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TROOPS READY TO GO TO HAITI

will abide

deployment decision

By LEANDRA ROLLE and EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporters

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis says if CAR ICOM decides that the Haitian situation requires the deployment of security troops, then The Baha mas “will abide by the outcome” of the organisa tion’s resolution.

Once that decision is made in collaboration with the United Nations, National Security Minis ter Wayne Munroe said

the country will be “ready, willing and able to deploy” Royal Bahamas Defence Force marines to the trou bled state.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister further called on Bahamians to be vigilant in protecting the country’s borders amid worsening conditions in Haiti. Not only is that country facing a serious social crisis, but there is also both a crime and economic crisis ongoing.

HALKITIS: COUNTRY IS NOT IN RECESSION

BY EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ECONOMIC Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis said the government does not believe the country is in a recession, as he pointed to being in the midst of a “very strong rebound in the economy” led by tourism.

He said officials in

finance remained “cau tiously optimistic”.

“My take is we don’t claim it,” he said. “We don’t claim recession, all right. There are different opinions.

“Some people think we’re already in it. Some economists says that, you know, it’s going to happen.”

WATSON: I WAS WRONG AND I’M SORRY

AFTER receiving immense backlash, press secretary Clint Watson was forced to backtrack on comments he made relating to women’s rights groups being “quiet” when it comes to advocacy to crimi nalise marital rape.

In a statement yesterday, Mr Watson said his com ments were “inaccurate.”.

“I sincerely apolo gise. I should have been more aware of their active involvement in the

consultation process,” the statement said further.

“The Attorney General has briefed me on the ongo ing stakeholder meetings

regarding draft legislation.

“The consultations are being led by the Depart ment of Gender Affairs in the Ministry of Social Services, supported by the Office of the Attorney General.

“This issue is deeply felt around The Bahamas. We all want to see Bahamians participate in the ongoing national dialogue regarding protection of women in our country.”

FATHER GUILTY OF INCEST

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A FATHER was yester day unanimously found guilty of two counts of incest for forcefully having sexual relations with his now adult daughter when she was still a teenager.

The 48-year-old man, rep resented by Murrio Ducille, KC, returned to court for the summation of his incest trial before Justice Guillim ina Archer-Minns.

In the Justice’s sum ming up, it was said that the accused sexually abused his daughter twice, once in 2015 and again in 2016 when she was 15 and 16 years old.

She also said that the prosecution’s case stood or fell on the evidence of the complainant.

RETAILER ISSUES MAY BE ‘RESOLVED BY FRIDAY’

BY EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ECONOMIC Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis said he hopes that all issues between government and retailers are resolved by Friday.

The minister gave details of a meeting held with Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and the retailers on Monday night.

Mr Halkitis described the meeting as “cordial”, but made it clear officials were “not delaying the roll out at all” of the new price control measures.

Nassau

ALICIA WALLACE: WHY IT ISN’T EASY TO LIVE IN THE BAHAMAS

THE NEW group of diplomats appointed yesterday alongside Governor General CA Smith, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and his wife Ann Marie, and Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell (back row). Seated are Sharon Wilson, left, the new ambassador to the United Mexican States; and Cheryl Bazard, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Belgium. Second row, from left, Paul Rolle, ambassador to the International Maritime Organisation; Cedric Scott, ambassador to Japan; Anthony Ferguson, ambassador to New Zealand; and V Alfred Gray, High Commissioner to Canada. See PAGE TWO for the full story.

Photo: Moise Amisial

PRESS secretary Clint Watson.

SEE

Six diplomats sworn in

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

SIX new diplomats were officially sworn in during a special commissioning ceremony at Baha Mar yesterday.

Among them were former MP and Cabinet minis ter Alfred Gray who was appointed High Com missioner to Canada and former Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle who was made ambassador to the International Maritime Organisation.

Other diplomats include investment advisor Anthony Ferguson who is now ambassador to New Zealand; businessman Cedric Scott, ambassador to Japan; attorney Cheryl Bazard, ambassador extraordinary and plenipo tentiary to the Kingdom of Belgium and former Senate President Sharon Wilson, ambassador to the United Mexican states.

The latest cohort of envoys were surported by family and friends as they took their oath of office before Governor General Sir Cornelius A Smith.

Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis, Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell and other govern ment officials were also in attendance at yesterday’s ceremony.

While giving keynote remarks, Prime Minister Davis expressed confidence that the new envoys would represent The Bahamas well and help to further the country’s interests.

“For our administration, rebuilding The Bahamas’ image and reputation is crucial to our effort to strengthen the economy and create opportunities for Bahamians,” Mr Davis said.

“More importantly, our strategic focus as a coun try pivots on promoting and advocating for the

collective interest of our people. Today we add to the already existing team of highly talented men and women who represent our country as ambassadors.”

Mr Davis continued his speech by singling out each diplomat, briefly highlight ing their achievements and what he expects them to bring to the table.

“For years both The Bahamas and Canada have been connected by our shared values as nations.

I am confident that His Excellency V Alfred Gray’s extended profession as an attorney at law and a senior Cabinet Minister lends him a wealth of experience to advance our country’s pri orities and agendas,” he continued.

He also noted that protecting the country’s reputation in the global community was a key pri ority of his government’s foreign policy agenda.

“Ambassador-Desig nate Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Belgium, Her Excellency Cheryl Bazard’s unchallenged reputation give us every confidence in her ability to defend and promote the reputation of our financial services jurisdic tion,” he also said.

The further deepening of our relations with Central America was highlighted as another area of focus for the Davis administration.

Mr Davis said given Mrs Wilson’s background in the business and political arena, he believed she had a solid foundation that would help strengthen the country’s ties with the region.

The Prime Minister also offered well wishes to Mr Ferguson and Mr Scott who he said he believed will do well in their new ambassa dorial roles.

As for Mr Rolle, the prime minister said: “I commend you for your

dedication to putting ser vice to the country first.

Repositioning the Bahamas as a leader in the Maritime Industry is key to our eco nomic growth and driving new opportunities for The Bahamas.”

After taking their oaths of office, the new diplomats

expressed gratitude for their new appointments and gave insight as to what they hope to achieve in their new roles.

“During my tenure, I hope to do several things,” Mr Gray said. “Firstly, to improve and strengthen ties and wherever possible, to

improve the excellent rela tionship which presently exists between the govern ment of The Bahamas and the Dominion of Canada.”

“I hope also to improve and expand wherever possi ble the trade links between the two countries and to seek investments, Canadian

investments to The Baha mas in the areas of tourism, banking, education, sports and sports fishing.”

He also pledged to improve operations at the embassy at Canada to make it more “relevant and accessible” to Bahamians there.

CLOCKWISE from top left, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and his wife Ann Marie with Governor General CA Smith and Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell with new ambassador to New Zealand Anthony Ferguson; former police commissioner Paul Rolle signing his papers as the new ambassador to the International Maritime Organisation; new ambassador to the United Mexican states Sharon Wilson; and new ambassador to Japan Cedric Scott.

Photos: Moise Amisial

Troops ready to go to Haiti

“We have to keep con tinuing to be vigilant to protect our borders and we hope that the international community will come to the aid of Haiti and address some of the issues to stop the irregular migration,” Mr Davis told reporters yesterday following the swearing in of a cohort of new diplomats.

Mr Davis was asked about his administration’s plans in response to the continued exodus of Hai tian citizens amid increasing social and political turmoil there.

Asked yesterday if The Bahamas would support a UN resolution to deploy security troops there, Prime Minister Davis: “We will abide by the outcome of that resolution.”

The Bahamas is one of the lead heads of a CARI COM committee that has been given the responsi bility of ensuring that a solution is found.

On Monday night, a meeting was held between CARICOM heads and Prime Minister Davis via Zoom concerning ongoing issues in Haiti.

“Discussions are still continuing,” the prime minister said when asked about the outcome of those talks. “We are trying to work out a strategic position as to what has to happen. I think the con sensus is intervention is necessary but the manner (regarding) which scope we will take is still an issue for us to discuss”.

Conditions in Haiti have deteriorated in recent years especially following the assassination of Presi dent Jovenel Moise last July.

According to labour officials, more than 1,800 irregular migrants have already been repatriated to Haiti from The Bahamas so far for the year.

Meanwhile, Mr Munroe said ahead of a Cabinet meeting that The Bahamas will be responsible with

its decision making in the matter.

This comes after Mr Munroe revealed on Friday that The Bahamas may be called to be a part of a United Nations multina tional force in response to growing social unrest in Haiti.

Mr Munroe explained the country has previously participated in the UN peacekeeping mission to Haiti and noted the other assistance given to the neighboring country.

“We already have a Memorandum of Under standing to assist in training the Haitian national police, because the Haitian national police is the body that has to police Haiti,” he said.

“If a determination is made amongst CARI COM that the CARICOM nations are going to par ticipate in a force, The Bahamas will necessarily, as a CARICOM nation particularly with the prime minister as chair of CARI COM, play our part.”

‘HAITI IS STRUGGLING WITH 60 PERCENT UNEMPLOYMENT’

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

HAITIAN Chargé d‘affaires Louis Harold Joseph yesterday gave more insight into the social and criminal element in Haiti, which he said now has a 60 percent unemploy ment rate, causing much of the country’s problems.

Mr Joseph said since last August the situation in Haiti worsened, pointing to gangsters blocking access to oil terminals.

This blockage, he said, has brought on catastrophic consequences on function ing hospitals that are forced to close their doors among other things.

The newly appointed Haitian Chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of Haiti in The Bahamas made the remarks yesterday at Baha Mar for Diplomatic Week organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Bahamas via Zoom.

“On July 7, 2021, former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated,” Mr Joseph said. “Since then, Haiti has seen an increase in crime in the country that is both social and political. But I would say largely social, because a 60 percent unemployment rate would cause serious social problems in any country.

“Since last August, the situation has worsened. Gangsters have blocked access to the oil terminals. This blockage has cata strophic consequences on the functioning of hospitals that are forced to close their doors, on the availability of drinking water, on schools

that are unable to accom modate students, on road transport and on the supply of food to cities.”

Mr Joseph continued that during a special meet ing on Monday at the UN Security Council to analyse two draft resolutions for the current crisis happening in Haiti were postponed due to officials needing “more time” to decide.

The draft resolutions were co-sponsored by the United States and Mexico concerning penalties for gangsters in Haiti causing distress, as well as the for mation of a force to address the overall crisis in Haiti.

“The first one is about sanctions to be taken against gang leaders and those who finance them to spread terror and des olation throughout the country. The second con cerns a multinational force to assist Haiti in its fight against insecurity,” Mr Joseph explained.

“Last night (Monday night) we learned that the vote on the two resolutions was postponed. Some mem bers of the Security Council argued that they needed more time to analyse the draft resolutions and adopt a position.”

Mr Joseph said, after the assassination of the Haitian president and the rise in unemployment and the recent blockage of oil terminals by gangsters in Haiti, several pleas for help for the country in crisis were made.

“Faced with this situa tion, the Haitian Council of Ministers has decided to authorise the Prime Minister, His Excellency

Ariel Henry to solicit and obtain from Haiti’s inter national partners effective support through the imme diate deployment of a specialised armed force, in sufficient quantity, to stop, throughout the coun try, the humanitarian crisis caused, among other things, by the insecurity resulting from the criminal actions of armed gangs and their sponsors,” Mr Joseph said.

“(Second), to quickly achieve a security climate that will allow the effec tive fight against cholera, the resumption of fuel and drinking water distribution throughout the country, the functioning of hospitals, the resumption of eco nomic activities, the free movement of people and goods, and the reopening of schools.”

Mr Joseph also expressed his gratitude to CARICOM who responded favorably.

According to a press release from CARICOM, dated October 12, “The Heads of Government reit erated their willingness to facilitate constructive dialogue and consensusbuilding among Haitian stakeholders to support efforts to overcome the political impasse.

“The proposed assistance includes institution build ing, the implementation of free and fair elections when conditions are right, and the establishment of a framework for longterm social and economic development.”

However, they recognise that these initiatives cannot be effectively implemented until the security issue is resolved.

30-YEAR-OLD DIES IN TRAFFIC ACCIDENT

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

POLICE in New Provi dence are investigating a traffic accident that left a 30-year-old man dead

yesterday.

According to police, a man was driving a blue Nissan Note east on Tonique Williams Darling Highway when he report edly collided with a male who was in a wheelchair.

He added: “If CARI COM determines to send troops in, CARICOM will no doubt know how that troop makeup will be, which could include the Bahamian troops.”

The prime minister will assume chairmanship of CARICOM next month.

Asked what the decision will be should The Baha mas be asked to assist, Mr Munroe said: “If that is the determination, the defense force will be ready, willing and able to deploy – that’s what we have them for.

People get this impres sion that they just sit down doing nothing.

“They sit down preparing for deployments to protect the national interests of The Bahamas. The national interests of The Bahamas overarchingly, is to see peace in this region and if we are called upon to pro vide men we will.”

Mr Munroe explained one of the biggest prob lems or issues that the Royal Bahamas Defence Force addresses is irregular

migration from Haiti.

“So, we already expend resources addressing the issue of Haitians leaving Haiti, because of desper ate circumstances. We’ll have to wait and see what the UN resolution says. We’ll have to wait and see what CARICOM decides because we generally act regionally but we’ll be a responsible country, if there are resolutions that ask for assistance in Haiti and consider it - we’ll con sider it.”

He said the Haitian prob lem is a “complex one”. Moreover, there is no point going and then when one leaves there are no struc tures that lend for peace.

“And so that’s been the problem. We sent in peace keepers and we’re right back to the stage again. So, there has to be a compre hensive solution for Haiti, but The Bahamas will play its fair part in resolving any issue that the world com munity decides needs to be.”

As for logistics, he said it

will be a matter for, RBDF, CARICOM and UN.

“I’m not a military plan ner but even as a layman, you could think most of our squadron is deployed to the southern Bahamas to pre vent Haitians leaving Haiti coming up.

“So, if you deploy men in Haiti that could stop Haitian hitting the water - wouldn’t that relieve the pressure on the people who are guarding the southern regions of The Bahamas. Everything we do classi cally with our man powers and the Bahamian national interest.

“We send officers to the Turks and Caicos because we have a large connec tion to them in Grand Bahama, where there was an upswing in gun vio lence earlier this year. So, we’re concerned about our national interest wherever people live that we are required to check, we will check and we have interest all over and the only issue is how we service those interests.”

The accident occurred around 7am yesterday.

The victim, a resi dent of Theodore Lane, was taken to hospital by Emergency Medical Services, but died of his injuries.

DEMONSTRATORS

Photo:

Watson: I was wrong and I’m sorry

Mr Watson’s com ments were made last Friday during an Office of the Prime Minister press briefing.

“A lot of the groups are quiet,” he said at the time.“A lot of the activist groups and the groups that protect women, where are your voices?

“This is now where your time is to come forward to express your concern and

‘SHARP RISE’ IN CHILDREN’S RESPIRATORY ILLNESSES

By JADE RUSSELL jrussell@tribunemedia.net

PRINCESS Margaret Hospital’s Paediatric Emer gency Department said there has been a “sharp rise” in respiratory illnesses among children.

The uptick, a statement from the Public Hospitals Authority said, has taken place over the last few months since schools reopened.

Symptoms of the ill ness include fever, cough, and runny nose, which are usually mild and are easily addressed by a primary care physician in an office or clinic setting.

“Newborn infants - birth to six weeks - or children in respiratory distress should receive care in an Emergency Department setting,” the statement said.

“Signs of respiratory distress include rapid breathing, inability to speak, inability to drink liq uids, uncontrollable cough, or wheezing.

“If your child has had fever for more than five days of 101.5 Fahrenheit (38.6 Celsius) or higher, please seek medical atten tion. If your newborn presents with a tempera ture of 100.4 F or 38 C or higher, please seek medical attention.

“The public is encour aged to follow all updates, advisories, and announce ments from the Ministry of Health & Wellness and the Public Hospitals Authority for further information regarding health services,” the release said.

your view and to advocate to present proposals of leg islation to do it.”

Mr Watson also cred ited members of the media for bringing attention to the issue, saying “we have heard this issue from media representatives, reporters but not organisations.”

Mr Watson’s views on the matter appeared to be in stark contrast to that of Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis who told reporters on Monday that

he has heard the cries of all advocacy groups.

Meanwhile, Equality Bahamas founder Alicia Wallace told The Tribune: “We have been vocal, we have been bold, and we have been consistent.

“We are indefatigable. The #Strike5ive campaign by Equality Bahamas was launched in 2020, continu ing years of advocacy for the criminalisation of mari tal rape.”

“It was relaunched,

complete with new graph ics and clear demands, including the amendment of Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act to remove ‘who is not his spouse’ from the definition of rape, the repeal of Section 15, and the inclusion of a statutory definition of consent.

“All three of these appear in the amendment bill, and this is not a coin cidence. It is a result of our fierce advocacy and clarity of message.”

In a statement sent to The Tribune, Ms Wallace condemned Mr Watson’s remarks and called on him to do his research before making such bold “inaccu rate” statements.

“Watson’s comments are indicative of the gov ernment’s failure to not only meaningfully engage NGOs, but to pay attention to NGO statements and activities which are regu larly communicated in the media,” Ms Wallace added.

“Perhaps the govern ment needs to reduce its massive travel budget since key officials are incapable of keeping track of national news and public discourse while abroad. That money needs to be allocated to the establishment of a National Human Rights Institute which would be responsible for human rights educa tion, engaging stakeholders, raising awareness of State obligations, and monitoring progress.”

MASKS DONATED TO ELEUTHERA SCHOOLS

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

Marco Carey, a native of Tarpum Bay, who now resides in Grand Bahama, recently returned to the island, and donated a supply of thousands of high-quality disposable face masks on Monday.

He said that as COVID19 remains a part of our daily life and continues to surface throughout our communities, protecting school children, teachers and staff during in-person learning in the classroom remains a top priority for him.

Mr Carey, who is a local government councilor in Grand Bahama, said he wanted to assist public school students at his native Eleuthera.

“The parents, teachers and students were very appreciative of this gra cious donation that will support schools in our community and maintain a safe learning environ ment,” he said.

“We know this dona tion will make a difference to students, teachers, and school staff,” he said.

Principal Alday, of Deep Creek Primary School, thanked Mr Carey for his gesture of kindness.

“This donation of masks demonstrates how vested Carey is in helping to keep the community COVID free,” she said.

Masks were donated to Deep Creek Primary, Wemyss Bight Primary, Green Castle Primary, Rock Sound Primary, Pres ton H Albury High School, Tarpum Bay Primary, Cen tral Eleuthera High School, Emma E Cooper Pri mary, and the Emily Petty Primary.

STUDENTS and teach ers at several public

schools in South and Cen tral Eleuthera received a much-needed donation of face masks this week as they returned to in-person learning.

SOME of the donations to schools in South and Central Eleuthera.

Residents react to rise in GB Power fuel rate

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE announcement of a rate hike by the Grand Bahama Power Company was received with mixed reactions by some residents on the island.

While some residents said people should consider adjusting their spending, others complained that the increase does not come at the right time because people in Grand Bahama are still recovering from the pandemic and Hurricane Dorian.

In an official statement released on Monday, the Grand Bahama Power Company announced that as of next month it will increase its fuel charge from ten cents per kilo watt hour (kWh) to 11.5 cents.

The company explained that the increase is a “direct reflection of the rise in

global oil prices over the year.”

Grand Bahama Minis ter Ginger Moxey, MP for Pineridge, on Monday told reporters that she did not support the rate hike.

Yesterday, The Tribune spoke with several Grand Bahama residents.

A young wife and mother-to-be chalked the situation up to being beyond consumers’ control.

She and others who com mented on the situation requested anonymity.

“On hearing about it and the reason for the hike,” she said, “It is beyond our con trol. When you hear things like that, it makes me want to budget more closely and be careful with spending, especially in the store. It can be challenging, but at the same time, my husband and I count our blessings and trust in the Lord.”

She told this newspaper that she was sympathetic to other people who continue

to struggle with the cost of living.

“You must adjust your living. Of course, you want to be comfortable, but at the same time things are beyond our control.”

A concerned resident of West Grand Bahama does not support it, especially now.

“I think Freeport is in such a depressed state, and with the Grand Bahama Power Company going up on fuel charges now is not the right thing to do,” the resident said.

“We still have a lot of people from three years ago that were affected by Dorian and the pandemic. They have not been able to move back in their homes, and it is really hard, and it is going to be much harder on them.”

Another resident of Free port agreed that it is not the right time.

He added: “I don’t think it is the right time because

RETAILER ISSUES MAY BE ‘RESOLVED BY FRIDAY’

They were implemented on Monday, October 17.

“And so they expressed gratitude for the quick meeting,” Minister Halkitis said yesterday ahead of a Cabinet meeting.

“The Prime Minister impressed on them that the changes to the addition of the items to the price con trol list was a continuation of the government’s efforts to bring relief to the public following on, of course, the reduction of VAT from 12 percent to 10 percent.

“The reduction in the last budget of customs duties on 56 food items, repre sentation with the Prime Minister to shippers to have them bring their costs down. And so the objective was really to make sure that all of those things trickle down to the consumer. And this was the latest effort.”

He added: “I think there was an understand ing from the other side to that point. We heard their concerns about the impact on their businesses. One of the main points they made was the notice period that they thought should be a bit longer. We came away saying that we will get some additional input from them on some adjustments that they think can be made and that we will hopefully have all of those issues resolved by this Friday.

“So, we committed to not going through the full enforcement until we’ve sorted all those issues out. We’ve asked them to pro vide us some additional suggestions on how they think that we can attain the goals that we haveie bringing relief to the public.”

Along with Mr Halki tis and the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper, Attorney General Ryan Pinder and officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and price control attended the meeting.

The retail grocers were

present, as well as some representatives from wholesalers. There was also a representative from the Family Islands and also the Light Industries Develop ment council.

Mr Halkitis said some grocers further expressed that they needed time to change prices on their shelves.

“And so we’re saying okay, we’ll be cognisant of that. And so if, of course, if someone can do it more quickly, that’s fine. But if it’s taking some people a few days to do it, you know, we were mindful of that.”

The Tribune con tacted Retail Grocers Association president Philip Beneby. He said: “Nothing was decided. It’s just that you know, the dialogue con tinues and the government has asked the retailers to present a workable solu tion and that is where we are and that is what we are working on.”

Mr Beneby also described the meeting as cordial, saying it went pretty well.

“The Prime Minister, you know, he realised that, I guess, there needed to be consultation and the con sultation process has started between the government and the Retail Grocers Association.”

The Ministry of Eco nomic Affairs and Ministry of Health and Wellness in statements issued said no “penalties” or enforce ment measures will be levied against food stores, pharmacies and their wholesale suppli ers during the “extended period” necessary to adjust inventory, margins and mark-ups to the new regime’s requirements.

Mr Beneby has pre viously warned that merchants would not imple ment the new price controls by October 17 - as required by law under newly-signed regulations - because to do so would leave them facing “massive losses” and be akin to “signing a death warrant for our businesses”.

Mr Beneby’s letter to the Prime Minister, which was widely circulated on social media, added that the addi tion of 38 products to the price control regime would make “operations unfeasi ble” for small and mid-sized food stores since between 40-60 percent of their inventory will be covered by government-imposed mark-ups resulting in these items being sold at a loss.

But when asked about the concern of layoffs and closures, Mr Halkitis said: “Our concern we weigh in the balance that con cern that I’m sure you’ve all heard, because I’m sure you’ve heard it because you asked me about it every week, the increase in prices and impact on consumers. We assure that there is a middle ground that we can reach. We don’t see this leading to, you know, mas sive business closures.

“We do not see that but we’ve asked the associa tions to provide us some numbers that we can look at. But we don’t anticipate that. We think it’s reasona ble. What we are proposing, bear in mind that these initiatives are in place for six months, at which point we will review them and that review will take into account the impact on this.”

Pressed again on the fear of some business closures, he argued: “I don’t want to speculate. Businesses open and close every day. And I don’t think this is going to be the cause of closures personally. You know, so I don’t want to speculate on that. People open and close for different reasons.

As for reasons the retail ers and wholesalers input was not sought before the decision, Mr Halkitis pointed to bringing relief.

“You want to bring relief and you want to bring relief quickly.

“Like I said, we had a good meeting we thought, and we think we can move ahead, and hopefully people can start seeing the impact in their pockets.”

HALKITIS: COUNTRY IS NOT IN RECESSION

“Our experience is that we are in the midst of a very strong rebound in our econ omy led by tourism.

“Our source market is in the US, which has the problem of too much money being spent hence the actions of the Fed eral Reserve to raise interest rates to try and tamp it down. My view is, you know, in finance, you are always cautiously optimistic.”

He went on to explain

one possible benefit that he sees of a recession, particu larly for tourism.

“Our experience is that we’re having a strong rebound in tourism. Tourism officials believe, well they see, that this demand will persist well into next year.

And so one silver lining of any recession, particularly when he talks about the US, is our source market. Eighty plus percent of our visitors come from the US.

“If there’s a recession, I always look at it, perhaps somebody doesn’t take a vacation as far away, they

decide to come to The Bahamas. So, it can even be a benefit. You manage your finances. In the event that business cycles are going to be up and it’s going to be down, we’re not worried about a recession.

“You don’t want some thing to become a self fulfilling prophecy. Because if you’re worried about ‘Oh, recession is coming’, people stop spending money, and then you manifest the recession. Our rebound is going strongly and so we (are) optimistic,” the minis ter said.

of COVID and the hur ricane. I think they should give people some more time. The economy needs to be built up some more, and so, I think they should do it later.”

A Freeport business owner and resident said that Freeport is supposed to be a tax-free haven.

“The power increase is just ridiculous,” she said. “If you were bragging about the money you made when you had all that prof its years ago, and then turn around and want to tax us because you had damage from the hurricane. Didn’t you have insurance?”

As for global oil prices, the resident further stated: “The other day they had oil prices where they were begging you to take oil. They actually paid you to have oil. Didn’t they put any oil in their reserves? Did they not plan for the future? They had no money where they could not do

something in advance?

They could have done a better job, I don’t care how you put it,” she said.

“To keep taxing and taxing what is supposed to be a tax-free haven does not make a bit of sense. Right now, we are paying ridicu lous prices,” she lamented.

“Every year the power goes up around Christmas time although some of us have no Christmas tree, no lights, and nothing new, but our power goes up. It is like they are wishing for the amount of money they want in the bank and charge us accordingly.”

Another male resident complained that the cost of living continues to increase.

“It is ridiculous to me,” he said of the rate hike.

“It is far beyond the aver age person’s budget around here, and you are talking about another hike again?

Hike the minimum wage to $350 - that will work,” he said.

A retired resident also recalled that there was a tax for the repair of destruction after Hurricane Matthew.

“Has that tax been removed, or has it contin ued for Hurricane Dorian? We never seem to get updates about the dropping of these rate hikes, only increases,” the resident said.

“I don’t mind temporary hikes for the greater good, but they should be moni tored and reduced when the crisis abates.”

Grand Bahama Power Company CEO Nikita Mullings has indicated that the company was able to protect its customers from global price volatility as the cost of oil increases this year because of its fuel hedging programme, which started in 2014.

The company has reported that 80 percent of the fuel purchased by GBPC is hedged.

Memorial Service For

McLean

of Lyford Cay, New Providence, The Bahamas who died at his residence on Saturday, 17th September, 2022 will be held at The Church of St. Christopher, The Martyr, Lyford Cay on Saturday, 22nd October, 2022 at 11:00 a.m.

Officiating will be The Right Reverend Laish Boyd, Bishop of The Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands, The Venerable Keith N. Cartwright, Archdeacon of The Southern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, Rector of St. Agnes Anglican Church and The Reverend Father Enrique McCartney, Assistant Curate of The Church of St. Christopher, The Martyr.

Mr. Paton was predeceased by his brothers, Kenneth and Alasdair and his sister, Jean.

He is survived by his sister, Fiona; sisters-in-law, Dorothy and Joy; brother-in-law, Geoff White; sons, Michael and Matthew; stepdaughter, Jessica; grandchildren, Mark, Christian and Julian; daughters-in-law, Patrice and Chenene; numerous nephews and nieces and many friends.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Bahamas Red Cross Society, P.O.Box N.8331, Nassau, The Bahamas or by direct deposit to Bahamas Red Cross Society Account No. 2894228, JFK Branch #05165, in Memory of Mr. Lennox McLean Paton.

Arrangements by Kemp’s Funeral Home Limited.

MINISTER of Economic Affairs Michael Halkitis.

ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI

Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”

What should we do to help Haiti?

THE grim reality of life in Haiti is that it is a broken nation.

Haiti’s chargé d’affaires in The Baha mas, Louis Harold Joseph, paints a clear picture of the situation in today’s Tribune

He talks of how the nation has reached an unemployment rate of 60 percent. He talks of the assassination of the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse, in July last year.

He said: “Since then, Haiti has seen an increase in crime in the country that is both social and political. But I would say largely social, because a 60 percent unemployment rate would cause serious social problems in any country.

“Since last August, the situation has worsened. Gangsters have blocked access to the oil terminals. This block age has catastrophic consequences on the functioning of hospitals that are forced to close their doors, on the avail ability of drinking water, on schools that are unable to accommodate students, on road transport and on the supply of food to cities.”

Regular readers of The Tribune will have seen some of the frequent inter national reports we have published, detailing the ways in which gangs have seized control of entire neighbourhoods, gaining control of transport routes and limiting who can and cannot get in or out.

The assassination of the country’s president is emblematic of the chaos in the country, with Jovenel Moïse shot dead in his home and a host of accusa tions made as to who was behind the killing.

So what is to be done?

At long last, the international commu nity is meeting with serious deliberation on what will be the next step.

Such intervention might not be wel comed. When UN peacekeepers went to Haiti to deal with the aftermath of an earthquake, they were to blame for infected sewage bringing cholera to the nation. Haiti had been cholera-free until October 2010. More than 10,000 have died of the disease since then.

Memories are long when it comes to that incident, and recompense has been slow in coming for the nation.

Should any troops enter the nation, there will be questions of who they are dealing with. The political instability is rife in the nation, with gangs seizing the opportunity to fill the void in coherent leadership. One man, Jimmy Cherizier, nicknamed “Barbeque”, has risen to be

the leader of the “G9 Family and Allies” alliance of gangs. The G9 group is block ing fuel movement from the Varreux fuel terminal, the largest in Haiti.

Cherizier himself has called on the government to grant him and G9 mem bers amnesty, saying that as the country is worsening by the day “there is no better time than today to dismantle the system”.

He has put forward his own plan for restoring order – an interim president alongside one representative from each of Haiti’s ten departments to govern until an election can be held in Febru ary 2024.

He said: “The country is (facing) one crisis after another. During all these crises, the first victim is the population, the people in the ghettos, the peasants.”

Meanwhile, Haiti’s Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, has called for “the imme diate deployment of a specialised armed force” to stop armed gangs. Last month, he eliminated fuel subsidies in the coun try, causing prices to double.

Who is in charge? Who should be in charge? What is the path to elections?

All of these are questions facing any group that intervenes in an effort to bring stability.

Some of those troops could be Baha mian. The government has rightly said our troops are ready, willing and able to deploy if needed. So they should be –they should be prepared to act if needed.

Will they be needed? That is the question facing our leaders, and the international community.

There needs to be careful consid eration of what the plan would be if intervention takes place. What is the goal? What is the exit strategy once that goal is achieved? How should the com position of any force be decided?

With the majority of Haitians out of work, the nation is on the brink of collapse. That would be horrific for Haitians themselves, but it is also in our country’s self-interest for Haiti to be stable. We already experience high levels of migration from Haiti – that would only grow if the nation’s situation worsens.

We sometimes talk about the commu nity of nations – and if such a community exists, then it must be ready to help those nations in need.

Haiti is in need. The question is not whether something should be done, but what is the best thing to do.

We hope careful thought is given to the next step.

Public works inspection of cruise port

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I JUST stopped by briefly to ask for your permission for this letter to be pub lished because I believe that what I have observed may not have been brought to the attention of the Baha mian people.

Earlier this morning, I took a leisurely stroll along Woodes Rodgers Wharf and as I did, my attention was drawn to the advance work being carried on there, hopefully it con cludes before the deadline, paying particular attention to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has crippled many job sites, and caused considerable delay caus ing projects not meeting projected deadlines. But from the look of where the cruise port construc tion had reached, safe to suggest that it could poten tially be completed on time, barring any unforeseen cir cumstances, etc.

Then as I began to take an in-depth visual inspec tion of the structures onsite I just couldn’t help myself being critical of the fram ing, yes, the framing and you know, the Bahamas sits in the Hurricane Belt and it is possible that New Providence could experi ence a storm – it is not out of the realm of possibili ties God forbid.

But the planning and construction of any building nowadays ought to take into consideration the materials and the wind rat ings otherwise, it along with the human lives, could be catastrophically imperiled.

And now I think that it is time to remove the sus pense about what I actually saw that required these writings?

Editor, the metal fram ing is cause for concern and I don’t see how using thin metal framing and fas tening to them-other-soft paneling-affixed by screwsno-matter-the-lengths - will ever suffice.

And I wondered about the cost factors, had dollars

LETTERS

letters@tribunemedia.net

and cents played any part in that decision? As I think about it, but the contractors were not from here, not Bahamians and how do we apply our building codes at a stated point in time?

As a person who has had some training in building construction, looking at the initial buildings I must say how apparently cheap they looked.

This desire to have value for the dollar is a widely accepted standard and, therefore, one must insists on quality for monies being expended/spent, especially if derived from the coffers of Public Funds. In other words taxpayers revenue, does carry, I think?

Now to the powers that be, could you mobi lise a fact finding team of architects staffers from Public Works to take a lei surely stroll on that site and to hear first hand the explanations from the site management and be able to point stuff out proffers up questions and make-regu latory proclamation as the case might be, etc?

But, in all, we cannot allow people to complete a structure or structures with out having inspected each and every stage or stages involved, otherwise?

Finally, as I think about it, it takes me back to the days of the Owens Illinois Log ging Company contracted by the United Bahamian Party (UBP government at the time), to work on three islands of our Bahamas:

1... North Andros at a settlement called Owens Town latter 1960s.

2... Abaco Island and I believe the settlement there was Marsh Harbour, but I stand to be corrected.

3... And Grand Bahama Island, and I believe that the settlement was McCleans Town. Well, I grew up in North Andros and as my grandparents had fields, or

farms in some of the areas where those lorries had to traverse daily on their way to have the pines shipped by barge to Jacksonville, Florida, via Morgans Bluff Harbour, or jetty we liked to call it they were seen frequently- 18-Wheel ers and hailing from Lowe Sound, couple of the drivers were from my set tlement, which made us residents from this small farming and fishing district, prideful.

Editor, fast tracking the point - what we found years later after the Owens Illinois company had packed up and left The Bahamas.

I went to Owens Town on a wild hogs hunting expedition and what I found blew me right out of the water. They had left about a ten-storey-high pile of sawdust and after the rains wetting and the sun drying, etc, we were able to scale to its summit and, no joke, I could see about 20 miles out. I also was able to see what the harvesting of Andros pine trees did to the immedi ate waterway the crystal clear waters they met-there, had been replaced by this body of brown water...and as I submerged the right hand into it ( I know it was a dumb thing I did), but I literally could not see my hand.

What am I saying? Had there been the appropriate oversight by government’s technical staffers, it would have been brought to their attention long before now and the Bahamian people would have been able to file litigation for the damage, etc?

The Owens Illinois Logging Company is still trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

It is time to do right by the Bahamian people, no wonder the Public Treasury of The Bahamas lays bare.

FRANK GILBERT Nassau, October 17, 2022.

UB survey

EDITOR, The Tribune.

CONGRATULA TIONS to UB students who led the survey on Abuse-Rape one thing missing in their release was in which geographical areas of Nassau was the polling taken. This is an all impor tant issue do the findings change between Bain and Grants Town - MarathonElizabeth and Killarney?

Commentators can dis agree, but please don’t ridicule this as it is a very important image of society and exposes some serious social issues that must be

remedied.

UB might do a poll on: Do you sweetheart? Practice incest? Can you honestly agree with the child support level you pro vide? How many different males have you had chil dren with?

In my time of national denial, these issues are all important clearly on finances we are in denial - probably on marital or non-marital issues likewise and behaviour that’s a joke way past denial.

Including on abuse from birth to death anyone carry ing out a sexual act without

the agreement of another that is abuse and must be punishable. Leave the word ‘marital’ out of any Lawthat discriminates and also no age limit from birth through to death.

RBDF or Social Ser vices in combination need urban centres where a potential victim in confi dence may report I don’t think a Police Station is today the appropriate loca tion churches can assist also.

D ROLLE Nassau, October 16, 2022.

“CARGADORES” or carriers, shoulder a religious float supporting The Lord of Miracles religious icon during a procession marking the the nation’s patron saint feast day in Lima, Peru, yesterday. After two years of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the annual procession has returned to the streets of Lima.

Photo: Martin Mejia/AP

Father guilty of incest

During the complainant’s ear lier testimony, she said that in 2015 after her father had picked her up from band practice he took her to his upscale condominium instead of to her mother’s house.

Once there, he guided her to an area near the condo’s pool bath room where he rubbed her breasts and thighs as well as kissed her neck.

While the victim tried to resist him and leave the area, the father forcefully undressed her and pen etrated her vagina with his penis while she was pinned to the floor.

In the second incident a year later, after the complainant tried to give her father a second chance after he started paying child sup port, he took advantage of her once more in his home after they got pizza.

It was there after putting on pornography that the 16-year

old victim’s father made sexual advances towards her that she refused, only for him to forcefully have sexual intercourse once again.

Charges were officially filed against him in 2017 and he was arrested later that same year.

In an earlier trial appearance, an audio recording was played in court of the accused begging his daughter not to tell anyone of the incidents because he was afraid of going to jail.

While the accused had

vehemently denied the charges against him throughout the trial he was visibly shaken after a jury of eight unanimously found him guilty of both counts of incest.

Justice Archer-Minns con victed him of the offence. The accused will be remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correc tional Services pending the results of the probation report requested by his attorney.

Sentencing was adjourned to December 12.

GREENHOUSE DONATED TO HELP SCHOOL

MOTHER IN COURT FOR ALLEGEDLY ABUSING SON

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A 27-YEAR-OLD mother was granted bail in a Magistrate’s Court yester day for allegedly abusing her 11-year-old son.

The accused, whose name is being withheld to protect the identity of the minor, faced Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux on a charge of cruelty to children.

On October 9 in New Providence, it is alleged that the mother assaulted her young son while he was in her custody causing him undue suffering or injury.

In court, the accused pleaded not guilty. She was granted $7,500 bail with one or two sureties.

The trial is set to begin on January 23, 2023.

MAN DENIES THREAT WITH HANDGUN

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was granted bail in a Magistrate’s Court yesterday after allegedly threatening a woman with a handgun.

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

RF BANK and Trust Limited on Monday announced a donation of a newly constructed greenhouse to CR Walker Senior High School to encourage and promote more learning for students outside of the classroom.

Officials from the Ministry of Education, students and faculty of the school as well as RF Bank representatives attended a rib bon-cutting ceremony for the greenhouse on Monday.

The newly constructed

greenhouse will be used in the school’s project-based learning model to educate students on agri culture and environmental topics.

It is a part of several initia tives launched by CR Walker to re-engage students who are again getting used to face-toface learning after the pandemic and as part of efforts by the Donations Committee at RF Bank to support youth and particularly education.

Patrice Green, education officer at the Ministry of Education, said: “Greenhouses are a good exam ple of protective agriculture and teaches students about contributing towards a sustainable agricultural

future. Let us continue to work towards preserving our beauti ful country with the assistance of corporate Bahamas.

“We thank RF Bank & Trust for this timely and invaluable donation.”

Princess Fawkes, CR Walker’s principal, said the donation is expected to expand real world learning for those students taking environmental and agricultural studies.

“These past two and a half years have been a struggle and, sadly, many students have opted out of attending class feeling that school is not in their best interest.”

She continued: “Many have not found their niche and we hope to change that with different approaches to learning. This greenhouse may now present that opportunity to reach students in a new way.” RF also announced plans to continue the partnership with CR Walker Senior High School to develop more projects over the coming years. The newly erected greenhouse ties into the school’s overall goal to improve literacy scores as part of its yearlong research project that links inter-disciplinary units to such skills as comprehension and prob lem- solving, said the press release.

William Dean, 62, stood before Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and threats of death.

On October 13 in New Providence Dean is accused of assaulting Judy Davis Taylor with a handgun and allegedly threatening her with death.

In court, the accused pleaded not guilty to both charges. He was then granted $5,000 bail with one or two sureties.

Dean’s trial is set for Jan uary 16, 2023.

STUDENTS of CR. Walker environmental and sustainability clubs alongside Ms Russel, family and consumer science teacher; Ms Morris, science teacher and eco-school co-ordinator; principal Princess Fawkes; Patrice Green, education officer at the Ministry of Education; and David Van Onselen, RF vice president of advisory services take part in a ribbon cutting to mark RF’s donation of a greenhouse to the school.

Why it isn’t easy to live in The Bahamas

THIS is not an easy place to live. It may be paradise for the people who pass through, enjoying beach days, hotel amenities, and the hospitality of people who are not paid anywhere near enough for what they do, but for Bahamians, it is far from pleasant.

We are told, every day, that we do not deserve comfortable lives. The gov ernment says our human rights are debatable. Employers say their profits are more important than our wellbeing. Our religious leaders tell us we need to have more faith, tithe more, and work more. Many of our colleagues who have bought into it all tell us we need to be grateful and sug gest that any inequalities we experience are the result of personal failings. Too many people are prepared to defend systems at the expense of people.

Look at marital rape. The people against it con sistently talk about the “sanctity of marriage” and ignore the dignity and human rights of people.

Look at poverty. People confidently blame it on the people experiencing it, as if it is a choice. The results of the BGCSE examinations, year after year, are taken as a reflection of the students rather than the failing edu cation system.

Somehow, the people are always wrong. The people are always being graded.

The people are always deserving of the struggle they endure. Very few care to look at the systems — the ways they are designed to oppress some while elevating and privileging others.

It is not often that we see a change made that can directly benefit people in situations of vulnerability. It is more often that people are told to grin and bear, it just has to be this hard, and it will get better. Better rarely comes.

In recent weeks, a few announcements were made that directly impact us, and the responses to those announcements have highlighted the chasm between people of dif ferent income levels and access to resource, includ ing the lack of empathy

By Alicia Wallace

and interest in the plight of people whose struggles are persistent.

Earlier this month, the Prime Minister announced that minimum wage would increase from $210 to $260 per week. It must be noted that unions were lobby ing for a minimum wage of $300. The minimum wage was unchanged for far too long, and, given the cost of living, The Bahamas defi nitely needs to move to a living wage. Even with the poverty line set at $5000 per year, the poverty rate in The Bahamas is 12.5%.

A 2020 study found that a living wage — enabling people to have basic neces sities including nutritious diet, housing, education, healthcare, transportation, savings, and emergency funds — in New Provi dence is $2,625 and in Grand Bahama is it $3,550.

The increased minimum wage will be $1040 per month. In a household of two working adults who are paid minimum wage will have a combined income of $1680.

Even one-bedroom apartments are at least $800 and do not include electricity, phone, or internet service. Rent is already half the income of a person working full time and receiving a minimum wage.

Look at the increasing cost of food, the increased fuel surcharge by BPL, and the high price of gas. If rent is split 50/50, and the elec tricity bill is $200 per month (a very conservative esti mate), how are people who are paid minimum wage expected to meet other obligations with $135 per week?

If they have cars, can they afford gas? Can they buy nutritious food? When they run out of gas, where will they get money to get the tank refilled?

Many Bahamians have

asked, over and over again, “How are people supposed to survive?” and it is a valid question that never seems to get an answer.

In July 2022, president of the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Associa tion suggested that tipped workers should not ben efit from the increase in minimum wage when it is implemented.

He said: “The reality is that maybe we should not be hit with the same paintbrush in terms of the level of increase for those individuals as opposed to people who are not receiving gratui ties. They make minimum wage but considerable tips by either working in casino and food and beverage. We want the government to take that into consideration.”

This is asinine and cruel. Gratuities have nothing to do with wages or salaries. No business should have ever been allowed to pay anyone below minimum wage, whether or not gratuity is involved. Tips are extra. They are up to the discre tion of the customer.

In food and beverage, gratuity is split, and it is not only shared among those directly serving patrons. There are good days and bad days. In fact, there are good weeks and terri ble months. Ask any hotel worker who is dependent on tips what September is like. If you really want to know how unpredictable it is, ask a hotel worker what it was like after 9/11.

To suggest that tips, which vary greatly, make up for salaries and wages is deceptive to those who do not know better. Imag ine, major resorts raking in obscene amounts of money, saying they would simply rather not pay the paltry minimum wage of $260 per week. Imagine

their Bahamian operatives saying they would like the option to leave the employ ers — the people delivering the service and earning the money (the vast majority of which leaves the coun try, by the way) that pays high-level executives in comfortable offices who do not depend on tips — to the whims of patrons who have no obligation to pay more than their bills and no com mitment to the people in a country they visit for a good time. Imagine that!

Financial inequality is not the only issue that makes it hard to live in The Baha mas. Human rights are still being presented by the government as a debatable issue.

Marital rape has

consistently been in the news since the 2017 report by UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women Dubravka Šimonovic’s report which indicated that marital rape is the most pressing issue.

The CEDAW Commit tee and the Human Rights Council have recommended the criminalisation of mari tal rape.

Five years later, the gov ernment is hosting events and giving platforms to people who fundamentally do not support women’s human rights and insist either that men should be able to rape their wives or that they should be treated differently due to their marriage.

Take a moment to think about how hard it is to leave an abusive relationship and household while receiv ing minimum wage. Where would you live? How would you feed yourself? What if you have children?

The government has repeatedly failed to firmly state its position which ought to be in alignment wit its obligations to protect and expand human rights and its commitments, made in international spaces, but to the Bahamian people, to meet international human rights standards by domes ticating them through legal reform.

There is no room for debate and there is no need to consult with people rapist apologists. We need a government that meets its human rights obligations

without fear or apology.

Yet, here we are, hear ing from the press secretary that it is up to us, members of civil society, to make enough noise to pressure the government into doing what it said it would do, even 29 years ago when it ratified CEDAW, the wom en’s bill of rights.

People often say this is not a real place. Fortu nately or unfortunately, it is very real. We live here. We work here. We struggle here. We strive for better here. We do what we can to make it better — some of us for ourselves only, some of us for the collective, and some of us with a focus on the most marginalised.

From minimum wage to marital rape, the issues we face are not individual. We did not create these prob lems ourselves. They are results of oppressive sys tems that allow people in positions of power to retain that power and wield it recklessly.

We are being shown, over and over again, that those people will not dis mantle the systems that benefit them, and they will continue to blame us for our own pain and discontent.

Do our demands need to be much louder, or are we at the point where our tac tics need to change? Would it cost us more to identify our own power and with draw our contributions (undervalued until they are gone) than it does to remain? Again, this is not an easy place to live.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Ghosts. A young couple, Sam and Jay, inherit an old country house and decide to convert it into a bed and breakfast, but eve ryone is not excited about their plan. The ghosts living in the house would rather not share the space with people who traipse in and out, make noise, and gener ally do not revere the house the way they do. When they realise Sam can see and hear them, they do not hesi tate to assert themselves and negotiate for what they want. This is a funny tel evision show, sometimes slipping into the absurd, so it makes for good, light watching and can be on in the background while you do other things. (This is in reference to the US version.

The UK version is likely better, so if you want to watch both it’s a good idea to start wit this one.)

2. @dinosandcomics on Instagram. This account shared highly relat able comics that make commentary on human experiences and their relationship to mental health. The characters are dinosaurs, sometimes joined by a turtle. In one comic, the first dinosaur tells the other that it is too tired to work. The second dinosaur suggests it goes to sleep. The first dinosaur refuses, saying it has too much work to do to go to sleep. The second dinosaur says, “The only solution is to stay up all night not doing it.”

Many people can relate to a pending task being in competition with a physi ological need. The comic is particularly good at cap turing moments of anxiety and the power of friend ship and support.

DUBRAVKA Šimonovic, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women, pictured in 2017 when she reported that marital rape is the most pressing issue with regard to violence against women. Five years later, what has been done?

Photo: Letisha Henderson/BIS

ELECTRIC VEHICLES TAKE CENTRE STAGE AT PARED-BACK PARIS SHOW

By DAVID MCHUGH AP Business Writer

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe is leading the push into battery-pow ered cars as electric vehicles enter the mainstream — even as the industry faces challenges including supply shortages, a spotty charg ing network and a looming recession.

The electric-as-routine approach is on display this week at a slimmed-down Paris auto show as carmak ers show off models aimed at fulfilling Europe’s prom ises to phase out internal combustion cars by 2035. Automakers at the show include Chinese manufac turers who analysts say are making rapid technologi cal progress as they explore expansion into Europe.

Here are major themes from the Paris show, which is open to visitors Tuesday through Sunday at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles exhibition center:

ELECTRIC FIRST Cars with an electric motor made up 41% of sales in the second quarter in Europe, with 9.9% batteryonly cars and the rest hybrids that combine electric power with internal combustion, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

Gains have come because of regulatory pressure, tax breaks, improving battery range, and a wider range of vehicles to purchase.

“The electric revolution is in full swing,” wrote ana lysts at Sanford C. Bernstein research firm.

“Car manufacturers are finally pivoting to electric vehicles and consumers are buying every electric vehicle they can find.”

Bernstein analysts say electric cars are “no longer a niche” and that “Europe will likely lead the way” due to tough emissions requirements.

By 2025, a quarter of all cars sold worldwide will likely be battery-only or hybrids that combine inter nal combustion with electric motors, they forecast.

Uptake has been slower in China, where the higher cost of producing electric cars leave them beyond the purchasing power of many consumers despite govern ment incentives. Battery and hybrid cars were 13.8% of the market for all of 2021.

In the U.S., regulatory pressure from government emissions requirements has waxed or waned depending on whether a Republican or a Democrat is in the White House. The electric share was around 4.5% in 2021.

At the Paris show, elec trics are now the rule among major unveilings.

They include Stellan tis’ battery-powered Jeep Avenger small SUV and the Peugeot 408 plug-in hybrid, while Renault has an electric version of its Kangoo small van and a rugged-looking SUV concept car dubbed the 4Ever Trophy. MercedesBenz unveiled its EQE crossover at an off-site event at the Rodin Museum on the

eve of the show.

There’s still a long way to go before 2035, when the European Union bans car bon-dioxide emissions from autos, effectively mandat ing all new cars be electric. It’s part of the EU’s push to meet its commitments under the 2015 Paris climate accords.

AUTO SHOWS IN DECLINE POST-PANDEMIC

The Paris auto show — officially the Mondial de l’Automobile — is back for the first time since 2018 but has been scaled back since the last edition drew more than a million people.

It has been shortened to six days instead of 11 and is missing major automak ers such as Volkswagen and BMW from Germany. Instead, the focus is on the French home team: Stel lantis’ Peugeot, DS and Jeep brands and competitor Renault.

Paris formerly alternated every other year with what was the Frankfurt show as Europe’s major auto exhibition.

The 2020 Paris show was lost to the pandemic, and in 2021 the Frankfurt show shifted to Munich and moved some aspects outdoors or online while including bicycles.

The hangover from the pandemic and its disrup tion of travel, along with environmental concerns and changing ideas about how to market cars, have affected auto shows.

Companies often prefer to unveil new models on

their own, frequently with an online component, without the expense of a large auto show stand or putting their product next to competitors.

CHINESE AUTOS

A key presence alongside the French companies will be Chinese market entrants BYD, which is showing off three electric vehicles, and Great Wall, whose Ora brand is expected to display the Funky Cat compact.

BYD offers the Atto 3, a five-seat, midsize SUV “with European customers in mind.” The company says the design fuses European and Chinese culture through “dragon face” design lan guage in which headlights and horizontal grill bar sym bolize a dragon’s eyes and moustache.

The interior features “gym-inspired” design such as barbell door handles and a kettlebell-shaped gear selector. Seats and headrests are of vegan leather.

Chinese carmakers have a tiny presence in Europe, selling just 1,706 vehicles last year, according to figures compiled by the European automakers’ association.

But analysts say they have made rapid progress in elec tric cars and introducing new driver assistance technol ogy — and could be a major factor in coming years.

“With electrification, I’m convinced that Chinese car manufacturers have quite a big advantage because bat tery development, battery know-how and knowledge sits in China like in no other region on the planet,” said Thiemo Jahnke, brand and

marketing director for WEY Europe, part of the Chinese luxury SUV maker.

Things have changed since an unsuccessful attempt to enter the European market 15 years ago, said Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. Now, they are making a second attempt “which seems much more promising.” But he cautioned that breaking into the highly competitive Euro pean market would take time.

“The Chinese automakers demonstrate strong innova tion in electric mobility,” Bratzel said.

“At the same time, through cooperation with European suppliers they have significantly improved vehicle quality.”

In the Chinese market, the

such as semiconductors key to increasingly sophisticated automotive electronics.

Car sales fell 9.9% for the first nine months of the year. On top of that, many economists are predict ing a recession this winter. High energy costs due to the war in Ukraine and Russia cutting back natural gas sup plies are robbing consumers of purchasing power.

Automakers are able to work through order back logs and demand higher prices, but that won’t last, says Ferdinand Dudenhoef fer, head of the CAR Center for Automotive Research in Duisburg, Germany.

“That will be over in 2023,” he said. “Then it’s the customers who will be scarce” and price discounts will come back.

He predicts overall sales

TECHTALK

SPACEX FERRIES ASTRONAUTS BACK TO EARTH AFTER HALF-YEAR AWAY

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Four astro nauts returned to Earth in a SpaceX capsule Friday, ending their nearly six-month space station mission with a splashdown in the Atlantic off Florida.

Wet and windy weather across Florida delayed their homecom ing. SpaceX and NASA finally gave the all-clear on Friday, and the three Americans and one Italian departed the International Space Station, their resi dence since April.

The capsule parachuted into the ocean, just off Jacksonville, Florida, about five hours later.

It carried NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins, the first Black woman to complete a long-term spaceflight, and the European Space Agency’s Samantha Crist oforetti. SpaceX delivered their replacements last week.

Before checking out, the astronauts said they couldn’t wait to have a cold drink with ice, eat some pizza and ice cream, take a shower, revel in nature and, of course, reunite with their families. NASA planned to hustle them to Houston once they were off SpaceX’s recovery ship and back on solid ground.

“Getting the first few hugs when we get back is really going to be awesome,” Hines told reporters earlier in the week.

Remaining aboard the space station are three Americans, three Rus sians and one Japanese.

eign carmakers “may suffer from competition more than they expected” from domes tic brands, the Bernstein analysts wrote.

Asian carmakers, includ ing Vietnam’s VinFast, are striving to lure European customers with extended warranties, slick and sporty models and luxurious materials.

“Nobody knows us in Europe, so we want to give confidence in our products,” said Jean-Christophe Mer cier, deputy CEO of VinFast Europe.

PROBLEMS FOR THE INDUSTRY

Europe’s auto industry is facing serious headwinds, including shortages of parts

to 10.8 million in Europe, down from 11 million this year and well below the pre-pandemic peak of 15.8 million.

Another stumbling block on Europe’s way to 100% electric: There’s a huge gulf between countries with lots of chargers and those with the fewest, according to the European auto industry association.

The Netherlands has one every 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) of road, while Poland has one every 150 kilometres (93 miles).

It says the gap “risks stalling market uptake of electric cars” and called on the European Parliament to push member states to build more charging points.

FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron views the Peugeot DS E-Tense Performance at the Paris Car Show, Monday. Europe is leading the charge into electric vehicles as battery powered cars break out of their niche market of first adopters and enter the mainstream with increasing market share that’s forecast to grow strongly as the EU pushes to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035. (Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool via AP)

VISITORS watch the Renault Apine H2 hydrogen-powered concept supercar at the Paris Car Show Monday in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

PEOPLE gather around the electric-powered Jeep Avenger SUV at the Paris Car Show. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

RESEARCH TO HELP STONE CRAB SURVIVAL

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

THE Cape Eleuthera Institute at The Island School in collaboration with local fishers have dis covered ground-breaking research on stone crab fish ery in The Bahamas.

The researchers dis covered an alternative method for claw removal that increases the chances of stone crab survival by nearly 30 percent once their claw is harvested and the crab released.

The new method takes advantage of a self-defense

strategy that crabs, and some other animals use to avoid predators.

“By simply sticking a sharp object into the soft joint mid-way down the claw, a fisher can make the crab drop its claw which avoids damage to the joint that can occur when crack ing or clipping the claw off,” The Cape Eleuthera Institute said in a recent statement.

“When a crab drops its claw, survival increases by 29 percent on average, meaning more crabs survive to regrow their claws and reproduce, thus support ing the population and the

fishery into the future.”

Local fishers developed the slogan “don’t clip the biter, stick it” to commu nicate the alternate claw removal technique.

The stone crab season opens from October 16 to May 31 each year, and this season presents an exciting opportunity to continue this work.

In a press release, the Cape Eleuthera Institute said the National Fisheries Association and stone crab fishers that have worked on the project have been incredibly supportive of this collaborative effort to investigate a new idea.

“The opening of the fishing season presents a timely opportunity to continue to test this new method and learn more about the stone crab fish ery. However, while the increase in survival rates is promising, this technique needs to be further tested by fishers to gather their input and feedback,” the statement said.

Despite the discovery of the groundbreaking research, the Cape Eleuthera Institute said they do not recommend this method be regulated or mandated in the commer cial fishery at this time.

THREE WOMEN MARK 50 YEARS IN SORORITY

FIFTY years ago, three young women joined the illustrious sorority of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc while enrolled at college and univer sity abroad. Joycelyn Gilbert-Pinder, Theresa Brooks-Bastian, and Leona Penn have reached their 50th mile stone as members of this illustrious sorority.

These Alpha Kappa Alpha women will be honoured by the ladies of Pi Upsilon Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority on Sunday, at 2pm at the Pelican Bay Hotel.

Joycelyn Gilbert Pinder joined the Pi chapter of AKA in November 1972, while matriculating at Fisk University, in Nashville, Tennessee.

She became a charter member of Pi Upsilon Omega chapter, which was officially chartered on May 23rd of 1987, in Freeport, Grand Bahama. She has served in various capacities within the chapter, including president and vice president. She also served as the chair of several committees, including the Twenty Pearls Salute to Excellence, a mentoring programme for high school girls. She is also a life member.

Mrs Pinder worked on

committees for the International Region of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, namely the membership, fundraising, programme, protocol, and Sisterly Relations committees. In 1989, she was the chairperson of the first Non-legislative Interna tional Regional Conference held in Freeport.

She was recognised as ‘President of the Year’ in 1989 and was the recipi ent of the ‘Unsung Hero’ award, in 2010.

She has also served on AKA’s International Committees: Mem bership (1988-1990); and the Education Advancement Foundation (1990-1994).

Over the past 50 years, Mrs Pinder has attended numerous AKA events throughout the United States, including 17 regional conferences, six leadership conferences, and 12 Boules.

She cherishes the lifelong friend ships and relationships she has developed with members of the AKA Sorority.

She is the wife of Reverend Peter Pinder, and the mother of two daugh ters who are also members of AKA,

Kerel Pinder, and Katheldra Alex ander. She attends Zion Baptist Community Church, Freeport.

Theresa Brooks-Bastian joined the Delta Eta chapter in 1972, while matriculating at Florida Memorial University, in Miami, Florida.

On returning home to The Baha mas, she became a charter member of Pi Upsilon Omega, where she served in various capacities within the chap ter, including secretary, corresponding secretary, Sergeant-At-Arms, and chaplain.

She also worked on committees, namely the Pink Goes Red commit tee, History/Archives, and Empower Our Families committees. Sge was awarded a Certificate of Merit at the Silver Star Luncheon, which she highlights as one of her most memo rable experiences as a member of AKA.

Mrs Brooks-Bastian was employed at the Bahamas Oil Refinery Com pany (BORCO) between 1974 and 1984. She was appointed business administrator and counselor at Operation Hope from 1994-1996. She obtained the position as human resources executive officer at the Bahamas Customs Department, where she remained until her retire ment in 2016.

She has made valuable contribu tions to the community through her involvement in other organisations, including the Cancer Association and the Modern Free Eastern Star Lodge. She attends Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church.

She is the wife of Paul Bastian and the mother to Vonetta Johnson. She is also the proud grandmother of two, Devon and Denae Johnson.

Leona Adlaide Penn also joined Delta Eta chapter in 1972 while attending Florida Memorial Uni versity. Among her memorable experiences was being pinned by US Congresswoman Fredericka Wilson, who is also an Alpha Kappa Alpha member. Another highlight was attending her first and only Boule, in 1973.

Her areas of interests are collabo rating with the committees, such as Pink Goes Red and Empowering Our Families.

Ms Penn is a retired payroll assis tant. She attends the Church of God of Prophecy and is a lodge member with Kaiku Zeki Court. She is mother to Chandra Bowe. She has one grand son, Channondor.

UK offers $3.4m for water insurance

By JADE RUSSELL jrussell@tribunemedia.net

BRITISH High Com missioner to The Bahamas

Thomas Hartley yester day announced the United Kingdom’s contribution of $3.4m to the new Caribbean Water-Utilities Insurance Company.

Mr Hartley made the announcement during the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association conference.

In his remarks, Mr Hart ley explained the purpose of the contribution for the Caribbean Water-Utili ties Insurance Company (CWUIC).

“I am pleased to announce a contribution of over £3m ($3.4m BSD) from the UK for the new Caribbean Water-Utilities Insurance Company,” he said. “This contribution will build resilience for water and sanitation systems in the Caribbean, both with investments from the InterAmerican Development Bank to reduce risk, but also rapid payouts to get services back up and run ning as soon as possible.”

Mr Hartley revealed the CWUIC will be rolled out from next year onwards.

It will offer insurance at a “far below commer cial cost” due to the UK’s partnership with the Inter-American Develop ment Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), Mr Hartley said.

“Other countries – including The Bahamas –are strongly encouraged to join CWUIC quickly too,” he underscored.

“I am delighted that the scheme’s technical devel opment is being supported also by the UK-funded Centre for Disaster Protec tion, and we’ll be hearing from Sophie Evans of the Centre shortly,” he said.

Additionally, Mr Hartley highlighted the devastation of Hurricane Dorian, as the Caribbean region is one of the most vulnerable to nat ural disasters in the world.

In his visit to Grand Bahama earlier this month he saw first-hand the dev astation of homes, cars, and the catastrophic damage to mangroves and forests.

He went on to explain the impact of climate change, noting the importance of disaster risk reduction and disaster risk finance.

“Climate change ampli fies risk with far-reaching consequences, especially on the most vulnerable: warmer water means bigger hurricanes.

“But with concerted action from all sectors, the impacts of climate change can be addressed: disaster risk reduction is crucial to this: it reduces and manages exposure to disasters.

“But for the most extreme risks, disaster risk finance such as insurance is a vital last line of defence. As home to the biggest insurance industry in the world, the UK knows this more than anyone else.

“For vulnerable commu nities and for governments, fast and reliable pay-outs enable quicker responses that can pre-empt damage; and early action is more cost-efficient and enables communities to recover more quickly,” he said.

FOUR HELD ON DRUGS CHARGES

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THREE male residents of Abaco and one male resident of Bimini were arrested in three separate incidents early his week on charges of illegal drugs possession.

Police Assistant Super intendent Stephen Rolle said that on Monday, shortly after 11am, police on Bimini were conducting mobile patrols in the area of Kayak Beach when they saw a man riding a scooter and acting suspiciously.

The man was stopped and searched. Mr Rolle said officers discovered a quantity of suspected mari juana and oxycodone pills (opioids).

The male suspect, a resi dent of South Bimini, was taken into police custody.

In Abaco, officers were conducting enquir ies shortly after 8pm on Monday in the Cen tral Pines area, where a quantity of suspected mari juana was discovered at a residence.

ASP Rolle said offic ers arrested two men who were taken into custody for questioning.

In the Marsh Harbour area, officers from Opera tion Restoration were on routine mobile patrol in the area of George Albury Dock where they searched a man, who was allegedly found in possession of sus pected marijuana. The suspect who is a resident of Dundas Town was arrested and taken into police custody.

Mr Rolle said investiga tions are continuing into all matters.

FROM left, Joycelyn Gilbert Pinder, Theresa Brooks-Bastian and Leona Adlaide Penn.

Russia targets Ukraine’s power and water supplies

KYIV, Ukraine Associated Press

AIRSTRIKES cut power and water supplies to hun dreds of thousands of Ukrainians yesterday, part of what the country’s presi dent called an expanding Russian campaign to drive the nation into the cold and dark and make peace talks impossible.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said nearly one-third of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed in the past week, “causing massive blackouts across the country”.

“No space left for negoti ations with Putin’s regime,” he tweeted.

Depriving people of water, electricity and heat as winter begins to bite, and the broadening use of so-called suicide drones that nosedive into targets have opened a new phase in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war. The bombard ments appear aimed at wearing down the nota ble resilience Ukrainians have shown in the nearly eight months since Moscow invaded.

Meanwhile, along the front lines, things remained “very difficult” for Russian

FAMILY:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Associated Press

AN AMERICAN citizen has been arrested in Saudi Arabia, tortured and sen tenced to 16 years in prison over tweets he sent while in the United States, his son said yesterday.

Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old retired project manager living in Florida, was arrested last Novem ber while visiting family in the kingdom and was sen tenced earlier this month, his son Ibrahim told The Associated Press, confirm ing details that were first reported by the Washington Post. Almadi is a citizen of both Saudi Arabia and the US.

There was no immedi ate comment from Saudi officials.

State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel, speaking to report ers in Washington, confirmed Almadi’s deten tion yesterday.

“We have consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding the

troops in the southern region and city of Kher son, according to Russia’s new commander, Sergei Surovikin.

He told reporters in Moscow that the Rus sian military would help evacuate civilians ahead of an expected Ukrainian offensive.

Kherson is one of four regions illegally annexed by Russia last month. Regional head Vladimir Saldo said Tuesday that residents of Berislav, Belozersky, Snigir yovsky and Alexandrovsky were to be moved across the Dnieper River, away from Russian troops build ing “large-scale defensive fortifications”.

Saldo urged residents to stay calm and said they would “remain under the reliable protection of the Russian army”.

On Friday, too, Saldo had urged Kherson residents to evacuate. Russian authori ties promise free travel and accommodations to those who leave for Russia, the only route out that they have offered.

Across Ukraine, even far from front lines, basic utilities are no longer cer tainties, with daily Russian strikes reaching far into the

country and damaging key facilities.

The latest city shorn of power was Zhytomyr, home to military bases, industries and leafy boulevards, about 85 miles west of Kyiv. The mayor said the whole city of 250,000 lost power and also water initially. Repairs quickly reconnected some homes but 150,000 people were still without electric ity hours after the morning strike, regional authorities said.

Pavlo Raboschuk, a 33-year-old computer repairman in Zhytomyr, said that only small shops that could get by without electricity were open on his route to work.

“Only swear words come to mind,” he said. He’s bracing “for a tough and dark winter,” with dehy drated foods, warm clothes and batteries already stock piled at home.

City hospitals switched to backup power after the double missile strike Tuesday on an energy facility, said Mayor Serhiy Sukhomlyn.

In the capital, Kyiv, mis sile strikes damaged two power facilities and killed two people, city authorities said. The attack left 50,000

people without power for a few hours, the facilities’ operator said.

Missiles also severely damaged an energy facil ity in the south-central city of Dnipro, and strikes hit the northeastern region of Sumy.

Russia is mixing up its modes of attack.

Suicide drones set ablaze an infrastructure facility in the partly Russian-occupied southern Zaporizhzhia region, the regional gover nor said.

Air-defence S-300 mis siles, which Russia has been repurposing as groundattack weapons as its stocks diminish, were used to strike the southern city of Mykolaiv. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, eight rock ets fired from across the nearby border with Russia hit an industrial area, the regional governor said.

In Zhytomyr, school director Iryna Kolodzyn ska had students back at their desks within 30 min utes of the air raid all-clear. Without power for their computers, they used the class board to work on math equations.

“We must not break down,” she said. “There are regions that suffered much

more from the war than we did.”

Waves of the explosivesladen suicide drones also struck Kyiv on Monday. One slammed into a resi dential building, killing four people.

The Iranian-made Shahed drones that hit Kyiv have also been widely used elsewhere in Ukraine in recent weeks. An Associ ated Press photographer caught one on camera Monday, its triangle-shaped wing and pointed warhead clearly visible, though the Kremlin refused to confirm their use.

A Western official said Russia is pursuing a strat egy of “attempting to destroy Ukraine’s elec tricity network” with long-range strikes that are causing civilian casualties rather than degrading its military.

The official said the Ira nian drones “are playing an increasingly significant role, although we can see that Ukraine is effectively neutralising many of them before they hit their targets”.

In a televised address on Monday night, Zelenskyy said Russia is using the drones because it is losing

ground in the war.

“Russia doesn’t have any chance on the battlefield, and it tries to compensate for its military defeats with terror,” he said. “Why this terror? To put pressure on us, on Europe, on the entire world.”

Zelenskyy’s tweet ruling out talks with Putin wasn’t the first time he’s said that he won’t negotiate with the Russian leader. Russia and Ukraine held several rounds of talks in the first month after Moscow’s invasion but they fell apart. The Kremlin has said talks could only be possible if Ukraine meets Russian demands and accepts its land-grabs of Ukrainian territory. Ukraine has flatly ruled out talks on those terms

• In Russia, the death toll from Monday’s crash of a Russian warplane into a residential area rose to 15. The Su-34 bomber came down in the port city of Yeysk after one of its engines caught fire during takeoff for a training mis sion, the Defence Ministry said. Both crew members bailed out safely, but the plane struck a neighbour hood, causing a huge blaze, officials said.

to 34 years for spreading “rumors” and retweeting dissidents, a case that drew international outrage.

Ibrahim says his father was detained over 14 “mild tweets” sent over the past seven years, mostly criti cizing government policies and alleged corruption. He says his father was not an activist but a private citi zen expressing his opinion while in the U.S., where freedom of speech is a con stitutional right.

to report terrorism, over tweets that Ibrahim had posted.

His father was also slapped with a 16-year travel ban. If the sentence is carried out, the 72-yearold would be 87 upon his release and barred from returning home to the US unless he reaches the age of 104.

case at senior levels of the Saudi government, both through channels in Riyadh and Washington DC as well and we will continue to do so,” he said. “We have raised this with members of the Saudi government as recently as yesterday.”

It appeared to be the latest in a series of recent

cases in which Saudis received long jail sentences for social media posts criti cal of the government. Saudi authorities have tightened their crack down on dissent following the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is seeking to open up and transform the

ultraconservative kingdom but has adopted a hard line toward any criticism.

A Saudi court recently sentenced a woman to 45 years in prison for alleg edly damaging the country through her social media activity. A Saudi doctoral student at Leeds University in England was sentenced

President Joe Biden traveled to the oil-rich king dom in July for a meeting with Prince Mohammed, in which he said he con fronted him about human rights. Their meeting — and a widely criticised fist-bump — marked a sharp turna round from Biden’s earlier vow to make the kingdom a “pariah” over the 2018 kill ing of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Ibrahim said his father was sentenced to 16 years in prison on October 3 on charges of supporting ter rorism. The father was also charged with failing

Ibrahim said Saudi authorities warned his family to stay quiet about the case and to not involve the US government. He said his father was tortured after the family contacted the State Department in March.

Ibrahim also accused the State Department of neglecting his father’s case by not declaring him a “wrongfully detained” American, which would ele vate his file.

“They manipulated me. They told me to stay quiet so they can get him out,” Ibrahim said, explaining his decision to go public this week. “I am not will ing to take a gamble on the Department of State anymore.”

FIREFIGHTERS work after a drone attack on buildings in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday.

Photo: Roman Hrytsyna/AP

IN this photo provided by Ibrahim Almadi, Saad Ibrahim Almadi sits in a restaurant in the United States, on August 2021.

Kai Jones, Ayton and Hield in action tonight

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@gmail.com

The 2022-23 NBA season officially tipped off last night. However, Bahamian play ers are scheduled to get their respective campaigns underway tonight.

Chavano “Buddy” Hield’s Indiana Pacers and Deandre Ayton’s Phoenix Suns will open the season at home while Kai Jones’ Charlotte Hornets begin the season on the road.

The Pacers will host the Washington Wizards tonight at Conseco Field house in Indianapolis, Indiana, at 7pm.

The early veteran exten sion deadline passed on October 17 without Hield and Pacers reaching an agreement to extend his current contract.

Hield has been the sub ject of trade rumours for much of the offseason and had the sides agreed to an extension, he would have been ineligible to be traded for at least six months if the deal included a more than five percent raise. Hield will now be ineligible for an extension until next offseason.

Hield was traded from the Sacramento Kings to the Pacers last Febru ary and in 26 games with the club, he averaged 18.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game. He shot 45 percent from the field and 36 percent from three-point range in just over 35 minutes per game.

Prior to the trade, he averaged 14.4 points per game and made 182 three pointers, and was shooting a career-low 37 percent in 28 minutes per game with the Kings.

Hield, one of just two players returning to the Pacers roster at least 29-years-old, said the young group is already showing signs of bonding and familiarity. He said he continues to ignore the rumours, but is focused on the task at hand with the Pacers.

“It’s the business of bas ketball. No matter what happens I love playing

basketball,” Hield said. “Once I have a job, and I’m able to play in this league for a long time it doesn’t matter where I go, I’m happy, I’m still here I’m just glad to play bas ketball at a high level with the best basketball players in the world.”

Ayton and the Suns will begin the season with a rematch of the Western Conference semifinals upset that set the tone for a tumultuous offseason.

The Suns will begin a new era without former owner Robert Sarver when they host the Dallas Mav ericks tonight at 10pm at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

For the second consecu tive season, the Suns will be featured in a franchise record-tying 34 nationally televised games. A total of 22 games will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN or TNT, with an additional 12 on NBATV.

In his fourth season, Ayton averaged 17.2 points on a career high 63 per cent from the field and 10.2 rebounds per game in 58

appearances. He appeared in only 17 minutes of the Suns’ 123-90 elimination loss to the Mavericks in game seven of the confer ence semifinals last season.

Following a lengthy restricted free agency pro cess, Ayton officially inked a four-year $133 million contract in July to return to the Suns.

“Yea I’m alright,” Ayton responded when asked if he’s happy to be back with the Suns.

“When I’m in between those lines, man, I just work. I know I’m not play ing for myself. I have an organisation across my

chest and a name on my back I have to represent, I’m just here to work.”

Jones and the Hornets open the season tonight on the road against the San Antonio Spurs at 8pm at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.

The Hornets have a stacked depth chart in the frontcourt headed into the 2022-23 campaign but Kai Jones looks to use his ver satility to take advantage of every opportunity in year two.

Jones called his rookie season “a beautiful expe rience” at Hornets media day but looks forward to

making a bigger impact this season. “With my athleti cism, I can have a two-way impact,” he said.

“Lob threat, blocking shots, just being versatile.”

As a rookie, he appeared in just 21 games at three minutes per game before spending the bulk of the season in the G-League with the Greensboro Swarm.

Jones participated in the NBA2K23 Las Vegas Summer League and in five games, the second year forward averaged 8.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and two blocked shots in 20 minutes per game.

I-ELITE ACADEMY PRODUCTS AMONG 200 PROSPECTS IN SHOWCASE

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@gmail.com

MAJOR League Base ball’s trainer partnership programme returned to The Dominican Republic to host its first major interna tional prospect showcase in just over two years.

International Elite Academy products Bohan Adderley, JT Bain and Rashawn Pinder are among 200 prospects from several countries in the region, including The Domini can Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Brazil and Jamaica.

The prospect list includes players selected by MLB scouts who are eligible to sign for the class of 2023 and others for the classes of 2024 and 2025.

Official MLB scouting events across countries prior to this week’s show case were postponed because of COVID-19.

I-Elite co-founder Geron Sands is currently with the prospects at the showcase and said The Bahamas is capable of hosting the region to similar events and provide more opportunities for aspiring players.

“Events like these are things that I think we should be getting into. Obviously it comes with preparation and development and I think that’s something we can do as a whole. I think that we have so many gifted and talented athletes in The Bahamas and this is definitely more of what we should be doing,” he said.

“Obviously we have to get on par with what other kids in the world are doing. Baseball is such a great sport that we can all ben efit from individually and as a country. It is possible for every young kid to dream to be a part of something like this and to make it to the major leagues.”

The showcase, which includes drills and game play, is hosted at the Philadelphia Phillies’ com plex in Boca Chica and concludes today.

“We are very excited for this international show case, which will feature

Professional basketball player Tavario Miller stars in Japan

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@gmail.com

and has emerged as a leader for his title contending club.

Miller has averaged 13.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per contest and recorded four double doubles through six games en route to a 5-1

record for the Shizuoka Veltex in the Japanese B3 League.

Miller finished with a double double - 16 points and 10 rebounds in 24 min utes off the bench to cap back-to-back wins over the Gifu Swoops in their latest series. Miller also had 16 points, six rebounds and two blocks in a 98-75 game one win.

“I am very happy that we were able to win these two games on the weekend.

Gifu is a very good team. Over the last few days, we struggled against their excellent defence at times throughout the games,” he said.

“[My goal] was to play tenacious defence and to get involved in rebound ing, that’s my role and job in this team. It’s the reason why I’m here. On the court, I think I can contribute to the team’s victory by doing exactly what is required of me, such as running well, defending well, and fighting on the boards.

Shizuoka moves on to host Veertien Mile in the

upcoming series. “This will be the first home game in three weeks, but I am look ing forward to seeing the fans,” Miller said.

In his debut with the club, he scored 10 points on 5-7 shooting in just 16 minutes off the bench in an 87-75 win over Yokohama Ex. He followed with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the rematch with Yokohama, his team’s lone loss of the season, 103-81.

Miller was moved into the starting lineup for the next series against Kanaz awa and finished with 15 points (7-11 field goals) and 11 rebounds in an 81-58 game one win.

In game two, he had a perfect shooting night from the field (7-7 field) and scored 19 points to go along with a team high 11 rebounds in a 75-61 win.

Miller spent last season in Brazil’s Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB) with Minas Belo Horizonte.

The team reached as far as the league semifi nals before their playoff run came to an end. Minas

finished the regular ranked third in the league at 25-7.

The team also finished third in the FIBA Basket ball Champions League of the Americas with a win over Quisima in the bronze medal game last month. In his first season with the

club, Miller averaged 11.5 points and seven rebounds per game on 65 percent shooting from the field. Prior to Brazil, the former Texas A and M Aggie played profession ally in Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, Norway and Mexico.

TAVARIO Miller began a new chapter in his pro basketball career in Japan

TAVARIO Miller at the free throw line in the Japanese B3 League.

Photo: Shizuoka Veltex

CHARLOTTE Hornets’ Kai Jones plays during a presea son NBA basketball game, on October 12 in Philadelphia.

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum) TOP INSET - Deandre Ayton.

INDIANA Pacers’ Buddy Hield dunks during the second half of the team’s NBA preseason basket

ball game against the New York Knicks on October 12 in Indianapolis.

(AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Brown each score

Celtics beat 76ers 126-117

By KYLE HIGHTOWER AP Sports Writer

BOSTON (AP) —

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each scored 35 points and the Boston Celt ics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 126-117 last night in the opening game of the NBA regular season.

Malcolm Brogdon added 16 points and Grant Wil liams finished with 15 as the defending Eastern Con ference champions gave interim coach Joe Mazzulla a victory in his debut.

Mazzulla has been tasked with leading the team after Ime Udoka was suspended for the season following an investigation by a law firm that found he committed multiple violations of team policies.

Mazzulla successfully led a Celtics team that very much resembled the one that made a surprise run to the NBA Finals a season ago.

Boston opened up a 110-97 lead with 8 minutes to play and never trailed again.

James Harden scored 35 points — his most since joining the 76ers last season — including 12 of 12 from the free throw line. He also had five 3-pointers. Joel Embiid added 26 points and

15 rebounds. Tyrese Maxey finished with 21 points.

Mazzulla has vowed to keep the focus on building upon the culture Udoka established on the court as a rookie head coach last season.

He insists that it will be done primarily on the defensive end of the floor, but the offence was the story for the Celtics yes terday with 56 percent shooting from the field.

With big man Robert Williams sidelined as he recovers from offsea son surgery on his knee, the Celtics stuck with the same starting lineup they employed during the pre season, playing defensive stalwart Derrick White alongside Marcus Smart, Tatum, Brown and Al Horford.

The smaller group sped Philadelphia up at times, forcing the 76ers into 14 turnovers for the game, leading to 22 Boston points.

The 76ers are looking to contend with the top teams in the Eastern Conference with Harden embarking on his first full season in Philadelphia after being swapped for Ben Simmons late last season in a trade with Brooklyn.

Harden looked rejuve nated coming off a season

defined by hamstring inju ries that hampered his effectiveness in a truncated 21 regular-season games with the Sixers last season.

The 10-time All-Star frustrated the Celtics, dis playing the mobility he was missing a year ago. He was able to get to the free throw line often. He also was effective from the 3-point

line, connecting on four in the first half, including a rainbow heave from the top of the key to beat the shot clock late in the second quarter.

GETTING HEATED

Tempers flared briefly in the third quarter when Smart took issue with Embiid standing over him following a rebound.

Smart got up and pushed Embiid, leading to a brief scrum between the teams.

Following a review by referees, Smart was assessed both personal and technical fouls.

UP NEXT The 76ers host Milwau kee on Thursday. The Celtics open a three-game road trip Friday at Miami.

NBA ‘22-23: 10 things to know about the upcoming season

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

NIKOLA Jokic is about to start his chase toward something that hasn’t been done in nearly 40 years.

A player winning backto-back NBA MVP awards is rare, something that’s happened only 13 times in league history. And having done that last season, Jokic — the cornerstone of the Denver Nuggets — is now trying for something even more unusual: winning it three years in a row.

The only players who have pulled off that feat are Bill Russell (1961, 1962, 1963), Wilt Cham berlain (1966, 1967, 1968) and Larry Bird (1984, 1985, 1986).

The Nuggets aren’t keep ing that fact a secret from Jokic.

“No, I challenged him,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone, who flew to Serbia last summer to surprise Jokic with his second straight award.

Jokic is obviously among the favourites. Until this past season, there had never been a stretch of four consecutive international MVPs in the NBA. Jokic changed that, winning each of the last two awards after Milwaukee’s Giannis Ante tokounmpo (Greece) won in 2019 and 2020. And right now, it would seem almost likely that the MVP streak for non-U.S.-born players goes to five in a row, with Jokic, Antetokounmpo, Dallas’ Luka Doncic (Slo venia) and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid among the favourites. Embiid was born in Cameroon and holds French and now US citizenship.

FanDuel Sportsbook says Doncic is the favourite, just ahead of Embiid and Ante tokounmpo. Jokic is fourth in terms of lowest odds, tied with Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant and just ahead of Memphis’ Ja Morant, Bos ton’s Jayson Tatum and Golden State’s Stephen Curry.

POP STUFF

San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich has faced 163 dif ferent coaches so far in his legendary career. That list should reach at least 166 this season, with him slated to oppose Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham, interim Boston coach Joe Mazzulla and former Spurs assistant Will Hardy — now the coach in Utah — all for the first time.

There have been 322 coaches in NBA history, not including Popovich, who have coached at least 10 games. Popovich, the NBA’s all-time wins leader, has faced more than half of them — 50.3%, or 162.

Popovich turns 74 on Jan uary 28, and he’s the oldest active head coach in the NBA.

It’s no secret that Popo vich enjoys talking about and, of course, sipping fine wine. But six of the players on San Antonio’s season-opening roster probably won’t have much to say about that topic; Jordan Hall is 20 and the Spurs have five other play ers — Joshua Primo, Blake Wesley, Dominick Barlow, Malaki Branham and Jeremy Sochan — who are still 19 as this season begins.

The Spurs’ group of 19-year-olds, incidentally, are five of the NBA’s 17 youngest players who made rosters or got two-way deals to start the season.

SPO WATCH

Miami’s Erik Spoelstra — whose tenure with the Heat is the second-longest of any current coach in his cur rent job, behind only San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich — should move into the top 20 on the NBA’s all-time wins list this season.

Spoelstra starts the season with 660 wins, behind No. 22 Mike Fra tello (667), No. 21 Mike D’Antoni (672) and No. 20 Red Holzman (696). No. 19 John MacLeod (707) is within legitimate reach for Spoelstra this season as well.

Philadelphia’s Doc Rivers enters the year No. 9 on the list with 1,043 wins, which is 55 behind No. 8 Larry Brown. Indiana’s Rick Carl isle has 861 wins, three back of No. 14 Jack Ramsay.

FIT TO BE TIED

For only the second time in the last 23 seasons, the Western Conference didn’t win the season-long series against teams from the Eastern Conference.

In the regular season, the East went 226-224 against the West — bolstered by a 3-0 record on the final day with Chicago topping Minnesota, Boston rolling past Memphis and Atlanta defeating Houston.

Throw in Golden State’s 4-2 mark against Boston in the NBA Finals, and the final games-won tally for the full season was West 228, East 228. The only other time since 1998-99

that the East won the reg ular season series vs. the West was 2008-09, going 231-219. In the other 21 reg ular seasons over that span, before last year, the West had gone 5,149-3,910 vs. the East — a .568 winning percentage.

AGE GAME

The youngest player in the league entering this season is Detroit’s Jalen Duren, who was born November 18, 2003.

Yes, that means he wasn’t born yet when some current players were already in the league. LeBron James and Udonis Haslem both played their 11th career games on the day Duren was born.

That isn’t the only age quirk this season.

The 42-year-old Haslem is older than five cur rent head coaches — New Orleans’ Willie Green, Memphis’ Taylor Jenkins, Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault, Utah’s Will Hardy and Boston interim coach Joe Mazzulla. Golden State’s Andre Iguodala is older than than the last four names on that list; James is older than the last three.

There are 19 players cur rently on rosters who are older than Hardy (includ ing Jazz players Rudy Gay and Mike Conley) and 23 players older than Mazzulla (including Boston forward Al Horford).

ODDS ARE

Oklahoma City has been favoured in five games over the last two seasons. That’s the fewest games in a two-year span by any team over the last decade;

Philadelphia was favoured in a combined six games over the 2015-16 and 201617 seasons.

That said, the Thunder were a great bet last season. They covered in 63% of their games, just behind Memphis (64%) for the best such rate in the NBA. The worst was Portland, which covered 38% of the time. This much is certain: The team that was favoured in more games than anyone else last season won’t have that same distinction this year.

Last year, the Utah Jazz were favoured in 73 of the 82 regular-season games, ahead of Phoenix (70), Milwaukee (66), Golden State (62), Boston (61) and Miami (59). With Donovan Mitchell now in Cleveland and Rudy Gobert now in Minnesota, the Jazz won’t be favoured anywhere near that often this season.

LEBRON CLIMBING

LeBron James isn’t just on target to become the NBA’s all-time scor ing leader this season; he’s 1,325 points behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and at his average career scoring pace would need about 49 games to move into the No. 1 spot.

He’s also set to keep moving up a bunch of other lists, including:

— Assists: James is sev enth right now with 10,045, behind No. 6 Magic John son (10,141), No. 5 Mark Jackson (10,334) and No. 4 Steve Nash (10,335). That would put him behind only John Stockton (15,806), Jason Kidd (12,091) and Chris Paul (10,977 entering this season).

— Games: James has been in 1,366, currently 14th-most all-time. He needs to appear in 27 games to pass Tim Duncan (1,392) for 10th on the NBA career list, and could potentially catch Kevin Willis (1,424) for eighth.

— 3-pointers: James is 11th in NBA history with 2,140, three behind Port land’s Damian Lillard and the retired Paul Pierce, who enter this year tied for ninth.

— Seasons: James is entering Year 20. He’ll be the ninth player to appear in 20 seasons.

SPEAKING OF 20

Miami’s Udonis Haslem will be the 10th player to appear in 20 seasons, assum ing that LeBron James gets into a game before Haslem

HAWKS COMMIT TO HUNTER WITH $95M, 4-YEAR EXTENSION

ATLANTA (AP) —

The Atlanta Hawks have committed to De’Andre Hunter as one of the key players on a team looking to return to championship conten tion, signing the small forward to a $95 million, four-year extension.

The new deal begins with the 2023-24 season. Hunter could have become a restricted free agent following this season.

The Hawks confirmed the deal, first reported by ESPN, on Monday night.

The Hawks are look ing for a return to their 2020-21 form, when they advanced to the Eastern Conference finals before losing to the Milwaukee Bucks.

The 6-foot-7 Hunter averaged 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists last season, when the Hawks needed two wins in the play-in tournament to return to the playoffs. They lost to the Miami Heat in the first round.

Hunter has shown potential but has lacked consistency, especially as an outside shooter. He scored a career-high 35 points with 11 rebounds in Game 5 against the Heat, offering a reminder of his high upside.

Hunter averaged 15 points and 4.8 rebounds in the 2020-21 season and was selected to the NBA Rising Stars roster.

The extension solidi fies Hunter’s status as an important part of the Hawks’ core, joining point guard Trae Young, forward John Collins and their big offseason addi tion, guard Dejounte Murray.

does. Haslem is one of only three players to spend 20 years with one team, join ing Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki (21) and the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (20).

If Carmelo Anthony, who is unsigned, gets into a game this season, that’ll mark Year 20 for the former Syracuse great as well.

REMEMBERING RUSSELL

All players will wear Bas ketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell’s No. 6 on the right shoulder of their jerseys this season, commemorat ing the life of the 11-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and civil rights activist who died this summer.

Also, all courts in the NBA will have a “6” on the sideline near the scorer’s table. And no player who isn’t already wearing No. 6 will be allowed to wear it ever again; Russell is the first to have his number retired across the entire league.

Among those still wear ing the No. 6 jersey because they were wearing them previously: LeBron James, Washington’s Kristaps Por zingis and Chicago’s Alex Caruso — who wanted to change numbers as a trib ute to Russell this season, but said he had his request denied.

POINTS MARK

The NBA is 26,324 points away from reaching 14 mil lion all-time.

A record 291,912 points were scored last season, including playoffs. There have been years where more points were scored on average per game — 16 of them, actually. NBA games saw an average of 220.6 points last season, 16 points per game less than the record of 236.6 set in 1961-62.

At last year’s pace, the 14 millionth point would be scored roughly 120 games into this season. Or some time in early November.

CELTICS forward Jayson Tatum (0) drives to the basket against 76ers forward P.J. Tucker, right, during the first half last night.

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

NUGGETS centre Nikola Jokic (15) looks to pass the ball against Warriors centre Kevon Looney (5) during the first half in San Francisco on October 14.

(AP Photo/ Jeff Chiu)

Next set of basketball games at Loyola Hall on October 20

THE 2022 Bahamas Catholic Board of Edu cation (CBE) Primary Schools Basketball Season kicked off on Friday, Octo ber 14 at Loyola Hall, Gladstone Road.

Participating schools include the St Cecilia’s School Strikers, Sts. Francis & Joseph School Shock ers, Xavier’s Lower School Giants and St Thomas More School Sparks.

In the boys’ division, the St Cecilia’s Strikers defeated the St Thomas More Sparks 10-5.

The Sts. Francis & Joseph Shockers bested the Xavi er’s College Giants by a score of 15-5.

In the girls’ division, Sts. Francis & Joseph defeated St Thomas More 7-1.

St. Cecilia’s School beat Xavier’s Lower School 15-2.

For almost two years, as a result of the pandemic,

all CBE sports tournaments and relative events were cancelled.

Sports are an important part of Catholic school education and aligns with The Bahamas Catholic

Board of Education’s mis sion of development of the whole person. Sports not only promotes health and well-being, but also fosters school spirit and the devel opment of skills and talents.

“You will notice scores are low, but you have to remember that as a result of the pandemic these chil dren have never had the opportunity to play basket ball competitively, this is

their first time participating in a tournament and play ing in front of a crowd,” said N’Komo Ferguson, coach at St Cecilia’s.

“We are happy to be able to revive the athletic programmes in our schools as sports is not just about competition but essential in fostering a love of sports and all the other benefits sports offers to young per sons. We are certain that with more exposure the students will become more confident playing in the tournament.”

“Sports unites a nation,” said Ricardo Freemantle, a coach at Sts. Francis & Joseph School.

He added: “Being able to participate in team sports yet again is welcomed. The physical, emotional and social are areas that the kids were lacking throughout the pandemic, therefore it is remarkable and welcoming to be back on the court.

In terms of our boys and girls win on Friday, it feels

good to get back in that winning mentality.”

The next set of games on the basketball schedule will take place on October 20.

Sts. Francis & Joseph will take on St Cecilia’s and the Xavier’s College Giants will face the St Thomas More Sparks.

All games will take place at Loyola Hall, Gladstone Rd.

Boys St Cecilia’s School (Strik ers) over St Thomas More School (Sparks) – Score: 10-5

Sts. Francis & Joseph School (Shockers) over Xavier’s Lower School (The Giants): Score: 15 - 5

Girls

Sts. Francis & Joseph School (Shockers) over St Thomas More School (Sparks): Score: 7-1

St Cecilia’s School (Strik ers) over Xavier’s Lower School (Giants): Score: 15-2

SRI LANKA RALLIES WITH A BIG WIN, NETHERLANDS BEATS NAMIBIA

By REX CLEMENTINE Associated Press

GEELONG, Australia (AP) — Former champion Sri Lanka rebounded from an upset opening loss by thrashing the United Arab Emirates and boosting its hopes of advancing at the Twenty20 World Cup yesterday.

The Sri Lankans still face uncertainty over reach ing the Super 12 stage. There’s rain in the fore cast for Thursday when they’re scheduled to play surprising group leader the Netherlands, which added a five-wicket, last-over win over Namibia yesterday to its last-ball win over the UAE on the weekend.

The top two teams in each preliminary group progress to the Super 12, which starts this weekend.

Sri Lanka lost to Namibia but the teams are tied on competition points. If the Sri Lankans beat the Neth erlands and Namibia beats the UAE in their last group games, three teams would be tied on points and net run rate would come into the equation to determine who advances.

Sri Lanka got off to a good start against the UAE, reaching 92-1 in 11 overs.

But legspinner Karthik Meiyappan produced UAE’s first ever hat trick — and just the fifth in T20 World Cups — and soon Sri Lanka was in trouble at 120-6.

Opening batter Pathum Nissanka bailed his team out of trouble with 74 runs from 60 deliveries. There was some improvisation by Nissanka, who hit six fours and two sixes.

Sri Lanka targeted 140 until the struggle in the middle overs. It was relieved to set a target of 153, which proved too much for UAE, which was bowled out for 73 in 17.1 overs.

Dushmantha Chameera generated extreme pace with the new ball and claimed early wickets as the UAE slumped to 19-3.

Wanindu Hasaranga ran through the middle order

and returned 3-8 from four overs, the legspinner unlucky not to get a fourth wicket as substitute fielder Jeffrey Vandersay put down a catch in the deep.

There was some con cern toward the end of the UAE innings as Chameera limped off the field with out completing his last over with what appeared to be a calf muscle strain. He has just returned from an injury that kept him out Sri Lan ka’s run to the title at the Asia Cup.

In the earlier game at Geelong, allrounder Bas de Leede hit the winning runs in a run-a-ball 30 as the Netherlands chased down the target of 122 with three balls to spare. He earlier took two important wickets to remove Jan Frylinck (43) and Gerhard Erasmus (16) as Namibia was restricted to 121-6 after winning the toss and opting to bat.

The Dutch are the low est-ranked squad in the tournament at No. 18 but have produced some big upsets in the past including two wins over England.

“I don’t know if we want to be known as the team that takes it down to the last few balls, but obviously stoked to have the two wins on the board,” Netherlands captain Scott Edwards said. “It was a little bit closer than we wanted.”

Edwards said joining the top eight ranked teams in the next round is “well and truly in our hands.”

Max O’Dowd shared a 59-run opening stand with Vikramjit Singh (39) and scored a run-a-ball 35 in two solid partnerships at the top of the order to get the Dutch run chase under way before he was run out by a direct hit at the nonstriker’s end, triggering the middle-order collapse.

The Netherlands lost four wickets for 10 runs — including three wickets for a run — to slip from 92-1 to 102-5.

But De Leede, who went in at No. 3, remained com posed to guide his team to 122-5.

ABOVE - St Thomas More School v/s St Cecilia’s School

RIGHT - St Cecilia’s School v/s St Thomas More School

Harper, Schwarber homer as Wheeler, Phils top Padres to open NLCS

By BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer

players from different countries,” Morgan Sword, Major League Baseball’s executive vice president of baseball operations, said to MLB.com. “These events are an important part of the scouting process, but [they] also provide invalu able experience to players, who get to compete in front of crowds at professional facilities.”

In addition to the onfield tutelage, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez said the event also features “edu cational components that include an interactive panel with former Major League players and a separate panel with team scouting executives.”

Former players, includ ing Luis Sojo (Venezuela), Bruce Chen (Panama), Carlos Baerga (Puerto Rico) and Anderson Hernandez (Dominican Republic), are also serving as coaches and mentors for the participants.

MLB’s Player Pro grammes group will offer additional educational pro grammes on topics such as performance-enhancing substances, health and safety.

“It’s so important to give these players not just opportunities on the field, but opportunities off the field,” said Omar Minaya, MLB’s consultant on ama teur scouting. “Of course we hope that every player goes on to a healthy and success ful Major League career, but we also want to make sure everyone is prepared for the challenges that base ball and life will throw at them. And it’s especially meaningful to these play ers to hear some of these lessons directly from guys who have been successful at the Major League level and understand the pathway to getting there.”

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Bryce Harper homered again, Kyle Schwarber hit a jaw-dropping, 488-foot drive and Zack Wheeler was brilliant in throw ing one-hit ball for seven innings to lead the Phila delphia Phillies over the San Diego Padres 2-0 last night to open the all-wild card NL Championship Series.

Wheeler and two relievers combined on a one-hitter for Philadelphia. The Phillies managed just three hits off Yu Darvish and the San Diego bullpen — the combined four hits matched the fewest ever in a postseason game.

The Phillies will try to take a 2-0 lead when they send Aaron Nola to mound to oppose Blake Snell this afternoon. Nola is set to pitch against his brother, Padres catcher Austin Nola.

The Padres, who elimi nated the 111-win Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, had only four base runners, including a single by Wil Myers in the fifth. Still, they had a chance to win in the ninth against José Alvarado.

Jurickson Profar drew a one-out walk and Juan Soto reached when third baseman Alec Bohm made an errant throwing trying for a force. Manny Machado flied out and Alvarado struck out Josh Bell for the save, looking skyward and clapping after getting the final out.

Harper, trying to reach his first World Series, hit a high-arcing, oppositefield shot into the first row in left field with one out in the fourth. It was the fourth home run this post season for Harper, who was playing in San Diego for the first time since his left thumb was broken

when he was hit by a pitch by Blake Snell on June 25, sidelining him for two months.

Harper homered in his third straight postseason game. The two-time NL MVP, who won the award last year, has hit nine home runs in 26 career postsase ason games.

Schwarber’s incredible shot on Darvish’s first pitch of the sixth had an exit velocity of 119.7 mph and was the first to reach the right field upper deck at Petco Park, which opened in 2004.

It was the farthest in his career and the farthest at Petco in the Statcast Era and gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

Schwarber raised his right arm as he rounded first base and Harper stood in the dugout with his mouth agape in amazement.

They were the latest impressive home runs for the Phillies, who are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2011. The last won the World Series in 2008. They’ve hit eight

homers in seven games this postseason.

Harper joined Gary Matthews (1983) as the only players in franchise history to homer in three straight postseason games in the same year. Harper hit one homer in the wildcard series win at St Louis and two in going 8 for 16 as the Phillies eliminated the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves in the NLDS.

Rhys Hoskins had an epic bat spike on a mon ster homer against the Braves, and J.T. Realmuto became the first catcher in postseason history to hit an inside-the-park home run.

The Phillies at times stunned Petco Park, where a sellout crowd of 44,826 was amped up for the Padres’ first NLCS appear ance since 1998. It was 78 degrees at first pitch at 5:04pm, a big change from Saturday night’s rainstorm during the Padres’ 5-3 clinching win in the NLDS.

But Wheeler had he Padres totally off balance, allowing only a one-out walk to Juan Soto in the

first and then retiring 12 straight batters until Myers singled with one out in the fifth. Wheeler then retired his final eight batters. He struck out eight and walked one on 83 pitches.

Seranthony Dominguez pitched a perfect eighth.

Darvish took the loss, allowing two runs and three hits in seven innings while striking out seven and walking one.

STUBBS

Phillies backup C Gar rett Stubbs, who played at San Diego’s Torrey Pines High and then USC, is in his third LCS, trying to get to his second straight World Series. This is his second LCS at Petco Park.

He caught the final inning of the Houston Astros’ Game 7 loss to Tampa Bay in the 2020 ALCS in the San Diego bubble.

He caught the ninth inning of Game 6 of Hou ston’s World Series loss to Atlanta last year. Stubbs was traded to the Phillies in the offseason. Stubbs said he left 23 tickets for family and friends.

Stanton, Judge bash Yankees to 5-1 victory, into ALCS vs Astros

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer

NEW YORK (AP)

— Giancarlo Stan ton and Aaron Judge staggered Cleveland with early homers, and the New York Yankees rocked past the Guardians 5-1 yester day in the decisive Game 5 of their AL Division Series, setting up another rematch with Houston for the pennant.

With two on and two outs in the ninth and ace Gerrit Cole warming up in case, Myles Straw hit a game-ending grounder to shortstop Isiah KinerFalefa, who threw to second for the final out.

Gleyber Torres stepped on the bag to end it, then mimicked rocking a baby with the ball -- a jab at Guardians slugger Josh Naylor, who made the motion rounding the bases after a homer off Cole in Game 4.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone won his gamble by starting Nestor Cortes on three days’ rest over Jame son Taillon, making the late switch after Monday night’s rain caused a postponement.

Cleveland manager Terry Francona stayed the course with Aaron Civale instead of switching to 2020 Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber on short rest. Civale had trouble throwing strikes, and the Guardians never recovered from Stan ton’s three-run homer just 21 pitches in.

Taillon will start tonight’s AL Championship Series opener at Houston, which goes with Justin Verlander.

The AL matchup fea tures the league’s top two

regular-season teams in the 106-win Astros and 99-win Yankees, a contrast to the NL championship between wild-card San Diego and Philadelphia.

Houston beat the Yan kees in a seven-game championship series in 2017 and over six games in 2019.

The Astros went on to their first World Series title in 2017 but later were found to have used a video camera to signal opposition pitches to their batters.

Cortes dominated with three-hit ball for five innings for the win.

“Just a cherry on top,” Cortes said.

Jonathan Loáisiga, Clay Holmes and Wandy Peralta finished with five-hit score less relief.

“Just the legend of Nestor,” Boone said. “Hon estly going in, I would have been really excited about 10 batters.”

Cortes gave him more than that and the bullpen closed it out.

As the sellout crowd of 48,178 cheered, the Yan kees lined up across the field for handshakes, much like after regular-season wins.

AL East champion New York, seeking its 28th title and first since 2009, may be without Aaron Hicks in Houston. The left fielder came out of the game after hurting his left knee in a third-inning collision with rookie shortstop Oswaldo Cabrera.

AL Central champion Cleveland, the youngest team in the majors and with a $68 million payroll that’s a fraction of the Yankees’ $274 million, remained without a championship since 1948. The Guardians

led 2-1 in the best-of-five series before the Yankees won 4-2 behind Cole on Sunday to force the series back to New York.

“I know they are hurt ing right now, because they care, and they worked unbelievably hard,” Fran cona said. “This needs to be a starting place for us. This can’t just be a good story this year. We need to take this and go, because I think we have a chance to have something really special.”

Cleveland has lost 11 straight postseason elimina tion games, a major league record. The Guardians seemed jarred by the early deficit and failed to ask for a video review in the fourth inning when Andrés Gimé nez clearly beat a diving Anthony Rizzo to the firstbase bag. Francona said he ran out of time.

Rain had cleared out and the game began with left and centre field in brilliant sunshine on a 57-degree afternoon. There were scattered empty seats for the 4:07pm start, and fans loudly booed Naylor whose exuberant “rock the baby” home run trot Sunday got New York’s attention.

Fans serenaded Naylor with rocking motions and chanted “Who’s Your Daddy!” as they did for Boston’s Pedro Martinez two decades earlier.

Cortes, a fan favourite with his hesitation delivery that he used in the fifth, allowed one run, struck out two and walked one while throwing 61 pitches.

Stanton and Judge homered twice each in the series, and New York out homered Cleveland 9-3 while scoring 16 of its 20

runs on long balls. Judge became the first player with four homers in winnertake-all postseason games, breaking a tie with Yogi Berra, Moose Skowron, Stanton, Didi Gregorius and Troy O’Leary.

Civale, a 27-year-old right-hander, was in Cleve land’s rotation before being sidelined three times this season with injuries. He appeared flustered, throw ing just 12 of 26 pitches for strikes, getting only one swing and miss and just one out.

Torres walked on four pitches leading off, Judge struck out on a full-count curveball and Civale hit Rizzo on the left thigh with a pitch.

Civale started Stanton with an outside curveball in the dirt, and pitching coach Carl Willis went to the mound. Civale threw a cutter that missed low and outside. and catcher Austin Hedges set up on the low, outside corner, Civale left a cutter up and Stanton lined it 379 feet into the short right-field porch, a drive that would be a home run in only three of the 30 major league ballparks.

Civale faced just one more batter, leaving after Josh Donaldson’s infield single.

“He just didn’t come out commanding very well,” Francona said. “I felt ter rible taking him out that quickly, but I just didn’t think we could give up any more.”

Judge hit an oppositefield drive to right in the second on a curveball from left-hander Sam Hentges, Judge’s 13th postseason homer. The Yankees are 27-2 when Stanton and

BRIGHTON HELD BY FOREST, STUTTERING IN POSTPOTTER ERA

By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer

THE post-Graham Potter era at Brighton just cannot get going.

Make that just two points from four games under Potter’s replace ment, Roberto De Zerbi, after a lacklustre 0-0 draw at home with lowly Nottingham Forest that prompted some jeers from Brighton fans at the full-time whistle.

For a supposedly attack-minded manager, De Zerbi is struggling to make his team dangerous going forward.

Since the 3-3 draw in the Italian’s first match in charge — at Liverpool, no less — Brighton has played three games, had 54 shots and failed to score a goal.

The south-coast team was in fourth place when Potter left to join Chel sea. Now, it is in seventh and plays Manchester City and Chelsea over the next two weekends.

“It’s not the first time my team play like this and we can’t win,” said De Zerbi, who was widely praised for his work in turning around Sassuolo in Italy before a brief stint with Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk.

“I don’t want to speak about whether it’s unfair or unlucky ... We shoot 20 times, we have a lot of chances.

“We have to work in the last 20 metres to choose the best solution. We have to attack the space better, to work in the last pass.” Forest was more than happy with a draw that lifted Steve Cooper’s team off the bottom of the standings, a point above Leicester.

Forest’s players stood in front of the away end and took in the applause of their fans after holding out at the Amex Stadium, having restricted Brighton to mostly half-chances — one of which saw Leandro Trossard smash a fierce shot against the crossbar in the first half.

After a bad start to the season when Forest was too open and too naive, Cooper has set out his team to be more solid and pragmatic.

Forest has drawn two of its last three games and only conceded two goals in that stretch.

“To be on the road we’re on, to show fight and passion to the game plan, is the main thing,” Cooper said.

PALACE RECOVERS

Crystal Palace came from behind to beat Wol verhampton 2-1 in the other game, with Wilfried Zaha scoring the winner in the 70th minute for his fifth goal of the season.

Adama Traore’s 31st-minute header for Wolves was canceled out by another header, from Palace playmaker Ebere chi Eze, barely a minute into the second half. The win lifted Palace into 10th place and left Wolves one spot above the relegation zone.

Judge homer in the same game. José Ramírez drove Cleveland’s run with a sacri fice fly in the third after the bloop single down the leftfield line by rookie Steven Kwan, the play that caused Hicks’ injury. Kwan was 9 for 21 (.429) in the series.

LAPPING Playoff rounds over lapped onto the same day for the first time in Major League Baseball history, with the NL Champion ship Series starting about 50 minutes after the final out.

OUCH Rizzo and Yankees team mates Kiner-Falefa and Harrison Bader all were hit by pitches.

YANKEES centre fielder Aaron Judge reacts after the Yankees de feated the Guardians Game 5 of an American League Division baseball series last night in New York.

(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

PHILLIES’ Bryce Harper celebrates after a home run during the fourth inning in Game 1 of the baseball NL Championship Series between the Padres and the Phillies on Tuesday in San Diego.

(AP Photo/ Gregory Bull)

South Carolina women unanimous No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer

DAWN Staley and South Carolina picked up right where they left off: No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll.

The defending national champion Gamecocks were the unanimous choice of the 30-member national media panel in the presea son poll released yesterday. It’s the third consecutive season South Carolina is the preseason favourite.

“This is where we wanted to be and envisioned for our programme,” Staley said. “I got to give it to our players. We constantly get some of the best players in the country. They put us in this position as they work extremely hard. I don’t know if they come in and say I want to be the No. 1 team in the country, but they do say they want to be national champions. This is a step to being a national champion.” Stanford, Texas, Iowa and Tennessee round out the top five teams in the preseason poll. It is Iowa’s best ranking since 1994 when the Hawkeyes were also fourth in midseason.

“It makes no difference in March what we’re ranked in October, but certainly I want my team to have con fidence and be proud of what they’ve accomplished. Iowa is on the map,” coach Lisa Bluder said. “We’ll celebrate it and then forgot about it.”

South Carolina went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team last year and has been the top team for 20 straight weeks. Only UConn (four

times) and Baylor (once) have had longer streaks at No. 1 since the 1994-95 season when the Top 25 became a writers’ poll.

The Huskies are ranked No. 6, the first time since 2006 that they weren’t in the first five in the presea son poll. Louisville, Iowa State, Notre Dame and N.C. State finish off the top 10.

HOLD THAT TIGER

Princeton has its first pre season ranking, coming in at No. 24.

The Tigers were ranked for the final two weeks of last season and return four starters from the team that pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tourna ment, upending Kentucky in the first round before falling to Indiana by a point in the next game.

“It’s great for our pro gramme and for the Ivy League and putting some respect on what we’ve done in the past,” coach Carla Berube said. “I think it’s tremendous for our team and for us to live up to the standards we’ve set, we’ve got lofty goals. To be ranked in the preseason means a lot, but there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Berube has upped the Tigers schedule to chal lenge them with games at Texas and at UConn, her alma mater. “We’ve learned that if you have a tough non-conference schedule it can get you ready for the Ivy League and beyond that,” she said.

CORNHUSKER RUN

There are high expec tations in the state of Nebraska. No. 21 Creighton has its first preseason

ranking while No. 22 Nebraska was its first rank ing since 2015. It’s the first time in the history of the poll that both teams have been ranked in the same week. “It’s good to have Creighton and Nebraska in Top 25. It’s good for the state,” Creighton coach Jim Flanery said.

The Bluejays are coming off a great season when they advanced to the first Elite Eight in school history by knocking off No. 2 seed Iowa at home in the second round and Iowa State in the regional semifinals. Expec tations are high this year. “It says to our players that they put the programme in a better position than we’ve ever been in,” Flan ery said. “That’s good for

them. I think they deserve it. They worked to get us to this point. I don’t think it changes their approach.”

TIP-INS

No. 13 Virginia Tech has its best ranking since the final poll of 1999 when the school was also 13th. ... No. 23 South Dakota State is ranked in the preseason for the first time in school history.

CONFERENCE WATCH

The Big Ten is tops in the nation with six ranked teams. Joining No. 4 Iowa are No. 11 Indiana, No. 14 Ohio State, No. 17 Mary land, No. 22 Nebraska and No. 25 Michigan.

The ACC has five teams in the poll, including three in the top 10.

Joining Louisville, Notre Dame and N.C. State are No. 12 North Carolina and No. 13 Virginia Tech. The Big 12 has four programmes ranked, led by No. 3 Texas and No. 8 Iowa State. No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 18 Baylor are also ranked.

The SEC and Pac-12 each have three teams in the poll. No. 16 LSU joins top-ranked South Carolina and No. 5 Tennessee for the SEC. No. 19 Arizona and No. 20 Oregon join No. 2 Stanford for the Pac-12. No. 21 Creighton and UConn represent the Big East while No. 24 Prince ton is the lone school from the Ivy League and No. 23 South Dakota State the only Summit League team in the rankings.

CURRY OFFERS WARRIORS’ SUPPORT OF BRITTNEY GRINER

By JANIE MCCAULEY AP Sports Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Stephen Curry took the microphone in the middle of Golden State’s championship ring ceremony last night to make an impassioned plea in support of Brittney Griner as the WNBA star spent her 32nd birthday in a Russian prison.

“We want to continue to use our platform and the opportunity to shout out a very special member of the basketball community. Brittney Griner’s birthday is today, she’s 32,” Curry told the crowd on opening night before the defending champions hosted LeBron James and the Los Ange les Lakers.

“We want to continue to let her name be known and we pray ... it’s been 243 days since she was wrongfully incarcerated in Russia. We hope that she comes home soon, that everybody’s doing their part to get her home.”

The Warriors, long com mitted to social issues far beyond basketball, celebrated their fourth championship in eight years.

Griner is awaiting a hearing in Russia later this month for her appeal of a nine-year prison sen tence for drug possession. She was convicted August 4 after Russian police said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow.

CELTICS HONOUR BILL RUSSELL PRIOR TO SEASON OPENER VS 76ERS

By KYLE HIGHTOWER AP Sports Writer

BOSTON (AP) — Bill Russell helped establish and define the standard for the Boston Celtics.

The franchise took its latest opportunity to honour its greatest player before its season opener against Philadelphia last night.

The Celtics held the first of two planned ceremonies this season to commemo rate Russell since he died July 31 at age 88. A second celebration will take place February 12, Russell’s birthday.

Signs of his life and legacy were sprinkled all over TD Garden.

There were video tributes highlighting some of Rus sell’s biggest moments on and off the court.

The team also wore No. 6 patches on its special edi tion jerseys, which included a Celtics script fashioned after the same one as the Slade’s Bar and Grill res taurant that Russell owned

for several years. The uni forms included 11 gold diamonds down the sides, signifying the 11 champion ships Russell helped bring Boston over a 13-year span during his storied career.

Flanked by his current Celtics teammates, Jaylen Brown stood at midcourt before tipoff and asked the capacity crowd rhetori cally what defined Russell’s greatness.

“Bill Russell was a great man for what and who he stood for,” Brown said. “He represented a nobility and honesty that transcended sport. … He was a true champion both on and off the floor and our gratitude is endless.”

The ceremony ended with performances by Grammy-nominated singer Aloe Blacc and a poem by Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola.

The racial and social jus tice activism that Russell was also a champion of was on display with two black coaches squaring off against one another. When Russell became player-coach of the Celtics he was he first black

76ers coach Doc Rivers, who coached Boston for 11

seasons and led the fran chise to its 17th title during the 2007-08 season, said being in the Garden yester day was special for him. “He meant a lot. He meant a lot before I arrived here,” Russell said before the game. “Just for what he stood for, what he went through. Being the first black coach. He meant a winner. I still don’t think he gets enough credit. He did so many things, I don’t think we talk enough about his winning. Not just at the NBA level, but everywhere he went he won.”

Rivers said he’ll always cherish getting to know Russell and other players from his generation during his Boston tenure.

“The thing I’ll remember the most is how emotional he was when we won it,” Rivers said.

“I actually thought that with all the ex-players. You don’t see that very often, just the connection that they have to this franchise. But he was visibly emo tional. That was cool.”

Top-ranked Swiatek beats Vekic to win San Diego title

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Top-ranked Iga Swiatek overcame a challenge from qualifier Donna Vekic on Sunday to win the San Diego Open title 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

Swiatek earned her tourleading 64th victory of the season heading into the WTA Finals that begin Friday in Fort Worth, Texas. The event features the tour’s top eight singles and doubles teams.

The 21-year-old won her eighth title of the season, including the French Open and U.S. Open earlier this year.

“I’ve worked hard with my coach and my psycholo gist to keep focused on those moments that make it easier to close the match,” Swiatek said. “I just wanted to be proactive in making my shots.”

Speaking in her native Polish, Swiatek thanked the vocal Polish contingent that exhorted her with chants of “Iga! Iga!”

“I wanted to be the one who hit the last ball in, use my patience more and not think too much,” said Swiatek, who ascended to world No. 1 some seven

months ago following the surprise retirement of Aus tralia’s Ash Barty.

Swiatek was awarded a winner’s check of $116,340 along with a yellow surfboard.

Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula won the doubles final, defeat ing Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico 1-6, 7-5, (10-4). Top-seeded Gauff and Pegula had to play two full matches on Sunday because rain postponed the semifinal match. After Vekic won the second set, Swiatek left no doubt about her dominance in the final set with her array of top spin cross-court forehands and looping shots that flus tered her tiring opponent.

“I managed to win the second set, but in the third I just hit the Iga wall,” said

Vekic, who came into the first-year WTA event as an unseeded qualifier, win ning seven matches in eight days.

“She played out of this world,” the Croatian added. “She showed why she’s defi nitely the best player in the world right now.”

An unlikely finalist, Vekic, ranked 77th, reached the finals only a few hours before her match with Swiatek, claiming a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (2) semifinal win over unseeded Danielle Collins of the U.S.

Spread over two days due to Saturday night’s two lengthy rain delays, the Vekic-Collins match totalled three hours, includ ing Sunday’s 32-minute finish. Collins re-started with a 4-2 edge in the third set, but Vekic battled back to earn the finals berth.

coach in any of the major US sports leagues.

HALL of Famer and former Boston Celtics great Bill Russell is honoured prior to an NBA basketball game between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers last night in Boston. Russell died in July.

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

SOUTH Carolina head coach Dawn Staley cuts the net after a college basketball game in the final round of the Women’s Final Four NCAA tournament against UConn on April 3 in Minneapolis. Dawn Staley and South Carolina picked up right where they left off - No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll yesterday.

(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

IGA Swiatek reacts after de feating Donna Vekic to win the San Diego Open tennis tourna ment on Sunday.

(AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

FTX to hire more than 100 Bahamians for crypto work

construction phases and during operation.

“During operation it is proposed that over 100 Bahamians will be hired to work within the crypto community, which will advance the skill devel opment of the country in this new and growing field. Even more Bahamians will be hired for maintenance and support throughout the project site.

“The project will also assist in stimulating the local economy through the promotion of businesses that are in the surround ing community. The hotel portion of the project will attract visitors from around the world, which will then bring customers to the nearby businesses such as

food stores, restaurants and excursions among others,” the document, released ahead of the EIA public consultation on November 8, adds.

“The project also plans to utilise Bahamian-owned restaurants and food pur veyors to support the campus. The FTX head quarters is a supporter of Bahamian business and promotes engaging the Bahamian workforce to help grow the company.”

The 4.95 acre site, located between Bayside Executive Park’s existing buildings and the Orange Hill Beach Inn, will feature two bou tique hotel buildings covering a total 77,000 gross square feet and spanning seven levels, with a park ing area 51,000 gross square feet in size. Residential and

office spaces, also spread over seven levels, will cover 116,000 gross square feet and be accompanied by a 205,000 square feet parking area.

Other planned facili ties include an athletic and wellness area; a theatre; auditorium; conference centre; cafe/restaurant; retail; a daycare centre; and “vertical farm”. Some 30 percent of the energy needed by the FTX Digital Markets head office will come from solar photovol taic panels located on the hotel and office buildings.

“The project will be a new area of recreation within the western area of New Providence for both locals and visitors with the boutique hotel that will be built,” the EIA added. “Some of those

that are hired at the FTX headquarters will also be offered residential living on campus, which will be convenient. FTX plans to support Bahamian busi nesses through restaurants and food purveyors which promotes strong social ties.

“The Project will hire and train Bahamians in crypto currency, which will help develop the overall skill levels which will put The Bahamas on the map glob ally in the crypto market. There will also be educa tional opportunities for locals to learn more about crypto from the FTX head quarters, which will educate the larger population.”

A traffic impact assess ment conducted for the project, which was attached to the EIA, added: “It is anticipated that a total of

INVESTORS FOCUS ON EARNINGS

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AND ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers

STOCKS closed broadly higher again on Wall Street Tuesday, adding to weekly gains for major indexes that have been mired in a broad slump amid inflation and recession concerns.

The S&P 500 rose 1.1%, with roughly 90% of the stocks in the benchmark index notching gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Aver age rose 1.1% and the Nasdaq composite ended 0.9% higher.

Trading was choppy, at one point pulling the Nasdaq into the red as technology stocks lost

ground then rallied by the end of the day. It was the latest knee-jerk motion in a market that has been moving erratically in recent weeks. Major indexes are still stuck in a bear market, which is when they’ve fallen at least 20% from their most recent all-time highs.

“High volatility is normal around the bottom of a

bear market,” said Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist for LPL Finan cial. “One reason we may be seeing markets hang in there a little bit better is that the narrative has switched to earnings from inflation and the Federal Reserve.”

The S&P 500 rose 42.03 points to 3,719.98. The

700 employees will work at the office building, of which 38 are expected to be housed in the boutique hotel and condo hotel.

“The remaining 662 employees are expected to live off-campus and com mute to work. Large events will also be held at the conference centre and audi torium on a quarterly basis, which are expected to draw up to 800 additional guests to the site. The campus is expected to be fully builtout by 2025.”

The traffic assessment also discloses that FTX will provide a “shuttle” service to help transport staff to work, although no details are provided. “Based on discussions with the pro ject team, it is expected that during the analysis periods approximately 40 percent

Dow added 337.98 points to close at 30,523.80, and the Nasdaq gained 96.60 points to 10,772.40.

Small company stocks also rose. The Russell 2000 index added 20.20 points, or 1.2%, to 1,755.96.

Bond yields were mixed.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, slipped to 3.99% from 4.01% late Monday. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which

of employees will drive to work alone, 40 percent will carpool with another employee and 20 percent will use the shuttle service provided by FTX,” the report added. “The proposed develop ment will include a total of 612 parking spaces: Twentyfive spaces for the hotel, 75 spaces for the condo hotel and the remaining 512 spaces for the office/con vention buildings.

“Based on these esti mates, sufficient parking has been proposed within the site to accommodate the anticipated demand. A parking pass system is rec ommended during events to ensure that the parking capacity is not exceeded and to limit unnecessary circulation within the park ing areas.”

tends to track expectations for future Federal Reserve action, also fell to 4.43% from 4.45%.

Investors are primarily focusing on the latest round of corporate earnings this week, given there’s little economic data expected. Investment bank Gold man Sachs rose 2.3% after delivering results that beat estimates, which helped lift shares in other lenders.

tiDes For nassau

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Bran: Medicine price controls are ‘back door’ VAT admission

of the tunnel” given the multiple cost pressures and increases that are hitting them from all angles.

With Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) fuel charge increases of up to 163 per cent in 2023 threatening to block out that light, the former DNA leader said he had already instructed his company’s accountants to scour the financial books for potential savings and ways to offset the impact from the imposition of price con trols on both pharmaceutical retailers and wholesalers.

If the pharmaceutical industry’s retail and whole sale margins are cut too thin, he warned, it threatens to create “a vicious cycle” where industry operators are forced to terminate employees as one of multi ple measures to reduce costs and ensure their survival.

“This is another blow to the pharmacy business,” Mr McCartney told Tribune Business. “Now we have price controls on certain drugs. There were price con trols, but they’ve restricted the mark-up percentage now. I understand what the Government is trying to do on pharmaceutical and food items. I understand the Gov ernment is trying to make it easier on consumers in light of the fact prices have gone up across the board.

“I see what the Govern ment is trying to do and, of course, the increase in the minimum wage which

PUBLIC

I support. I understand they’re trying to provide some comfort to the general public, but the difficulty with that is it hurts the business people and, by extension what happens to the employ ees of these establishments?

The Government is trying to give some comfort, but it really causes a burden on businesses with all these increases coming into play.

“It’s the overall picture. It’s not just price controls on these items but we have to take into consideration what’s going on and the alarming effect on busi nesses, especially small businesses, the foundation of the economy.” Besides the BPL fuel charge hikes, which could increase con sumers’ overall electricity bills by as much as 80 per cent at the summer peak in 2023, and the minimum wage rise there is also likely to be a sharp increase in NIB contributions in the not-toodistant future.

Mr McCartney spoke out after the Davis administration last week unveiled price-controlled mark-ups ranging from 15 percent to 18 percent for pharmaceutical wholesal ers. For retailers, the range is from 35 percent to 40 per cent. The medicines covered include vaccines, anti-dia betic drugs, decongestants, laxatives, contraceptives, antacids, anti-hypertension medicines, cough prepara tions, cardiovascular agents and serums.

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL

The former DNA leader yesterday suggested that the imposition of price controls, which will cut pharmacy margins and could result in some medicines being sold at a loss, in a bid to ease the financial burden for consum ers was a tacit admission by the Davis administration that it was mistaken in reim posing 10 percent VAT on such essential commodities.

“That should not have been on pharmaceuticals in the first place,” Mr McCa rtney said of the tax. “That may be behind their thinking as to why they have put price controls in place. I think they may have realised that putting VAT on pharma ceuticals was certainly not a good idea.

“So they’re coming through the back door by putting price controls on pharmaceuticals. That’s how I see it. I see them coming through the back door with price controls to offset the impact of VAT on pharma ceuticals. A lot of things now have to be adjusted. I have my accountants look ing at other ways and trying

to recoup or offset the losses we will definitely sustain.”

He argued that all these price-controlled margin and cost pressures are being imposed on the private sector without the Govern ment delivering anything in return via helping to facilitate the expansion and diversification of the Baha mian economy.

Pointing to the bureau cracy and red tape that continues to undermine The Bahamas’ ease of doing busi ness, Mr McCartney said: “It’s a vicious cycle. The Government is trying to give comfort to the population as a whole, but if they don’t stimulate the economy, busi nesses will go out of business and persons will lose their job.

“When they lose their jobs they don’t have the money to benefit from what the Gov ernment is trying to do. It’s a vicious cycle... This will cause a greater loss because the profit margins that are needed to operate and run the business will have been reduced. As a result, the business is not being

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL

The Public is hereby advised that I, CAMRYN NATAZIER GIBSON of #100 Explores Way, Hudson Estate, Freeport, Bahamas, intend to change my name to CAMRYN NATAZIER SMITH If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Officer, P.O.Box N-742, Nassau, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.

stimulated and the business almost comes to a standstill to a certain extent, and that makes it very difficult to continue.

“Granted, the price con trols are for a limited period [three months until January 17, 2023] but listen, man, we’re just coming out of COVID. Most businesses are still feeling the effects of the pandemic and to add this on to businesses just trying to keep their doors open is just another blow and just makes it extremely difficult taking into consideration all of this coming out of COVID.”

Mr McCartney, telling Tribune Business that entre preneurs and companies also need to be given hope to stay in business, added: “If we see some light at the end of the tunnel, where the Government is doing some things to enhance business, but BPL is turning out the lights in the tunnel and it looks like they’re not coming on any time soon. Give some hope, give some hope. Soon.

“Everything has to work in tandem. You’re going to give

some comfort to the general public, yes, and that’s com mendable but for the love of Baby Jesus you have to do something for the country as a whole so that businesses are not sacrificed.”

Detailing the issues with the National Prescription Drug Plan, which he said “almost cut the pharmacy business in half” when it was introduced, Mr McCartney said the profit margins for an initiative that accounts for up to 70 percent of trade are “very, very slim”.

“It’s almost like breaking even,” he said, adding that the impact will now be made worse by the latest price controls unveiled last week. While the Government has narrowed the payment window to two to three weeks, the DNA leader added: “When payment comes in the profit margins are very minimal. You have to buy the drugs in advance, have to wait on the Govern ment for payment of those drugs, and when the pay ment comes in the margins are minimal.”

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL

The Public is hereby advised that I, ANTHONY LLOYD RODGERS II of #21 Fortune Cay Club, Fortune Cay, Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas intend to change my name to ANTHONY BROOKES. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Officer, P.O.Box N-742, Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that JULIENNE BEAUCHAMP of Bailey Town, Bimini, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 12th day of October, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

LEGAL NOTICE

NOTICENOTICE is hereby given that BALWHAN RAI SAWAK of P. O. Box SB-51520, Holiday Drive, South Beach, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/ naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 19th day of October, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE is hereby given that CHERICA CHARLES of Lincoln Boulevard, New Providence, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/ naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 12th day of October, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

In Voluntary Liquidation

Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (4) of the International Business Companies Act, (No.45 of 2000), BBC Investment Ltd (the “Company”) is in Dissolution. The date of commencement of the Dissolution is the 13th day of October, 2022. Luciane Ribeiro Moreno is the Liquidator and can be contacted at Rua Afonsa Braz, 747, AP 41D, Vila Nova Conceição, CEP 04511-011, São Paulo – SP, Brazil. All persons having claims against the above-named Company are required to send their names, addresses and particulars of their debts or claims to the Liquidator before the 14th day of November, 2022.

Luciane Ribeiro Moreno Liquidator

BTVI seeks to forge better Canadian ties

THE BAHAMAS Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) has met with Canadian diplomats as part of a drive to forge links with like-minded institutions overseas.

BTVI’s interim president, Dr Linda A. Davis, and its dean of stu dent affairs, Racquel Bethel, met with the Canadian High Commis sion and its trade commissioner/ senior business development spe cialist, Yasmin M. Chong, as well as counsellor (commercial) and senior trade commissioner, Sophie Goulet.

“Our institution prides itself on application. We teach students how to do and not to theorise about

doing. We certainly are excited about new possibilities of this partnership and renewing previ ous memoranda forged under this arrangement,” said Dr Davis.

She said that, by extension, stronger links with Canada will aid The Bahamas’ national devel opment by exposing students and instructors alike to emerging tech nologies and innovations while bridging the skills gap.

Since 2010, more than 30 BTVI students have been sent to colleges abroad via the Emerging Lead ers in the Americas Programme (ELAP). The scholarships, granted

by the Canadian government, pro vide Latin America and Caribbean students with short-term exchange opportunities at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The last time BTVI students participated in the exchange pro gramme was in spring 2020. Students are required to return to BTVI to complete their studies following the exchange. Ms Chong said Cana dian institutions are interested in forging and strengthening such relations. “Outside of the academic partnership, we hope to strengthen our capacity building and technical research opportunities,” she added.

Minister: ‘Nothing wrong’ with the Bahamas’ bonds

FROM PAGE

It’s changing global conditions.

“When you see a rising interest environment that means bond prices suffer. We took the opportunity to reinforce that position and let people know The Baha mas has a proud tradition of fulfilling all of its interna tional obligations. It’s never missed a payment, never restructured, never went into a programme,” the minister continued.

“And so, in some quarters, you have these pronounce ments that we’re in trouble. Our view is our economy is strong, we have a proud history and the recovery is going nicely. Our fiscal posi tion has improved in terms of the Budget; the Budget per formance last year and the Budget performance so far for the first quarter. We’re

optimistic, cautiously so” because of the threat from external shocks such as hur ricanes, COVID and the Russia/Ukraine conflict.

However, The Bahamas’ outstanding long-term sov ereign debt continues to trade at deep discounts and high yields on the interna tional markets. A $300m bond, placed at a 6.95 per cent interest rate and due to mature in 2029, closed on Germany’s Frankfurt Stock Exchange last night at 56.43 - a more than 43.5 percent discount to face value. And the yield being demanded by investors was just shy of 19 percent at 18.917 percent.

And The Bahamas’ last major foreign currency sov ereign debt issue, the $825m placed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic at 8.95 percent and due to mature in 2032, closed last night at a near-40 percent discount to

its face value and a yield of more than 18 percent. Capi tal markets sources described these yields and discounts as typical for countries deemed to be at risk of default, one saying they were “unreal”.

Bloomberg News in June this year named The Bahamas among 19 “emerg ing markets” who may eventually struggle to repay their debts based on current prices (discounts) and yields demanded by investors.

The Bahamas was among ten nations iden tified as falling into this “distressed territory” since the beginning of 2022 based on Bloomberg’s qualifying criteria, which is that their outstanding US dollar bonds are trading at a risk premium greater than 1,000 basis points (10 percentage points) above US Treasuries, which represent the benchmark

upon which all emerging market debt is priced.

Of the ten, The Bahamas was shown as having the sixth greatest spread at 1,065 basis points. The five ahead of it were war-torn Ukraine, Belarus, the Maldives, Tajik istan and Pakistan, with Kenya, Ecuador, Nigeria and Egypt making up the remainder.

David Slatter, RF Bank & Trust’s vice-president of investments, told Tribune Business that the yield being sought by international investors on The Bahamas’ shorter-term debt, due to mature in 2024, is now in the 20 percent range. “The global markets are still very concerned about the ability of the Government to meet its obligations,” he added.

Mr Slatter said “the key risk” period for The Baha mas lies towards the end of this decade when foreign

currency debt issues held by international investors mature in successive years.

The Central Bank, though, recently removed the invest ment currency premium for Bahamian investorsboth institutions and retail - so they can buy this nation’s sovereign US dollar debt.

“We’ve had quite a few queries about that,” Mr Slatter said. “It has not been overwhelming, but it’s steady. Each day a number of people are making inquiries about opening up a broker age account to do trading, or existing clients looking to pick that up.”

He explained, though, that investing in the Gov ernment’s US dollar foreign currency debt is not as straightforward as it may appear. The $250,000 mini mum purchase, for example, may push this beyond

individual retail investors and require that they com bine resources with the bonds subsequently allo cated in proportion to their contribution.

International finance houses, and broker/dealers, through which trades must be executed will also charge commissions and have “a bid and ask spread”, meaning that returns are likely to be a couple of percentage points lower than the actual yield on the bonds.

Mr Slatter suggested that the Central Bank had removed the premium as “a way for Bahamians to invest in US dollars and invest in bonds with a high yield and very low possibility of default”. Another capital markets source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the move will expand demand and the pool of investors buying the Govern ment’s foreign currency debt in a bid to bring the yield down from the present 18-19 percent.

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Maintain high standards of professionalism

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SHOWN from L to R are BTVI’s dean of student affairs, Racquel Bethel; the Canadian High Commission’s counsellor (commercial) and senior trade com missioner, Sophie Goulet; BTVI’s interim president, Dr Linda Davis; the Cana dian High Commission’s trade commissioner/senior business development, Yasmin M. Chong; and BTVI’s information technology department head, Kevin McCartney. Photo: BTVI

Baha Mar expands artistic attractions

BAHA Mar yester day said it has launched a 13,000 square foot crea tive platform for local and international artists known as ECCHO (Expressive Collaborations & Creative House of Opportunities).

The new space is an addi tion to Baha Mar’s existing art programme, The Cur rent Gallery & Art Centre, headed by executive direc tor of arts and culture, John Cox. To expand Baha Mar’s current art platform, ECCHO is partnering with The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas.

Describing this as a “firstof-its-kind partnership” for the National Art Gallery,

ECCHO will feature a 5,000 square foot satellite exhibi tion space for it. This is the first time the museum has showcased art outside its main location.

ECCHO will also expand The Current’s exhibition space, and house the relaunch of Baha Mar’s artist-in-residence pro gramme with Lynn Parotti, as well as support curated programming year-round. This will include artist talks and lectures and musi cal events.

ECCHO’s grounds will also feature spaces such as the Library Lounge, which will serve as a salon for visitors to meet and attend curated program ming, and the Courtyard,

where guests can enjoy out door concerts and al fresco art performances.

“The Current has been at Baha Mar since its incep tion and ECCHO represents an exciting new chapter for our art programme,” said Mr Cox. “It expands our ability to incorporate art and culture into the ethos of the Baha Mar experience through unprecedented new partnerships, a dynamic new platform, and an overall larger footprint across the resort.

“The Current and ECCHO have transformed into their own district within the resort, and it’s essen tial for us to broaden the

conversation about art in hospitality and Bahamian culture in a meaningful way to the region, country and beyond.”

“The opening of ECCHO marks a great milestone for both The Current and Baha Mar,” said Graeme Davis, Baha Mar’s president. “ECCHO exemplifies Baha Mar’s ongoing commitment, appreciation and investment in Bahamian art and culture. We look forward to seeing what industry-changing, thought-provoking exhibits and programming the new space will yield.”

ECCHO will host its opening celebration tomor row from 7pm to midnight as

COVID-19 SPARKED $200M PRIVATE PENSION DRAWDOWN

FROM PAGE A24

own unemployment ben efit to the long-term jobless that totalled some $237m.

Ms Farquharson said: “I sit with too many persons that come to me and their stress levels are unbelievable when it comes to money manage ment. Financial stress is one of the leading problems in a lot of companies.” She added that selecting the right pension plan also requires choosing the correct invest ment strategy.

“For employees, in order to have a comfort able retirement, they need to have about 70 per cent or 80 percent of their [working income] to live comfortable when it comes time for retirement,” Ms Farquharson said. “If your employees have debt, which is unfortunately what you will find in the country, we find that they need to have

about 100 percent to 120 percent.

“And when you start looking at that in terms of numbers, if you have an employee that’s retired, and they’re making $20,000 a year, when they stopped working they need $150,000. At $40,000 they need about 600,000, at $50,000 about $820,000 and at $70,000 they would need just under $982,000.”

Ms Farquharson reit erated that the National Insurance Board’s (NIB) $1.5bn reserve fund will soon be depleted if the the social security system does not make fundamental reforms to its pension scheme. Trib une Business previously revealed how NIB suffered a $190m deficit blow-out triggered by COVID-19, resulting in its reserves slumping to $1.54bn at yearend 2020.

Draft 2020 financial state ments, which have been obtained by Tribune Busi ness, showed NIB’s reserve fund shrank by almost 11 percent, or nearly $189m, in just 12 months as it was forced to liquidate investments to meet unem ployment payouts and other forms of COVID-related assistance when the Baha mian economy collapsed virtually overnight.

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

As a result, total ben efits expenditure soared to $405.876m for the 12

SALE

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

And the benefits surge coincided with a 21.3 percent plunge in NIB’s contribu tion income from employers and their workers, which declined by more than $51m from $287.131m in 2019 to $225.984m the follow ing year. Monies received from employers dropped by almost 20 percent, fall ing from $166.986m to $134.075m in 2020, while contributions from the

part of Baha Mar’s inaugu ral The Bahamas Culinary & Arts Festival. This will feature the premiere exhi bition from two of The Current’s 11-strong artists, Dede Brown and Kachelle Knowles, entitled Beguile, and curated by Averia Wright.

ECCHO will also feature the second iteration of The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas’ permanent exhi bition titled Hard Mouth, curated by Richardo Barrett and Natalie Willis-Whylly, as well as original artwork by US artist, Shepard Fairey. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of works by Fairey will benefit the Baha Mar

self-employed fell by close to 22 percent. They plummeted from $116.11m in 2019 to $90.994m.

Investment income, too, was impacted by the pan demic’s impact on both local and international securities valuations. This fell by close to 39 percent year-over-year, dropping from $68.484m to $41.949m. Acting on instruc tions from the Central Bank, NIB was requested to liqui date and repatriate overseas investments to boost the nation’s foreign currency reserves as tourism inflows dried up, and the accounts reveal it sold-off some $51.421m in US treasuries.

The combined effect of the contribution and investment income decline, plus soaring benefits payouts, which were both products of the COVID

Resort Foundation and its efforts in The Bahamas.

Lynn Parotti, a Londonbased Bahamian artist who specialises in oil paintings of the physical and psycho logical landscape, will be The Current’s first artist in residence at ECCHO. Besides the exhibits launch ing on opening day, ECCHO will also showcase many more consigned works from large format paintings to sculptures that were previ ously not on display at The Current.

pandemic, was to produce a record $189.5m NIB deficit. This measures by how much the social security system’s benefits payments exceed its income, and the 2020 defi cit was more than 22 times’ greater than the prior year’s $8.482m.

NIB was forced to use its reserve fund to cover this deficit, resulting in a cor responding reduction from $1.733bn at year-end 2019 to $1.544bn just 12 months later. While multiple actu arial reports going back two decades have repeatedly warned that major reforms are critical to rescuing NIB, and shoring up its long-term sustainability, the COVIDinduced blow-out has likely made this task even more urgent while increasing the amount of work required.

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Don’t ‘demonise’ food sector over price controls dispute

to consult” - albeit after having announced the price control regime’s expansion to 38 product categories.

“The group is now in a consultation process with the Government towards trying to find alterna tive solutions to price control - the revised sug gestion on the price control basket being drastically expanded,” Mr Bostwick told this newspaper. “The Association was pleased that the Government dem onstrated a willingness to consult. Ultimately, I think the Association will try and reach a compromise.

“The Association is pleased that the Govern ment is prepared to consult towards a mutually accept able compromise. The Association wanted to be very clear that the owners

and operators of these stores do not want to be seen to be demonised by their resistance to this issue.

At the end of the day, we are all Bahamians, we all have families, and their cus tomers are family.”

Mr Bostwick declined to say more. Tribune Busi ness was informed that food retailers and wholesalers are presently reluctant to say much more publicly for fear the Government would view this as negotiat ing via the media, thereby potentially prejudicing the outcome of further negotiations.

However, Philip Beneby, the Association’s president, in brief comments to this newspaper last night said the meeting with the Prime Minister had eased some of the “anxiety” over a price control regime expansion

that the industry was never consulted over. “The Gov ernment has asked the retailers to present a work able solution. That is where we are, and what we are working on, which will involve all of the retail ers; the small, medium and large grocers,” he added.

Besides Mr Davis, those present on the Government side at Monday’s meeting included Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister; Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs; Ryan Pinder KC, the attorney general; Clay Sweeting, minister of agriculture, fisheries and Family Island affairs; Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s finan cial secretary; the head of price control and several of her officials.

Besides Messrs Beneby and Bostwick, Tribune

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● Differentiate curriculum objectives to support a diverse range of learners

● Show consistent, compassionate, classroom management skills

● Assess student learning and produce detailed reports

● Use learning data to inform and adapt instruction

● Contribute to the co-curricular programme and whole-school activities in a committed and enthusiastic manner

● Maintain high standards of professionalism

● Communicate positively with parents, staff, and administration

Please Forward your resume and introduction letter by email to teachingbahamas@gmail.com

Business understands that food retail industry representatives included Franklyn Butler, AML Foods chairman; Debra Symonette, Super Value’s president; Thomas Sands, the Eleuthera Chamber of Commerce president whose family own and operate a food store; and representatives from the Manufacturers Repre sentatives and Wholesalers Association plus the Light Industries Development Council.

Mr Halkitis, speaking to media yesterday ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting, signalled the Gov ernment’s willingness to compromise over the con troversy by saying “both of us understand that perhaps we’ll both not get every thing we want”.

He found it harder, however, to explain why the Government did not consult food retailers and wholesalers prior to unveil ing a major expansion of the price control regime that has so alienated an industry vital to feeding The Bahamas. When asked, Mr Halkitis suggested the extent of cost of living crisis - and the squeeze inflationary pressures have imposed on thousands of Bahamian families and individuals - made urgent action imperative.

“You want to bring relief and you want to bring relief quickly, alright,” he said. “This idea hadn’t been floated before. We know what the issues are and, like I said, we had a good meet ing, we thought, and we think we can move ahead and hopefully people can start seeing the impact in their pockets.”

Mr Halkitis, voicing opti mism that the controversy will be “resolved” by this Friday, said the price con trol regime’s expansion was merely the Govern ment’s latest step in making basic necessities more

affordable. “The Prime Minister impressed upon them [retailers and whole salers] the addition of items to the price control list was an effort to bring relief to the public,” he added.

This, the minister said, “follows on from [cutting] VAT at 12 percent to 10 percent, the reduction in the last Budget of Customs duties on 56 food items, the representations the Prime Minister is making to ship pers to bring their costs down. The objective is to make sure all these things trickle down to consumers, and this is the latest effort”.

Mr Halkitis said he believed the private sector understood the Govern ment’s position, and added: “We heard their concerns about the impact on their businesses. One of the main points they made was they thought the notice period should have been longer. They came away saying that we will get some addi tional input from them on adjustments they think can be made, and we will hope fully have all those issues resolved by this Friday.”

The Davis administra tion reaffirmed not to fully enforce the new price control regime, and any sanctions, fines or penal ties on merchants, until the controversy was resolved and merchants have suf ficient time to adjust shelf and point-of-sale pric ing. “We’ve asked them to provide some additional suggestions on how they think we can attain the goals we have - ie, bring ing relief to the public,” Mr Halkitis said, describing the talks as “cordial” and “fruitful”.

An obvious alternative to expanding price controls, which the Association’s Mr Beneby has described as akin to “a death war rant” and “suicide mission” for food retailers if they comply, is to eliminate import tariffs and 10 per cent VAT from the selected 38 items.

One source, though, speaking on condition of anonymity, said removing VAT would likely be seen as “too politically sensitive” given that the Davis admin istration just reimposed it in January 2022. Such a policy reversal would likely be viewed as the Government admitting defeat, and that is not something the adminis tration will want.

The Public Treasury also “needs every dollar they can get”, and that, too, makes it unlikely that the elimination of VAT on these products will be accepted even though some merchants and wholesalers are understood to be push ing for the private sector to take a hard stance on this issue.

“The Government is now collecting VAT and duty on these items and asking retailers to take the hit,” the source said. “They are effectively asking the food industry to subsidise a food aid programme.” They added that the product cat egories listed by the Davis administration ran into hundreds, if not thousands, of line items.

Another source, echoing these sentiments, said: “The Government were trying to help the vulnerable but it was pointed out to them it would not help them. They need to provide money for people to buy foods, but all this is doing is reducing the cost of living for middle and high class voters and not the vulnerable people they are trying to help.

“They’re not thinking about the poor. They’re

thinking about politics. They’re thinking about the food industry subsidis ing the cost of living for the entire country. They’re trying to get others to stand the cost for them. It’s a silly political move.”

Another food industry source, again speaking on condition of anonymity, said retailers and wholesal ers felt the way the price control regime’s expansion was unveiled was designed to bounce them, and gen erate public pressure, into meekly accepting the move. They also fear it could create an “us against them” scenario by seemingly pit ting operators against consumers.

“The business model of these shops is volume, and they are operating in some cases at 5-15 percent profit margins on these items,” they added. “When you start talking about a reduc tion to 25 percent gross margins, in some cases it works out to a net loss of 4-5 percent, 7 percent because of spoilage and pil ferage. These are very small gross margins.”

Among the consequences of an expanded price con trol regime, such as that envisaged by the Davis administration, are mer chants further raising prices on non-price controlled goods to compensate for an increased percentage of their goods being sold at a loss, thereby further feeding already-high infla tion. And it also provides a disincentive for retailers to stock price-controlled items, which could result in a shortage of such products.

Tribune Business was told these issues were aired at the meeting with the Gov ernment. “You’re looking at a real serious threat to food security,” one source said if the Government moves ahead. “If they don’t resolve this and solve it you’re looking at a catastro phe with the food industry, and that speaks to a hell of a problem in The Bahamas where we import 92 percent of what we consume.

“The Family Islands would be in dire straits in a matter of weeks. Shelves would be empty, choices fewer and far between, and that’s a problem already with empty spaces on the shelves.”

Mr Halkitis, when asked about warnings that some food stores may be forced to close, and employees terminated from their jobs, as a result of the price con trol expansion, replied: “We weigh in the balance that concern that I’m sure you’ve all heard... I’m sure you’ve heard it because you ask me about it every week, the increase in prices and impact on consumers.

“We are sure that there is a middle ground that we can reach. We don’t see this leading to, you know, mas sive business closures. We do not see that but we’ve asked the associations to provide us some numbers that we can look at. But we don’t.... we don’t anticipate that.

“We think it’s reasonable what we are what we are proposing. Bear in mind that these initiatives are in place for six months, at which point we will review them and that review will will take into account the impact of this.” Pressed again, the minister added: “I don’t want to speculate. Businesses open and close every day. And I don’t think this is going to be the cause of [it] personally, you know, so I don’t want to speculate on that. People open and close for different reasons.”

WATER CORP’S $66M SUBSIDIES FROM TAXPAYER ‘UNSUSTAINABLE’

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

THE WATER and Sew erage Corporation’s (WSC) fuel costs now account for 41 percent of its operating expenses, a Cabinet minis ter said yesterday, branding the $66m in taxpayer subsi dies for the utility’s capital projects as unsustainable.

Alfred Sears KC, min ister of public works and utilities, told the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) annual conference that inadequate infrastructure dating from the colonial era - when coupled with climate change - is threatening The Bahamas’ existence and the Government must now focus on innovation.

He added that the dou bling of Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) diesel fuel costs, which have increased by 100 percent over the past year, has negatively impacted the Water & Sewerage’s expenses as the latter is dependent on the provision of electricity to power the 27 desalination reverse osmosis plants that provide Bahamians with potable water.

“BPL is dependent on fossil fuel and, as you can know, in the fuel market, the price of diesel has increased over this past year by over 100 percent,” Mr Sears said. “So a signifi cant portion of the Water & Sewerage Corpora tion expense, which was 26 percent of its [total] operat ing expense, is now up to 41 percent. So we see within

this very short period this exponential increase in operating expense.”

As a result, he added that the Water & Sewer age Corporation is this month moving aggres sively to commission two solar facilities to power some of its desalination plants. “With respect to the Water & Sewerage Corpo ration, we have intensified the work and partnership with the IDB (Inter-Amer ican Development Bank),” Mr Sears said. “Ten years ago we secured a loan of

$81m to deal with non-reve nue water.

“That has been a very successful project and we are nearing the conclusion of that project. The other area is that of waste man agement with a very low aquifer. We’re focusing now on waste management systems, and we are now developing waste manage ment facilities.”

Two waste water treat ment plants are located at Malcolm Park and Gladstone Road, but to develop more The Baha mas will have to seek

TRADE DEFICIT LEAPS 15.6% TO $715.1M

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas’ trade deficit increased by 15.6 percent to $715.097m during the 2022 first quarter as cross-border flows con tinued to rebound from the COVID-19 related restric tions of the year before.

The National Statisti cal Institute, in releasing its “trade data highlights” report for the three months to end-March 2022, said physical goods commodities imported into The Bahamas during that period rose by 20 percent year-over-year to $839m. Exports, mean while, jumped by 25 percent to $123.689m compared to the prior year’s $80.984m.

The trade deficit meas ures the extent to which The Bahamas’ physical goods imports exceed its exports. The differential returned to more historical levels in early 2022, com pared to the $618.422m deficit recorded for the 2021 first quarter, as trade volumes resumed some semblance of normality fol lowing the global pandemic.

The Bahamas has tradi tionally relied on its service exports, namely its foreign currency earnings from tourism and financial ser vices, to finance its trade deficit and the vast quanti ties of commodities that it imports on an annual basis.

“As it relates to total exports, for the 2022 first quarter, data shows that the value of commodi ties exported (domestic and re-export) from The Bahamas totaled $124m resulting in an increase of 25 percent when compared with the same period last year,” the National Statisti cal Institute reported.

However, of those $124m exports, some $82.452m or 66 percent - two-thirds or

the majority share - were classified as re-exports meaning that the products arrived in The Bahamas and effectively ‘passed through’ before being shipped on to other countries. It is unclear whether value is always added in The Bahamas, with just $41.237m account ing for the cumulative worth of exports that origi nated in this nation.

“The categories that contributed the largest proportion to the exports were ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related mate rials’, which totalled $43m, ‘food and live animals’ at $30m, and ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials’ at $24m, repre senting 79 percent of total exports,” the Institute added.

“Commodities that showed significant increases were ‘miscellaneous manu factured articles’, and ‘crude minerals, inedible except fuels’, which increased by 1,249 percent and 193 per cent respectively when compared to the same quarter last year. The groups that decreased in value when compared to the same period last year were ‘chemicals’ and ‘machinery and transport equipment’, which declined by 99 percent and 17 per cent, respectively.”

As for imports, the Institute said: “The data on merchandise trade for the 2022 first quarter shows that the value of com modities imported into The Bahamas totaled $839m, resulting in an increase of 20 percent when compared with the same period last year.

“The major groups of merchandise were ‘food and live animals’, which totalled $157m, ‘machinery and transport equipment’ at $149m, and ‘mineral fuels lubricants and related materials’ which totalled

Correction

In an article published in Tribune Busi ness on Monday, October 18, headlined ‘Hotels give ‘strong support’ on minimum wage increase’, a photo of Captain Stephen Russell, director of the National Emer gency Management Agency (NEMA), was incorrectly used. It should have been a photo of Russell Miller, president of the Bahamas Hotel and Restaurant Employers Association. Tribune Business apologises to all parties

$137m. The combined value of these categories repre sented 53 percent of total imports.

“Other categories that contributed to total imports were ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by mate rials’, which accounted for $117m, ‘miscellane ous manufactured articles’ valued at $107m and ‘chemicals’ at $88m. These groups together repre sented 37 percent of total imports,” the Institute said.

“Categories that showed significant increases were ‘animal and vegetable oils and fats’ and ‘beverages and tobacco’, which increased by 90 percent and 42 per cent, respectively, when compared to the same quar ter last year.”

out public-private partner ships (PPPs) with private investors and capital. “In this area of waste manage ment systems, we recognise the need for funding these capital projects,” Mr Sears said.

“The Government has provided up to $66m to the

Water & Sewerage Corpo ration. Clearly, that is not sustainable. In addition to the multilateral bodies, we must also look at the pri vate sector to help fund these capital projects.”

The Water & Sewerage Corporation is also con structing infrastructure

that can withstand the 200 mile per hour winds that Hurricane Dorian brought. “We’re also developing a greener mix of energy, renewable energy that is. Currently, 40 percent of the expenses relate to fuel and fossil fuel, diesel,” Mr Sears said.

ALFRED SEARS KC

COVID-19 sparked $200m private pension drawdown

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

FINANCIALLY-stricken Bahami ans drew down on more than $200m in private pension savings to ensure they survived COVID-19’s devastating eco nomic impact, a financial executive revealed yesterday.

Bran: Medicine price controls are ‘back door’ VAT admission

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Democratic National Alliance’s (DNA) ex-leader yesterday slammed the imposition of price con trols on the pharmaceutical industry as a “back door” admission by the Govern ment that reimposing VAT on medicines was a mistake.

Branville McCartney, whose family own and operate Wilmac’s Phar macy, told Tribune Business the Davis administration’s bid to seemingly offset the 10 percent levy’s impact by imposing mark-up restric tions threatens to bring the sector to a “standstill” by further eroding alreadychallenged profit margins.

Arguing that these have already been weakened by the National Prescrip tion Drug Plan, which has left pharmacies effectively “breaking even” on up to 70 percent of their trade, he added that the Government needs to strike a better “balance” between easing

the cost of living crisis for Bahamian consum ers but letting companies earn enough to remain in business.

Mr McCartney, telling this newspaper that “the chickens are coming home to roost” over the failure of successive administra tions to better expand and diversify the economy, argued that businesses must be given hope and enabled to “see the light at the end

FTX to hire more than 100 Bahamians for crypto work

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas’ digital assets flagship is pledging to hire more than 100 locals as crypto currency special ists among the 700-strong full-time workforce that will staff its $60m West Bay Street headquarters.

FTX Digital Markets, in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for its proposed head office complex at Bayside Execu tive Park, indicated that it targeting a January 2023 building start with the con struction workforce set to

hit a monthly peak of 345 in August. Just 40, or 11.6 per cent, of those posts will be held by skilled expatriate managers and labour.

“The FTX headquarters will positively impact the economics of The Bahamas by hiring local Bahamians through the various phases of the project, and stimulat ing the economy through tourism,” the EIA for one of the world’s largest crypto currency exchanges states.

“Sixty million dollars is the total estimated capital of this project [and] Bahami ans will be hired through

Cleora Farquharson, RF Bank & Trust’s vice-president of pension services, speaking at the institution’s human resources leadership forum, said: “What I found during COVID-19 is, even though we do not have pension legisla tion in this country, the companies that did have pension plans that came to us, a lot of them had amended their partici pation agreements - that’s their rules - to allow withdrawals.

“What we saw, in addition to the monies that were given out by NIB (the National Insurance Board), in excess of $200m worth of funds - pension sav ings - actually went to help persons with COVID-19 and the challenges they have right now financially.”

This drawdown on retirement and long-term savings, apart from giving further insight into the financial devas tation inflicted by the pandemic, also signals that The Bahamas’ pension crisis has worsened as a result of COVID-19. Persons will have used their pensions to avoid short-term pain (thereby ensuring their immediate financial survival) at the expense of long-term gain in ensuring they have the necessary pension savings to

main tain existing living stand ards and thereby enjoy a com fortable retirement.

The private pension drawdown is in addition to the more than $100m in unemployment benefits that the National Insurance Board (NIB) paid out at COVID-19’s peak in 2020 as much of the country’s workforce was either temporar ily furloughed or terminated. Given the pandemic’s duration, and the fact NIB’s payouts were capped at 13 weeks, the Government was forced to provide its

Don’t ‘demonise’ food sector over price controls dispute

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

GROCERY retailers are anxious not to be “demon ised” over their opposition to an expanded price con trol regime they fear could undermine Bahamian food security, an attorney said yesterday.

John Bostwick, the Retail Grocers Associa tion’s legal adviser, told Tribune Business that merchants are seeking “a mutually acceptable com promise” with the Davis administration over efforts to ease the cost of living

crisis for Bahamians and are working to provide “alternative solutions” to the Government’s pro posed price controls.

seek ‘mutually acceptable compromise’

Working on ‘alternative solutions’ to give Gov’t

Minister signals neither side will have full win

The former Free National Movement (FNM) senator, who was present when industry representatives met with Prime Minister Philip Davis KC and several Cabinet ministers at 5pm

on Monday to discuss the controversy, sought to dampen any adversarial sentiments from either side by praising the Gov ernment’s “willingness

Minister: ‘Nothing wrong’ with the Bahamas’ bonds

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A CABINET minis ter yesterday asserted “there’s nothing wrong” with The Bahamas’ eco nomic and fiscal standing even though its long-term sovereign debt is trading at greater than 40 percent discounts with yields at 18-19 percent.

Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, speaking to the media before the weekly Cabinet meeting, said sov ereign bond prices - not just those of The Baha mas - were under pressure from global market condi tions due to interest rate rises in the US and other major markets as they seek to control soaraway inflation.

Bond prices are tradi tionally inversely related to interest rates, mean ing they decline as the latter increases because they become less attrac tive to investors. “In some

quarters the price of our bonds is subject to debate, but you always have to look at that in the con text of interest rates rising globally, which causes bond prices to go down,” Mr Halkitis argued.

“When you’re talking about uncertainty, you have people wanting to go more into the devel oped economies rather than emerging markets of which we are a part. We see their prices suffer. So we should not take it as something wrong with The Bahamas.

BRANVILLE MCCARTNEY

JOHN BOSTWICK

MICHAEL HALKITIS