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Resolution in sight in BPL strike threat

By YOURI KEMP

THE dispute between the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU) and Bahamas Power and Light will be settled within the next few days, Tribune Business has been told.

Obie Ferguson, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, told Tribune Business that the dispute should not have gotten this far, but the BEWU has a point on safety concerns and that it is up to BPL to ensure a safe working environment and the safety of their employers as reasonably practicable. “We would not want an accident at BPL. They deal with a lot of dangerous equipment, and

so they risk their lives on a daily basis.”

Mr Ferguson added: “They (BEWU) are in discussions with BPL and I’m optimistic that as long as they are in those discussions with faith, there will be progress.

“What will also happen in short order, once the matter has been resolved, Kyle Wilson, (president of the BEWU) will make a proper statement after he would have apprised his membership. But he has to meet with his members and report to them on

the items that they have been negotiating on.”

The BEWU held meetings with its membership last week and have agreed on a strike action against BPL over matters related to poor working conditions at several of the BPL sites and offices and the

As gas prices rise, retailers ‘can’t contain this anymore’

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

THE BAHAMAS Petroleum Retailers Association’s (BPRA) president, Raymond Jones, said production cuts in the Organization of the

Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are behind the rise in prices at the pump, which he said underscores the need for a margin increase for retailers as they “can’t contain this anymore”.

Raymond Jones told Tribune Business that the oil cartel cut production in April, which is

now trickling down to the average consumer at the pump. “This is a global phenomenon and these things happen. It’s out of our control, but OPEC cut production a while back and so we are now seeing the fallout from that.”

Raymond Samuels, managing director of Rubis Caribbean, confirmed

Inflation trend ‘positive’ as rate shows minimal change

the same in a short note to Tribune Business on the sharp rise in gasoline prices, which have jumped to more than $6 in the space of two weeks.

Mr Jones took the opportunity to remind the public that these oil price hikes are not something

Downtown car park solution on the cards

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A CAR park is being proposed for the Downtown area, according to the Ministry of Tourism, Investment and Aviation (MOTIA).

Senator Randy Rolle, who is the MOTIA’s global relations consultant, revealed to Tribune Business that the ministry has proposals in their possession for a car park for Downtown Bay Street, which he expects Deputy

Prime Minister Chester Cooper to be able to speak more on in the near future.

The need for a car park for the Downtown area is something some stakeholders of the area have been asking for for decades, but successive administrations have balked at the opportunity. However, with the pedestrianisation of portions of Bay Street imminent, finding a solution for parking seems to be the next logical step.

In the interim, the MOTIA has engaged a firm

SEE PAGE B4

By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE trend for inflation has been hailed as “positive” by a campaigner for good governance.

The Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) released its Consumer Price Index (CPI) for June 2023 which determined the the monthly inflation rate, which represents the overall change in prices for 2023

SEE PAGE B5

Is artificial intelligence a benefit or a threat?

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer just a buzz word as it has not only become an integral part of our daily lives but has a rapidly growing field of technology that has already made a significant impact on many businesses globally.

From enhancing efficiency, enabling data-driven decision-making, personalizing customer experiences, and improving cybersecurity measures, these cutting-edge technologies have gained a competitive edge in the fast-paced digital landscape. Furthermore, AI focuses on creating intelligent machines that can think and act like humans as it has been around for decades, but due to advances in technology have made it more accessible than ever before.

Basically, everything can be considered Artificial Intelligence if it involves a program that relies on the intelligence of a human; meaning the development of computer systems that can think and act like humans, and encompasses the potential to revolutionize the way we do business.

For example, our popular Siri listens to us and performs the task in one tap, while GPS helps us to travel the world and how can we forget the basic necessity? Food, clothing, shelter, and smartphone. They are the ones that predict what we are going to type, in short, they know us better than anyone. The best is the autocorrect feature, as it understands what we are trying to say however presents the sentence in the best way possible. Moreover, have you observed that while you post a picture on social media, you tag someone, and the computer automatically detects the person’s face and tags that individual? Similar to Google Photos, that automatically creates faces.

Notably an amazing key benefit of using AI tools in the business world is the ability to automate repetitive

DEIDRE BASTIAN By

and mundane tasks. With machines learning algorithms at their core, these tools can analyse vast amounts of data and perform complex calculations much faster than humans. This is impressive as it frees up valuable time for employees to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Improving Cybersecurity Measures

As businesses increasingly rely on digital platforms for their operations, AI tools can bolster cybersecurity by detecting and preventing potential threats in real-time and flag potential security breaches.

Creativity is not for AI Machines can’t be creative; they can only do what they are being taught or commanded therefore can’t match the power of a human brain. Humans are sensitive intellectuals that are able to generate ideas as their thoughts are guided by feelings, whereas machines are unable to inherent intuitive abilities of the human brain nor can they replicate it.

How does AI work?

AI works by using algorithms to process data and identify patterns in order to make decisions. These algorithms are based on mathematical models that are designed to mimic human behavior, trained to recognise images and

provide insights into complex problems.

Is artificial intelligence a benefit or a threat?

While artificial intelligence has extraordinary benefits, there are also drawbacks. Some of the benefits of AI include efficiency through task automation, data analysis for informed decisions, assistance in medical diagnosis, and the advancement of autonomous vehicles.

As AI technologies become increasingly sophisticated, the security risks associated with their use, the potential for misuse also increases. Malicious hackers can harness the power of AI to develop more advanced cyberattacks and exploit vulnerabilities in systems.

Loss of human connection

Increasing reliance on an AI-driven communication could lead to diminished empathy, social skills, and human connections therefore due to the essence of our social nature, we must strive to maintain a balance between technology and human interaction.

In this vein, anything in excess is concerning and so is the case with Artificial Intelligence which is rapidly growing with many potential applications in the business world. Ultimately, to mitigate potential risks, the AI research community needs to actively engage in safety research, and collaborate on ethical guidelines.

Subsequently, this concept could be noteworthy as it serves to the best interest of humanity with hopes of not creating a threat to the existence of the human element. Until we meet again, fill your life with memories rather than regrets. Enjoy life and stay on top of your game.

POWER PROBLEMS AND THEFTS CAUSE BTC SERVICE ISSUES

By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) released a statement yesterday advising that some Family Island consumers have been experiencing service issues “due to power-related issues and malicious acts”.

The communication went on to explain that consumers affected by the outages will be compensated in their upcoming bills.

The statement said: “Over the last several weeks, residents in some Family Islands have experienced down time with their landline, internet, and mobile services, due to power-related issues and malicious acts.

“BTC will be compensating customers for the inconvenience of these outages, and customers will see the same noted in their upcoming bills.”

Islands affected by the recent outages include Grand Bahama, Abaco, South Andros, Mangrove Cay and Mayaguana, Sameer Bhatti, BTC CEO, said the company is communicating with Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) on ways to mitigate the issues cased by power outages. He noted that a “brownout” in Mayaguana damaged BTC equipment and disturbed the service in neighbouring Inagua and a lightning strike in South Andros damaged the equipment on that island.

He said: “We apologise to our customers in the Family Islands that have been experiencing issues over the last few weeks. Many of these outages were due to power-related issues that impacted our ability to provide connectivity. We are in talks with Bahamas Power and Light, and we are working collectively to mitigate recurring instances. “In Mayaguana, there was a ‘brownout’ which resulted in a drop in the

$10,000

helping hand from Sun Oil

SUN Oil Ltd is giving a helping hand to young people with a donation of $10,000 to Junior Achievement (JA) Bahamas.

Fabian Fernander, Sun Oil’s marketing manager, said: “Our aspiration is to cultivate a generation of Bahamians who are not only ambitious but also well-equipped with the tools essential for transformative national progress. Through our partnership with JA Bahamas, we are investing in a future where business is synonymous with innovation, resilience, and community.”

Throughout the past four decades, Junior Achievement Bahamas has played a pivotal role to spark an entrepreneurial spirit in the nation’s youth. Tammy Lecky, the programme’s executive director, said: “The donation from Sun Oil Limited is a game-changer for Junior Achievement. It will enable us to enhance our existing programmes and develop new initiatives that will equip young people with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in today’s competitive world. With this support, we can provide more resources, training, and mentorship opportunities to students,

fostering their personal growth and preparing them for a brighter future.”

Furthering this sentiment, Philip Simon, chairman of Junior Achievement Bahamas, said: “With Sun Oil’s support, we can empower the next generation with essential financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work readiness skills, enabling them to thrive in the everevolving global economy. We hope this serves as an inspiration for other companies to follow Sun Oil’s lead and become sponsors of Junior Achievement, as we continue to make a difference in the lives of young people.”

Mr Fernander added: “At Sun Oil, we remain steadfast in our pledge to uplift the upcoming generation of business visionaries. Through our alliance with Junior Achievement Bahamas, we are certain that our

necessary voltage required to operate our network equipment on the island. This subsequently caused damage to our air conditioning unit, which is necessary to keep our equipment functional. The equipment in Mayaguana is connected to Inagua, which also caused issues there.

“In South Andros, a lightning strike damaged equipment and resulted in down time in Mangrove Cay.”

Mr Bhatti went on to explain that Abaco and Grand Bahama experienced outages due to ‘thieves’ taking their copper wire and fibre optic cables noting that the police has arrested some of the culprits.

He said: “In Abaco, our fiber was cut by thieves causing services to be down. We encourage anyone with information to report it to the police. In Grand Bahama, we have had numerous issues with copper theft and fiber cutting, which were reported

to the Police. We are pleased to report that the police have apprehended the culprits.”

Roscoe Thompson, chairman of the Marsh Harbour/ Spring City Township, said that BTC service in Abaco has been “slow and very inconsistent” lately and that residents were aware of the thievery that led to their service disruptions. He said: “The service has been bad the last couple of weeks, the internet is really slow right now and BTC is off in some areas as far as I know but the cable was still on. BTC and their WiFi was going up and down and its been real slow and very inconsistent recently. Someone told me their wires were purposefully cut and copper stolen from the top of the poles.”

James Carey, president of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce, said that the copper theft was once popular on the island but ceased once the authorities started to regulate the export industry.

He said: “There used to be a lot of copper stolen on the island going back but I’ve not heard that much about it in recent times. The BTC report said a number of customers have lost service because of the copper theft, I believe the authorities are keeping an eye on export business shutting off that opportunity.”

Darin Bethel, president of the Andros Chamber of Commerce, said that Andros has been plagued with electrical, water, telephone and internet issues since a fire at the BPL North Andros plant caused extensive damage to machinery and equipment. He added that BTC’s decision to offer compensation to their consumers may be a result of direct competition in the telecommunications market and indicated that BPL is not incentivised to offer compensation to their consumer as they have a monopolistic hold on the local energy sector.

He said: “Andros is having a hard time right

now basically because of the infrastructure and utilities. Business people are complaining about the telephone service and water just as much as the lights. So BPL’s problems have added challenges for other utlilties because the electricity is frequently going off and on and its damaging their generators. Also there was a lightening strike in South Andros and that generated more issues. Right now we need an intervention to deal with the level of service on Andros.

“BPL isn’t challenged with competition so they don’t have the motivation to offer compensation.”

support will inspire a community of entrepreneurs, ready to bring innovative products and solutions to the forefront of our nation.”

Share your news

PHILIP SIMON, JA Bahamas Chairman, Tammy Lecky, JA Bahamas Executive Director and Fabian Fernander, Sun Oil Sales & Marketing Manager.

ALIV WINS THE OOKLA AWARD FOR THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR

ALIV has triumphed in an awards ceremony honouring companies who excel in speed tests.

Ookla, a global leader in network intelligence and connectivity insights, honoured ALIV with the Speedtest Awards for the Fastest Mobile Network and Best Mobile Gaming Experience based on their performance analysis from the first two quarters this year. During the press event on Tuesday at Atlantis’ Club Crush, Marc Penesso, the sales director at Ookla, congratulated ALIV for securing the title of the fastest mobile network in The Bahamas for the third consecutive year and for winning the award for the best mobile gaming experience. He emphasised that these awards stand

as a testament to ALIV’s outstanding network performance during the first half of this year.

Franklyn Butler, the CEO of Cable Bahamas Group of Companies, expressed his immense pride and gratitude upon receiving the award for the third time. “This recognition not only certifies the primacy of our mobile network but also vouches for the robustness of our infrastructure strategy. Our steadfast commitment to innovation enables us to distinguish ourselves in the marketplace, thereby establishing ALIV as the gold standard for highperformance, best-in-class services,” said Mr Butler.

Charlene Liang, the acting director of the department of information and communication, lauded

ALIV for securing an internationally recognised award and praised its robust and high-performance infrastructure. She said: “You make us [The Bahamas] look good!”

Zane Lightbourne, who was part of the government reshuffle announced on Sunday and is moving from Minister of State in the Ministry of Education and Technical and Vocational Training to become Minister of State for the Enivornment, said the award reflects ALIV’s dedication to customer satisfaction. He emphasised that ALIV is at the cutting edge of technology, setting a standard of speed and reliability in The Bahamas.

As gas prices rise, retailers ‘can’t contain this anymore’

FROM PAGE B1

that they make any money off of, and in fact retailers end up doing more work for the same amount and often times less than when prices are low.

Mr Jones said: “The increase in price costs us more money for overdraft fees for everything

we do and so working with margin, that’s insufficient to give us profitability, especially with an increase of almost 75 percent on utility bills and now power has gone up. Minimum wage has gone up earlier in the year and we have been asking the government constantly to entertain an adjustment in our fuel

margin to give us the ability to stay in business.”

The government had given petroleum retailers a rebate worth approximately $6m but it is not a long=term fix for when oil prices start to rise like how they have been in the last few weeks. “All we want is 25 cents added to the margin,” Mr Jones opined.

He added: “They gave us a proposal back in March, we accepted it. We said okay, fine, we can do we can use and that proposal included also an increase for the wholesalers and on top of that, we asked them this and let’s sit down and put in an implementation strategy on when you want to do it. They agreed and then Minister (Michael) Halkitis came back and said they can’t give an increase now and would have to wait until the price came down and we told him the price will come down in the summer and it did. But now the price is going back up and retailers are at the point where we can’t contain this anymore.” The BPRA had threatened to lay off staff in

previous iterations as well as begin to reduce operating hours on some of their stations, but these threats, once seemed idle, may now have a possibility of happening because at the time when they last promised to cut staff and reduce hours, the price of oil started to decline immediately afterwards, easing pressure on retailers.

However, now that OPEC has cut production and there is no end in sight for how high the price of gasoline would end up in the next three months, the pressure is on to get back to the negotiating table with the government on a permanent solution.

Mr Jones added: “We don’t want to work on a threatening mode with the

Downtown car park solution on the cards

FROM PAGE B1

to provide valet services for the Downtown area at the price of $13 per vehicle, with an option for a discounted rate for people who work Downtown.

Mr Rolle said: “The firm doing the valet parking for Downtown is still there. We’re supposed to meet with them next week Wednesday to do some assessments and some evaluations. But I can tell you the businesses on Parliament Street have been singing their praises.”

Five Star Valet Company is providing the services, while the government is providing the space. The initial arrangement was supposed to be a two-week trial only with services beginning at the end of July.

Straw vendors have raised concerns over the pedestrianisation of the Market Slope near to the Straw Market, with them wondering if parking would be provided if the government’s initiative continues to move forward. Mr Rolle said: “We invite them to our

government. We believe the Prime Minister was sincere when he said they are looking at the matter and that they understand what we are up against and announced that they had given us some relief and that was given as a result of them understanding where we gave them lots of details showing where the cost is more than half of the margin.”

He added: “Despite the economy, the volume of people are not driving more because it’s on an island, they go from home to work, they go out to go back. That’s not a business where people are doing more. It’s just cost-prohibitive.”

stakeholder meetings and they are more than willing to participate in any way, shape or form. But I have gotten no correspondence from them as it relates to parking,”

He added: “I know parking has been a concern for many years and we are trying to look at ways to ease the pressure.”

(From L to R) Michael Armogan, Tracy Boucher, Amber Carey, Noah Laville, Marc Penesso, Franklyn Butler, Minister of State Zane Lightbourne, Charlene Laing, Charnette Thompson, Dwayne Davis, Adam Hanna and Godfrey Pearce.

RANDY ROLLE

Inflation trend ‘positive’ as rate shows minimal change

increased by 0.1 percent when compared to May 2023. The increase in the inflation rate is show in the overall pice of items purchased during this period.

The report went on to note that inflation rate increased by 0.4 percent from April 2023 to May 2023.

Hubert Edwards, head of the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) economic development committee, told Tribune Business that the inflation rate trend is “positive”, noting that the inflation rate in June 2022 was 6.2 percent and has halved by June 2023, settling at 3.1 percent. He noted that the inflation rate is consistent with the United States June inflation rate of 3 percent and that consumers may see prices trending down.

He said: “If you look at the trend since June, last year, we had inflation of 6.2 percent and it does come down, reasonably well, down to 3.1 percent. We move from 0.4 percent increase last month to a

0.1 percent increase and now settling at 3.1 percent overall for inflation. I think overall it’s positive.

“From a macro perspective, the rates are down, they seem to be very consistent with what is happening in the United States. Their latest report, which came out for June, had inflation pegged at about 3 percent. So the Bahamas is kind of moving in tandem with the United States, at least at this point in time.

“Overall, this is really good news for consumers to have the possibility of experiencing price trending down.”

The BNSI report also revealed that transportation and food and non- alcoholic beverages increased while alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotic and miscellaneous goods and services decreased.

“Transportation and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages saw increases of 3 percent and 1 percent respectively, when compared to the previous month. Meanwhile, Alcoholic beverages, tobacco and Narcotics along with

Miscellaneous Goods and Services recorded decreases of 0.9percent , and 2 percent for the month of June 2023. “ the BNSI report said.

Mr Edwards said that individuals that spend a large portion of their income on areas like food and transportation may not feel the overall reduction in inflation as these areas continue to increase.

He said: “The average individual who spends a larger portion of their income on food and transport is not necessarily going to have the same experience as an individual who has a greater proportion of their income going to non food and and non transportation item.

An increase in recreation and culture and alcoholic beverages was noted by the BNSI report as well as a decline in diesel and gasoline prices when compared to the same period in 2022.

It said: “On a year over year basis, the CPI rose 3% over the same period last year in 2022. The major categories that contributed to this rise included

Recreation and Culture, along with Alcoholic Beverages, with increases of 21%, 10 % respectively.

“Diesel prices along with gasoline declined 23 percent and 15 percent respectively compared to this period in 2022. However, compared to May 2023, diesel prices decreased by -4.1 percent. Meanwhile, gasoline prices showed little to no change with an increase of 0.2 percent, for the month of June 2023.”

Mr Edwards said it was concerning that fuel costs have not decreased although the overall rate has and noted that fuel is an important part of production and transportation and we should be “cautious” of this development. He said: “I also took a look at the impact on gas, gasoline, and we know that there’s been little to no change in the cost of gasoline. So that would be one of the areas of a little bit of a worry for consumers given the fact that gasoline is such a ubiquitous input in a number of activities in impact transportation, it impacts businesses impacts

Resolution in sight in BPL strike threat

FROM PAGE B1

lack of health and safety provisions for workers in conjunction with that.

The lawyer for the BEWU added: “Unfortunately in The Bahamas, employers like for there to be strife and I can’t understand the logic in that. We can always sit down and negotiate in good faith and make some concessions

along the way and come up with something that is reasonable that is in the interest of the workers and the country at large.”

“We don’t have to fight on every single thing. I’m encouraging for them to find a formula that would be mutually beneficial to the workers. BPL workers are seriously hard workers. The least little mistake they make that can mean

ALASKA FISHERS FEAR ANOTHER BLEAK SEASON AS CRAB POPULATIONS DWINDLE IN WARMING WATERS

By JOSHUA A. BICKEL

Associated Press

GABRIEL Prout worked four seasons on his father's crab boat, the Silver Spray, before joining his two brothers in 2020 to buy a half-interest plus access rights for a snow crab fishery that's typically the largest and richest in the Bering Sea. Then in 2021, disaster: an annual survey found crabs crashing to an all-time low. The red king crab fishery was closed; the snow crab fishery cut to a tenth of the previous year's take.

After another bad survey last year, the red king crab fishery closed again and the snow crab fishery closed for the first time ever. Suddenly, Prout's optimism about being his family's third generation in crab fishing seemed misplaced.

"It's very hard to find a way to keep going forward," said Prout, 33. With almost all his expected income gone, he's scrambled ever since to scratch out a living by working as a salmon tender — using his boat to supply other boats and offload their catch.

Researchers are scrambling to understand crabs' collapse, with seas warmed by climate change as one theory. Preliminary data from this year's survey suggest another year of closed or severely limited fisheries, with decisions on crab catch limits expected in early

October shortly before the season traditionally opens.

Kevin Abena, who runs a fishing business with his father, also relies on tendering to stay afloat in the wake of the crab fishery closure. His vessel Big Blue, which his father built in the late 1970s, stopped fishing for most crab in Bristol Bay in 2010, but they still own access rights and take a percentage from other boats that fish their quota. Abena also fishes for halibut and black cod.

His income has dropped by about 20%, he said. He sympathizes with the larger hit taken by owners of boats with rights only for crab.

"That's rent, that's mortgages, that's everything in life," he said.

Abena, a board member of the Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative, said he's seen the competition increase for tendering and for access to other fisheries. He noticed more boats going after tanner crab last season — a much smaller fishery, but one that was open. When fisheries get closed "you displace a lot of boats and a lot of crew," he said. "It makes people start hunting for more opportunity."

But not all boats can adapt quickly to work in another fishery. Different equipment is often needed and access rights are necessary, both costly investments.

death, so therefore we can’t prevent everything but certainly we should do all that we can in our powers to minimize those catastrophic situations.

Mr Ferguson is in favour of a “settlement” and he further assured that the BEWU is in favour of a settlement or that kind of arrangement. “Within a short period you would see

something happening,” he said.

The last Industrial Agreement signed with the BEWU was in 2021 where several longstanding matters were supposed to have been resolved. However, the condition of BPL’s working areas has not been resolved.

The Bahamas Electrical Utility Managerial Union (BEUMU) has also joined

pretty much everything that the consumer ultimately purchases. So we have to we have to be cautious about that. And the fact that it is not yet showing any trend downwards, but despite the fact that the overall rate is going down.”

Mr Edwards added that global influences such as the war in Ukraine and financial unsurety in countries like the United States and China, the Bahamas’ reduction in inflation rate over the past year is a ‘significant change’. He added that ‘vulnerable’ persons that spend the majority of their earnings on food, housing and transportation will still feel ‘a pinch’ but if the trend continues they will eventually find themselves in a better position. He said: “This is positive, bearing in mind that the Bahamas is is always a net importer of inflation. And so when we take into consideration the significant drivers, the war in Ukraine still continuing, the unsettled economy in the United States, it is up and down even though they are seeing a very strong

in with the BEWU on the possibility of commencing a strike action and further accused BPL’s management of negotiating in bad faith on their agreement that expired in 2018. “I think the solution for both of then unions have to be collective, they have to come together. We want to make sure to keep the working environment conducive,” Mr Ferguson said.

Mr Ferguson added: “The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires that the workplace must be safe and

labor market, which suggests that there could He still be some pressure for increased inflation. So when you take all of these things into consideration, the fact that we are seeing a trending downward trend in our CPI index is always going to be a positive.

“We were coming from a peak of 7.1 percent in July 2022, it’s now 3.1percent, so that is more than half over a year. That’s a really, really significant change. So we are hoping that this represents an improvement in the overall state of affairs of the consumer. We have to recognize that there are certain categories where because the rate is not changing people are still going to feel a pinch, especially if they are if they are in vulnerable categories where they really spend most of whatever they earn on food, housing, and maybe transportation. They are still going to continue to feel the squeeze for a time being but we’re hoping that this trends down more and those persons would be in a better state of affairs.”

we want to be transparent in what we do so everyone can understand.” Outside of health and safety concerns, there is a matter about BPL not allowing for hazardous pay, where Mr Ferguson said that: “this is something that is fundamental or a very important ingredient in almost every IA.”

SWITGARD Duesterloh takes a tissue sample from a snow crab while working, Thursday, June 22, 2023, at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Kodiak, Alaska. Researchers are scrambling to understand crabs’ collapse, with seas warmed by climate change as one theory.

Photo:Joshua A. Bickel/AP

WAR SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA HIGHLIGHT GROWING DIVISIONS AMONG THE GROUP OF 20 COUNTRIES

By FATIMA HUSSEIN

Associated Press

TREASURY Secretary

Janet Yellen is facing growing skepticism from some leading rich and developing nations as the residual impact of sanctions against Russia is deepening divisions among the Group of 20 countries.

With world leaders and finance ministers meeting this week in India for the G20 summit, fractures have came into the open, and alliances are tightening among some nations that have long been resistant to the U.S.-led efforts to exact economic punishment on Moscow for its war in Ukraine.

The United States and its allies among the Group of Seven major industrial

nations insist that the sanctions and a price cap on Russian oil have been successful at restricting revenue for the Russian economy, even though it grew, in a year-to-year comparison, by 4.9% in the second quarter of 2023. Russia and China, meanwhile, have declared a “no limits” partnership of their own. And the economic bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — known as BRICS — is trying to increase its use of local currencies instead of the U.S. dollar. Also likely to be seen at the G20 summit is budding closeness of U.S.-India ties in light of a shared concern about China’s military and economic assertiveness.

As President Joe Biden and Yellen visit New Delhi,

they will have to navigate a more fragmented economic and political environment during difficult negotiations over securing food and energy supplies for developing countries.

Yellen’s trip, her fourth to India in less than a year, comes shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin said a landmark deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain safely through the Black Sea during the war will not be restored until the West meets his demands on Moscow’s own agricultural exports.

Putin says that a parallel agreement promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer has not been honored. Russian officials also complain that restrictions on shipping and insurance

hampered its agricultural trade, though it has shipped record amounts of wheat since last year.

Russia is hoping it can use its power over Ukraine’s Black Sea exports as a bargaining chip to reduce Western sanctions.

“It’s a combination of different factors that I think that makes it difficult for the G20 to work in concert in a way that they did in the past,” said Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Those factors include the war in Ukraine and nations’ weaponizing currencies and commodities, she said.

“Something I imagine they can get behind is the importance of getting energy and food flowing and other food security issues for developing nations,” she said.

The Treasury Department said Yellen’s four-day trip will highlight “the importance of imposing severe costs on Russia and mitigating global spillovers.” Yellen will stress the consequences of the

war, “including through the price cap, which has been achieving its dual goals of reducing Russian revenue while keeping global energy prices stable,” the department said.

Yellen also will focus her efforts on strengthening food security through changes to multilateral development banks and by replenishing the International Fund for Agricultural Development. That may be difficult as G20 nations increasingly gravitate into blocs and with some leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, opting to skip the summit.

Josh Lipsky, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center, said the meetings should be an opportunity to work at what the nations agree upon, including multilateral development bank issues and changes to debt restructuring.

“India has wanted to present itself as the convener of the world at a time of international fragmentation,” Lipsky said. “It will

be harder to do with Xi not there.”

There are risks to greater factures in the global economy, according to an August International Monetary Fund report, which estimates that greater international trade restrictions could reduce global economic output by as much as 7% over the long term, or roughly $7.4 trillion.

Trade between China and Russia has swelled, due in large part to the impact of Western sanctions on Russia, as well as the price cap on Russian oil, which allows China and India to purchase energy from Russia at discounted prices. Still, China’s economy is facing an overall slump.

Mark Sobel, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that despite Russian oil shipments being reoriented to China and India, the G7 anticipated “if it gave China and India greater scope to seek discounts on Russian oil, that meant less revenue for Russia and was consistent with the thrust of G7 actions.”

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

CANCELS REMAINING OIL AND GAS LEASES IN ALASKA’S ARCTIC REFUGE

By BECKY BOHRER AND MATTHEW DALY

Associated Press

IN AN aggressive move that angered Republicans, the Biden administration canceled the seven remaining oil and gas leases in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday, overturning sales held in the Trump administration's waning days, and proposed stronger protections against development on 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

The Department of Interior's scrapping of the leases comes after the Biden administration disappointed environmental groups earlier this year by approving the Willow oil project in the petroleum reserve, a massive project by ConocoPhillips Alaska that could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day on Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope.

Some critics who said the approval of Willow flew in the face of Biden's pledges to address climate change lauded Wednesday's announcement. But they said more could be done. Litigation over the approval of the Willow project is pending.

"Alaska is home to many of America's most breathtaking natural wonders and culturally significant areas. As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, we have a responsibility to protect this treasured region for all ages," Biden said in a statement. His actions "meet the urgency of the climate

crisis" and will "protect our lands and waters for generations to come," Biden said.

Alaska's Republican governor condemned Biden's moves and threatened to sue. And at least one Democratic lawmaker said the decision could hurt Indigenous communities in an isolated region where oil development is an important economic driver.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who drew criticism for her role in the approval of the Willow project, said Wednesday that "no one will have rights to drill for oil in one of the most sensitive landscapes on earth." However, a 2017 law mandates another lease sale by late 2024. Administration officials said they intend to comply with the law.

The Biden administration also announced proposed rules aimed at providing stronger protections against new leasing and development in portions of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska that are designated as special areas for their wildlife, subsistence, scenic or other values. The proposal still must go through public comment. Willow lies within the reserve but was not expected to be impacted by the proposed rules.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's 1.5-million acre (600,000-hectare) coastal plain, which lies along the Beaufort Sea on Alaska's northeastern edge, is seen as sacred by the Indigenous Gwich'in because it is where caribou they rely on migrate and come to give birth. The plain is marked by hills, rivers and small lakes and

tundra. Migratory birds and caribou pass through the plain, which provides habitat for wildlife including polar bears and wolves.

Alaska political leaders — including some Democrats — have long pushed to allow oil and gas drilling in the refuge in part because of its economic impact on Indigenous communities in an area with few other jobs. Many of those same voices pressed Biden to approve the Willow project for the same reason.

"I am deeply frustrated by the reversal of these leases in ANWR," said U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, using a common shorthand for the refuge. "This administration showed that it is capable of listening to Alaskans with the approval of the Willow Project, and it is some of those same Inupiat North Slope communities who are most impacted by this decision. I will continue to advocate for them and for Alaska's ability to explore and develop our natural resources."

Alaska's congressional delegation in 2017 succeeded in getting language added to a federal tax law that called for the U.S. government to hold two lease sales in the region by late 2024.

Drilling opponents on Wednesday urged Congress to repeal the leasing provision from the 2017 law and permanently make the coastal plain off limits to drilling.

"It is nearly impossible to overstate the importance of today's announcements for Arctic conservation," said Jamie Williams, president of the Wilderness Society.

A SOUTH KOREAN MAKER OF AUTO SEATING PARTS WILL BUILD A $35 MILLION FACTORY IN GEORGIA, HIRING 300

METTER, GA.

Associated Press

A SOUTH Korean company that makes automotive seating said Wednesday that it plans to build a $35 million factory in eastern Georgia to supply a new Hyundai Motor Group plant near Savannah.

DAS Corp., which makes metal frames and other parts for automotive seats, said it will hire 300 people to work at the new plant in Metter.

Hannah Mullins, the executive director of the Candler County Industrial Authority, said the DAS factory will take up about 200,000 square feet (18,600 square meters) of space and that the starting pay for workers will be $20 an hour.

The state will pay to train workers. It also gave $500,000 last year to help local officials complete a road and a sewer connection in the industrial park where DAS is located. The city of Metter and Candler County are granting 10 years of property tax breaks, for which Mullins could not immediately provide a projected value. DAS could qualify for $4.5 million in state income tax credits, at $3,000 per job over five years, as long as workers make at least $31,300 a year.

DAS is just the latest company to announce that it will supply Hyundai's $7.5 billion plant to assemble electric vehicles and batteries in Ellabell, near Savannah. The Hyundai plant, which was announced last year, could grow to 8,500 employees and is scheduled to begin producing vehicles in 2025. Suppliers to the Hyundai plant have pledged to invest $2.2 billion and to hire nearly 5,300 people.

DAS, already a supplier to Hyundai and sister automaker Kia, opened a plant in Montgomery, Alabama, in 2012 that's grown to nearly 500 employees, according to the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce.

DAS Chief Operating Officer Sean Kim said in a statement that the company wanted plant close to the new Hyundai plant. DAS aims to begin production in Metter in late 2024. Besides South Korea, DAS has other plants in

China, Turkey, the Czech Republic, India and Brazil.

DAS is the second company in a week to announce an investment in 4,000person Metter. Last week, 4 Fungi's Regenerative said it would invest $27 million to build greenhouses to grow and process mushrooms and greens, using local agricultural waste as fertilizer. That company is projected to hire 50 people, also paying $20 an hour, Mullins said.

CARIBOU graze in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, on June 1, 2001. In an aggressive move that angered Republicans, the Biden administration on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, canceled seven oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, overturning sales held in the Trump administration’s waning days, and proposed stronger protections against oil drilling in 13 million acres of wilderness in the state’s National Petroleum Reserve.

"Once again, the Arctic Refuge is free of oil leases. Our climate is a bit safer and there is renewed hope for permanently protecting one of the last great wild landscapes in America."

Alaska Republican

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan denounced Biden's actions as the latest volley in what he called a "war on Alaska."

Two other leases that were issued as part of the

first-of-its-kind sale for the refuge in January 2021 were previously given up by the small companies that held them amid legal wrangling and uncertainty over the drilling program.

Photo:AP

JAPAN LAUNCHES ROCKET CARRYING X-RAY TELESCOPE TO EXPLORE ORIGINS OF UNIVERSE, LUNAR LANDER

By YURI KAGEYAMA

Associated Press

JAPAN launched a rocket Thursday carrying an X-ray telescope that will explore the origins of the universe as well as a small lunar lander.

The launch of the HII-A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan was shown on live video by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, known as JAXA.

"We have a liftoff," the narrator at JAXA said as the rocket flew up in a burst of smoke then flew over the Pacific.

Thirteen minutes after the launch, the rocket put into orbit around Earth a

satellite called the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM, which will measure the speed and makeup of what lies between galaxies. That information helps in studying how celestial objects were formed, and hopefully can lead to solving the mystery of how the universe was created, JAXA says.

In cooperation with NASA, JAXA will look at the strength of light at different wavelengths, the temperature of things in space and their shapes and brightness.

David Alexander, director of the Rice Space Institute at Rice University, believes

the mission is significant for delivering insight into the properties of hot plasma, or the superheated matter that makes up much of the universe.

Plasmas have the potential to be used in various ways, including healing wounds, making computer chips and cleaning the environment.

"Understanding the distribution of this hot plasma in space and time, as well as its dynamical motion, will shed light on diverse phenomena such as black holes, the evolution of chemical elements in the universe and the formation of galactic clusters," Alexander said.

Also aboard the latest Japanese rocket is the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, a lightweight lunar lander. The Smart Lander won't make lunar orbit for three or four months after the launch and would likely attempt a landing early next year, according to the space agency.

JAXA is developing "pinpoint landing technology" to prepare for future lunar probes and landing on other planets. While landings now tend to be off by about 10 kilometers (6 miles) or more, the Smart Lander is designed to be more precise, within about 100 meters (330 feet) of the intended target, JAXA official Shinichiro Sakai told reporters ahead of the launch. That allows the boxshaped gadgetry to find a safer place to land.

The move comes at a time when the world is again turning to the challenge of going to the moon. Only four nations have successfully landed on the moon, the U.S., Russia, China and India.

Last month, India landed a spacecraft near the moon's south pole. That came just days after Russia failed in its attempt to return to the moon for the first time in nearly a half century. A Japanese private company, called ispace, crashed a lander in trying to land on the moon in April.

Japan's space program has been marred by recent failures. In February, the H3 rocket launch was aborted for a glitch. Liftoff a month later succeeded, but the rocket had to be destroyed after its second stage failed to ignite properly.

Japan has started recruiting astronaut candidates for

the first time in 13 years, making clear its ambitions to send a Japanese to the moon. Going to the moon has fascinated humankind for decades. Under the U.S. Apollo program, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon in 1969.

AN HII-A rocket blasts off from the launch pad at Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima, southern Japan Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. Photo:Kyodo News

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY DELAYS NEW OZONE POLLUTION STANDARDS UNTIL AFTER THE 2024 ELECTION

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press

THE Environmental Protection Agency is delaying plans to tighten air quality standards for ground-level ozone — better known as smog — despite a recommendation by a scientific advisory panel to lower air pollution limits to protect public health.

The decision by EPA Administrator Michael Regan means that one of the agency’s most important air quality regulations will not be updated until well after the 2024 presidential election.

“I have decided that the best path forward is to initiate a new statutory review of the ozone (standard) and the underlying air quality criteria,’’ Regan wrote in a letter to the EPA advisory panel last month. The letter cites “several issues” raised by the panel in a recent report that “warrant additional evaluation and review.’’

The review, which will last at least two years, will “ensure that air quality standards reflect the latest science in order to best protect people from pollution,’’ Regan said.

Regan’s decision avoids an election year battle with industry groups and Republicans who have complained about what they consider overly intrusive EPA rules on power plants, refineries, automobiles and other polluters.

The delay marks the second time in 12 years that a Democratic administration has put off a new ozone standard prior to an election year. President Barack Obama shut down plans to tighten ozone standards in 2011, leading to a four-year delay before the standards were updated in 2015.

Paul Billings, senior vice president of the American Lung Association, called the EPA’s decision “profoundly disappointing” and a missed opportunity to protect public health and promote environmental justice. A recent report by the lung association showed that minority communities bear a disproportionate burden from ground-level ozone, which occurs when air pollution from cars, power plants and other sources mixes with sunlight. The problem is particularly acute in urban areas.

Billings called the ozone rule “the public health cornerstone of the Clean Air Act,’’ adding that “millions of people will breathe dirty air for many more years’’ as a result of the delay. An increased number of asthma attacks, sick days and even premature death

are likely to occur, he and other public health advocates said.

Raul Garcia, vice president of policy and legislation for Earthjustice, called the delay “shameful” and unjustified. “The science tells us we are long overdue,” Garcia said.

Democratic lawmakers also were disappointed. “Inaction threatens public health and puts those with underlying conditions such as asthma or lung disease at an elevated risk,’’ said Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. He and 51 other Democrats had urged swift action on a new rule.

“Unfortunately we’ve seen the process for updating the ozone standards repeatedly swept up in political games that risk lives,’’ the lawmakers said in an Aug. 7 letter to the EPA.

Conor Bernstein, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, applauded the EPA’s decision “not to race ahead with an unnecessary revision of the ozone standards,’’ which have not been changed since 2015. The current standard was reaffirmed in December 2020 under thenPresident Donald Trump, a Republican.

Bernstein, whose members produce coal and other fossil fuels, urged officials to reconsider other regulations that he said target coal-fired power plants and endanger reliability of the electric grid. “It’s clear — and deeply alarming — that EPA (does not) understand the cumulative impact its rules will have on the grid and the nation’s severely stressed power supply,’’ he said.

A spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute, the top lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, said current ozone limits are among the most stringent in the world. “Any tightening of the standard

TOM BRADY HAS A NEW JOB AS A STRATEGIC ADVISER FOR DELTA AIR LINES

ATLANTA Associated Press

DELTA Air Lines says it's bringing former star quarterback Tom Brady on board as a "long-term strategic adviser."

Brady is a seven-time Super Bowl winner for the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"Bringing a leader like Tom onto the Delta team furthers our mission to connect the world while accelerating our drive to continuously improve for our colleagues, customers and communities," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a news release announcing the partnership.

Delta declined to disclose how much it is paying Brady or describe other terms of the deal.

Delta said Brady will play a role in marketing and help the Atlanta-based airline develop training and teamwork tools for its more than 90,000 employees. He will also appear on a series of Bastian's "Gaining Altitude" video interviews to discuss topics including overcoming adversity.

could impact energy costs, threaten U.S. energy security and impact businesses and American consumers,’’ spokeswoman Andrea Woods said in an email.

The EPA’s decision comes after two advisory panels — the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and the White House Environmental Justice Advisory

Council — urged the agency to lower the current ozone standard of 70 parts per billion.

“Based on the scientific evidence currently available, it is concluded that the level of the current standard is not protective with an adequate margin of safety,’’ the EPA panel said in a June report. A limit of

POLLUTION obscures the skyline of downtown as the sun rises over Denver, on Feb. 28, 2019. The Environmental Protection Agency is delaying plans to tighten air quality standards for ground-level ozone — better known as smog — despite a recommendation by a scientific advisory panel to lower air pollution limits to protect public health. Photo:David Zalubowski/AP

55 to 60 parts per billion “is more likely to be protective and to provide an adequate margin of safety,’’ the panel said.

Lianne Sheppard, a University of Washington biostatistics professor who chairs the scientific advisory panel, said Regan’s decision was “his alone” to make.

“However, I am disappointed, given the robust scientific evidence that ozone is harmful to public health and welfare,” she told E&E News last month.

The White House environmental justice council, meanwhile, cited the “horrible toll of air pollution’’ and its disproportionate effect on minority communities. In a letter to the White House, co-chairs Richard Moore and Peggy Shepard said the problem is “compounded by the inadequate monitoring and enforcement in many of our communities.’’

Moore is co-director of Los Jardines Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, while Sheppard is cofounder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice in New York City.

Tomas Carbonell, a top official in the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, said the report by the scientific panel left the EPA with little choice but to launch a comprehensive review even though all but one panel member supported a stricter ozone standard.

“When we’re looking at our national air quality standards, there’s really no way to cut corners around that process,’’ Carbonell said in an interview. The agency will convene workshops next spring to gather information and will release a review plan for action in late 2024, he said. A final decision could be years away.

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Brady said he and NFL teammates flew on Delta many times, "even celebrating Super Bowl wins on the plane," and has "loved and respected" the airline for years.

"Growing up with a mother as a flight attendant, I have always admired the people that make seamless air transportation possible," he said in a statement issued by the airline.

Brady retired after the 2022 NFL season, and he spoke recently to The Associated Press recently about his various new projects.

The five-time Super Bowl MVP, who turned 46 last month, signed a 10-year deal with Fox Sports to be its lead NFL analyst on game broadcasts, he is a minority owner of the WNBA Las Vegas Aces, has apparel and wellness brands, and has appeared in TV ads for Hertz rental cars and even a feature film — "80 for Brady," about four elderly women who travel to see him play in the Super Bowl.

Brady also endorsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which collapsed last year.

UAW CHIEF: UNION TO STRIKE ANY DETROIT AUTOMAKER THAT HASN’T REACHED DEAL AS CONTRACTS END NEXT WEEK

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer

THE head of the United Auto Workers warned Wednesday that the union plans to go on strike against any Detroit automaker that hasn't reached a new agreement by the time contracts expire next week.

"That's the plan," President Shawn Fain responded when asked if the union

would strike any of the companies that haven't reached a tentative deal by the time their national contracts end.

A strike against all three major automakers — General Motors, Stellantis and Ford — could cause damage not only to the industry as a whole but also to the Midwest and even national economy, depending on how long it lasted. The auto industry accounts for about 3% of the nation's economic output. A prolonged strike could also lead eventually to higher vehicle prices.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Fain left open the possibility of avoiding a strike. He acknowledged, more explicitly than he has before, that the union will have to give up some of its demands to reach agreements. Contracts with the three companies will all expire at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14.

"There's a lot of back and forth in bargaining," he said, "and naturally, when you go into bargaining, you don't always get everything you demand. Our workers have high expectations. We made a lot of sacrifices going back to the economic recession."

In the interview, Fain did report some progress in the negotiations, saying the union will meet Thursday with GM to hear the company's response to the UAW's economic demands.

In addition, discussions are under way with Ford on wages and benefits. Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, has yet to make a counteroffer on wage and benefit demands, he said.

Stellantis said it will give the union a wage-and-benefit counteroffer by the end of the week, while Ford said it has a strong track record of creative solutions with the UAW. GM confirmed that it would meet Thursday with union representatives but wouldn't comment further.

Last week, the union filed charges of unfair labor practices against Stellantis and GM, and it said Ford's economic offer fell far short of its demands.

Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University in Detroit,

said he thought Fain's latest remarks suggest "that he is opening up to the realities of bargaining" as the strike deadline nears.

"As you get close to the deadline," Masters said, "you begin to realize the importance of trying to resolve a problem rather than make a point. Strikes are painful, especially for workers, and also for companies."

Fain's willingness to acknowledge publicly that he isn't going to achieve all the union's demands shows there is more flexibility in his approach than previously thought, Masters said.

Some signs of movement in the negotiations have emerged, raising the possibility, Masters said, that an agreement might be reached with one automaker that would set the pattern for the others.

"I think if they can avoid having to go out on strike and the pain that occurs and still get a very good bargain, I think they'll be better off," he said.

The union's demands include 46% across-theboard pay raises, a 32-hour week with 40 hours of pay, restoration of traditional pensions for new hires, union representation of workers at new battery plants and a restoration of traditional pensions. Topscale UAW assembly plant workers make about $32 an hour, plus annual profit sharing checks.

In his remarks to the AP, Fain argued that worker pay isn't what has driven up vehicle prices. The average price of a new car has leaped to more than $48,000 on average, in part because of still-scarce supplies resulting from a global shortage of computer chips.

"In the last four years, the price of vehicles went up 30%," he said. "Our wages went up 6%. There were billions of dollars in shareholder dividends. So our wages aren't the problem."

While saying a strike by up to 146,000 members against all three major automakers is a real possibility, Fain said the union doesn't want to strike and would prefer to to reach new contracts with them.

POLAND'S CENTRAL BANK SURPRISES WITH SHARP INTEREST RATE CUTS DESPITE DOUBLEDIGIT INFLATION

By VANESSA GERA

Press

Associated

POLAND'S central bank lowered its interest rates by 75 basis points on Wednesday despite the country's double-digit inflation rate. The move prompted concerns that the central bank was wading into politics with a premature rate cut to help the populist governing party ahead of parliamentary elections next month.

The National Bank of Poland's monetary policy council announced that it was cutting the reference rate from 6.75% to 6%, and other interest rates by the same amount.

The Polish currency, the zloty, immediately lost value against the dollar and euro.

Economists had been expecting a rate cut, but not such a large one. Economic and political observers expressed surprise at such a big cut given that inflation, while declining after reaching over 18% earlier this year, is still running at slightly over 10% annually.

But Poland's robust economy is also showing some signs of slowing down and an election is approaching on Oct. 15 in which the conservative governing party, Law and Justice, is fighting for an unprecedented third term. The central bank's governor, Adam Glapinski, is an ally of the party and has taken actions in the past to help it.

Marek Tatala, vice president of the free market Economic Freedom Foundation, noted that the central bank cut rates even though inflation is running four times higher than the inflation target, which is 2.5%. He accused the members of the central bank's

monetary policy council of having "joined the election campaign" on behalf of the governing party.

A pro-market politician, Ryszard Petru, posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, calling the cut a big mistake that will hurt Poles more in the end.

"As a borrower I am of course happy I will pay lower rates," Petru said. "But I know that with such high inflation, cutting the interest rates is pro-inflationary ... and will eat up our income."

The move will provide relief to Poles with mortgages who have seen their payments rise in recent times. It should also give a boost to the economy. But it risks creating even greater inflationary pressure at a time when Poles are already suffering from painful rises in the prices of food, rent and other goods and services.

In conditions of high inflation, central banks tend to raise interest rates, a move that can help bring down inflation over time by discouraging consumption.

Interest rate cuts, on the other hand, make financing cheaper and tends to encourage consumers and businesses to spend more.

The central bank has intervened on previous occasions to help the party.

In May, when inflation was at 16%, the National Bank of Poland put up enormous banners on its Warsaw headquarters blaming inflation on the Russian war against Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Putting the blame on the NBP and the government for the high inflation is a Kremlin narrative," one of the banners said.

CO2 PIPELINE PROJECT DENIED KEY PERMIT IN SOUTH DAKOTA; ANOTHER SEEKS SECOND CHANCE IN NORTH DAKOTA

By JACK DURA AND STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press

SOUTH Dakota regulators on Wednesday denied a construction permit for a carbon dioxide pipeline project, one month after a North Dakota panel did the same to a similar project by another company.

Navigator CO2 Ventures wants to build a 1,300-mile (2,092 kilometers) pipeline network across Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota, to carry planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from more than 20 industrial plants to be buried over a mile underground in Illinois.

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to deny Navigator's application for its Heartland Greenway pipeline. Chair Kristie Fiegen cited myriad reasons in her motion to deny, including the company's lack of promptness and several objections to commission staff questions as well as struggles to notify landowners of routes and meetings. She detailed concerns related to safety, community growth, landowners and emergency responders, among other issues.

The proposed South Dakota route encompassed 112 miles (180 kilometers) and would serve three ethanol plants. The panel's decision came after evidentiary hearing sessions in July and August.

Navigator expressed disappointment that the permit was denied, and was

weighing its options going forward.

"Our commitment to environmental stewardship and safety remains unwavering, and we will continue to pursue our permitting processes in the other regions we operate in," the company said in a statement.

The decision comes just days before the South Dakota panel is set to begin an evidentiary hearing Monday for a separate CO2 pipeline project, proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions, with a final decision expected by Nov. 15.

Brian Jorde, an attorney for South Dakota landowners opposed to the Navigator and Summit projects, expressed hope that Navigator might now drop the South Dakota leg of the project, given that most of the plants it would serve are in Iowa and other states.

Similar projects are proposed around the country as industries try to reduce their carbon footprints.

Supporters say carbon capture will combat climate change. Governments and companies are making big investments in it. But opponents say the technology isn't proven at scale and could require huge investments at the expense of alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power.

Landowners across the Midwest have opposed such pipeline projects, fearing their land will be taken and that the pipelines could break, spewing hazardous carbon dioxide into the air.

A WOMAN shops at a supermarket in Warsaw, Poland, on Dec. 9, 2022. Poland's central bank lowered its interest rates by 75 basis points on Wednesday Sept. 6, 2023 despite the country's double-digit inflation rate. The move prompted concerns that the central bank was wading into politics with a premature rate cut to help the populist governing party ahead of parliamentary elections next month.

Photo:Michal Dyjuk/AP

CARMAKERS ARE FAILING THE PRIVACY TEST. OWNERS HAVE LITTLE OR NO CONTROL OVER DATA COLLECTED

By FRANK BAJAK

AP Technology Writer

MOST major car manufacturers admit they may be selling your personal information — though they are vague on the buyers, a new study finds, and half say they would share it with the government or law enforcement without a court order.

The proliferation of sensors in automobiles — from telematics to fully digitized control consoles — has made them prodigious datacollection hubs.

But drivers are given little or no control over the personal data their vehicles collect, researchers for the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation said Wednesday in their latest “Privacy Not Included” survey. Security

standards are also vague, a big concern given automakers’ track record of susceptibility to hacking.

“Cars seem to have really flown under the privacy radar and I’m really hoping that we can help remedy that because they are truly awful,” said Jen Caltrider, the study’s research lead.

“Cars have microphones and people have all kinds of sensitive conversations in them. Cars have cameras that face inward and outward.”

Unless they opt for a used, pre-digital model, car buyers “just don’t have a lot of options,” Caltrider said.

Cars scored worst for privacy among more than a dozen product categories — including fitness trackers, reproductive-health apps,

smart speakers and other connected home appliances — that Mozilla has studied since 2017. Not one of the 25 car brands whose privacy notices were reviewed — chosen for their popularity

in Europe and North America — met the minimum privacy standards of Mozilla, which promotes open-source, public interest technologies and maintains the Firefox browser. By contrast, 37% of the mental

HEAVY traffic heads south on Interstate 93 over the Zakim Bridge, Friday, Sep. 1, 2023, in Boston. Cars are getting an “F” in data privacy. A new study released Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, found that most major brands admit they may be selling your personal data, with half saying they will share it with the government or law enforcement without a court order.

health apps the non-profit reviewed this year did.

Nineteen automakers say they can sell your personal data, their notices reveal. Half will share your information with government or law enforcement in response to a “request” — as opposed to requiring a court order. Only two — Renault and Dacia, which are not sold in North America — offer drivers the option to have their data deleted.

The automakers are vague on disclosing to whom they are selling what they collect, though the researchers have little doubt it includes data brokers, marketers and dealers. Partners with installed products and services, including SiriusXM, Google Maps and Onstar, are also amassing data.

“Increasingly, most cars are wiretaps on wheels,” said Albert Fox Cahn, a technology and human rights fellow at Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. “The electronics that drivers pay more and more money to install are collecting more and more data on them and their passengers.”

“There is something uniquely invasive about transforming the privacy of one’s car into a corporate surveillance space,” he added.

A trade group representing the makers of most cars and light trucks sold in the U.S., the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, took issue with that characterization. In a letter sent Tuesday to U.S. House and Senate leadership, it said it shares

“the goal of protecting the privacy of consumers.”

It called for a federal privacy law, saying a “patchwork of state privacy laws creates confusion among consumers about their privacy rights and makes compliance unnecessarily difficult.” The absence of such a law lets connected devices and smartphones amass data for tailored ad targeting and other marketing — while also raising the odds of massive information theft through cybersecurity breaches.

The Associated Press asked the Alliance, which has resisted efforts to provide car owners and independent repair shops with access to onboard data, if it supports allowing car buyers to automatically opt out of data collection — and granting them the option of having collected data deleted. Spokesman Brian Weiss said that for safety reasons the group “has concerns” about letting customers completely opt out — but does endorse giving them greater control over how the data is used in marketing and by third parties.

In a 2020 Pew Research survey, 52% of Americans said they had opted against using a product or service because they were worried about the amount of personal information it would collect about them.

On security, Mozilla’s minimum standards include encrypting all personal information on a car. The researchers said most car brands ignored their emailed questions on the matter, those that did offering partial, unsatisfactory responses.

Photo:Michael Dwyer/AP

EU TARGETS APPLE, AMAZON, META AND OTHER BIG TECH IN NEXT PHASE OF DIGITAL CRACKDOWN

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer

SIX Big Tech companies including Amazon, Apple and Microsoft faced fresh pressure Wednesday from the European Union, which moved to counter their digital dominance with farreaching rules aimed at giving users more choices and making competition fairer.

Google parent Alphabet, Facebook owner Meta and TikTok parent ByteDance also were classified as online "gatekeepers" subject to the strictest requirements of the 27-nation EU's Digital Markets Act. The list of do's and don'ts seeks to prevent tech giants from cornering digital markets, with the threat of whopping fines or even forcing companies to sell of parts of their business to operate in Europe.

That means European users of Big Tech social media or chat services could soon be able to send messages to rival platforms, avoid having their data used to show personalized ads and choose which search engine or browser they prefer rather than being stuck with a default version.

It's part of a sweeping update to the EU's digital rulebook taking force this year and comes weeks after a companion package of rules aimed at keeping internet users safe, the Digital Services Act, started kicking in.

"The most impactful online companies will now have to play by our EU rules," European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who's in charge of the bloc's digital policy, said on X, previously known as Twitter. "DMA means more choice for consumers. Fewer obstacles for smaller competitors. Opening the gates to the Internet."

The European Commission, the EU's executive body, said digital platforms can be listed as gatekeepers if they act as key gateways between businesses and consumers by providing "core platform services."

Those services include Google's Chrome browser, Microsoft's Windows operating systems, chat apps like Meta's WhatsApp, social networks like TikTok, and others playing a middleman role like Amazon's Marketplace and Apple's App Store.

The companies now have six months to start complying with the Digital Markets Act's requirements, which are spurring changes in how Big Tech companies operate. Google said the new law will require it and other companies "to make various changes to the way their products and services work."

One of the main goals is to break up the "closed environment where you are in a way locked in and you cannot go elsewhere, " said Alexandre de Streel, a professor of European law at the University of Namur and an academic director at CERRE, a think tank in Brussels.

"Consumers will be better off because you will pay less and will be able to move more easily from one one platform to another," de Streel said. "So that's the endgame."

For example, under the DMA, tech companies can't stop consumers from connecting with businesses outside their platforms.

That could put pressure on Apple to open its App Store further. Video game maker Epic Games and music streaming service Spotify have both complained that Apple wouldn't let them bypass its Apple Pay system to avoid paying its 30% commission for subscriptions. Apple has since eased some of its longstanding restrictions.

Messaging services will be required to work with one another. That means Telegram or Signal users could exchange texts or video files with WhatsApp users.

Platforms are banned from ranking their own products or services higher than their rivals' in search results. So, Amazon isn't allowed to make its ownbrand products easier to find than those from thirdparty merchants. The ecommerce giant already started giving European buyers more visible choices when it settled an EU antitrust investigation last year by offering a second "buy box" with a different price or delivery option for the same product.

Online services can't combine a user's personal data to build up a profile for targeted advertising.

“The most impactful online companies will now have to play by our EU rules. DMA means more choice for consumers. Fewer obstacles for smaller competitors. Opening the gates to the Internet.”

T ierry Breton

That means Meta can't mix together a user's data from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp services without clear consent. Essential software or apps such as web browsers can't be installed by default along with the operating system, in the way Google's Chrome comes bundled with Android phones. Consumers will instead be given a choice screen for search engines and browsers to use on their devices. Google noted that it's already doing this and said it would remind European users of their choices.

Meta said it's studying the commission's announcement, which had no impact on its services. Amazon said it will work with Brussels on its implementation plans.

Microsoft said it accepted being named as a gatekeeper and welcomed the commission's decision to consider its request to exempt some of its services, including its Bing search engine and Edge browser.

TikTok "fundamentally" disagrees with the commission's decision, EU public policy chief Caroline Greer said on X. The video sharing app, which entered the European market about five years ago, has "brought choice" to an industry largely controlled by incumbents, she said.

Violations could result in fines of up to 10% of a company's annual global revenue and up to 20% for repeat offenders, or even a breakup of the company.

A SMARTPHONE displays the apps for Facebook and Messenger in New Orleans, Aug. 11, 2019.

The European Union on Wednesday targeted Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Facebook owner Meta and TikTok parent ByteDance under new digital rules aimed at reining in the market power of online companies.

Photo:Jenny Kane/AP

‘NFL Sunday Ticket’ is coming to YouTube. This is what you’ll be able to stream

By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer

JON Cruz still remembers the days when he had to convince the NFL and other sports leagues that there was value in uploading highlights to YouTube.

Less than a decade later, it has become the home of the NFL's out-of-market Sunday afternoon games package on CBS and Fox.

YouTube's first season as the carrier of "NFL Sunday Ticket" begins Sunday. YouTube agreed to a sevenyear contract with the league in December worth more than $2 billion per season.

"To go from small events to larger events to now where we're bringing 'Sunday Ticket,' I couldn't be happier and more excited about what we've been able to do in a short amount of time," said Cruz, who is YouTube's global head of sports partnerships.

YouTube has had an official NFL channel since 2015. It has grown to include channels for all 32 teams and 10 official league channels, including NFL Films, NFL Network and Mundo NFL.

Now YouTube takes over the consumer version of "Sunday Ticket" from DirecTV, which carried it since it started in 1994. DirecTV has a separate deal to distribute in bars, restaurants and other establishments.

The "Sunday Ticket" move to YouTube satisfied a goal for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who wanted to see the package go to a streaming service to be available to more fans. It averaged 2 million subscribers per season on DirecTV.

"Sunday Ticket" is available as an add-on package on YouTube TV or separately on YouTube Primetime Channels.

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Google said in June that YouTube TV had 5 million subscribers for its service, which includes ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN, TNT and FS1.

NFL Network and NFL RedZone have been available to YouTube TV subscribers since 2020.

The most important question now is whether YouTube is ready for 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday, when fans will log in to stream the eight early games. Christian Oestlien, YouTube's vice president of product, said the past few months have been devoted to ensuring outages do not occur.

In late May, YouTube TV experienced widespread outages during the first two games of the NBA's Eastern Conference final between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat.

"We've invested in a lot of infrastructure specific to 'Sunday Ticket' and a lot of systems to make sure that we can identify problems quickly and address them before they're even visible to the end user. We've done a lot of great prep work (during the preseason games) to make sure that people's Sundays go uninterrupted," he said.

The most significant feature of "Sunday Ticket" will be the ability to watch multiple games simultaneously. It will also allow YouTube TV subscribers to watch their local game side-byside with games on "Sunday Ticket" for the first time.

YouTube TV debuted multi-view during the NCAA basketball tournament in March.

"Sunday Ticket" will also include live polls and chats. Catching up on a game by watching key plays will only be available on TVs this season.

Even though "Sunday Ticket" is available to more fans, it remains pricy. YouTube TV subscribers can get it for $299 while nonsubscribers have a $399 purchase price. The NFL RedZone channel can be added to both packages for an additional $40.

The price remains high because of the size of the contracts CBS and Fox have signed with the league. YouTube will offer discounted packages for students. Verizon is offering "Sunday Ticket" for free to new and existing customers who purchase a new phone and sign up for an unlimited plus plan.

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL

The Public is hereby advised that I, PERRY ARMARLEY BAILEY of the Eastern District, New Providence, Bahamas intend to change my name to PERRY ARMARLEY NELSON If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Offcer, P.O.Box N-742, Nassau, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that LONIS AUGUSTAVE , of Milton Street off Market Street, Nassau, Bahamas 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 7th day of September, 2023 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

THIS TUESDAY, Feb. 28, 2017, file photo shows the YouTube TV logo at the YouTube Space LA in Los Angeles. YouTube TV’s first season as the carrier of “NFL Sunday Ticket” begins Sunday. YouTube agreed to a seven-year contract with the league last December worth more than $2 billion per season. Photo:Reed Saxon /AP

HIRING

A SIGN for WeWork is displayed at the workspace-sharing office in the borough of Manhattan in New York, Aug. 9, 2023. WeWork will attempt renegotiate “nearly all” of its leases, the company said Wednesday, Sept. 6weeks after the workspacesharing company sounded the alarm over its ability to stay in business.

Photo:Ted Shaffrey/AP

WEWORK, SHORTLY AFTER WARNING ABOUT ITS FUTURE, SEEKS TO RENEGOTIATE NEARLY ALL OF ITS LEASES

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS

AP Business Writer

WeWork said Wednesday it will attempt to renegotiate nearly all of its leases and may exit some properties, an announcement coming just weeks after the workspace-sharing company sounded the alarm over its ability to remain in business.

The New York company must reduce its operating costs — notably its current lease liabilities, which "remain too high and are dramatically out of step with current market conditions," WeWork Interim CEO David Tolley said in a statement published on the company's website.

WeWork's lease liabilities accounted for more than two-thirds of its operating expenses for the second quarter of this year, Tolley said. As of June 30, WeWork had 777 locations in 39 countries.

"We will seek to negotiate terms with our landlords that allow WeWork to maintain our unmatched quality of service and global network, in a financially sustainable manner," Tolley wrote — adding that the company expects to exit "unfit and underperforming locations" as part of these negotiations.

Last month, speculation around WeWork's future and a potential bankruptcy filing heightened after the company warned there was "substantial doubt" about its ability to continue as a going concern , meaning it might not have the resources needed to operate and stay in business. WeWork pointed to rising member churn and other financial losses, noting that its ability to stay in operation would be contingent upon improving its liquidity and profitability over the next 12 months.

"Among my clients that have WeWork as a tenant, there is obviously overall concern about its viability and a concern for them filing for Chapter 11 (bankruptcy protection)," said Jonathan Adelsberg, a senior partner and co-chair of the Real Estate Department at New York law firm Herrick, Feinstein LLP.

At the same time, the prospect of bankruptcy may put the company in a stronger negotiating position as landlords with WeWork leases try to protect themselves, said Sam Chandan, director of the Chao-Hon Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance at New York University's Stern School of Business.

"WeWork's challenges are not a secret to anyone," Chandan said — adding that pressure on cash flow and income seen across the office market today can also limit landlords' negotiation power. "The primary motivation for landlords today is to secure tenant retention, (so) I think we can expect to see the landlords come to the table."

While bankruptcy isn't guaranteed and might not lead to large-scale WeWork location closures, Adelsberg and others note that there's been concern about

WeWork's viability in a number of buildings for years.

The shuttering of select WeWork locations isn't new. Just last fall, the company announced plans to exit 40 underperforming U.S. locations. And over recent years, WeWork has stopped paying rent or exited lease agreements early for a handful of locations nationwide, according to credit rating and research firm Morningstar Credit. In some cases, landlords' building loans moved to special servicing after losing WeWork as a tenant.

Exiting locations and the prospect of further negotiations is complicated because each of WeWork's lease agreements is different, said David Putro, head of commerical real estate analytics at Morningstar Credit.

"It's going to be building by building and landlord by landlord," Putro said, pointing to variables like the existing terms of each lease, landlords' financial needs and loan prospects and whether or not additional servicer approval is required for renegotiations. The process to renegotiate so many leases could take months, if not longer, he said.

WeWork's plans to renegotiate most of its leases also arrive at a time when demand for office space is weak overall. The COVID19 pandemic led to rising vacancies in commercial real estate — with many Americans still spending at least part of the week working from home. Major U.S. markets struggling to improve office space occupancy include San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Putro expects that cities with a larger number of WeWork locations, like New York and San Francisco, could be impacted by the company's upcoming expected closures as part of consolidation efforts. There may also be smaller markets that WeWork exits out of entirely, Chandan added — pointing to some of the wording in Wednesday's announcement about the company intending to stay in the "majority" of its markets.

WeWork went public in October 2021 after its first attempt to do so two years earlier collapsed spectacularly, leading to the ousting of its CEO and founder, Adam Neumann. The company was valued at $47 billion at one point, before investors started to drop off due to Neumann's erratic behavior and exorbitant spending. It's still dealing with the fallout of its initial aggressive expansion.

But Tolley still sounded an optimistic note Wednesday — stating that "WeWork is here to stay" and grow in "to meet evolving workplace needs far into the future."

Shares of WeWork were down about 3% in afternoon trading Wednesday.

To apply, submit your resume to careers@rwbimini.com by September 14, 2023. Please indicate your position of interest in the subject heading of your email.

Wall Street loses ground as weak stretch continues

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AND ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers

STOCKS fell again Wednesday, extending Wall Street’s weak stretch this holiday-shortened week.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.7%. After two days of trading, the benchmark index has lost nearly half of its gains from last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite ended 1.1% lower.

Big technology stocks were among the biggest drags on the market. Apple fell 3.6% and Nvidia dropped 3.1%. The latest pullback in stocks came as Treasury yields climbed following data showing the U.S. services sector remains strong.

The Institute for Supply Management’s latest survey

showed that the sector, which employs most Americans, grew at a faster pace than economists expected in August. The sector is among the biggest pieces of the U.S. economy and it has remained resilient throughout 2023 despite persistent inflation and rising interest rates squeezing consumers.

“That suggests there is still a tremendous amount of demand for the services sector,” said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. Bond yields jumped following the report. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other loans, rose to 4.30% from about 4.25% just prior to the survey’s release.

The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which tracks

expectations for the Federal Reserve, rose to 5.04% from 4.96% just prior to the survey’s results being released.

The dominant economic theme continues to be inflation and interest rates, which the Fed has boosted in an effort to bring down prices. Investors are hoping that the Fed might moderate interest rate increases going forward as inflation has been easing for months.

Wall Street expects the Fed to hold its benchmark interest rate steady at its next meeting later in September. Investors are mostly betting that the central bank will maintain that pause through the rest of the year. Economic updates last week on consumer confidence, jobs and inflation reinforced those hopes.

“It seems we’re all coalescing around a potential pause,” Hainlin said.

Inflation has been easing for months under the weight of the Fed’s aggressive rate hikes that started in 2022 and brought its main interest rate to the highest level since 2001. The policy raised concerns that the central bank might be too aggressive and hit the brakes on economic growth with enough force that the economy would be thrown into a recession.

A strong jobs market and consumer spending have

propped up the broader economy and staved off a recession, so far. Wall Street will get several more economic updates on inflation and retail sales later in September ahead of the Fed’s next meeting.

Even so, when bond yields move rapidly higher it can force investors to reconsider whether stocks are too expensive.

“The market is just hypersensitive to these moves in rates right now,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird.

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Beyond the recent mix of economic reports, rising oil prices and a stronger dollar may also be putting traders in a selling mood.

“The dollar has really had a strong move alongside a big move higher in oil prices, both of which in a vacuum are negative for corporate profits,” Mayfield said.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 31.35 points to 4,465.48 Wednesday. The Dow dropped 198.78 points to 34,443.19, and the Nasdaq gave back 148.48 points to 13,872.47.

Several companies made big moves after reporting earnings and other updates. AeroVironment jumped 20.7% after the maker of unmanned aircrafts raised its sales forecast for the year. Roku rose 2.9% after giving investors an encouraging financial update and saying it would cut 10% of its staff.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that KENO KENSON DEROSE , of P.O. Box N-9426, 2nd Steet the Grove, Nassau, Bahamas 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 7th day of September, 2023 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that KEVIN MARK SWABY, of P.O. Box N-9426, 2nd Steet the Grove, Nassau, Bahamas 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 7th day of September, 2023 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that STEVEN DELIUS of Marathon, Ninacrest, 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 31st day of August, 2023 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that MARCELLINE YIMMY, of Nassau Street, New Providence, The Bahamas 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 31st day of August, 2023 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

TRADERS work on the New York Stock Exchange floor in New York City on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023.

Photo:Ted Shaffrey/AP

GOOGLE REACHES TENTATIVE SETTLEMENT WITH ALL 50 STATES OVER ALLEGED APP STORE MONOPOLY

By FRANK BAJAK AP Technology Writer

ALL 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have reached an agreement in principle with Google to settle a lawsuit filed in 2021 over the tech giant's alleged monopolistic control of app distribution for the software that runs most of the world's cellphones.

The agreement, cited in a court filing reached Tuesday, is subject to approval by the attorneys general and board of directors of Google's parent company, execution of an agreement and court approval.

Terms of the temporary pact bar the parties from disclosing its details for now, according to the Utah attorney general's office, a lead plaintiff in the bipartisan.

"No company is too big to play by the rules, including Google. We brought this lawsuit because it is illegal to use monopoly power to drive up prices," New York's attorney general, Letitia James, said in a statement. The bipartisan group "fought for a fair marketplace that encourages competition, innovation, and lower prices for consumers," she said, and look forward to "finalizing the agreement and sharing more details in the next 30 days."

Google spokesperson Peter Shottenfels said the company had "no comment at this time."

A trial date had been set for Nov. 6.

The complaint filed initially by 36 states and the Distict of Colombia in Northern California federal court echoed similar allegations that mobile game maker Epic Games made against Google that is scheduled to go to trial in November.

Apple prevailed in a separate suit Epic filed against it over the separate app store it runs exclusively for iPhones, with a federal appeals court upholding in April its sole control of app distribution.

Google still faces several major antitrust lawsuits filed by the Department of Justice and other government agencies across the

U.S. focused on alleged search-related and advertising market monopolistic behavior. Justice's searchrelated case is set for trial on Sept. 12.

In November, Google settled with 40 states over the tracking of user location, paying $391 million.

The Utah-led suit was among actions taken in recent years to try to curtail the enormous power amassed by Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, which have built unprecedented digital empires by corralling consumers into services with minimal competitors.

Like the Epic lawsuit, the states' lawsuit focused primarily on the control Google exerts on its Play app store so it can collect commissions of up to 30% on digital transactions within apps installed on smartphones running on the Android operating system. Those devices represent more than 80% of the worldwide smartphone market.

Although its app commissions are similar to Apple's, Google has tried to distinguish itself by allowing consumers to download apps from other places than its Play store. Apple, by contrast, doesn't allow iPhone users to install apps from any other outlet than its own store.

But the states' lawsuit took issue with Google's claim that its Android software is an open operating system that allows consumers more choices. It contended Google has set up anticompetitive barriers to ensure it distributes more than 90% of the apps on Android devices — a market share that the attorneys general argued represented an illegal monopoly.

Lawsuits the Mountain View, California, company is still fighting include a landmark case brought by the U.S. Justice Department in 2020 focused on alleged abuses of Google's dominant search engine and its digital ad network, which generates some $100 billion in annual revenue for its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc.

THE GOOGLE logo is displayed at their offices, Nov. 1, 2018, in London. In a letter, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, children’s advocacy groups including Fairplay and Common Sense Media asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google, saying the tech giant serves personalized ads to kids on YouTube despite federal law prohibiting the practice.

Photo:Alastair Grant/AP

NOTICE is hereby given that HAMLER MICHEL , of Marsh Harbour, Abaco, The Bahamas 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 31st day of August, 2023 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.