08122019 BUSINESS

business@tribunemedia.net

MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 2019

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Sarkis: Supreme Court Order breach by CCA

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

S

ARKIS Izmirlian has accused Baha Mar’s former receivers of violating a Bahamian Supreme Court Order by passing confidential legal documents to the project’s main contractor.

The $4.2bn mega resort’s original developer, in a letter to the New York State Supreme Court, is alleging that the Deloitte & Touche accountants who took possession of

• Ex-receivers ‘sneaked’ papers to contractor • Despite Bahamian court upholding ‘sealing’ • Wants New York judge to order destruction

SARKIS IZMIRLIAN

Minister: Jobs rise ‘more meaningful’ than under PLP

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A CABINET minister yesterday hailed the tenyear low in the national unemployment rate as “more meaningful” jobs growth than that achieved by the former administration’s “failed policies”.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business that the 1.2 percentage point reduction over the past six months had been “private sector driven” as opposed to the Christie government’s policy of expanding the public sector.

Arguing that the latter had contributed to the government’s ballooning fiscal deficits and credit rating downgrades, Mr D’Aguilar said the 24 percent year-over-year growth in hotel and restaurant sector employment in the six months to May 2019 showed that the tourism industry’s “double digit” arrivals and revenue growth was now filtering down to “the man on the ground”.

Speaking after the May Labour Force Survey revealed that the national unemployment rate had

SEE PAGE 6

Tourism minister: BPL blackouts ‘embarrassing’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE minister of tourism yesterday admitted that the frequent power outages are “very embarrassing” for the industry, and said: “Relief can’t come soon enough.”

Dionisio D’Aguilar told Tribune Business that the government is “striving every day” to fix Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) woes, branding its inability to maintain a consistent, reliable energy supply as “a vexing problem for decades”.

He was backed by

DIONISIO D’AGUILAR Jeffrey Beckles, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive, who told this newspaper that BPL’s New Providence generation

SEE PAGE 5

the property following his ousting “surreptitiously delivered” papers crafted by his attorneys to China Construction America (CCA).

Mr Izmirlian and his BML Properties vehicle, in their August 9 letter, claimed that the hand over of “patently privileged” legal opinions occurred just one day before the Bahamian Supreme Court heard arguments over CCA’s bid

to gain access to them.

The Chinese state-owned contractor’s push to have the papers “unsealed” was rejected by the Bahamian courts, and Mr Izmirlian is effectively accusing it of circumventing this nation’s judicial system to obtain an advantage in their battle over his $2.4bn fraud and breach of contract claim.

SEE PAGE 4

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URCA investigates ‘tightrope walking’ BPL over outages

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net REGULATORS have initiated an investigation into load shedding at Bahamas Power & Light (BPL), which admitted yesterday it is “walking a tightrope” every day to keep the power on.

Stephen Bereaux, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) chief executive, told Tribune Business it had begun its probe two weeks ago when the first round of load shedding and power outages hit New Providence.

STEPHEN BEREAUX Disclosing that the energy sector regulator was still in “the information gathering stage”, Mr Bereaux said URCA was focusing on whether BPL’s inability to deliver a consistent, reliable

SEE PAGE 5

PAGE 2, Monday, August 12, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

PALM CAY MARINA WINS FIFTH SUCCESSIVE AWARD PALM Cay Marina, located on New Providence’s southeastern coast, has sailed away with the coveted title of boaters’ favourite marina in The Bahamas for the fifth consecutive year.

Demaro Demeritte, the marina dockmaster, revealed the latest win after learning that Palm Cay had again received topranked reviews on Garmin ActiveCaptain.com, the

TripAdvisor-like site for the boating public.

“It’s all about the little things,” said Mr Demeritte, who heads a six-strong team. “We get thank you’s’ all the time from someone who had an unexpected problem in the middle of the night and we were there to help, or from someone because we ran out and bought a rum cake when we found out it was his birthday. It’s the

personal touches that make people feel welcome.”

These personal touches are paying off in business volumes as well as awards.

More than 60 percent of Palm Cay marina’s transient traffic are repeat visitors; some returning on newer, larger boats or with friends on their vessel or, as often happens, with other boaters accompanying them.

The 194-slip marina is the closest New Providence marina, cutting up to an

PALM Cay Marina’s dockmaster, Demaro Demeritte, displays the Garmin ActiveCaptain Community Award for 2018, won by the development for a fifth consecutive year. hour off the journey from Nassau to the northernmost cays in the Central Bahamas. Marina guests also have access to Palm Cay’s beach bar, swimming

pools, restaurant, coffee shop, tennis courts and other amenituies.

Mr Demeritte said Palm Cay’s developers allowed him to build a

business plan around boaters’ needs instead of what he described as the usual format – build a plan and look for customers.

“That approach gave me the opportunity to take a chance with a section of the market that others shied away from - sailboats,” he said. “That’s been great.”

Demand for larger, multihulled vessels has forced the marina to expand the width of slips to accommodate the increasingly popular power catamarans suited for the shallow draft Bahamian waters.

Palm Cay focuses on vessels up to 65 feet in length.

These are sportsfish and other recreational vessels, or liveaboards such as the sailboats, including those in a charter company that selected Palm Cay for its Nassau headquarters.

Palm Cay last November broke ground on its $100m One Marina residences overlooking the harbour. The first building is 100 percent sold, and sales have started on the second.

Straw workshop attendees praised as ‘quick learners’

BAIC hosts straw craft workshop for Bahamians.

TWENTY-TWO Bahamian women created an array of straw products during a recently-completed workshop facilitated by the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC).

The participants in the Straw Craft Workshop Stage II produced handbags, beaded clutches, passport holders and one hand bag of their own creation from native straw. A banker, fashion designer, nurse, retired persons and budding entrepreneurs were among the attendees.

Eldena Cartwright, straw craft instructor, said: “They were quick learners. They helped each other. They had fun, and the majority of them are now well able to build on what they have learned to become entrepreneurs.” She added that some of the participants have already sold some of their pieces.

Debbie Strachan, BAIC’s senior deputy general manager, said she was impressed by the colours and beauty of the handbags that were produced. Addressing the Straw Craft Workshop’s closing ceremony, she added that she looks forward to the day when Bahamian-made straw handbags will be offered worldwide.

Janis Coakley, one of the participants, described the workshop experience as “very intense”. She added: “I believe that as the older Bahamians who have been

involved in plaiting straw are dying out, the tradition is being lost.”

Almost ready to retire from her full-time job, Ms Coakley said she intends to open a school to teach children how to plait and sew so that they can make their own handbags and potentially start a business.

Monique Glinton, another participant, said of the straw products: “This is what the six million tourists who come to our shores each year should be taking back home with them. A piece of our culture.”

Brynda Knowles added: “The straw is grown in The Bahamas. Someone has to harvest it. Someone cures it and plaits it. So by the time the straw is purchased and crafted into handbags for sale, quite a number of people are benefiting from the straw industry.”

To sustain the straw craft industry, she said: “We need to start planting more palm trees throughout the country.”

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THE TRIBUNE

Monday, August 12, 2019, PAGE 3

$40M MONTHLY COSTS STRAIN BPL UPGRADES

By NATARIO MCKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Power & Light’s (BPL) financial woes, with monthly operating costs running at $40m, were yesterday blamed for preventing essential maintenance to keep its plant running.

Whitney Heastie, BPL’s chief executive, yesterday said the state-owned energy monopoly’s operational costs include $2m in interest on existing debt plus payments to its vendors and fuel supplier, Shell North America.

Out of BPL’s $40m monthly operating expenses, some $30m is spent with Shell North America. A further $8m

WHITNEY HEASTIE

Chamber chief urges income inequity focus

By NATARIO MCKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive yesterday said that despite the “encouraging” 1.2 percentage point decline in the national jobless rate, income inequality and unemployment among men must be addressed.​ Jeffrey Beckles told Tribune Business: “It’s encouraging in that the overall rate per the report has gone down to about 9.5 percent. One of the things that is concerning is the continuous unemployment among young men.”

According to the Department of Statistics, the numbers in vulnerable employment remain relatively unchanged since May 2018 with no difference in accounting for 6.9 percent of total employment.

“Males (11,355) still dominate this category,” the Department’s May 2019 Labour Forvce study said. “These workers as defined by ILO (International Labour Organisation) are less likely to have formal work arrangements, and more likely to lack decent working conditions, and are often characterised by inadequate earnings and benefits.”​ Mr Beckles said: “That’s a concern because if you look at that in regards to our social dysfunction you have a huge contribution right there. We have to focus on how we get our young men equipped with the basic skills to get work.

“If they stay in this category they are going to become discouraged workers, and some could possibly turn to crime. While the other numbers look good I don’t think we can ignore the potential issues there.”​ According to the Department of Statistics, employment rose by 4,330 in May when compared

JEFFREY BECKLES to November 2018, and reached about 215,000 persons. “On a year-over-year basis, employment grew by 6,635 or 3.2 percent,” it added. “Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate dropped to 9.5 percent, down from 10.7 percent in November.”

The Department of Statistics added that employment gains were driven by private sector jobs, which increased by 1.8 percent to 137,605 persons when compared to November.

Additionally, the number of self-employed persons remained unchanged at 32,475 since November 2018. ​ “When we talk about the capacity of our workforce, 62 percent of our workforce only has a secondary education. That’s a big number,” said Mr Beckles.​“Of that number it would be interesting to see how many are attempting to sharpen those skills.

“We know that our labour pool is not being enhanced

by those skills. That’s part of the bigger problem we have. We need to figure out how we are going to encourage that 62 percent to get themselves involved in additional learning, tertiary or otherwise.”

He added: “I’m happy to see that there are more employable Bahamians now. Eighty-two per cent of the 215,000 are working. That’s a good thing by number, but when you look at the number of people working and the number of people who have major trouble making ends meet you will find there is inequity in income.

“We need to find a way to address that inequity. We have to examine the income equity issue, and then we have to help Bahamians understand how to become disciplined and live within their means. We have a lot of people working and doing things they ought not to on the salaries they have.

There is a careful balance that must be struck there.”​

goes on running BPL’s dayto-day operations.

“The lack of funds in BPL is how we got to where we are today,” Mr Heastie said. “We cannot do the maintenance that is required in this company.

That is probably one of the largest shortfalls we have today.” He added that old equipment and higher generation demand on New Providence, due to economic growth, have exacerbated the utility’s problems.​ Mr Heastie added that BPL had anticipated having “plenty generation” to meet peak demand this summer, arguing that it could not have predicted the failure of three of its major generating assets at the Blue Hills power station.​

While speaking at a press conference at BPL’s Clifton Pier plant, he said three units totalling 60 Mega Watts of generation capacity are currently offline at the Blue Hills power plant.

“We have three generators that are currently down at the Blue Hill Power plant, and that is a total of 60 MW,” Mr Heastie said.

“We do need two of those three generators to be returned to service. We anticipate having two of them back and that will close the shortfall. The third one is a little less likely to return because of the failure that generator has seen. The challenge now is the aging fleet,” said Mr Heastie. ​ He admitted that even when those two units

return online there is “no guarantee” there will be no more load shedding, as other assets could also fail.

Painting a grim picture of BPL’s current situation, Mr Heastie said: “We cannot guarantee that no more load shedding will take place because we are on the edge.”

“Over the course of the night we would have had four additional units that would have gone down.

There is no guarantee that when those two come back that another two won’t go down, As long as we are in this situation where we have no wiggle room or spare capacity; we are sititng on the edge every day. We cannot guarantee that there will not be any load shedding.”

BPL ‘WELL ON WAY’ TO SEAL SHELL DEAL

By NATARIO MCKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Power & Light (BPL) is “well on its way” to solidifying a power purchase agreement with Shell North America for its proposed multi-fuel power plant, its chairman said yesterday.​ Dr Donovan Moxey said: “The relationship and the negotiations that we are moving forward with with Shell are moving forward very positively. When you look at all the agreements that need to be put in place, starting with the power purchase agreement and all the other agreements that offshoot from that, we are right within the timelines that our attorneys have essentially put forth to us

DR DONOVAN MOXEY as to where we would be at this time. We are pretty happy with that process.”​ BPL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the energy giant on November 2, 2018, for a proposed 232 megawatt (MW) multi-fuel power plant at Clifton Pier.

“We went from MOU to now negotiating a PPA,” said Dr Moxey. “We are well on our way with Shell to getting that PPA done.

“From our perspective, with the phases and timelines, we are very comfortably within those timelines. If we see anything happens above and beyond our control, and we need to communicate with the Bahamian people the changes in that timeline, we will do that in a very prudent and efficient manner.”

The Shell power plant, which will incorporate the 132 MW in generation capacity that BPL has sourced from Wartsila, will add another 90 MW to the New Providence energy grid by mid-2021. The construction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure, which will allow the plant to employ LNG as one of its fuels, is scheduled for December 2021.

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PAGE 4, Monday, August 12, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

BAHA MAR RESORT, CABLE BEACH.

Sarkis: Supreme Court Order breach by CCA FROM PAGE ONE The allegations surfaced in New York court filings that reveal the extent of the two sides’ dispute over which documents and evidence will be admissible at the substantive trial over Mr Izmirlian’s claims against Baha Mar’s main contractor.

Peter Sheridan, a US attorney representing Baha Mar’s original developer, told Justice Saliann Scarpulla that his client is seeking an immediate injunction and protective Order requiring CCA to either destroy or return the four documents in dispute.

He alleged that they were “acquired in violation of an Order of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas sealing them” but, despite this, CCA had indicated on July 17, 2019, that it intended to use them in defending Mr Izmirlian’s claim against it.

“The documents at issue are patently privileged,” Mr Sheridan argued. “Two of the documents are legal opinions written by this law firm and another outside counsel analysing Baha Mar Ltd’s potential claims against defendant [CCA].

“At the time the legal opinions were prepared, it had become clear that

Baha Mar’s and plaintiff’s [Mr Izmirlian/BML Properties] interests were in direct conflict with defendants’. In fact, the legal opinions were prepared in anticipation of litigation actually filed in April and June 2015.”

That period featured the run-up to Mr Izmirlian’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing, which was ultimately unsuccessful in preserving his and his family’s control and ownership of the project. However, Mr Sheridan’s letter reveals that the legal opinions have again assumed importance as a result of the original Baha Mar developer’s latest action against CCA.

“The legal opinions have long been sealed by the Bahamian Supreme Court, and were the subject of a recent hearing on March 26, 2019, in The Bahamas involving plaintiff, defendant and the joint receivers/ managers appointed by the China Export-Import Bank during which the defendants [CCA] vigorously sought to ‘unseal’ the legal opinions in order to gain access to plaintiff’s privileged work,” Mr Izmirlian’s attorney wrote.

“On May 1, 2019, the Bahamian Supreme Court ruled that the legal opinions were unquestionably privileged, the privilege had not been waived, and they should remain under seal as they had been for the prior three years.

“Unbeknownst to plaintiff, and contrary to the representations defendants’ counsel made to the Bahamian Supreme Court, the joint-receiver managers had surreptitiously delivered copies of the legal opinions to defendants in China the day before the hearing in violation of the existing sealing order,” Mr Sheridan continued.

“Defendants now seek to benefit from these purloined documents by using plaintiff’s privileged information in this litigation.”

Three Deloitte & Touche accountants were appointed as receiver/ managers for Baha Mar by

China Export-Import Bank following Mr Izmirlian’s ousting.

They were Raymond Winder, thensenior partner at Deloitte & Touche (Bahamas), and his two Hong Kong-based colleagues, Lai Kar Yan and Darach Haughey.

Mr Winder now serves as president for BISXlisted Commonwealth Bank, and Tribune Business sources yesterday confirmed he had no connection to the recent Bahamian Supreme Court proceedings given that he departed Deloitte & Touche (Bahamas) some months ago.

The joint receiversmanagers were effectively agents for the Chinese government-owned lender that provided the multibillion dollar debt financing for Baha Mar’s construction. They took control of all the mega resorts assets and properties, and oversaw the sales process that ultimately resulted in Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) acquiring the development.

Given that CCA and the China Export-Import Bank share the same owner, namely the Beijing government, co-operation between the two in seeing off Mr Izmirlian’s latest legal attack would not be entirely unexpected.

However, some Tribune Business sources yesterday questioned whether there

had been any violation of the Bahamian Supreme Court’s order. They pointed out that the “sealing” was designed to keep the documents out of the public domain - but not necessarily the parties with an interest in Baha Mar, such as CCA and the China Export-Import Bank.

However, Mr Izmirlian’s attorneys argued that the legal opinions in question were submitted to the Bahamian Supreme Court “under seal” after the joint receiver-managers obtained them when they took possession of all Baha Mar’s records under the receivership.

“The other two documents at issue are two reports commissioned by the joint receiver-managers in 2016 to value Baha Mar’s claims against [CCA],” Mr Sheridan added, “that quote and cite the legal opinions dozens of times.

“Defendants have refused to answer our inquiries regarding how they came into possession of these documents.

In any event, these valuation reports are privileged work product to which the defendants have no right.”

Mr Sheridan said there was “no set of facts, and no distortion of the law”, that could support CCA’s intent to use these documents as key elements in fighting off Mr Izmirlian’s latest claim.

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Minimum Requirements: • At least 5 years’ experience as an air traffic controller in one of the three specialties; and • Five (5) years of experience in managing an air navigation services operation.

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Qualified candidates should submit via email, a Resume along with copies of academic qualifications and training, to the attention of the Director General of the Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority, at hrd@bcaa.gov.bs, on or before August 21, 2019.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, August 12, 2019, PAGE 5

minister: BPL URCA investigates Tourism blackouts ‘embarrassing’ ‘tightrope walking’ BPL over outages FROM PAGE ONE

FROM PAGE ONE power supply had put it in violation of both its licence terms and obligations under the Electricity Act. Acknowledging that URCA was concerned “like everyone else in the country” over the frequency and duration of BPL’s outages, he declined to be drawn on what measures the regulator will take if it finds the stateowned utility monopoly has violated its licence and legal commitments.

“We are investigating the outages,” Mr Bereaux confirmed, “and have initiated an investigation. We started the investigation about two weeks ago after the first round of load shedding.

“The process involves collecting a lot of information, and we’re still in the information collection stage.

Based on the information we receive we may end up collecting more, and then we will issue our preliminary determination.

“We’re trying to determine if BPL’s conduct is consistent with the provisions of their licence and obligations under the Electricity Act.” Mr Bereaux said URCA would “issue a determination” on its findings “as and when appropriate”, and declined to comment on both the likely investigation timeline and potential punishments - such as fines - that would result if the outcome proved adverse to BPL. “There’s nothing pejorative at this stage,” he explained. “We would have, like everyone else in the country, concern with the frequency and duration of outages. It’s our role to ensure they [BPL] operate as required by the Electricity Act and licence granted

by URCA. “URCA’s job is to put rules and regulations in place, and ensure BPL complies with those. Our role as regulator is to ensure they stay consistent with the rules placed on them.”

URCA took over energy sector regulation in 2016 following passage of the Electricity Act, subsequently issuing BPL with a public electricity supplier licence that makes it an URCA licensee.

Mr Bereaux said any regulatory measures “depend on what we find”, and pledged to make public any

preliminary determination it makes against BPL. “We also intend to provide periodic updates so people know where we are in the process of investigation,” he added.

Tribune Business confirmed URCA’s investigation prior to Whitney Heastie, pictured, BPL’s chief executive, yesterday repeatedly stating he “cannot guarantee there will be no load shedding” due to the utility’s 40 megawatt (MW) generation capacity shortfall on New Providence.

Mr Heastie confessed that BPL knew it was “walking a tightrope” for summer 2019 by having just 280 MW of generation capacity available to meet New Providence’s peak 250 MW demand, leaving it with surplus or excess capacity of just 30 MW. This means that if just one or two units failed - as is happening now - load shedding is virtually inevitable.

While many observers will interpret this as an admission that BPL failed to adequately plan for summer demand and all possible scenarios, Mr Heastie indicated that the cash-strapped utility had little to no financial resources with which to procure additional generation units.

With the loss of 70 MW in generation capacity at Blue Hills, due to three engines requiring repairs, the BPL chief executive admitted that the utility only currently has 210 MW of generation capacity to meet 250 MW peak demand in the Bahamian capital.

He added that there was “no way to pre-predict this type of failure”, even though he admitted that BPL’s “decaying” generation fleet contains equipment more than 60 years old where parts cannot be procured and have to be obtained exclusively from manufacturers - thereby making engine breakdowns and offline maintenance a near 100 percent certainty.

The poor state of BPL’s generation fleet is highlighted by the fact some 37.5 percent of the 280 MW summer generation capacity is comprised of rental units from Aggreko, with Mr

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Heastie admitting the energy monopoly is “on the edge, on the cliff” virtually every day.

“We had hoped that with the help of the additional rental units from Aggreko we would be in a position to prevent load shedding for the summer,” he admitted.

“While we were certainly cognisant of the tightrope we were walking, due to the pressure being placed on the remaining plant, we did not anticipate this level of systems failure and, even if we had, we would not have had the resources to mitigate the situation as this level of accelerated decay could not be anticipated.”

BPL executives added that the loss of its two most efficient engines, representing over 60 MW in capacity, in last September’s fire had no impact on its ability to get through summer 2019.

That lost capacity, though, would have brought BPL up to its traditional 330-340 MW New Providence generation capability.

BPL is currently operating with 105 MW from Aggreko, 70 MW at its Blue Hills plant, and 35 MW from its Clifton Pier station. Until the new 132 MW from Wartsila are installed, tested and operational - something that will happen by December at earliest - New Providence residents and businesses face a long, hot summer plagued by power outages.

“We are working feverishly on returning two generators at Blue Hill power station that will make up this 40 MW difference,” Mr Heastie said. “However, we cannot guarantee that other units will not fail and return us to load shedding as we have no excess capacity. As we get deeper into the fall, the demand will drop off as will the need for load shedding.”

shortfall threatens to have “a crippling effect on business operations” right through until the Christmas/New Year period.

The new 132 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity from Wartsila is only likely to be installed, tested and come online by midDecember at earliest, and Mr Beckles said the private sector must suffer a “huge burden, an unfair burden” in “taking a hard look at how it plans for the next 18 months” due to the BPL crisis.

He added that the energy supply uncertainty had undermined confidence among both businesses and Bahamian consumers, and warned that it represented disincentive that threatened to deter both domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI) in this economy.

Mr D’Aguilar, acknowledging that “everyone is concerned about power”, said: “We need to fix that problem, no doubt about it. The government is striving every day. It’s front and centre every day.

“Someone drawing analogies likened it to driving a 30 year-old car and making repairs to it all along the way, but now we’ve reached a situation where we have to invest in new generation and transmission and distribution.

“It’s been a vexing problem for decades that we cannot deliver a reliable power supply. We’re all waiting for the day when these [Wartsila] generators are snapped into action and alleviate the pain and suffering many Bahamians are undergoing every day.”

Carlton Russell, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president, last week called for “urgent relief” from the BPL crisis for the nation’s largest industry despite most of its hotels possessing their own generators.

He explained that the frequency, and duration, of power outages were a nuisance that interrupted and disrupted the guest experience, leaving some with

JEFFREY BECKLES an unfavourable impression of The Bahamas. Mr Russell said Atlantis had seen a 50 percent increase in payouts to guests to compensate them for such inconveniences.

Mr D’Aguilar yesterday acknowledged the negative effects for tourism, including vacation rental visitors as well as hotel guests in the equation, given that many in the former category were staying in accommodation that did not have its own generator.

“The fact many involved in the hotel sector have to endure power outages is very embarrassing,” the minister admitted. “The fact people have to suffer through power cuts does not bode well for the tourism sector.

“We understand we have to address and fix this problem. It can’t come soon enough. It’s a vexing problem and everyone is focused on trying to address it. I know the minister of works [Desmond Bannister] is having sleepless nights dealing with it, and I’m sure he’s making progress. But relief can’t come soon enough. I understand it’s coming, but the quicker the better.”

Mr Beckles, meanwhile, questioned what had happened to the hundreds of millions of dollars borrowed across successive administrations - and guaranteed by the Bahamian taxpayer - that has supposedly been used to invest in BPL’s generation and transmission and distribution

(T&D) infrastructure.

Arguing that accountability for BPL’s current crisis should not be confined to the current management, Board and government, the chamber chief executive - while praising the utility threeyear turnaround strategy involving the Wartsila engines and Shell North America power plant - said there appeared precious little near-term relief for households and businesses.

“The short-term remediation leads us into December-early January, which means generation shortfalls are going to continue to have a crippling effect on business operations until that time, and that becomes one of the greatest challenges we face in the private sector,” Mr Beckles told Tribune Business.

While encouraged by the arrival of Wartsila’s new 132 MW generation capacity, he added that this by itself would not fully restore BPL’s New Providence assets to full capacity and Bahamians had to hope they will perform better than the existing engine fleet.

Warning that “we’re still in the risk frame as before”, Mr Beckles said: “Businesses have to take a hard look at how they plan for the next 18 months.

It’s a huge burden, and an unfair burden, but it’s the reality....

“Without a functioning, reliable energy source there’s no chance of having a successful business. The idea of moving the economy; are we wasting our time talking about this?

And if stable, reliable energy is non-available in The Bahamas, who will want to invest, both domestically and foreign?

“This has the potential of curbing spending by existing businesses because no doubt this has caused a lack of confidence. It’s not a political statement; it’s a fact of life. Confidence has taken a hit. People want to know what’s happening with power. Households have the same issue. What do we do? What’s next?”

PAGE 6, Monday, August 12, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

Minister: Jobs rise ‘more meaningful’ than under PLP FROM PAGE ONE fallen from 10.7 percent in November 2018 to 9.5 percent, Mr D’Aguilar said some 14,735 jobs had been created since the FNM government came to office in May 2017.

Describing this as “phenomenal”, with employment up by 6,635 or 3.2 percent year-over-year, Mr D’Aguilar, pictured, acknowledged that November’s jobless numbers were likely to increase once again as a result of 3,000-5,000 school leavers joining the workforce this summer, but added that jobs are still being created.

“For many months we’ve been touting the wonderful

arrivals and stopover visitor numbers, and we really didn’t know how that was affecting the man on the ground,” the minister told this newspaper.

“Now we are in a position to validate that.

“The increased arrivals have delivered in the creation of increased employment, adding to everything else the government has been doing and leading to the creation of 14,735 new jobs in the last two years and

leading to unemployment dropping to a ten-year low at 9.5 percent.

“The tourism sector experienced the greatest job increase since May 2018, up 24 percent, which is absolutely phenomenal. Just to be absolutely clear, tourism makes up 20 percent of the Labour Force, so that sector has expanded by 24 percent.

It’s the best employment numbers seen in the last ten years.”

Fred Mitchell, the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) chairman, argued that the Minnis administration “should not be popping the champagne corks just yet” on the unemployment figures given that most persons were focused on whether Bahamas Power & Light

(BPL) will be able to supply them with energy.

Arguing that the Minnis administration was indebted to the former government, because without Baha Mar there would be “no positive news” on the employment front at all, Mr Mitchell said youth unemployment was still to high at around 20 percent - meaning one in five Bahamians aged between 15 and 19, and who are looking for work, are unable to find it.

“While those who are working are no doubt grateful to be working, the government has to explain why the misery index is so high throughout our country,” Mr Mitchell said.

“There are signs of disgruntlement in the workplace.

Clearly there is something amiss.”

Mr D’Aguilar, though, told Tribune Business that the reduced unemployment rate showed that the Minnis administration had been right to break with the policies of its predecessor.

“This is such a different approach from the previous government,” he argued.

“This is private sector-driven growth in employment numbers. This is not by the government increasing the public sector, which was a failed policy that led to constant deficits and consistent downgrades. This is more meaningful growth in the employment numbers.”

Mr D’Aguilar urged Bahamians “sitting on the sidelines” to invest in new and existing businesses tied to the tourism sector, including Airbnb-style vacation rentals, tours, and “experiential experiences” that are being increasingly sought by travellers.

He added: “This is a sign for Bahamians with money in the bank, earning less than one percent, to go out and invest in the tourism business. We need more people that have brain drained away to come back and take advantage of the economy.

We’re only headed in the right direction.”

Mr D’Aguilar said Baha Mar will need another 500 employees for the water park it is creating at the site of the old Wyndham hotel and Crystal Palace casino, while jobs will also be created at projects such as GoldWynn,

The Pointe and Hurricane Hole.

However, Arinthia Komolafe, the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader, said the drop-off in the pace of private sector job creation - from 3.8 percent in the six months to November compared to the 1.8 percent expansion in the lead-up to May 2019 - “suggests that the private sector is not creating enough jobs at the necessary pace to absorb new entrants into the labour force despite the record tourism numbers”.

“The May 2019 Labour Force Survey results would have been encouraging if the struggles of the average Bahamian do not paint a totally different picture from the numbers being touted by the government. The reality is that the 60 percent increase in the regressive value added tax (VAT) rate continues to take a toll on Bahamian families and businesses,” Mrs Komolafe said.

“Bahamians have seen a significant reduction in their purchasing power while their wages remained stagnant.

This perilous situation is worsened by the high cost of energy and unreliable power supply under a BPL Board and minister that have been colossal failures.

“Parents and guardians of students that are financially challenged to prepare for the upcoming school year are not impressed by these numbers. The struggle for them is real and not appreciated by a government whose proverbial head is buried in the sand.”

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THE TRIBUNE

Monday, August 12, 2019, PAGE 7

Mass shootings give rise to bullet-resistant backpacks NEW YORK Associated Press COMPANIES like Guard Dog Security, TuffyPacks and Bullet Blocker are peddling bullet-resistant backpacks for children in time for the back-to-school shopping season. But critics argue they are using tragedy as a marketing opportunity and exploiting parents’ worst fears.

Safety is high on the minds of many parents, especially after two backto-back mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio that left 31 people dead.

“Times have changed,” said Yasir Sheikh, founder and president of Skyline USA, which makes Guard Dog Security products like pepper spray and stun guns and started offering bulletresistant backpacks called ProShield Scout for children last year. “Our product is in response to that. It’s a sad reality.”

Sheikh said the bulletresistant backpacks are very popular and sold out several times after the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting that left 17 people dead.

Steve Naremore founded Houston-based TuffyPacks in late 2015 after his daughter, a fourth-grade teacher, told him about the frequency of active shooting drills for her students. His company produces some bullet-resistant backpacks but the bulk of his business is in removable ballistic shields that are inserted in backpacks.

Naremore says his backpacks could be the difference between suffering “lethal versus non lethal” injuries.

Mass shootings have led to the rise in bulletresistant backpacks for children but critics question whether companies are using tragedy as a marketing opportunity.

“It acts as a defensive shield, “said Naremore, noting sales of the shields tripled in the days after the mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso last week that killed at least 22 people.

But some parents question the motives behind such companies.

“The only people enjoying it are the people selling the backpacks,” says Ponnell Scroggins of Milwaukee, a father of six children, ages three to 14.

“They’re making plenty of money right now. And they’re doing it off of something that was very unfortunate.”

TuffyPacks markets its products on its website with mass shootings in mind: “Are you and your family protected in the event of a school or workplace shooting? Be prepared for the worst situation with the industry’s best ballistic shields!”

And its backpacks don’t come cheap. TuffyPacks’ shields range in price from $129 to $149. Skyline’s ProShield Scout backpacks are priced at $119, although it’s less than the adult version that tops at $199.

Customer Growth Partners, a retail consulting firm. “I don’t see it as a mainstream type of product.”

Earlier this week, Walt Disney Co demanded TuffyPacks to stop selling bullet-resistant inserts featuring Disney princesses, Harry Potter and

STEVE NAREMORE, founder and CEO of TuffyPacks, handles one of his bulletproof panels that can be inserted into various makes and sizes of backpacks before a shooting demonstration of the stopping ability of the product at the Shiloh Shooting Range on Friday in Houston. His company produces some bullet-resistant backpacks but the bulk of his business is in removable ballistic shields that are inserted in backpacks. Photo: Michael Wyke/AP Some also cast doubt on the backpacks’ safety and how much they can really protect children.

Both Guard Dog Security and TuffyPacks claim their products are tested in independent labs in line with the standards for the National Institute of Justice and meet the requirements for a Level IIIA rating.

That means the shields can thwart a 9-millimeter handgun and a .44 magnum.

Naremour says it’s like wearing a police vest.

But the National Institute of Justice — the research, development and evaluation arm of the Department of Justice that comes up with the rating — has itself never conducted tests on these products or certified them and therefore cannot vouch for them.

“Marketing that claims NIJ testing or certification for such products is false,” said Mollie Timmons, a Justice Department spokeswoman.

The backpacks also don’t protect against militarystyle weapons, which were used in several mass shootings including Parkland as well as Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, in which a gunman killed 20 children and six educators in 2012. Sandy Hook remains the deadliest mass shooting at either a high school or grade school in US history.

Greg Shaffer, a former FBI agent and an expert in domestic terrorism, notes that the majority of active shooters use handguns.

Nonetheless, bullet-resistant backpacks may not be effective because children often have to leave their backpacks in cubbies in homeroom so they wouldn’t have them with them if there were an active shooter. Not many children are shot and killed going and coming to school, he added.

“I just don’t think that for the money and the extra weight that it is much more effective in protecting kids,” he said.

For the most part, major retailers like Walmart and Target seem to be staying away from the backpacks.

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Both discounters said they don’t sell them but declined to comment further.

An Amazon spokeswoman said it doesn’t sell bullet-resistant backpacks either and pointed to its policy that bans selling body armor and any product that includes bulletproof or ballistic helmets and clothing.

Meanwhile, Office Depot, Inc carries Guard Dog Security products in select Office Depot and OfficeMax retail stores across the US as well as online while Homedepot. com carries ProShield backpacks. The bulk of the selling, however, seems to be from small independent online retailers like Bulletproofzone.com.

“Big chains are hesitant to carry them because of the liability issue,” said Craig Johnson, president of

Avengers characters from its line.

“None of these products were authorised by Disney, and we are demanding that those behind this stop using our characters or our other intellectual property to promote sales of their merchandise,” said a

Disney spokesperson in an emailed statement to The Associated Press.

Naremore says he has pulled all of the Disneythemed products.

Educational experts say bullet-resistant backpacks are not the solution.

PAGE 8, Monday, August 12, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

University of Houston-Downtown food market helps students HOUSTON Associated Press PERUSING the shelves stacked with boxes of Cheddar Nuts, chocolate protein powder and sacks of beans, Shey-Marie Posey tried to keep in mind what she, her mother and her five siblings would need for the week.

The Houston Chronicle reports the first time she visited the University of Houston-Downtown’s food market, she was overwhelmed at how much she could take home for free.

“I was able to get a lot of food,” the 26-year-old CHELSEA MARKCRAY, a student worker, stocks food from a new delivery at a free market at the University of HoustonDowntown campus in Houston. pre-pharmacy student said.

This time would be no different.

Posey packed a red basket and a cardboard box with bleach, paper towels, Gatorade and Cutie mandarins, among other things, and unloaded them onto the market counter where student workers calculated the weight. And after packing the groceries into big bags, Posey left with her arms full and her pocketbook no lighter.

Like Posey, hundreds of UHD students are visiting the campus’ food market to shop weekly for fresh produce, nonperishable goods, water, non-alcoholic beverages, toiletries, diapers and more for free thanks to the college’s food scholarship program. As a result, students are cutting down on grocery costs. They’re helping their families, and they’re focusing more on their education during a time when many college students are wondering where their next meal will come from. Some say the programme could be a model for colleges around the country.

Last fall, nearly half of 86,000 students surveyed at 123 colleges around the country said they were “food insecure” or didn’t have enough money to pay for food to eat in the prior 30 days, according to the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice, a research centre at Temple University. And this summer, food was considered the biggest spending category for student loans ahead of monthly bills and housing costs, according to the Student Loan Hero Survey.

For many UHD students, the campus’s food market, supplied by the Houston Food Bank, has been a saving grace.

“It’s helpful for students who ... might not have the money they need to purchase food,” Posey said of UHD’s market, adding that it saves her up to $140 a month on groceries. “This makes it a little easier on (students) to focus on school and not worry about having to go make more money.”

UHD, a commuter college with more than 14,000 students, partnered with the Houston Food Bank starting in 2016 to create the food scholarship market programme with hopes of helping students beyond financial aid, according to Tremaine Kwasikpui, director of student activities.

Kwasikpui said that after researching and shadowing other markets and food pantries in the area, the school settled on offering scholarships to students with 30 to 89 credit hours — reasoning that this was the largest population at the time that needed to graduate but might face hurdles.

“A lot of people see students drop out of school and talk about financial aid, but it’s not always financial aid. It’s financial issues,” Kwasikpui said. “And so if we can take away one of those financial issues with food, we’re excited to do so.”

The university accepted 300 of the 600 students who applied for the food scholarship. Houston Food Bank assisted in equipping the market with shelving and freezers, trained university staff and student workers to help operate it, and agreed to supply the university with the food and items that students would take home each week at no cost.

The market opened postHurricane Harvey in 2017, offering students $60 worth of food per credit hour.

The programme became a success, according to Kwasikpui. In October 2018, UHD was named Houston Food Bank’s Higher Education Partner of the Year, and reports show that around 67 percent of students who had received the scholarship in the fall were using the market.

And yet a few hundred students remained on the wait list, Kwasikpui said.

Wanting to do more, the university began accepting all students who applied for the programme into the market last spring.

“It really was a heartfelt kind of decision and one

to make sure that we were meeting the needs of all students,” Kwasikpui said.

More than 800 students have applied for the food market and shopped there during the spring semester, with the option to take home up to 40 pounds of food each week, Kwasikpui said. The market, which runs year-round, has also expanded its services, taking in deliveries twice a week and offering a program that allows students to list an individual who can shop on their behalf. Students can also shop at any food bank or pantry within the Houston Food Bank network using their information, including their student ID or date of birth, and can ask the market to order specific items that they need.

“We have to stress: It’s not need-based. It’s not a pantry,” Kwasikpui said.

“It’s a food market. Need or not, it’s here, and we want you to use it.”

Two siblings who are UHD students — Juan Chavez, 18, and Gabriela Orruego, 22 — shop at the market at least once a week. They aim to get pricier items such as cleaning supplies, which can alleviate grocery costs, as well as canned goods, fresh fruits and vegetables to take home to their mother.

“It’s for her mostly,” Orruego said. But “it helps us. She can use it to cook.”

Daisy Garay, 20, a UHD student studying social work, said she also shops for groceries for her family.

“I look for anything, really,” she said — snacks for her younger siblings, fresh vegetables or ingredients for her mom to help make dinner, and cleaning supplies for their home.

Garay, Chavez and Orruego say shopping at the food market can save each of them at least $50 a week.

“Anything that I take is already an extra help,” Garay said.

Reginald Young, senior director of strategic partnerships at the Houston Food Bank, said that of the Houston Food Bank’s operations in the region, UHD is the only one located at a four-year college and one of the most utilised. Young said that makes it an ideal model for other institutions locally and across the country.

“We’ve talked about it nationally at conferences. It is a unique concept,” Young said. But the primary goal, he said, is not just providing food — it’s getting students to graduate.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, August 12, 2019, PAGE 9

UK energy firm says power cut was not caused by cyberattack LONDON Associated Press A POWER cut that affected a million people and caused travel chaos was not the result of a cyberattack, operators of Britain’s electricity network said on Saturday.

National Grid operations director Duncan Burt said Friday’s blackout was caused when two power stations failed almost simultaneously, leading the system to cut off power to some parts of the country in order to preserve the rest.

He said the company was “very confident that there was no malicious intent or cyberattack involved”.

Burt said the loss of two power plants at once was a “very, very rare event” and something similar last happened in 2008.

Tim Green of the Energy Futures Laboratory at Imperial College London said failures were at a gas-fired power plant in southern England and a wind farm in the North Sea. He said it was unclear whether the two near-simultaneous outages were connected or it was a coincidence.

Britain’s energy watchdog,

PEOPLE wait for trains at King’s Cross station in London on Saturday a day after all services in and out of the station were suspended when a power cut caused major disruption across the country. Operators of Britain’s electricity network say a power cut that affected a million people and caused travel chaos was not the result of a cyberattack.

Ofgem, said it has asked for continued on Saturday at “an urgent detailed report London’s King’s Cross, one from National Grid so we of the country’s busiest train can understand what went stations. wrong and decide what furAndrew Adonis, a ther steps need to be taken. former chairman of BritThis could include enforce- ain’s National Infrastructure ment action.”

Commission, said National The cut hit a large swath Grid had “some big quesof England and Wales, tions to answer” about how knocking out traffic lights a relatively brief power and railway signals and cut had caused nationwide bringing electric-powered mayhem on the railways. trains to a standstill. Elec“Why ... did their systems tricity was restored within allow the national transport 90 minutes but many travel- system to collapse in the way ers were stuck for hours on it did? Because that absotrains. lutely shouldn’t happen,” he Delays and cancellations said.

PAGE 10, Monday, August 12, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

ISLAND OR EUROPEAN NATION? RIVAL VIEWS OF UK SHAPE BREXIT LONDON Associated Press BRITISH history has become a Brexit battleground.

British voters’ decision three years ago to split from the European Union was fueled by a sense that the UK is fundamentally separate from its continental neighbours — a sceptered

isle, rather than a European power.

Brexit-backing Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg has compared Brexit to historic British military victories on the continent, saying “it’s Waterloo, it’s Agincourt, it’s Crecy”.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage fires up crowds with air-raid sirens and the theme

from World War II thriller “The Great Escape”.

Such patriotic messages strike a strong chord in an era of surging nationalism.

But anti-Brexit politicians and historians say that view is too simplistic — and could end up making the UK weaker rather than stronger.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown argued yesterday in The Observer

A PRO-Brexit demonstrator holds a British flag with the words “Leave Means Leave” in front of the Winston Churchill statue in London. The Brexit decision to split from the European Union was fuelled by a sense that the UK is fundamentally separate from its continental neighbours, but both sides of the Brexit debate conjure up strong historical concepts for this sceptered isle. newspaper that “a destructive, populist, nationalist ideology” was leaving the United Kingdom “sleepwalking into oblivion”.

Brown, who was Labour Party leader and British prime minister between 2007 and 2010, accused current Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson of “conjuring up the absurd and mendacious image of the patriotic British valiantly defying an intransigent Europe determined to turn us into a vassal state”.

Richard J Evans, professor emeritus of history at Cambridge University, lamented an increasing tendency to “talk about Europe as if it’s somewhere separate, as if Britain is not part of Europe”.

“I went to Gatwick Airport recently and there’s a huge advertisement there for an airline that says ‘Europe is closer than you think,’” he said. “And I thought, well, it’s closer than you think — we’re in it.”

Evans said the view of Britain as an exception to the European rule ignores “the multiple connections between England and the continent over the centuries”.

“If you look at our sovereigns, they have been variously French and Dutch and German,” he said, noting also how culturally

MARKET REPORT www.bisxbahamas.com

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FRIDAY, 9 AUGUST 2019

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ALL SHARE INDEX: CLOSE: 2,122.39 | CHG: -57.54 | %CHG: -2.64 | YTD: 12.94 | YTD%: 0.61 BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 4.50 20.91 7.00 5.92 2.60 2.00 3.00 11.75 6.17 4.64 12.50 2.74 2.41 10.00 7.10 15.60 9.00 3.75 14.00

52WK LOW 3.50 19.17 4.90 4.02 1.00 0.19 2.00 9.17 6.13 3.54 8.53 2.35 1.75 7.51 6.10 11.25 6.20 3.01 13.00

SECURITY AML Foods Limited APD Limited Bahamas Property Fund Bahamas Waste Bank of Bahamas Benchmark Cable Bahamas CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank Colina Holdings Commonwealth Bank Commonwealth Brewery Consolidated Water BDRs Doctor's Hospital Emera Incorporated Famguard Fidelity Bank Finco Focol J. S. Johnson

SYMBOL AML APD BPF BWL BOB BBL CAB CIB CHL CBL CBB CWCB DHS EMAB FAM FBB FIN FCL JSJ

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 8 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Cable Bahamas Series 10 Colina Holdings Class A Fidelity Bank Class A Focol Class B

CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA FBBA FCLB

PREFERENCE SHARES

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CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00

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104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

SECURITY Fidelity Bank Note 22 (Series B) +

SYMBOL FBB22

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2015-1-3Y BGS: 2014-12-5Y BGS: 2015-1-5Y BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-3Y BGS: 2015-6-5Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-3Y BGS: 2015-10-5Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y

BAH29 BG0203 BG0105 BG0205 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0303 BG0305 BG0307 BG0330 BG0403 BG0405 BG0407

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CLOSE 4.19 17.43 6.00 5.92 2.46 1.80 2.18 11.05 6.16 4.03 9.02 2.82 2.40 10.28 7.00 15.45 9.00 3.30 14.00

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LAST SALE 100.00

CLOSE 100.00

CHANGE 0.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

VOLUME

12,610

3,300

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YIELD 3.82% 7.23% 0.00% 4.22% 0.00% 1.11% 0.00% 6.52% 3.57% 2.98% 0.00% 2.41% 2.50% 3.19% 3.43% 3.50% 2.22% 3.64% 4.29%

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

INTEREST Prime + 1.75%

MATURITY 19-Oct-2022

6.95% 4.00% 4.25% 4.25% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.00% 4.25% 4.50% 6.25% 3.50% 3.88% 4.25%

20-Nov-2029 30-Jul-2018 16-Dec-2019 30-Jul-2020 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2018 26-Jun-2020 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2018 15-Oct-2020 15-Oct-2022

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.25 4.29 2.06 191.61 158.55 1.62 1.76 1.70 1.15 7.72 8.97 6.77 11.25 12.14 10.63 10.00 8.69 11.79

52WK LOW 1.67 3.04 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.56 1.68 1.64 1.08 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57 9.88 8.45 11.20

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund FG Financial Preferred Income Fund FG Financial Growth Fund FG Financial Diversified Fund FG Financial Global USD Bond Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Equities Sub Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - High Yield Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Alternative Strategies Fund Colonial Bahamas Fund Class D Colonial Bahamas Fund Class E Colonial Bahamas Fund Class F

NAV 2.25 4.29 2.06 191.61 158.33 1.62 1.76 1.70 1.15 7.72 8.97 6.77 11.25 12.14 10.57 9.92 8.68 11.38

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MTH% 3.97% 4.23% 2.73% 6.28% 2.08% 4.58% 4.25% 4.12% 5.64% 6.65% 8.36% 4.81% 0.78% 4.17% 2.29% 0.16% 2.70% 1.30%

MARKET TERMS BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00 52wk-Hi - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks 52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume Change - Change in closing price from day to day Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings

YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths NAV - Net Asset Value N/M - Not Meaningful

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NAV Date 30-Jun-2019 30-Jun-2019 28-Jun-2019 30-Jun-2019 30-Jun-2019 30-Apr-2019 30-Apr-2019 30-Apr-2019 30-Apr-2019 30-Jun-2019 30-Jun-2019 30-Jun-2019 30-Jun-2019 30-Jun-2019 30-Jun-2019 30-Mar-2019 30-Mar-2019 30-Mar-2019

intertwined Britain is with continental Europe.

Like Evans, University of Toronto history professor Margaret MacMillan argues that Brexit is being “driven by a very false picture of the past” and by nostalgia for the days when Britain’s empire covered a quarter of the globe.

MacMillan said many people in Britain — and especially in England, which accounts for five-sixths of the UK population and saw the strongest vote to leave the EU in 2016 — “are having an existential crisis about who they are”.

“I think they lost their empire and lost being a major world power and they seem to have accepted that, but I think there has been a lingering sense that ‘We were once great and now we’re not,’” she said.

Brexit-supporting historians reject that notion, viewing the EU as an undemocratic obstacle to British sovereignty.

Cambridge University historian Robert Tombs says the fact that Britain did not experience 20th-century occupation or dictatorship sets it apart from many of its neighbors. But he thinks Britain’s historical differences from the rest of Europe are often overstated, and Brexit was driven by more immediate concerns.

“We certainly had less commitment to the whole idea of European integration than countries like France or Germany,” he said. “But I think attitudes to Europe are

not really all that different in many EU states. And I think that has a lot to do with more recent events such as the eurozone crisis, the democratic deficit in the EU and the fact that the EU has got so much more important in people’s lives and yet they have very little control over what it does.”

Tombs argues that at a time of international instability, Britain is better off outside the fractious bloc.

“I think a relatively cohesive and relatively democratically governed unit is much more likely to be able to ride out whatever storms may be coming than a really rather ramshackle and unpopular and very weak confederation,” he said.

Historian Andrew Roberts, a biographer of Winston Churchill, said recently that “the idea that your sovereignty effectively belongs to somebody else outside your country is just unacceptable for anybody who has any sense of British independence.”

But others contend, like Brown, that Britain’s democratic institutions are under threat from Brexit.

As the Oct 31 deadline for Britain’s departure from the EU approaches, the country is facing a political crisis.

Johnson’s Conservative government is determined to leave with or without a Brexit divorce agreement, yet Parliament will try to block him from taking Britain out of the EU without a deal.

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THE TRIBUNE

Monday, August 12, 2019, PAGE 11

Uber’s Deng talks post-airport food delivery, stress relief NEW YORK Associated Press UBER began as a ridehailing company, but its ambition to become the “Amazon of transportation” has pushed its leaders to experiment with bus fleets, transit and its growing food delivery business.

Peter Deng, who spent nearly a decade at Facebook before joining Uber Technologies Inc, wants to relieve riders’ stress from their daily lives by unlocking more experiences through the Uber app.

The Associated Press recently spoke with Deng about how, as Head of Rider, he aims to offer rides tailored to every occasion and to localise the experience in more than 700 cities across the globe. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: Uber has been prompting riders on their way home from the airport to order food through Uber Eats. How is that going?

A: Our orientation is to serve the customer, to make their lives easier. And that was the hypothesis of one of our product managers who was like, “Hey, I sometimes get hungry when I’m going home from the airport,” and I’m like, “Oh my God, me too.” You’re going home to an empty fridge, it’s not a pleasant experience for anyone involved.

Q: Where is Uber prompting airport riders to order food?

A: We’ve done smallscale tests in the US, and this is one of many ideas that we’ve tested of how we can serve our customers better. Depending on what we learn, we take those insights and build a better product.

Q: Does Uber coordinate in the background to time the delivery with the Uber arrival?

A: When you experience it, it feels magical, and let’s just keep it that way. The time it takes to order and prepare and deliver food is for some folks the amount of time it takes to get home from the airport.

Q: You have a bus service in Cairo. What need are you aiming to fill with Uber Bus? A: We’re looking to satisfy people’s daily needs, and getting to and from work, that commute experience, is a daily need.

Getting more people into an affordable, high-quality bus with air conditioning, and getting people to and from work on a predictable basis, that’s the need that we’re solving. In Egypt, we believe we can provide a better experience at a very good price...taking that stress out of people’s everyday lives.

Q: How does Uber Bus work?

A: A rider will open the app, they will type in where they’re going. They will see in their options that you can take an Uber X, Uber Pool and you now have the option to take the Uber Bus. The Uber Bus requires you to walk to and

PETER DENG from the stop, and it tells you when the next one is arriving.

Q: Are the routes predetermined? Or can the driver change a route based on an incoming ride request?

A: We have a lot of good insights into where people go to and from for work, because people use Uber.

And from that we can optimise which routes are the best for us to run each of the bus lines.

We’re doing the heavy lifting on the back end to figure out which bus driver to dispatch, and at what time, and over the day we might learn from our insights that there are better routes than others.

When the driver has set out, after they’ve made their first pickup, there is a route we predetermined that they will follow, based on the insights I was talking about.

Q: At Facebook, you worked on the Events and Messenger features. Any plans to bring similar features to the Uber app?

A: It’s really important that we stay focused on what we can do well and what unique value we’re adding to people’s lives, and for us it’s getting people where they need to go. We are getting people who are hungry food. We are offering people modes of transportation like transit and scoters and bikes.

That’s where we want to play...There are plenty of apps in the world that accomplish these other cases really well.

Q: What about targeted ads? Uber is under pressure from investors to demonstrate a path to profitability. Why not advertise to riders with targeted ads in the Uber app, or in the back seat of cars?

A: We’re focused on the rider experience overall, and the rider experience is an experience that — unlike a lot of other products in Silicon Valley — people pay for.

And it’s on us to make sure that when the customers pay and when we pay our drivers that all of that marketplace works out really well. It’s really humbling to think of how many millions of people every single day are assigning Uber value enough to pay for the service, and how many of our amazing driver partners are able to make a living off of this. So that’s where we’re really focused, is making sure that this marketplace works.

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THE TRIBUNE

Democratic hopefuls take aim at insurer and pharma profits WASHINGTON Associated Press Sen Bernie Sanders and other progressives seeking the Democratic presidential nomination are zeroing in on pharmaceutical and insurer profits, money they say would be better spent providing health care for

everyone under “Medicare for All”.

Their idea: Health care dollars from government programmes, employers and families that are going into the pockets of investors instead could be used to pay for services. If people want a health care system that will not bankrupt them, “the answer is to

get rid of the profiteering of the drug companies and the insurance companies (and) move to Medicare for All,” Sanders said during the recent Democratic debates.

But research by The Associated Press suggests those dollars might not go so far. While there’s no single ledger for drugmakers and insurers, the AP

found major companies had about $97bn in profits last year. That wouldn’t even cover a couple of weeks in a health care system that costs $3.6tn a year.

“My view is that we are having a debate in fantasy world,” said Marc Goldwein, senior policy director with the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible

Federal Budget. “Insurer profits and excess drug costs are large in dollar terms but small relative to the size of national health expenditures.”

To be sure, Sanders and other Medicare for All advocates also acknowledge the need to raise taxes to pay for the plan. It would offer comprehensive medical care to every US resident with no premiums or deductibles, and virtually no copays.

But Sanders’ legislation does not specify new revenues. Instead, the Vermont independent provides a separate list of “options” that include higher taxes on the wealthy, corporations and employers while promising the middle class will be better off.

In a statement, Sanders’ office said he believes that “guaranteeing health care for all Americans as a right requires ending the profit motive of the insurance industry”.

It added that Sanders “sees a role for pharmaceutical innovation, but opposes a rigged system that allows corporations to use their monopoly power to charge Americans ... more for the exact same lifesaving drugs that can be purchased in Canada, the UK, France, Japan, and Germany”.

During the last round of Democratic debates, Sens.

Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California joined Sanders in training rhetorical fire on drugmakers and insurers. They had their own profit estimates.

“Insurance companies do not have a God-given right to make $23bn in profits and suck it out of our health care system,” Warren said.

“Let’s talk about math,” Harris said. “Let’s talk about the fact that the pharmaceutical companies

SEN BERNIE SANDERS and the insurance companies last year alone profited $72bn, and that is on the backs of American families.”

For its estimate, the AP reviewed the financial statements of the eight for-profit, publicly traded health insurers in the US and found they made around $26bn total last year. Their profit margins averaged a little more than 4%. The list included UnitedHealth, Anthem and Humana.

Some major insurers outside this group are nonprofit and plow their earnings back.

A spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, the main insurer trade group, said the vast majority of premiums go to health care. The group’s website cites an estimate that about 80 cents of every premium dollar goes for medical care, and only about two cents goes to profit. Other expenses included administration and taxes.

For drugmakers, the AP asked FactSet, a global financial data firm, to run the numbers for major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

FactSet focused on 19 companies that are part of the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index. Its analysis found they made $71bn on revenues of $385.5bn last year, with an average profit margin of 18%. The list included Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Gilead, Amgen and Pfizer.