09252025 BUSINESS

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2025

Bahamas faces ‘full-out assault’ on its fisheries

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

THE BAHAMAS is facing “a full-out assault” from illegal fishing charters and poachers that it must “fight with full force”, the National Fisheries Association’s (NFA) secretary warned yesterday.

Paul Maillis, hailing last week’s arrest of a suspected illegal foreign charter through ‘ Operation Red Dawn Two’, told Tribune Business that The Bahamas must further strengthen its maritime law enforcement capabilities by dedicating the fines and penalties imposed on Fisheries Act violators to financing improved marine resource protection.

And, echoing Mike Cenci, the senior WildAid law enforcement advisor who played a key role in the latest apprehension, he called for the Director of Public Prosecutions’ office to assign an experienced full-time criminal prosecutor to deal solely with fisheries and environment-related violations.

Pointing to the near-$200,000 in fines, penalties and bond payment imposed on Highly Migratory and its crew, the first vessel suspected of illegal charter fishing that was arrested in January 2025, Mr Maillis told this newspaper that cracking down on

• Dedicated prosecutor urged for illegal charters

• Association chief calls for reduced catch limits

• Warns that Bahamas not ‘sugar daddy’ for US

such violators will - in effect - pay for itself. Last week’s apprehension in the Berry Islands marked the second vessel seizure for the year.

Asserting that “there’s hundreds” of illegal fishing charters operating in The Bahamas in violation of this nation’s laws, the NFA secretary argued that the present “free-forall system” is too lax in terms of the number of vessels and commercial operations allowed to enter this nation’s territorial waters at any one time.

Airline almost closed over Bahamasair pilot poaching

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A BAHAMIAN private airline was last year on the verge of closing down because all its senior pilots were being poached by Bahamasair, it was revealed yesterday.

Anthony Hamilton, president of the Bahamas Association of Air Transport Operators, told Tribune Business there was “merit” to concerns recently voiced by Tracy Cooper, Bahamasair’s managing director, about shortages of pilots and other highly-trained staff

in the country’s aviation sector that led rival carriers to poach key workers from one another. Revealing that Bahamian carriers and Bahamasair met last year to address the issue, as one operator was on the verge of closure due to the latter “taking all their captains”, he added that private operators are placed at a competitive disadvantage because they do not enjoy the national flag carrier’s access to the Public Treasury and taxpayer resources.

Mr Hamilton, also Southern Air’s director of

Minister: Skills gaps leave ‘hundreds of jobs’ unfilled

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A CABINET minister yesterday blamed skills mismatches in the Bahamian workforce for the Department of Labour’s inability to fill “hundreds of openings” within its database.

Suggesting that these numbers exceed The Bahamas’ ability to properly regulate the industry, Mr Maillis called for a “rethink” that involved reducing daily catch limits he believes are still “too high”. The present situation, he added, is “inviting an endless supply of competition” for Bahamian charter operators and fishermen while also threatening the sustainability of this nation’s natural resources.

“The NFA supports initiatives such as Red Dawn 2, and the participation of the Marine Action Partnership (MAP), including WildAid, Customs, the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Defence Force, all learning to work in tandem with one another to finally bring prosecutions under the Fisheries Act,” Mr Maillis said.

“Red Dawn One and Two are the first prosecutions under the new Act for these foreign illegal fishing charters. We are pleased these actions are taking place, and many Bahamian fishermen have been feeding tips to law enforcement to help them break up these illegal charter operations.

“Many fishermen, including members of the NFA, have been feeding or providing information to the MAP about well-known and some lesserknown foreign charter operations.

DEDICATED - See Page B4

Cost of living crisis made worse by 65k ‘under-employed’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

SIXTY-FIVE thousand under-employed workers exposes why so many Bahamians are struggling to cope with the cost of living crisis and make ends meet, the Opposition’s finance spokesman said yesterday.

Kwasi Thompson, the east Grand Bahama MP, told Tribune Business that the January 2025 Labour Force Survey confirms the economy has not been expanding fast enough following the post-COVID reflation to create sufficient jobs that absorb the estimated 5,000-plus high school leavers entering the workforce every summer.

Speaking out after the survey revealed more than 30 percent, or almost one out of every three Bahamians currently holding a job, are deemed underemployed and seeking to work more hours, he warned that this nation’s

employment issues “will not be solved by the Government alone” through merely adding to the public sector payroll.

Asserting that the private sector must be the primary driver of job creation and economic growth, Mr Thompson told this newspaper that it was critical for the Government to “remove all red tape” that Bahamian businesses and foreign investors presently endure to obtain the

Pia Glover-Rolle, minister of labour and the public service, responding to the January 2025 labour force survey which revealed a 52 percent increase in the number of jobless Bahamians since the 2024 third quarter, blamed “cyclical contractions” and “seasonal lay-offs”, plus “wider trends” in the tourism and construction industries, for the rise. She did not provided a detailed explanation in her statement for why these factors drove the unemployment increase, but doubled down on concerns she voiced at the Abaco Business Outlook about the jib readiness and “unemployability” of many young Bahamians.

“It is not simply that jobs are unavailable,”

KWASI THOMPSON

DEFENCE FORCE YET TO SIGHT POACHING VESSEL

By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business

THE Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) yesterday said it has yet to sight a Dominican vessel that Bahamian fishermen have accused of poaching in this nation’s waters.

A widely-circulated video is said by some fisherman to show the vessel intruding in Bahamian territorial waters. While Tribune Business was unable to confirm if the vessel in the video is of Dominican origin, the RBDF confirmed that while it has received reports of its presence the ship has yet to be located.

“On September 23, 2025, the Royal Bahamas

Defence Force received reports of a suspected Dominican fishing vessel in Bahamian waters,” the Defence Force said in a statement. “An RBDF vessel on patrol was diverted to investigate the matter immediately. At this time, no vessels have been sighted. However, active patrols are continuing in the area.”

The video and reports surfaced following Captain Floyd Moxey’s announcement that the Defence Force has seen a rise in illegal fishing practices from North American fisherman. He added that the Defence Force is focusing on the Great Bahama Bank and the northern Bahamas, noting that it will “deal with Dominican poachers as well”.

Resorts World says new worker housing secured

“We are basically focused on the Great Bahama Bank, and we realised that we have illegal fishing by fishermen out of North America. We are focusing on that in the northern Bahamas as well,” Captain Moxey said.

“And so our operation was conducted last week with the Marine Resources Department and WildAid, and that was successful in interdicting some fishermen out of North America. And that is what we will continue to do. And we will continue to up our ante on the Great Bahama Bank to deal with Dominican poachers as well.”

Keith Carroll, the National Fisheries Association’s (NFA) president, applauding the work done in ‘Operation Red Dawn

By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net

RESORTS World

Bimini yesterday said it has secured new housing

Two’, where three persons were arrested for illegal commercial fishing and charter operations, noted that the Dominicans, especially in the south, pose the biggest threat to Bahamian fisheries.

“Really and truly, the majority of fishermen fish in the southern Bahamas,” Mr Carroll said. “And that’s where the Dominicans have started to take over again. So we need more presence down there. I know the Defence Force was down there, but apparently they’re not seeing these boats.

“The Government allowed Dominicans to fish on Bahamian vessels. All Bahamian boats now have Starlink phones on them. So Dominicans can find out where the Defence Force

for the estimated 150-200 workers who it earlier this month told to vacate their present accommodation by end-September.

Bimini's largest employer, in a statement, said: “Resorts World Bimini

boats are and call their friends or their cousins or the family on the poaching boats and tell them where to go, where not to go, when to come and when not to come, because they are here. They’re fishing on our boats, and that’s a big problem. “They’re posing a threat. They come out here, and they probably were sport fishing. But our biggest problem, and you can call any fisherman in The Bahamas, is the same Dominicans that we had stopped about three or four years ago. They are back here because they can get information from their brothers, cousins or whoever is on these Bahamian fishing boats.”

Paul Maillis, the NFA’s secretary, added:

has secured housing for all team members and is working to ensure the transition is smooth and seamless. Their well-being remains a top priority."

Housing is in short supply on Bimini, and many workers expressed concern about the forced relocation after being informed they would have to move. One staff member set to be relocated told Tribune Business impacted employees are being informed in phases where they would live and, by the end of the week, all should have received communication as to where they will be placed.

They did, however, note that the relocation exercise may have negative impacts on the resort as those who once occupied dormitories five and six are accustomed to having their own rooms. They said the new living arrangements will see staff share a bedroom, adding this could also be an issue for employees who have families that come and visit.

“So, more than likely, quite a few people will be sharing rooms, and that already is going to be like

“Large-scale Dominican poaching resumed in the southern Bahamas from a year ago, and this lobster season there’s been reports of poaching taking place heavily in the southern Bahamas.”

He added that a Bahamian commercial fishermen, on Tuesday evening, reported to the Defence Force the presence of a large Dominican ‘mother ship’ vessel that was anchored five miles “off the edge” of Cay Lobos. It was said to be supported by “dozens of dinghies swarming over the banks” containing Dominican fishermen armed with firearms and spear guns.

a mental thing for people, especially older people, who have families and kids,” they said. “They don't live on Bimini, but when they do come to visit, they have a little space to be in with their family. But now it most likely won't be the same now. Maybe now you're probably going to have to go rent expensive Airbnbs or hotels.”

The Resorts World Bimini worker said they do not believe a lot of employees are going to tolerate the new staff quarters and, as a result, many will resign.

Acknowledging that staff in the other dormitories share a room, they added that most of them are bachelors - single and young.

“Think about the kind of people in those dorms - a lot of young people. People who just coming out of school, college and stuff like that. They don't have nobody,” they added. The employee said staff have still not been told why they had to vacate their existing housing, especially on such short notice.

VACATE - See Page B6

PM pushes back over Trump energy criticism

By NEIL HARTNELL

THE Prime Minister yesterday appeared to push back against Donald Trump’s renewable energy criticisms as he urged “decision-makers everywhere” to understand its roll-out will not undermine prosperity.

Philip Davis KC, addressing the Global Renewables Summit in New York, argued that embracing energy reform and cleaner technologies such as solar and the wind “will expand our possibilities, not limit them”.

Then, in what appeared to be a gentle rebuke to the US president’s much-publicised scepticism towards renewable energy and climate change, he added:

“We need decision-makers everywhere to understand that replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy will not come at the expense of prosperity. In fact, climate progress is a pre-requisite for future prosperity.

“We will never unlock the full potential of clean energy abundance if the stories we tell focus on scarcity and sacrifice. Instead, let’s do a better job at painting a vivid picture – for your citizens, and for mine – of a future in which clean energy generates prosperity that is broadly shared. Climate justice maintains its moral force; the clarity of who is responsible should never be left behind.”

Mr Davis, continuing his advocacy for ‘climate justice’ for The Bahamas and other small island developing states (SIDS), which have contributed the least to climate change but enduring - and facing - the greatest impacts, added:

“We have seen the limits of what can be achieved when the climate story is focused too narrowly on blame.

“Zero-sum moralising, in which for me to win, you must lose, is

counter-productive in a world in which citizens of even the wealthiest nations feel that the social contract is broken, and rising costs and diminishing opportunities are fueling a politics of rage. If calls for climate justice are only demands for accountability about past wrongs, we will find it very difficult to create a more just future.

“If we’re serious about unlocking trillions in public and private investment, we need to make sure ordinary people everywhere understand that a cleaner, healthier less expensive future is within reach. We can build a future with cleaner air and water, lower energy bills, health

improvements, reduced climate migration, reduced dependence on imported fuels, food and water security.”

The Prime Minister continued: “When enough citizens in enough countries understand this, we make far more likely the policy and regulatory continuity

that investors rightly seek. We can make the political costs of cancelling or unwinding renewable energy gains so unpalatable as to be unthinkable.

“If we invest in stories and get the message outjust a fraction of what we invest in solar panels and turbines and batteries - we can bend the arc of history towards a time of renewable energy abundance.”

Highlighting the urgency associated with energy reforms, Mr Davis added: “We know a failure to create renewable energy abundance in the coming years could easily be catastrophic, but we see also that a future characterised by energy abundance can be one of great flourishing; a new era of progress in which we can all move forward together.

Noting that the “competitiveness and economics of renewables are improving, too”, the Prime Minister continued: “We are confident that energy reform will transform communities and our economy, but the path is not an easy one, and like everyone else, we will continue to navigate technical and supply chain challenges.

“The biggest challenges for countries like ours, though, are financial – four Category four and five hurricanes over the course of less than a single decade took billions out of our economy, making it difficult – ironically - to invest in our energy transition and in climate resilience.

“We are carrying the burden of storms already endured while also paying for those yet to come. The toll is not only measured in

billions of dollars in damages, but also in the higher interest rates and insurance premiums that reflect the risk we live with every day,” he added.

“These challenges are playing out in many nations. So how can we accelerate a global transition to renewable energy abundance? I want to suggest one important piece of the puzzle, which is to reframe climate debates.”

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Bahamas urges to ‘fight with full force’ to protect resource

DEDICATED - from page B1

The reality is there’s hundreds of these operations going on.”

Mr Maillis echoed Mr Cenci’s concern, voiced in Tribune Business yesterday, that it can be very hard to prove an illegal fishing charter as those involved will frequently assert that those guests on board are merely their personal friends who are helping to cover the trip’s costs such as fuel and accommodation expenses. Many perpetrators also enter The Bahamas on cruising and sports fishing permits/

“Right now, it’s very hard to manage them,” the NFA secretary added. “We have a free-for-all system where anyone can come with funds and, if they pay a certain level, they can get it. We have no limits on how many vessels, how many operators, enter the country at any one time.

“We are facilitating an endless supply of competition for local Bahamian charter operators, commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen and residents. The daily catch limits are still too high.” Mr Maillis said vessels are permitted to catch up to ten crawfish; six conch; and 18 pelagic fish per day. The latter can be 18 100-pound wahoo or 18 200-pound tuna.

“There’s no end to how much a person, a vessel can fish in a day and have on their vessel at any one time,” Mr Maillis added. “If they are illegal commercial fishermen operating in disguise or whatever, they can offload their catch every day at a shore base and go back out the same day.

“If boarded and below their per vessel limit, technically they have committed nothing wrong in the eyes of law enforcement. We have very little traceability and accountability in the eyes of

law enforcement. We have thousands of fishing operations in Bahamian waters at any one time, many legal and some not legal.”

Mr Maillis argued that the presence of illegal foreign fishing charters means “tens of thousands of pounds of seafood are being taken by people not paying a Business Licence fee, VAT, National Insurance Board (NIB) contributions” and other fees and taxes that legitimate Bahamian operators must pay.

“Let’s just do the math,” he said. “It’s seafood taken from local charter fishermen, commercial fishermen and local communities. It’s unacceptable to have this scale of unfettered harvest in the belief we have a never-ending resource. We don’t. The hotbeds are Bimini, Grand Bahama and the Berry Islands. They are being hit the hardest.

“We have a better relationship now with the

Americans, and can use their Lacey Act to bring complaints. It’s up to us on the policy and legislative side to combat this here. The numbers of people we are allowing in vastly exceeds our ability to regulate this. We need to rethink our approach, especially with foreign charters.

“Foreign recognised charters pay for a foreign charter licence, $10,000, and charge $6,000 a head per day to fill the boat. The math is not adding up. They bring their own supplies, and do not benefit the local economy in the fantastic way the Ministry of Tourism thinks they do.” Only marinas benefit, Mr Maillis argued.

“The Bahamas can regulate how much fish we allow people to catch without impacting why they come here,” the NFA secretary said. “We have to be concerned with the greater Bahamian economy and future of our fisheries industry.... We are being full-out assaulted as a nation. Our fisheries sector is under assault. If we don’t have operations like Red Dawn Two.....”

Mr Maillis asserted that many US fishermen are “looking to The Bahamas to recover their income” because their industry’s condition is not good. “They are doing it through fishing charters, and most of them are illegal. We can’t allow it to happen. We are not their sugar daddy,” he told Tribune Business.

“The Bahamas is for Bahamians and those involved in lawful operations. Many of my fishermen want these exact sentiments shared. They are tired. Nobody is talking about the issues.” Mr Maillis also urged the Government to provide an update on the status of the regulations supposed to accompany the Fisheries Act, adding that “it’s been a long time now” and the industry is being kept in the dark.

Calling for a further strengthening of maritime law enforcement, Mr Maillis urged: “What we need to do to crack down on these illegal operations is to continue to support these arrests. It should not be that these operations are partially funded out of the

pockets of the officers and the agencies running raids to apprehend violators in this country.

“We have to get more money for these apprehensions. We saw in Red Dawn One (the Highly Migratory) in excess of $200,000-plus in fines and penalties. We have to get those funds out of the Consolidated Fund and dedicated to fisheries law enforcement efforts.

“We also need a full-time fisheries prosecutor from the Director of Public Prosecutions’ Office who deals with high-level financial and fisheries actions,” Mr Maillis added. “Some of these exceed $100,000, and are not suited for the Magistrate’s Court; they are for the Supreme Court..

“Right now, the director of public prosecutions has an excellent prosecutor in place for these fisheries violators, but they have other criminal cases, too. We need someone full-time. Many of these operators have deep pockets and can tie-up the legal system for a long-time. We have to fight them with full force.”

administration, told this newspaper that the Bahamian aviation industry is working to retain more of the sector’s profits and financial benefits in a bid to “take ownership” from overseas rivals who repatriate their earnings outside this jurisdiction.

He revealed that investors seeking to partner with the Bahamian aviation industry on “fleet modernisation and bring capital to the table” will be present at a November 14, 2025, conference in Nassau as part of an initiative by domestic operators “to steer the sector properly.

Bahamasair’s Mr Cooper, speaking at the recent Abaco Business Outlook conference, lamented the pilot, technician and dispatcher shortages that the national flag carrier and all Bahamas-based airlines face.

“We have difficulties, and what we do is that we tend to steal from each other,” he admitted. “If you talk to Western Air they’ll tell

you Bahamasair is taking their pilots, those kinds of things. We don’t want to do that, but we need more entry level persons in the profession in the Bahamas. We don’t have enough entry-level persons for sustainability.”

Mr Hamilton, in response, yesterday agreed with Mr Cooper’s assertion. “It’s pretty much so,” he told Tribune Business.

“Bahamasair traditionally has always poached from the domestic operators because it treats them like a feeder system.

“The domestic operators pay to train pilots, get them upgraded, and because of the limited capacity of domestic operators to reward them properly with packaged benefits, Bahamasair takes them off. We had a meeting with Bahamasair, Tracy and his executive team, about that a year ago.

“One operator was about to close their business

because they [Bahamasair] were taking all their captains. That meant they would have to go back and train persons, their first officers, up to captain level. They would only have had first officers.”

Mr Hamilton said the industry itself widely acknowledges that Bahamian aviation needs “an overhaul” also requiring the Government’s participation. He added that shortages of pilots and other skilled workers was not unique to The Bahamas but a global industry issue that had been worsened by a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and, in some cases, early retirements.

“It makes sense for us to have a technical system to train local pilots and have them on par to fill the gaps,” Mr Hamilton told this newspaper. “We have had sessions with the deputy prime minister [Chester Cooper] on this as well.

“The national flag carrier is operating on the purse of the Treasury. The domestic operator has to find the capital to do these things and doesn’t receive a subsidy from the Government. In this regard, what Tracy indicated has merit to it. We

believe things can be managed differently and we can get better results.”

Mr Hamilton reiterated a long-standing belief among some Bahamian aviation observers that Bahamasair should outsource some of its domestic routes and be re-tooled to concentrate on international business, opening up new markets and bringing tourists here.

“There’s an international conference being held here in November,” he added. “I can’t share too much because we are working through the details. We have some foreign investors seeking to come here to present opportunities to modernise the fleet and bring capital to the table.

Bahamasair and domestic operators will be exposed to that.

“This is part of a thrust by domestic operators to take ownership of it and steer this thing properly to maximise the true benefits derived from it. The foreign airlines are walking away with the proceeds and taking them overseas.

“We have revenues, but the majority of revenues go overseas. We need to bring that home. We need to on avenues to increase domestic participation and some

of those revenues stay in The Bahamas.”

Mr Cooper last week told the Abaco Business Outlook that Bahamasair’s air fare rates are “a stabilising force” in the market, and help to ensure this nation as a tourism destination remains affordable from an access perspective, as it prevents rival private sector carriers from “jacking up their prices”.

Rival carriers, though, have accused Bahamasair of only being able to undercut the market because of the typical annual $20mplus taxpayer subsidies it receives from the Government. They argue that such actions merely distort the market and undermine the financial health of private airlines that are not underwritten by a taxpayer subsidy.

“We’ve had experience over the years where, in certain periods, they’d chop their fees and we’re suddenly in catch-up because they have the backing of the Treasury purse. But if they compete at true cost they would not be able to give the fees they were giving. That would not be possible,” Mr Hamilton said.

Economy not growing fast enough for school leavers

necessary approvals for their projects to proceed.

Noting the multiple government agencies, each with their own processes, that Bahamians and foreigners must deal with, he pledged that - if elected - a Free National Movement (FNM) administration would “fast track investments to move them from the approval stage to the shovel-in-the-ground stage and job creation stage”.

The Opposition finance spokesman, who said the Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) report showed the Bahamian economy lost 5,571 jobs between the 2024 third quarter and January 2025, described the 52 percent increase in the number of unemployed workers during that seven-month period as “very troubling”.

“The information, as I said, is really devastating for the country to digest,” Mr Thompson told Tribune Business. “The information, with respect to the underemployment, is very, very troubling. The difficulty with the under-employment is you have thousands of folks who are working and they are not fulfilling their full potential.

“That full potential is what the country needs to move forward. That’s what the country needs for greater economic growth. The other challenge with under-employment is that is why we have so many folks complaining about the cost of living. That is why we have so many folks complaining about the wages they are earning. That is a serious challenge.”

The Institute, in its January labour force survey, found that of the 214,725 persons employed at that time some 65,225 were only partially - and not fully - employed and seeking to work additional

hours to increase their earning capacity. “Of those employed, 65,225 individuals were under-employed, that is working part-time while wanting additional hours,” the report said.

Mr Thompson’s argument is that not working a full-time job or full 40-hour work week has only increased the pressures imposed on many Bahamian workers and their families by the postCOVID inflation and price hikes that fuelled the ‘cost of living’ crisis. Without the security provided by fulltime incomes and wages, many have struggled to pay all their bills in full and on time.

Meanwhile, the east Grand Bahama MP noted that Bahamian youth unemployment has always been stubbornly higher than the national rate after January’s report pegged joblessness among 15 to 24 year-olds at 20.9 percent. This means that more than one in five Bahamians seeking work cannot find it.

“We must pay close attention to our young people to give them the hope that is necessary,” Mr Thompson told Tribune Business. “The report just reinforces what the Opposition has been saying for some time, which

is we don’t have sufficient growth to provide for those folks coming out of school. We don’t have sufficient growth to provide all the necessary jobs that Bahamians require.

“We have thousands of folks coming into the job market every year, which means the economy has to be pushing forward jobs to accommodate them. They’re not going to survive the loss of 5,000 jobs. We are seeing evidence that the economy is not growing fast enough...

“The problem will not be solved by the Government alone. We have to have additional private sector employment, and what we need for additional private sector employment is to remove all the red tape businesses have to go through.”

To get investment projects approved and moving, Mr Thompson said both Bahamian and foreign entrepreneurs are frequently required to obtain permits and approvals from multiple government agencies including the likes of the Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA), Town Planning Committee, Department of Environmental Planning

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and Protection (DEPP), and Department of Inland Revenue.

“All these departments have different approval processes,” he added. “We must be able to fast track investments to move them from the approval stage to the shovel-in-the-ground stage and job creation stage. That is where this government has failed miserably.

“Too many investments have stalled, too many investments have been delayed. That is a major issue Bahamian investors and non-Bahamian investors are confronted with. If you have billions of dollars in investments, were is the reality of those billions of dollars in investments? We must be able to move the approval of billions of dollars in investments to shovel-in-the-ground ready projects.”

The Institute’s survey said: “The total number of unemployed individuals in January 2025 was 25,925, with females making up 51.3 per cent. Among the unemployed, 6,960 were

youth aged 15 to 24 years, almost evenly distributed by sex.

“The unemployment rate for January 2025 was 10.8 per cent. The female unemployment rate was higher at 11.2 per cent, while the unemployment rate for males, 10.4 per cent. The youth unemployment rate was 20.9 per cent, with the unemployment rate for young adult females at 21.7 per cent and for young adult males it was 20.3 per cent.

“Nationally, women aged 20 to 44 and 45 to 54 were more likely to be unemployed than their male counterparts. By contrast, men aged 25-44 were slightly more likely to be unemployed when compared with women within their same age cohort.”

Some 106,480 persons were found to be “outside the labour force”, likely meaning persons who were between jobs in January 2025, stay-at-home parents and others. Of this number, some 3,720 or 3.5 percent were identified as

“discouraged workers”, meaning they are part of the potential labour force but not actively looking for a job. That 3,720 said they had given up because they were “tired of looking for jobs” or there were “no jobs in the area’. Others said they either lacked experience or there were no available job openings to match their skills, while some alleged they were viewed as too young or old by employers.

“There were 25,520 young people (aged 15 to 24 years) outside the labour force, accounting for 23.9 per cent of this group. Among these young adults, 11,870 were males and 13,650 were females,” the Institute’s survey found.

“The total labour force in January was 240,650 individuals: 121,565 males (50.5 percent) and 119, 085 females (49.5 percent). The overall labour force participation rate was 76 percent. Males had a higher participation rate of 80.4 per cent compared to 72 per cent for females.”

‘Cyclical contractions’ blamed for increase in unemployment

- from page B1

Mrs Glover-Rolle argued.

“Hundreds of openings exist in our Department of Labour database that we have been unable to fill.

The real challenge lies in building and aligning skills with the opportunities on offer.

“That is why this administration has been proactive in investing in training, apprenticeships and new pathways to ensure Bahamians are ready for the jobs of today and tomorrow.” The minister pointed to the newly-created National Productivity Task Force, together with the just-launched National Apprenticeship Programme (NAP), as government initiatives designed to tackle skills gaps in the workforce.

“The National Productivity Task Force has been mandated to lay the

foundation for a National Productivity Council. Its work includes creating the framework, systems and stakeholder partnerships necessary to address productivity shortfalls that limit economic participation,” Mrs Glover-Rolle added. She also cited the Bahamas Polytechnic Accreditation & Training Hub (BPATH), which will allow high school students to obtain career certifications, the Creative and Performing Arts School (CAPAS), and the expansion of the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) to Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma as part of a wider package of measures intended to enhance the Bahamian labour market.

“Last year, our GDP continued to grow. And, in the third quarter, unemployment reached one of its

Staff concerns over new housing persist

VACATE - from page B2

Victor Karavias, Resorts World Bimini’s senior vicepresident of operations, in a September 9, 2025, note entitled ‘team member housing changes’, blamed the notice to vacate on “circumstances beyond our control” without detailing what these are.

“It is necessary for us to vacate some of our team member housing facilities by the end of this month,” he wrote. “This applies to dorm buildings four and five, all of our management cottages, as well as the triplex. As a result, we will need to immediately begin plans to relocate out of those buildings.”

Promising that the resort’s human resources department will inform impacted staff “about next steps”, Mr Karavias added: “In the interim, you should prepare your belongings for the move. While we know this is not pleasant news, unfortunately we have no available alternatives as it relates to these facilities.

“It is, however, important to note that this is in no way

a reflection on our business operations and our future. Resorts World Bimini is in the midst of a very busy year and the future looks bright with our expanding cruise schedule and the expansion of the airport. We must all remain diligent to serve our customers with the level of service they deserve while being mindful of all of our resources.”

This was backed by a separate message from Alyson Nixon, Resorts World Bimini’s manager of human resources, who wrote: “Due to circumstance outside of our control, several housing facilities such as Dorm four, Dorm five, management cottages and the triplex will no longer be available to us, requiring us to begin relocation plans.

“While we understand this may be difficult news, please be assured that these changes do not affect the strength of our business or our positive outlook for the future. Resorts World Bimini continues to grow, and we remain committed to supporting our team throughout this transition.”

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lowest points since the turn of the century. We remain confident that our policies, training initiatives and investments will continue to expand opportunities and prepare Bahamians for long-term success,” Mrs Glover-Rolle said.

“We are focused on creating jobs, and we are also going a step beyond to ensure that our people have the skills, training and readiness to seize the jobs that will be created.” She added that the January 2025 labour force survey reflected “seasonal, socio-cultural and global realities” - but again did not go into detail on what these are.

Tribune Business pointed out on Wednesday that the jobless increase seemed to buck conventional economic wisdom and traditional trends. Unemployment is often at its peak

during the calendar year’s third quarter due to the annual influx of high school leavers into the workforce, combined with the typical slowdown in tourism during September and October.

However, hiring and employment typically picks up again to coincide with the winter tourism season that hits its peak during the year’s first quarter and often spills over into the second. Yet according to the Institute’s survey data, The Bahamas’ unemployment rate and actual number of jobless workers actually increased despite the seasonal winter tourism pick-up.

Apart from an 8,885 increase in the number of unemployed persons between the 2024 third quarter and January 2025, the BNSI survey revealed that 65,225 persons - representing 30.4 percent of the 214,725 workers currently holding jobs - were deemed to be under-employed, “working part-time while wanting additional hours”.

The data also disclosed that 28 percent of men

TRUMP’S TOUTING OF AN UNPROVEN AUTISM DRUG SURPRISED MANY, INCLUDING THE DOCTOR WHO PROPOSED IT

MATTHEW PERRONE

AP Health Writer

WHEN President Donald Trump's administration announced it would repurpose an old, generic drug as a new treatment for autism, it came as a surprise to many experts — including the physician who suggested the idea to the nation's top health officials.

Dr. Richard Frye told The Associated Press that he'd been talking with federal regulators about developing his own customized version of the drug for children with autism, assuming more research would be required. "So we were kinda surprised that they were just approving it right out of the gate without more studies or anything," said Frye, an Arizona-based child neurologist who has a book and online education business focused on the experimental treatment.

It's another example of the haphazard rollout of the Trump administration's Monday announcement on autism, which critics say has elevated an unproven drug that needs far more study before being approved as a credible treatment for the complex brain disorder.

A spokesperson for the Republican administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning. The nation's leading autism groups and

researchers quickly distanced themselves from the decision on leucovorin, a derivative of vitamin B, calling the studies supporting its use "very weak" and "very small."

"We have nothing resembling even moderate evidence that leucovorin is an effective treatment for autism symptoms," said David Mandell, a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mandell and other researchers say the evidence suggests autism is mostly rooted in genetics, with input from other factors, including the age of the child's father. Nevertheless, a growing number of doctors are prescribing the medication, repurposing versions used for chemotherapy or ordering new formulations from compounding pharmacies.

Many researchers agree the drug warrants additional study, particularly for patients with a deficiency of folate, or vitamin B9, in the brain that may play a role in autism. But for now, they say, it should only be taken in carefully controlled clinical trials.

"We often say our job is to stay between the yellow lines," said Dr. Lawrence Gray, a pediatric developmental specialist at Northwestern University. "When people just decide to go outside of current guidelines, then they're outside

employed in the Bahamian workforce in January 2025, and 17 percent of women, had “no qualification” - again exposing issues related to productivity, competitiveness and company output, especially given the world’s shift to the ‘digital’ and knowledgebased economy of the 21st century. Youth unemployment, which accounts for persons aged between 15 and 24 years-old who are looking but unable to find work, stood at 20.9 percent and was almost double the national jobless rate. This meant that more than in five Bahamians, some 6,960, were looking for work but unable to find it. And close to one in three of all Bahamian workers are deemed to be under-employed.

The number of jobless workers, meaning Bahamians looking for work but unable to find it, rose from 17,040 in the 2024 third quarter (the three months to end-September) to 25,925 in the 2025 first quarter. The Opposition asserted that The Bahamas

had lost 5,500 jobs between the 2024 third quarter and 2025 first quarter due to the employed labour force shrinking from 220,975 to 214,725 over that period.

Mrs Glover-Rolle, and the Ministry of Labour and Public Service, in their statement conceded that The Bahamas’ national unemployment rate had soared from “an over 20-year low” of 7.2 percent in the 2024 third quarter to 10.8 percent in the 2025 first quarter. The minster sought to argue that the data, now some six months’ old, did not reflect current labour market conditions.

The ministry also asserted that labour force participation had increased from 74.8 percent in late 2024 to 76 percent in early 2025.

“This means more Bahamians entered the job market and are now actively seeking work. While this has resulted in an increase in the unemployment rate, it also signals confidence in the economy and an increased desire among Bahamians to engage in the workforce,” it added.

of that. And nobody knows what's going to happen out there."

The case for leucovorin's use in autism begins with established science but quickly veers into uncertain terrain. When metabolized, the drug turns into folate, which is essential for healthy prenatal development and is recommended before and during pregnancy. But far less is known about its role after birth.

The issue caught the attention of Frye and others more than 20 years ago, when research suggested some people with autism had low levels of folate in the brain due to antibodies blocking the vitamin's absorption.

The theory linking autism to folate levels was mostly abandoned, however, after research showed that the siblings of people with autism can also have low folates without any symptoms of the condition.

"I honestly thought this had died out as a theory for autism and was shocked to see its reemergence," Mandell said.

In 2018, Frye and his colleagues published a study of 48 children in which those taking leucovorin performed better on several

language measures than those taking a placebo.

Four small studies in other countries, including China and Iran, showed similar results, albeit using different doses, metrics and statistical analyses, which researchers say is problematic. Frye struggled to get funding to continue within the traditional academic system.

"I decided to move out of academia to be more innovative and actually do some of this stuff," he said.

Researchers saw an opening to approach Trump's top health officials

Earlier this year, Frye and several other researchers formed a new entity, the Autism Discovery Coalition, to pitch their work to Trump administration officials including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

"After Kennedy got in, we thought they'd hopefully be friendly to autism scientists," he said.

An August meeting with National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya quickly led to further discussions with the Food and Drug Administration about testing a proprietary, purified version of leucovorin.

DR. MARTY MAKARY, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, listen as President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, in Washington. Photo:Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Trump’s workforce purge batters DC’s job market and leads to rise in homes for sale, report finds

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press

THE Department of Government Efficiency's remaking of the federal workforce has battered the Washington job market and put more households in the metropolitan area in financial distress, according to a report released Wednesday.

The number of homes for sale in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia region, also known as the DMV, is up by 64% since June 2024, and the region's unemployment rate is the highest in the nation, according to the DMV Monitor, a realtime data interactive created by the Brookings Institution with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

Washington has had the nation's highest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for four straight months. The unemployment rate was 5.3% in January and ticked up to 6% in August, compared with the 4.3% national average, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Al

By SETH BORENSTEIN

AP Science Writer

SOON people will be able to use satellite technology and artificial intelligence to track dangerous soot pollution in their neighborhoods — and where it comes from — in a way not so different from monitoring approaching storms under plans by a nonprofit coalition led by former Vice President Al Gore.

Gore, who co-founded Climate TRACE, which uses satellites to monitor the location of heat-trapping methane sources, on Wednesday expanded his system to track the source and plume of pollution from tiny particles, often referred to as soot, on a neighborhood basis for 2,500 cities across the world. Particle pollution kills millions of people worldwide each year — and tens of thousands in the

From the start of President Donald Trump's second term in January, DOGE, led by his then-adviser Elon Musk, instigated purges of federal agencies with the expressed mission of rooting out fraud, waste and abuse. DOGE led to tens of thousands of job cuts, including layoffs and people who accepted financial incentives to quit. Some people were rehired, a reflection of the haphazard process. Although losses were felt around the country, the Washington area was particularly hard hit.

Scott Kupor, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, said last month that there will be 300,000 fewer federal workers on the payroll nationwide by the end of the year. The government has about 2.5 million workers, including military members.

Contractors have been affected, too. DOGE's website states that 13,231 federal government contracts have been terminated, totaling $59 billion in savings. In fiscal year 2024, more than 100,000 companies received contracts,

pollution

United States — according to scientific studies and reports.

Gore's coalition uses 300 satellites, 30,000 ground-tracking sensors and artificial intelligence to track 137,095 sources of particle pollution, with 3,937 of them categorized as "super emitters" for how much they spew. Users can look at long-term trends, but in about a year Gore hopes these can become available daily so they can be incorporated into weather apps, like allergy reports. It's not just seeing the pollutants. The website shows who is spewing them.

"It's difficult, before AI, for people to really see precisely where this conventional air pollution is coming from," Gore said.

"When it's over in their homes and in their neighborhoods and when people have a very clear idea of this, then I think they're empowered with the truth

REP. KWEISI MFUME, D-Md., protests against DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, as he and other House Democrats speak out against the Republican budget plan, on the House steps at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 25, 2025.

totaling roughly $774 billion.

Besides the mass layoffs, the Republican president's other actions to remake the image of the nation's capital — including deploying National Guard troops and federalizing the city's local Metropolitan Police Department — "could shape consumer spending and investment in the local economy," the report says.

The report also says private-sector job growth is stagnating, "with many new jobs not aligned with the skills and experiences of most laid-off federal workers."

"As a result," it says, "job postings were not as robust as they were in peer regions, which is concerning when unemployment has soared, especially in the suburbs."

Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said D.C. "has often had the highest unemployment rate

Photo:

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

in the nation, even during Joe Biden's federal hiring frenzy." D.C.'s unemployment rate hit 11.3% at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and fell to 5.3% at the end of Biden's presidency. "This longstanding problem is due to an overreliance on federal bloat and sky-high crime, two problems that President Trump is quickly and successfully fixing by cracking down on crime in the Nation's capital and implementing supply-side reforms that have already created over half a million private-sector jobs for American-born workers," Rogers said.

The DMV region is home to the second highest share of college graduates of any major U.S. metropolitan area, and one-fifth of federal workers are concentrated in the area.

In July, the Supreme Court cleared the way for Trump's Republican administration to downsize

the federal workforce further, despite warnings that critical government services would be lost. The ruling does not apply to every agency, and other legal challenges to federal worker firings continue.

Additionally, hundreds of federal employees who lost their jobs in Musk's costcutting blitz are being asked to return to work.

"The DMV region's economy has grown even weaker than the nation in many categories due to the Trump administration's seismic actions to shrink the federal government," the report reads.

And given proposed additional cuts in the future, the DC Fiscal Policy Institute predicts it's likely more Washington residents and others from around the region who work in Washington will lose their federal jobs over the coming months and years.

The latest Washington Office of Revenue Analysis figures show that initial unemployment insurance claims have jumped by 33.7% compared with this time last year.

of their situation. My faith tradition has always taught me you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free."

Unlike methane, soot pollution isn't technically a climate issue because it doesn't cause the world to warm, but it does come from the same process: fossil fuel combustion.

"It's the same combustion process of the same fuels that produce both the greenhouse gas pollution and the particulate pollution that kills almost 9 million people every single year,'' Gore said in a video interview Monday.

"I'll give you an example. I recently spent a week in Cancer Alley, the stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans where the

U.S. petrochemical industry is based. That's a 65-mile (105-kilometer) stretch, you know, and on either side of the river we did an analysis with the Climate TRACE data. If Cancer Alley were a nation, its per capita global warming pollution emissions would rank fourth in the world, behind Turkmenistan."

Gore's firm found Karachi, Pakistan, had the most people exposed to soot pollution, followed by Guangzhou, China, Seoul, South Korea, New York City and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

XCEL ENERGY WILL PAY $640M TO SETTLE

CLAIMS FROM DENVER-AREA WILDFIRE THAT BURNED 1,000 STRUCTURES

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press

XCEL Energy expects to pay about $640 million to settle lawsuits alleging it was responsible for starting Colorado's most destructive wildfire that killed two people and destroyed nearly 1,000 homes in 2021, the company said Wednesday.

The announcement came as jury selection was set to begin Thursday in a two-month trial combining lawsuits brought by hundreds of homeowners, insurers and others over the fire in the heavily populated suburbs between Denver and Boulder. Court documents confirmed a settlement has been reached and the trial canceled.

Minneapolis-based Xcel has maintained that its equipment did not cause or contribute to the fire. It said it does not admit any fault under the settlement.

Lawyer James Avery said the settlement provides hope to the hundreds of fire victims he represents. Most of them plan to accept confidential payouts already determined by mediators based on their circumstances.

"There is a sense of relief and hope for an ending to this tragic disaster that they continue to struggle with as they rebuild their homes and lives," he said.

As global warming makes wildfires worse in the western U.S., utilities in the region have spent billions of dollars in recent years on insurance costs and trying to upgrade old equipment to reduce the chances of accidentally igniting a blaze. They have also faced lawsuits after major fires from people who contended they did not do enough.

In Colorado, investigators found that a sparking power line owned by Xcel was one of the causes of the fire that was fanned by high winds. Embers from a

NOTICE

By Order made in the Magistrate Court in Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands by H.H. Oreika Selver-Gardiner on 15th May 2025 Mr. Tevin Tucker of Providenciales Turks and Caicos Island hereby requests Ms. Brenicka Mayne whose last known address is Freeport, Grand Bahama to contact him at telephone number 1 (649) 332-3973 as soon as possible failing which matters may be decided in your absence on October 7th, 2025.

smoldering scrap-wood fire set days before on a nearby property used by a Christian religious communal group were also found to have been another cause.

The smoldering fire at the Twelve Tribes property had been buried by residents a few days before in a way that was approved by firefighters who stopped by to investigate, authorities said.

The two fires combined into an inferno following months of drought amid a winter nearly devoid of snow. It spread rapidly in winds that gusted up

to 100 mph (160 kph) in places, causing $2 billion in damage.

Killed in the fire were a 69-year-old man who lived near where the fire started and a 91-year-old woman last seen trying to rescue her dogs from her home in Superior.

Authorities spent 18 months investigating the cause of the Marshall Fire and determined criminal charges were not warranted for either Xcel or the Christian group.

Xcel said in a statement Wednesday that it, Qwest

Corp., which leased space on Xcel's power poles for fiber optic cable, and Teleport Communications America LLC reached agreements in principle to settle all claims involved.

But the company said homeowners and others who filed lawsuits against it still had to decide whether to opt into the agreement.

"We recognize that the fire and its aftermath have been difficult and painful for many, and we hope that our and the telecom defendants' contributions in today's settlement can bring some closure for the community," Xcel CEO Bob Frenzel said.

A transcript of a hearing held Wednesday to discuss the deal has been sealed until the end of the day.

Lawyers must update the court on the status of the settlement within the next month, Judge Christopher Zenisek said in an order.

Xcel said about $350 million of its settlement payment would be funded by its insurance coverage and that its customers would not pay any of it.

The lawsuits brought by about 4,000 homeowners, insurance companies and local governments like fire districts were set to be tried together. They suffered a variety of losses, from smoke damage to losing their homes and income.

A construction company Avery represents estimates it lost millions of dollars in business and equipment and likely won't participate in the settlement, opting to pursue its own lawsuit instead, he said.

"The intention is to resolve the case with just a couple of exceptions," he said.

Utilities in California and Oregon have also faced lawsuits alleging their equipment sparked destructive wildfires. Oregon's PacifiCorp has faced a series of lawsuits over wildfires that broke out in 2020, which were among the worst natural disasters in state history. The company reached settlement agreements over the Archie Creek Fire, including one for $299 million with 463 plaintiffs impacted by the blaze, while juries have ordered it to pay tens of millions to other wildfire victims.

Earlier this month, the federal government filed two lawsuits against Southern California Edison, alleging the utility's equipment started fires including January's Eaton Fire in the Los Angeles area, which destroyed more than 9,400 structures and killed 17 people.

YOUTUBE TO START BRINGING BACK CREATORS BANNED FOR COVID-19 AND ELECTION MISINFORMATION

By ALI SWENSON Associated Press

YOUTUBE will offer

creators a way to rejoin the streaming platform if they were banned for violating COVID-19 and election misinformation policies that are no longer in effect, its parent company Alphabet said Tuesday.

In a letter submitted in response to subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee, attorneys for Alphabet said the decision to bring back banned accounts reflected the company's commitment to free speech. It said the company values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes their reach and important role in civic discourse.

"No matter the political atmosphere, YouTube will continue to enable free expression on its platform, particularly as it relates to issues subject to political debate," the letter read.

The move is the latest in a cascade of content moderation rollbacks from tech companies, who cracked down on false information during the pandemic and after the 2020 election

but have since faced pressure from President Donald Trump and other conservatives who argue they unlawfully stifled right-wing voices in the process. It comes as tech CEOs, including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, have sought a closer relationship with the Republican president, including through highdollar donations to his campaign and attending events in Washington. YouTube in 2023 phased out its policy to remove content that falsely claims the 2020 election, or other past U.S. presidential elections, were marred by "widespread fraud, errors or glitches."

The platform in 2024 also retired its standalone COVID-19 content restrictions, allowing various treatments for the disease to be discussed. COVID-19 misinformation now falls under YouTube's broader medical misinformation policy. Among the creators who have been banned from YouTube under the now-expired policies are prominent conservative influencers, including Dan Bongino, who now serves as deputy director of the FBI.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

In accordance with Article 7, paragraph (1) of the Bahamas Public Service Union Constitution, the BPSU will be hosing the Annual General Membership Meeting on Friday the 26th of September, 20225 at the Bahamas Public Service Union Hall, East Street South at 6:30pm.

Only financial members will be allowed to participate in the meeting as the Reports from the Executives will be presented.

Refreshment will be served after the meeting.

A FIRE burns in a home destroyed by the Marshall Wildfire in Louisville, Colo., Dec. 31, 2021.

Photo:Jack Dempsey/AP

Indigenous groups criticize Ecuador's $47 billion oil expansion plan in Amazon

By STEVEN GRATTAN Associated Press

SEVEN Indigenous groups in Ecuador's Amazon have denounced a government plan to offer dozens of blocks of land for oil exploration, saying it threatens their ancestral lands and violates constitutional protections.

The criticism targets a plan from the Ministry of Energy and Mines in August to auction the rights for 49 oil and gas projects worth more than $47 billion.

Officials say the "hydrocarbon roadmap" is a strategy to modernize Ecuador's oil industry, attract foreign capital and boost production. Their plan includes contract renegotiations and new licensing rounds that the government says comply with existing legal frameworks.

Indigenous groups say 18 of the proposed oil blocks overlap their territories — an area roughly the size of Belgium.

Leaders from the Andwa, Shuar, Achuar, Kichwa, Sapara, Shiwiar and Waorani peoples say their communities were not

consulted and accuse the government of ignoring court rulings that struck down earlier consultations as unconstitutional.

"The government is pushing ahead with plans to auction 18 oil blocks in our ancestral territories without free, prior and informed consent. That is a constitutional and international right the state is violating," said Nemo Guiquita, a Waorani leader with the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Several recent moves by President Daniel Noboa have alarmed environmentalists and Indigenous leaders who say the country's green reputation is unraveling.

Noboa's administration has moved to scrap Ecuador's independent Environment Ministry. He also supported a law passed by the National Assembly that lets private and foreign entities co-manage conservation zones that critics say weakens protections and threatens Indigenous land rights.

"There have been protests, lawsuits and companies forced to withdraw

in the past, but now they are once again offering up Amazon oil fields," Guiquita said. "We are resisting, and we call on the international community to oppose this expansion and help protect the Amazon and our rights."

Ecuador's Ministry of Energy and Mines did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press. The government has maintained that a 2012 consultation remains valid and that the hydrocarbon plan follows existing regulations.

The Noboa government has already opened new licensing rounds. In April 2025, international firms submitted bids for four oil blocks, and the government said it planned further auctions in Amazon and sub-Andean regions in late 2025 and 2026.

"The Amazon is not for sale. We will defend our territories because we have not been consulted — this is our home," said Nadino Calapucha, a Kichwa leader.

The dispute comes amid a state of emergency and a national strike over fuel prices, extractive projects

IRAN’S PRESIDENT BLASTS US, ISRAELI ATTACKS FOR DEALING ‘GRIEVOUS BLOW’ TO PEACE AS SANCTIONS LOOM

By FARNOUSH AMIRI and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press

ADDRESSING the world's leaders, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday blamed the United States and Israeli attacks for "dealing a grievous blow" to peace negotiations as Tehran braces for the reinstatement of sanctions in the next week, barring a last-minute diplomatic breakthrough. Hours before his speech, Iran's rial currency fell to a new alltime low.

Pezeshkian's remarks before the U.N. General Assembly are the first in a global forum since the 12-day Israel-Iran war over the summer that saw the assassination of many of the Islamic Republic's highest military and political leaders and broke down weeks of negotiations with the United States.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you all bore witness that this past June, my country was subjected to a savage aggression and flagrant contravention of the most elementary principles of international law," said

the president, who, within Iran's political landscape, is considered a moderate politician.

Pezeshkian is in New York as Tehran seeks to engage in last-minute talks with European nations to stop the coming reimposition of U.N. sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. But before even landing in the U.S., any diplomatic efforts planned by Pezeshkian and Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, were overshadowed when Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected any direct nuclear talks with America in a speech on Tuesday.

"The U.S. has announced the results of the talks in advance," he said. "The result is the closure of nuclear activities and enrichment. This is not a negotiation. It is a diktat, an imposition."

France, Germany and the United Kingdom triggered the so-called "snapback mechanism" to reinstate sanctions — barring a last-minute accord — over Iran's failure to comply with conditions of a 2015 nuclear deal aimed

at preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

"Snapback" was designed to be veto-proof at the U.N. It started a 30-day window for the resumption of sanctions, which ends Sunday, unless the West and Iran reach a diplomatic agreement.

European nations have said that they would be willing to extend the deadline if Iran resumes direct negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear program, allows U.N. nuclear inspectors access to its nuclear sites, and accounts for the more than 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of highly enriched uranium that the U.N. watchdog says it has. Iran is the only nation in the world that enriches uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weaponsgrade levels — that doesn't have a weapons program.

A European diplomat said that the talks in New York between Araghchi and the E3 "did not produce any new developments, any new results." Therefore, European sources "expect that the snapback procedure will continue as planned."

and the government's failure to honor a referendum limiting drilling in Yasuní National Park. On Tuesday, farmers, Indigenous groups and transport unions clashed with police outside the town of Tabacundo as nationwide protests entered a second day.

"Ecuador already showed its will in the Yasuní referendum, when 59% voted to keep oil in the ground. Yet the government insists on

imposing extraction, violating our rights," Calapucha said.

Oil is Ecuador's top export, accounting for about a third of government revenue in some years. The country produces around 480,000 barrels per day, though output has declined over the past decade. Successive governments have tried to lure foreign capital into the Amazon, but projects have often stalled

amid legal battles and Indigenous resistance. Noboa, who took office in late 2023, has staked much of his fiscal plan on boosting resource revenues to stabilize public finances. His administration is also promoting mining investment, drawing fire from Indigenous leaders who say he is ignoring constitutional guarantees of free, prior and informed consent.

PROTESTERS jeer at Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa as he exits an event in Otavalo, Ecuador, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. Photo:Dolores Ochoa/AP

AI's double-edged sword: UN leaders weigh its promise and peril

By KELVIN CHAN and MEG KINNARD Associated Press

THE rise of artificial intelligence took center stage at Wednesday's meeting of the U.N. Security Council, with world leaders and diplomats acknowledging AI's nearly immeasurable capabilities while urging caution about its potential harms in nefarious hands, as well as possible dangers involving military use of the technology.

"The question is not whether AI will influence international peace and security, but how we will shape its influence used responsibly," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in opening remarks at Wednesday's meeting.

"AI can strengthen prevention and protection, anticipating food insecurity and displacement, supporting de-mining, helping identify potential outbreaks of violence, and so much more. But without guardrails, it can also be weaponized."

The session at this week's annual high-level United Nations meetup showcased the global awareness of AI's power, with leaders addressing the possible benefits in areas like medical research and international, in equal measure with warnings for its ability to create and spread misinformation and other ills.

"Deep AI analysis of situation data holds this promise for peace," said British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, heralding AI's ability to keep "ultra-accurate, realtime logistics, ultra-accurate real-time sentiment analysis, ultra-early warning systems." But Lammy warned of the "challenges for armed conflict," such as "the risk of miscalculation, the risk of unintended escalation, and the arrival of artificial intelligence-powered chat bots stirring conflict."

AI has catapulted to the top of many conversations Since the AI boom kicked off with ChatGPT's debut about three years ago, the technology's breathtaking capabilities have amazed the world. Tech companies have raced to develop better AI systems even as experts warn of its risks, including existential threats like engineered pandemics, large-scale misinformation or rogue AIs running out of control, and call for safeguards.

The U.N.'s adoption of a new governance architecture is the latest and biggest effort to rein in AI. Previous multilateral efforts, including three AI summits organized by Britain, South Korea and France, have resulted only in non-binding pledges.

Last month, the General Assembly adopted a resolution to set up two key bodies on AI — a global forum and an independent

scientific panel of experts — in a milestone move to shepherd global governance efforts for the technology.

Wednesday's open debate centered around how the Council can help ensure the responsible application of AI to comply with international law and support peace processes and conflict prevention.

Several, including Sierra Leone Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Kabba, stressed the need for the Council to lead the way on ensuring that AI is not used by militaries without human oversight, so as to avert potentially devastating escalations or misfires.

"The Council can encourage best practices in peace operations, promote safeguards to retain human agency in military uses, and ensure compliance with international law and international humanitarian law," Kabba said.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, prime minister of Greece, called on the Council to "rise to the occasion; just as it once rose to meet the challenges of nuclear weapons or peacekeeping, so too now it must rise to govern the age of AI."

Another focus among some of the Council members was lesser-developed regions like Africa being left behind in the AI revolution. Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud warned of "digital colonialism," which he said can be addressed through partnering with initiatives "to help

ensure AI is a tool for collective advancement rather than a social side of the division."

Ahmed Attaf, Algeria's foreign minister, noted that "only 10 states out of the 55 members of the African Union have adopted the necessary information technology regulations," for AI, something he said "reflects the weakness of our legislative and regulatory frameworks in most African states" and "poses the challenge of digital sovereignty for the African continent."

More on AI coming up at the UN

On Thursday, as part of the body's annual meeting, Guterres will hold a meeting to launch the forum, called the Global Dialogue on AI Governance.

It's a venue for governments and "stakeholders" to discuss international cooperation and share ideas and solutions. It's scheduled to meet formally in Geneva next year and in New York in 2027.

Meanwhile, recruitment is expected to get underway to find 40 experts for the

scientific panel, including two co-chairs, one from a developed country and one from a developing nation. The panel has drawn comparisons with the U.N.'s climate change panel and its flagship annual COP meeting.

The new bodies represent "a symbolic triumph." They are "by far the world's most globally inclusive approach to governing AI," Isabella Wilkinson, a research fellow at the London-based think tank Chatham House, wrote in a blog post.

Judge scolds Justice Department over public statements in UnitedHealthcare CEO murder case

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press

AT least two senior Justice Department officials likely broke court rules governing the conduct of prosecutors by reposting comments President Donald Trump made about Luigi Mangione, the man accused of assassinating the CEO at UnitedHealthcare, a federal judge said Wednesday.

Judge Margaret M. Garnett said in an order that the officials probably violated a local rule limiting what prosecutors can say publicly about the guilt or innocence of a defendant before a trial.

On Sept. 18, Trump went on Fox News and called Mangione "a pure assassin."

"He shot someone in the back as clear as you're looking at me," Trump said. "He shot him right in the middle of the back, instantly dead."

A video clip of Trump's remarks was then posted on the social platform X by the White House, and then reposted by Chad Gilmartin, a Justice Department spokesperson, who added

the comment, "@POTUS is absolutely right." Gilmartin's post, which was later deleted, was then reposted by Brian Nieves, an associate deputy attorney general. The judge asked the department to explain how the violations occurred and what steps are being taken to ensure it doesn't happen again.

"Future violations may result in sanctions, which could include personal financial penalties, contempt of court findings, or relief specific to the prosecution of this matter," the judge wrote. In an email, a Justice Department spokesperson said there would be no comment.

Earlier this month, defense lawyers for Mangione had asked that his federal charges be dismissed and the death penalty be taken off the table as a result of public comments by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in the fatal shooting of Thompson on Dec. 4 as he arrived at a Manhattan hotel for his company's annual investor conference.

In the federal case, Mangione is charged with murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty, as well as stalking and gun offenses. Defense lawyers argued in a written submission to Garnett earlier this month that Justice Department officials poisoned the case when Bondi declared prior to his April indictment that capital punishment is warranted for a "premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America." Bondi announced in April that she was directing Manhattan federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Mangione. His lawyers argued that Bondi's statements and other official actions — including a highly choreographed perp walk that saw Mangione led up a Manhattan pier by armed officers, and the Trump administration's flouting of established death penalty procedures — "have violated Mr. Mangione's constitutional and statutory rights and have fatally prejudiced this death penalty case."

THE UN flag flies on a stormy day at the United Nations during the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 22, 2022.

Photo:Ted Shaffrey/AP

Lawmakers and activists call for action after AP reveals US tech role in China’s surveillance state

By BYRON TAU, GARANCE BURKE and DAKE KANG Associated Press

LAWMAKERS and activists across the political spectrum called on American tech firms to stop selling surveillance equipment to Chinese police and for Congress to examine the issue after The Associated Press reported that U.S. technology had played a far greater role than previously known in enabling human rights abuses by Beijing.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri told AP he wanted to summon tech companies before Congress to address how their technology exports were used. Hawley, a longtime critic of U.S. technology companies, bemoaned Silicon Valley's general lack of cooperation with Congress on that and similar inquiries.

"I think eventually we're going to have to subpoena these people," Hawley said.

In a post on the social media site X this month, Hawley vowed that "Big Tech must cut ties with the CCP - or face my committee," referring to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Hawley sits on several Senate panels that might

have jurisdiction to examine technology issues.

An AP investigation published this month revealed that U.S. technology companies to a large degree designed and built China's surveillance state. Firms including IBM, Dell, and Cisco sold billions in technology to Chinese police and government agencies, despite repeated warnings that such tools were being used to quash dissent, persecute religious sects and target minorities.

Companies named in AP's reporting said they complied with all export control laws.

Yang Caiying, who told AP for its investigation about how her family was targeted by Chinese surveillance using American technology because of their activism in rural Jiangsu, said she was "shocked by the pivotal role that major U.S. tech companies have played" in her family's ordeal. Yang is now collecting signatures for petitions urging Washington to bar U.S. firms from selling to Chinese police, both online and on the street.

Yang added her mother and sister were each sentenced to more than a year in prison earlier this month,

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but that she had no regrets about telling their story. Such reporting, Yang said, was necessary to expose "how miserable people's lives can be when digital surveillance is combined with systematic human rights violations."

"Without attention, China will sink into an endless abyss," she said.

Other lawmakers from both parties urged Congress to beef up export laws to prevent more American technology from being used to fuel human rights abuses abroad.

"China has been utilizing partnerships with U.S. tech companies to build malignant 'smart cities' that are used for mass surveillance and human rights abuses against millions of innocent Chinese people," said Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. The panel is charged with examining the strategic global competition between the U.S. and China.

"As executives at Nvidia and other American tech companies chase business

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in China, they cannot deny that their technology will be used to commit atrocities, strengthen China, and weaken America," Moolenaar said.

Moolenaar called for American companies to work with Congress to write new laws that restrict the export of technologies that enable oppression. and work harder to keep their products from being smuggled into China.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and ranking member of the Senate banking committee that oversees export control processes, also called for strengthening restrictions.

"It's deeply disturbing to see the extent to which some of the largest American tech companies will do the bidding of whoever pays the most — even if it means helping to build a high-tech surveillance state," Warren said. "It underscores the urgency of implementing robust export controls that ensure American technology is not used to enable human rights abuses and harm U.S. interests."

Civil society groups that work on issues related to Chinese state repression of the Tibetan and Uyghur ethnicities also echoed the

call for American tech companies to exit the Chinese market, where their technologies have been used to power surveillance systems.

Tencho Gyatso, president of the International Campaign for Tibet, said she was "shocked and dismayed" by the revelations in AP's investigation.

"I am appalled that U.S. technology companies have made millions in profits selling to China's security services," Gyatso said, calling on U.S. tech firms to "sever immediately any remaining ties or business relationships with China's police state or entities affiliated with it."

Zumretay Arkin, vice president of the World Uyghur Congress, a Munich-based organization that advocates on behalf of the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim Turkic ethnicity native to China's far west Xinjiang region, said American tech companies and scientific researchers bear responsibility for ethnic repression.

"U.S. companies have to stop providing these technologies for the Chinese government," Arkin said.

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YANG CAIYING, who is living in exile in Japan, shows a leaflet protesting Chinese state repression of her family to pedestrians in Nagoya, Japan, Friday, May 17, 2024. Photo:Dake Kang/AP

US stocks slip again as Wall Street's rally loses steam

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer

U.S. stock indexes drifted lower on Wednesday as a seemingly relentless rally on Wall Street takes at least a pause.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% for a second straight, modest loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 171 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.4%. All three are still near their all-time highs, which were set on Monday.

It's a slowdown following the U.S. stock market's blistering run since hitting a low in April, fueled by hopes that President Donald Trump's tariffs won't derail global trade and that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates several times to boost the U.S. economy.

The rally was so big that it raised concerns about stock prices shooting too high and becoming too expensive, particularly if the Fed does not deliver as many cuts to rates as traders expect.

Demonstrating the weight of high expectations, Micron Technology's stock fell 2.8% even though it reported a better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The computer memory company also gave a forecast for profit in the current quarter that blew past analysts' expectations.

Typically, such a performance would send a stock higher. But Micron's stock came into the day with an atypical, stunning gain of 97.7% for the year so far.

Freeport-McMoRan sank 17% for one of the market's larger losses after the

miner said it expects sales of copper to be 4% lower in the third quarter than it had earlier forecast. It also said sales of gold will likely be roughly 6% lower than earlier expected.

On the winning side of Wall Street was Lithium Americas. It soared 95.8% following reports that the U.S. government is considering taking an ownership stake in the Canadian company, which is developing a lithium project in Nevada with General Motors.

Lithium Americas, based in Vancouver, said it's in talks with the U.S. Department of Energy and GM about drawing on a previously announced $2.26 billion loan from the government. The Energy Department is making "incremental requests" to add more conditions before

Lithium Americas can make its first draw, among other things, the company said.

Under Trump, the U.S. government has already taken a 10% ownership stake in Intel, the struggling computer chip company.

Homebuilders also rose after a report said U.S. sales of new homes were stronger in August than economists

had forecast and unexpectedly accelerated.

Lennar climbed 2%, while PulteGroup and D.R. Horton both added 0.7%.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 18.95 points to 6,637.97.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 171.50 to 46,121.28, and the Nasdaq composite sank 75.62 to 22,497.86.

Family of 1 of the 67 Washington plane crash victims sues the FAA, Army and American Airlines

By JOSH FUNK AP Transportation Writer

THE family of one of the 67 people killed when an airliner collided with an Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., sued the government and the airlines involved on Wednesday, saying they didn't recognize the warning signs after more than 30 documented near misses in the area.

Other families are expected to join this first lawsuit seeking to hold the Federal Aviation Administration, the Army, American Airlines and its regional partner, PSA Airlines, accountable for the deadliest U.S. plane crash since 2001. PSA Airlines operated Flight 5342 that crashed Jan. 29.

The lawsuit says they "utterly failed in their responsibilities to the traveling public."

The Army declined to discuss the details of the lawsuit, while American and PSA said they would fight any allegation that they caused or contributed to the collision.

"Flight 5342 was on a routine approach to DCA (Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) when the Army helicopter — that was above the published helicopter route altitude — collided with it," the airlines said in a statement.

"American has a strong track record of putting the safety of our customers and team members above everything else."

The FAA said it "acted decisively" to improve safety by further restricting helicopter flights around Reagan. Air traffic controllers also stopped relying on pilots to maintain visual separation from other aircraft within 5 miles (8 kilometers) of the airport.

On the night of the crash, a controller twice gave the helicopter pilots that responsibility after they said they saw the jet.

The lawsuit was filed by Rachael Crafton, the widow of Casey Crafton, who was killed in the collision. Her lawyers represent most of the victims' families.

A statement written by Rachael Crafton and read to reporters Wednesday by her brotherin-law described the family's despair.

"Nearly eight months ago, our lives were shattered in a moment, and the grief has been unimaginable. The future we dreamed about was taken away from us," Dailey Crafton said.

Determining the cause of the crash

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe and Asia. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.4%, and France's CAC 40 fell 0.6% for two of the bigger moves.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.14% from 4.12% late Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board has listed many issues that may have contributed to the crash, although its final report won't be ready until next year.

The Black Hawk helicopter was flying above the 200-foot (60-meter) limit, but even if it had been at the correct altitude, the route it was flying provided a scant 75 feet (23 meters) of separation between helicopters and planes landing at Reagan airport's secondary runway. The helicopter's flight data recorder indicated it was flying 80 feet to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters) higher than its altimeter showed before the two aircraft collided.

The NTSB also said the FAA failed to recognize an alarming pattern of close calls near the airport in the years before the crash, and ignored concerns about helicopter traffic its controllers raised years earlier. Investigators also said overworked controllers regularly squeezed as many planes as possible into the landing pattern with minimal separation. Acknowledging these and other factors could have prevented the collision.

The lawsuit says the airlines failed in their duty to protect their passengers because the pilots had not been adequately trained to handle close-flying helicopters and the airline didn't effectively mitigate the risks.

Other airline policies, such as allowing pilots to accept the secondary runway that intersects with the helicopter route and heavily scheduling flights late in the hour, may have contributed.

"There is clear evidence that there were dozens of near misses and thousands of reports of congestion between commercial aircraft and military aircraft at Reagan National that were being ignored by the airlines," said lawyer Bob Clifford, representing the families.

TRADER Anthony Confusione works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025.

Photo:Richard Drew/AP

CREWS pull up a part of a plane from the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va.

Photo:Jose Luis Magana/AP

KIMMEL IS BACK ON ABC TO BIG RATINGS, BUT SOME AFFILIATES STILL REFUSE TO AIR HIS SHOW

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer

JIMMY Kimmel is back on his ABC late-night show, but it's still a mystery when — or if — viewers in cities such as Washington, Seattle and St. Louis will be able to see him again on their televisions.

ABC stations owned by the Nexstar and Sinclair corporations took Kimmel off the air last week on the same day the network suspended him for comments that angered supporters of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Those stations kept him off the air Tuesday, when ABC lifted the suspension. The unusual dispute attracted the attention of U.S. senators, who said they wanted to investigate the relationship between the affiliates and President Donald Trump's administration.

Kimmel returned with no apologies, but in an emotional monologue where he appeared close to tears, the host said that he was not trying to joke about the assassination. He also paid tribute to Kirk's widow.

And it got a large audience, with ABC reporting nearly 6.3 million people tuned in to the broadcast alone, despite the blackouts in many cities. As is often the case with latenight hosts' monologues, there was a larger audience online, with more than 15 million people watching Kimmel's opening remarks on YouTube by Wednesday evening. ABC says more

than 26 million people watched Kimmel's return on social media, including YouTube. Typically, he gets about 1.8 million viewers each night on television. The numbers released by ABC do not include viewership from streaming services.

A spokesman for Nexstar said Wednesday that Kimmel will continue to be preempted from its stations while the company evaluates his show. Together, the Nexstar and Sinclair groups account for about a quarter of ABC's affiliates, many in smaller cities such as Nashville, Tennessee; Lubbock, Texas; or Topeka, Kansas.

"We are engaged in productive discussions with executives at the (ABC parent) Walt Disney Co., with a focus on ensuring the program reflects and respects the diverse interests of the communities we serve," Nexstar said.

Dispute highlights relationship between networks and local stations

The dispute focused attention on the business relationships between television networks and the local stations that carry their programming. In the past, local stations occasionally balked at airing a network show, but it was usually an individual market or two worried about pushing boundaries in language or sexual content, said Ted Harbert, a former top executive at ABC and CBS. What's different this time is groups that have gobbled

"This is how much the country's political divisions have seeped their way into something that has been, for the last 50 or 75 years, a relatively orderly business."

Ted Harbert

up multiple stations acting collectively on content for largely political reasons.

"This is how much the country's political divisions have seeped their way into something that has been, for the last 50 or 75 years, a relatively orderly business," Harbert said.

Leadership of ownership groups is generally more conservative than the media and entertainment figures on the stations they broadcast, said Ken Basin, author of "The Business of Television." Both Sinclair, with conservative political content, and Nexstar have reason to curry favor with the Trump administration, he said. Nexstar is seeking regulatory approval for the purchase of a rival, he said.

"I worry that this is not going to be the only dispute of this nature in the years ahead," Basin said.

It's possible that Disney could play hardball if negotiations on Kimmel's return drag on, such as threatening to withhold other ABC programming — even the "nuclear option" of football games. Its unclear how the affiliate agreements are worded.

But Matt Dolgin, senior equity analyst at Morningstar Research Service, said he doubts the dispute reaches that point. The station groups have a far less diversified business portfolio than Disney, and the expiration of affiliate agreements next year looms as a deadline, he said. They have few good options if they lose ABC programming.

"From a business perspective, the best course on this issue (for Disney) is to stay above the fray," Dolgin said. "The dollars associated with this show are very low."

As they climb, the stunning number of YouTube

views of Kimmel's monologue serve to make television broadcasting less important, hurting the negotiating position of the stations.

For the station groups, the biggest goal should be to negotiate their way out of this — while finding a way to save face, he said.

Kimmel was at risk of losing show entirely

Sinclair initially took a strong stance, saying Kimmel would not return to its stations without apologizing to Kirk's widow and donating money to Kirk's political organization. That's not likely to happen.

Last week, Kimmel seemed to be in real danger of losing his show entirely until advocates for free speech protested, including many who canceled subscriptions for Disney services.

THIS image released by Disney shows Jimmy Kimmel hosting his late night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025.

Photo:Randy Holmes/AP