, artificial intelligence and energy.
McCormick announced more than $90 billion of investments in the state — spurring tens of thousands of jobs — although some of the projects had already been in progress ahead of the summit.
"I think we have a true golden age for America.
And we've been showing it, and it truly is the hottest country anywhere in the world," Trump said at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, held at Carnegie Mellon University. "I'm honored to be in Pennsylvania, and I'm honored to be in Pittsburgh. And you're going to see some real action here. So get ready."
Trump has repeatedly pledged U.S. "energy dominance" in the global market, and Pennsylvania — a swing state critical to his wins in 2016 and 2024 — is at the forefront of that agenda, in large part due to its coal and gas industry that the Republican administration has taken steps to bolster.
Both the president and senior administration officials on Tuesday framed the investments as part of a race against China for the most advanced deployment of artificial intelligence, with Trump saying, "We are way ahead of China, I have to say."
"China and other countries are racing to catch up to America on AI, and we're not going to let them do it," Trump said during
the hourlong roundtable held in a university gymnasium, speaking often from prepared notes. Flanked by several of his Cabinet members, company executives and local political leaders, Trump added that the U.S. will be "fighting them in a very friendly fashion."
Before Trump spoke, his Cabinet members spoke of the need to produce as much energy as possible — especially from coal and natural gas — to beat China in the AI race for the sake of economic and national security.
"The AI revolution is upon us," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during an earlier panel discussion. "The Trump administration will not let us lose. We need to do clean, beautiful coal. We need to do natural gas, we need to embrace nuclear, we need to embrace it all because we have the power to do it and if we don't do it we're fools."
Some of the investments on a list released by McCormick's office were not necessarily brand-new, while others were. Some involve massive data center projects — such as a $15 billion project in central Pennsylvania — while others involve building power plants, expanding natural gas pipelines, upgrading power plants or
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NOTICE is hereby given that MARISA BIASI SILVA of #16 Montagu Drive, Old Fort Bay, Nassau, Bahamas, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 9th day of July 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that LUKE GUERRA SILVA of #1 Charleston Lane, Old Fort Bay, Nassau, Bahamas, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 9th day of July 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
improving electricity transmission networks.
Google said it would invest $25 billion on AI and data center infrastructure over the next two years in PJM's mid-Atlantic electricity grid, while investment firm Brookfield said it had signed contracts to provide more than $3 billion of power to Google's data centers from two hydroelectric dams on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania.
Frontier Group said it would transform the former Bruce Mansfield coal-fired power plant in western Pennsylvania into a new natural gas-fired plant, and AI cloud computing firm CoreWeave said it will spend more than $6 billion to equip a data center in south-central Pennsylvania. Blackstone plans to spend $25 billion on data centers and building new natural gas-fired power plants in northeastern Pennsylvania, and the company will start construction by the end of 2028, said Jon Gray, its CEO. McCormick, a first-term Republican senator who organized the inaugural event, said the summit was meant to bring together top energy companies and AI leaders, global investors and labor behind Trump's energy policies and priorities.
The list of participating CEOs includes leaders from global behemoths like Blackstone, Bridgewater, SoftBank, Amazon Web Services, BlackRock and ExxonMobil and local companies such as the Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics, which deploys AI to bolster energy capacity.
"What's exciting about this event is it's a great catalyst for investments and closing deals in the region," said Jake Loosararian, the founder and CEO of Gecko Robotics.
Administration officials at the summit included White House crypto czar David Sacks, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Lutnick. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also attended. Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, also spoke.
McCormick credited his wife, Dina Powell McCormick, with the idea for a summit. Powell McCormick served as Trump's deputy national security adviser in his first term and is a former Goldman Sachs executive who is now at BDT & MSD Partners, a merchant bank.
Pittsburgh is home to Carnegie Mellon University, a prestigious engineering school, plus a growing industry of small robotics firms and a socalled AI Avenue that's home to offices for Google
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NOTICE is hereby given that ECIO PEREIRA DA SILVA of #1 Charleston Lane, Old Fort Bay, Nassau, Bahamas, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 9th day of July 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 9th day of July 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
PRESIDENT Donald Trump arrives to speak at the “Inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Event” at Carnegie Mellon University, Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Pittsburgh. Standing with the President are from left, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., Trump and Jon Gray, President and Chief Operating Officer, Blackstone. Photo:Evan Vucci/AP and other AI firms. It also sits in the middle of the prolific Marcellus Shale natural gas reservoir.
"What's going on is a rewiring of the economy, of the world over the next 15 years and that takes trillions and trillions and tens of trillions of dollars, and it starts with power," said Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfield, during a panel discussion.
Pennsylvania has scored big investment wins in recent months, some driven by federal manufacturing policy and others by the ravenous need for
electricity from the fastgrowing AI business.
Nippon Steel just bought U.S. Steel for almost $15 billion, getting Trump's approval after pledging to invest billions alone in U.S. Steel's Pittsburgh-area plants.
Amazon will spend $20 billion on two data center complexes in Pennsylvania, while the one-time Homer City coal-fired power plant is being turned into the nation's largest gas-fired power plant to fuel a data center campus.
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NOTICE is hereby given that CYNTHIA PIERRELUS of Robinson Road, Nassau, The Bahamas, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 16th day of July 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
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LUPERI GUERRA SILVA of #1
Federal judge reverses rule that would have removed medical debt from credit reports
By ADRIANA MORGA and CORA LEWIS Associated Press
A FEDERAL judge in Texas removed a Biden-era finalized rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would have removed medical debt from credit reports.
U.S. District Court
Judge Sean Jordan of Texas's Eastern District, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, found on Friday that the rule exceeded the CFPB 's authority. Jordan said that the CFPB is not permitted to remove medical debt from credit reports according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which protects information collected by consumer reporting agencies.
Removing medical debt from consumer credit reports was expected to increase the credit scores of millions of families by an average of 20 points, the bureau said. The CFPB states that its research has shown outstanding healthcare claims to be a poor predictor of an individual's ability to repay a loan, yet they are often used to deny mortgage applications.
The three national credit reporting agencies — Experian, Equifax and
TransUnion — announced last year that they would remove medical collections under $500 from U.S. consumer credit reports. The CFPB's rule was projected to ban all outstanding medical bills from appearing on credit reports and prohibit lenders from using the information.
The CFPB estimated the rule would have removed $49 billion in medical debt from the credit reports of 15 million Americans. According to the agency, one in five Americans has at least one medical debt collection account on their credit reports, and over half of the collection entries on credit reports are for medical debts. The problem disproportionately affects people of color, the CFPB has found: 28% of Black people and 22% of Latino people in the U.S. carry medical debt versus 17% of white people. The CFPB was established by Congress after the 2008 financial crisis to monitor credit card companies, mortgage providers, debt collectors and other segments of the consumer finance industry. Earlier this year, the Trump administration requested that the agency halt nearly all its operations, effectively shutting it down.
Nvidia to resume sales of highly desired AI computer chips to China
By ELAINE KURTENBACH and WYATTE GRANTHAMPHILIPS AP Business Writers
NVIDIA'S CEO Jensen Huang says the technology giant has won approval from the Trump administration to sell its advanced H20 computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence to China.
The news came in a company blog post late Monday, which stated that the U.S. government had "assured" Nvidia that licenses would be granted — and that the company "hopes to start deliveries soon." Shares of the California-based chipmaker were up over 4% by midday Tuesday.
Huang also spoke about the coup on China's staterun CGTN television network, in remarks shown on X.
"Today, I'm announcing that the U.S. government has approved for us filing licenses to start shipping H20s," Huang told reporters in Beijing. He added that half of the world's AI researchers are in China. "It's so innovative and dynamic here in China that it's really important that American companies are able to compete and serve the market here," he said.
Huang recently met with President Donald Trump and other U.S. policymakers — and is in Beijing this week to attend a supply chain conference and speak with Chinese officials. The broadcast showed Huang meeting with Ren Hongbin, the head of the China Council for Promotion of International Trade, host of the China International Supply Chain Expo, which Huang was attending. Nvidia is an exhibitor.
Nvidia has profited enormously from the rapid adoption of AI, becoming the first company to have its market value surpass $4 trillion last week. However, the trade rivalry between the U.S. and China has been weighing heavily on the industry.
Here's what we know.
What is Nvidia's H20 chip?
The H20 graphics processing unit, or GPU, is an advanced AI chip — a type of device used to build and update a range of AI systems. But it's less powerful than Nvidia's top semiconductors today.
That's because the H20 chip was developed to specifically comply with U.S. restrictions for exports of AI chips to China. Nvidia's most advanced chips, which carry more computing power, are off-limits to the Chinese market.
Washington has been tightening controls on exports of advanced technology to China for years, citing concerns that knowhow meant for civilian use could be deployed for military purposes. And
billion — and Huang and other technology leaders have been lobbying Trump to reverse the restrictions since. They've argued that such limits hinder U.S. competition in a sector in one of the world's largest markets for technology, and have also warned that U.S. export controls could end up pushing other countries toward China's AI technology.
in January, before Trump began his second term in office, President Joe Biden's administration launched a new framework for exporting advanced computer chips used to develop AI — in an attempt to balance national security concerns about the technology with the economic interests of producers and other countries.
Restrictions on sales of advanced chips to China have been central to the AI race between the world's two largest economic powers, but such controls are also controversial. Proponents argue that these restrictions are necessary to slow China down enough to allow U.S. companies to keep their lead. Meanwhile, opponents say the export controls have loopholes — and could still spur innovation. The emergence of China's DeepSeek AI chatbot in January particularly renewed concerns over how China might use advanced chips to help develop its own AI capabilities.
What's happened since Trump took office?
In April, the White House announced that it would restrict sales of Nvidia's H20 chips to China — as well as MI308 chips from rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices — with the Trump administration again citing national security.
At the time, Nvidia said these tighter export controls would cost the company an extra $5.5
Monday's announcement from Nvidia signals that its lobbying efforts paid off. White House AI and crypto adviser David Sacks told Bloomberg on Tuesday that allowing Nvidia to restart Chinese sales of its H20 chip would help the U.S. better compete abroad — particularly with Chinese chipmaker Huawei Technologies. Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Tuesday that the renewed sale of H20 chips in China was linked to a trade agreement made between the two countries on rare earth magnets — and maintained that the administration was also reversing course from April's restrictions because the U.S. still doesn't sell China "our best stuff."
Still, calls for restrictions on advanced chip exports to China have persisted among U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Just last week, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks wrote a letter to Huang noting that the hardware powering advanced AI "is of immense strategic importance" — and again warned that this kind of technology could be used to accelerate Beijing's effort to modernize its military if exported freely. U.S. lawmakers have also proposed that chips subject to export controls should be tracked, to ensure they don't end up in the wrong places.
Beyond export controls, California-based Nvidia — like other tech giants today — has been caught in the crosshairs of Trump's tariff wars abroad, particularly amid America's tit-fortat levies with China. But Beijing and Washington recently agreed to pull back some non-tariff restrictions.
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Notice is also hereby given that any person having a claim against the Company is required, within 14 days of the date of this Notice, to send their names, addresses and particulars of their debts or claims to Sterling (Bahamas) Limited, the Liquidator of the Company, or in default thereof they will be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before such debts or claims are proved.
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IN this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, workers set up a robot at the booth of Nvidia ahead of the upcoming third China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing, on July 14, 2025. Photo:Ju Huanzong/AP
MEDICAL bills are seen in Temple Hills, Md., on June 26, 2023. Photo:Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Most US stocks slump, but Nvidia nudges Nasdaq to another record
By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer
MOST U.S. stocks slumped on Tuesday after the latest update on inflation hurt Wall Street's hopes for lower interest rates.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, though it's still near its alltime high set last week, as 90% of the stocks within the index fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 436 points, or 1%.
Tech stocks were an outlier, though, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to set another record thanks to Nvidia, the market's most influential stock.
Stocks felt pressure from a report showing inflation in the United States accelerated to 2.7% last month from 2.4% in May. Economists pointed to increases in prices for clothes, toys and other things that tend to get imported from other countries. Their prices could be rising because of the tariffs that President Donald Trump has proposed on countries worldwide in hopes of getting them to
open their markets further to U.S. products.
"Inflation has begun to show the first signs of tariff pass-through," according to Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
To be sure, the inflation rate reported on Tuesday morning wasn't far from what economists expected. And an underlying measure of inflation that economists think is a better predictor of future trends accelerated by less than feared.
Altogether, the data helped cause Treasury yields to yo-yo a few times in the bond market before they began rising.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.48% from 4.43% late Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with shortterm interest rates, rose to 3.95% from 3.90%.
A further acceleration in inflation could tie the hands of the Fed, which has been keeping interest rates on
hold this year after cutting them at the end of last year. That's because lower rates can give inflation more fuel, along with a boost for the economy. Wall Street loves lower rates because they goose prices higher for stocks and other investments, and Trump himself has been clamoring for the Fed to cut more quickly.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell, though, has been adamant
that he wants to wait for more data about how tariffs affect the economy and inflation. Following Tuesday's inflation report, traders are still overwhelmingly betting that the Fed will cut its main interest rate by the end of the year. But they pulled back their bets on the number of potential cuts, according to data from CME Group.
No one knows for sure if Trump will follow through on the stiff tariffs he's proposed, or if he'll flinch and back down if the economy and financial markets show too much pain. The hope is that he'll reach trade deals with other countries beforehand that will lower the sky-high tariff rates that Trump has proposed.
Trump on Tuesday said he struck a deal with Indonesia, where it committed to buying energy, agricultural products and planes from the United States. Trump also said imports from Indonesia, which is the world's fourth-largest country by population, would face a tariff of 19% instead of the 32% that he had threatened earlier.
On Wall Street, tech stocks were the outliers and rose after Nvidia said the U.S. government assured it that licenses will be granted for its H20 chip again and that deliveries will hopefully begin soon.
Nvidia's 4% gain was by far the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500.
Earlier this year, Nvidia said that U.S. restrictions on the chips used in artificial-intelligence development chiseled billions of dollars off its results for the first quarter of the year.
Stocks of big U.S. banks, meanwhile, were mixed following their latest profit reports.
JPMorgan Chase slipped 0.7% despite reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected, as CEO Jamie Dimon warned of risks to the economy because of tariffs and other concerns.
Citigroup rose 3.7% following its better-thanexpected profit report. But Wells Fargo fell 5.5% following its own, as it trimmed its forecast for an important way that it makes money. All told, the S&P 500 fell 24.80 points to 6,243.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 436.36 to 44,023.29, and the Nasdaq composite rose 37.47 to 20,677.80.
In stock markets abroad, indexes slipped in Europe after a mixed session in Asia.
ED Curran works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, July 14, 2025. Photo:Seth Wenig/AP
