10312022 NEWS AND SPORT

Two shooting victims were out on bail

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

THREE people — including two men on bail for serious crimes — were shot dead in separate incidents over the weekend, police said.

In the latest incident, which took place after 7pm yesterday, four people, including a woman, were shot while standing outside at Lightbourne Alley in the Rock Crusher area. Police

said the woman died at the scene while the second victim, a man on bail, died on the way to the hospital. A day earlier, a man on bail for murder was shot dead in the area of Sixth Street and Poinciana Avenue.

Last night, Chief Super intendent Michael Johnson, head of the Criminal Inves tigations Department, said it was too early to say if the two incidents are related.

STORES EXPECT GOVT TO MOVE PRICING DEADLINE

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN food stores yesterday said they “expect” the government to extend tomorrow’s dead line to implement the major price control regime expan sion if both parties are unable to reach agreement by then.

John Bostwick, the Retail Grocers Associa tion’s (RGA) attorney,

told Tribune Business “the ball is in the Govern ment’s court” as to the next step since neither the food retailers, wholesalers and distributors or their pharmaceutical counter parts have received any response to the position papers and alternative solu tions that were proposed “well within” the time permitted by the Davis administration.

DOCTORS ALARM AT OUTSOURCING PLAN

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

CONSULTANT phy sicians at the Princess Margaret Hospital are upset with government’s proposed plan to “out source” care to Doctors Hospital due to ward clo sures and renovations.

In a document dated October 20, consultants from PMH’s Department of Internal Medicine criticised the plan — which details

how some PMH patients would be relocated to Doc tors Hospital West — saying there is no justification for it.

The doctors alleged there has already been a death

in the pilot of this process when a patient who had been moved to the other health facility became unstable and could not be revived on arrival at PMH.

When contacted for comment on the doctors’ concerns yesterday, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said some “extensive renovations” at Princess Margaret Hos pital are planned. He said the upgrades cannot take

FNM NAMES LAW IT SAYS GOVT BROKE OVER TRIP TO BERMUDA

FREE National Move ment leader Michael Pintard accused the govern ment of violating the Public Finance Management Act when it used public money to pay for Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis’ con troversial trip to Bermuda. He said the opposition will put this issue before the Public Accounts Com mittee and use that group’s power to compel the turn over of all the relevant documents.

Last week, press secre tary Clint Watson urged those who said the govern ment had broken the law in reference to the trip’s financing to show which law had been contravened.

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE statue of Chris topher Columbus at Government House has been removed and will remain in storage until the government and stakehold ers determine what to do with it.

This was confirmed by the director of communications in the Office of the Prime Minister, Latrae Rahming, yesterday. Mr Rahming was contacted after pictures circulated on social media showing the missing statue. “I can confirm that the statue has been removed,” he told The Tribune yester day. “It was an organised effort by Government House, the Ministry of Works, and the Bahamas

Photo: Moise Amisial

Classic cars go on show

ANTIQUE cars were on display at an auto show on Saturday at the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute.

The event was organised by the Kiwanas Club of Cable Beach in conjunction with BTVI.

NO DECISION - BUT DAMAGED COLUMBUS STATUE MOVED

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Antiquities Monuments and Museums Corporation. The statue will be stored at the Ministry of Works until the government and stake holders determine its future usage.”

Asked if there will be another Christopher Columbus statue in that spot, he did not answer directly. “That’s the only comment I have on this

matter,” he said.

A 37-year-old man has denied allegations that he trespassed on Government House property in 2021 and caused $2,000 worth of damage to the statue.

In March, press secre tary Clint Watson said the Davis administration had not decided what to do about the defaced Colum bus statue.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis had pre viously said Cabinet will

decide what will happen to the statue, the presence of which has been condemned because of Columbus’ legacy of murder and slavery.

In 2020, Mr Rahming joined a group of people who called for the Colum bus statue to be removed from Government House. Reverend Sebastian Camp bell was among those who urged the public to march to force the removal of the statue.

FNM NAMES LAW IT SAYS GOVT BROKE OVER TRIP TO BERMUDA

“It is embarrassing for us to have to educate the Office of the Prime Minis ter on the law - especially given that the Cabinet has more than one noted King’s Counsel with decades of experience in the practice of law,” Mr Pintard said in a statement yesterday.

“We firmly believe they were fully aware that their actions were inappropriate but were blinded by arro gance and were caught in plain sight. Nonetheless we shall assist the Office of the Prime Minister.

“The government’s spokesman would do well to acquaint himself with Articles 130 and 131 of the Constitution which speaks to how public funds are authorised and which, in Article 131, expressly says

that public funds ‘issued shall be disposed of for meeting public expenditure under Article 130 of the Constitution or, in the case of statutory expenditure, for the purposes appointed by law.’”

He also said: “We are pleased to advise him as well that under Section 30 (1) of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act that ‘no public officer nor public office holder shall commit the government to a financial liability or contingent liability unless specifically authorised to do so under this or any other Act.’

“Finally, we make him aware that Section 111 (1) (a) of the PFM Act states that ‘a public officer, or other person with respon sibility for public resources commits an offence of financial misconduct if,

without lawful author ity, that person willfully or recklessly (a) incurs expenditure or makes com mitments for expenditure of public money.’ Clearly, advancing money for a trip by a political or any other non-government entity is not public expenditure as defined in the Constitution or any statute law of The Bahamas.”

Mr Pintard said the trip’s financing was “unauthor ised expenditure”.

“Parliament has not appropriated any sums of money to advance to outside entities for travel purposes,” the Marco City MP added. “Indeed, Par liament could not do such a thing. Given that this is unauthorised public expenditure, it quali fies under the PFM act as expenditure ‘without lawful authority’ and as such it

constitutes an offence under Bahamian law. We fully expect that all persons who authorised this expenditure would do the honourable thing and accept the sanc tions prescribed under the PFM Act. We shall take up this matter forthwith in the Public Accounts Commit tee where we shall utilise our statutory powers to compel the submission of all relevant information in respect to this most sordid matter.”

Last week, the Progres sive Liberal Party released a copy of a cheque for $24,750, reflecting money the ruling party reimbursed to the Public Treasury to cover the cost of a char tered Western Air flight to Bermuda.

On Wednesday, Mr Davis said he made the decision that the government will not pay for the trip, adding

that the trip’s expenses would eventually be repaid to the Public Treasury in full, even for himself who travelled as prime minis ter. He was responding to Mr Pintard in the House of Assembly, who had accused the government of breaking the law.

However, Mr Davis admitted that the cheque from the PLP did not cover the full costs of the travel.

Mr Davis’ trip drew scru tiny after it was revealed that he spoke at a political con vention for Bermuda’s ruling Progressive Labour Party.

He travelled to Bermuda with a delegation, including former Prime Minister Perry Christie, on October 19 and returned on October 20.

The Office of the Prime Minister initially said the Progressive Liberal Party paid for the trip and to put any further questions to the

party. But PLP Chairman Fred Mitchell later released a message to support ers, saying the flights were organised through OPM as is standard.

“The standard procedure is for most if not all flights of the Prime Minister to be arranged through the Office of the Prime Min ister. When settlement of expenses are done there is a reckoning as between per sonal expenses and public expenses. That procedure was followed in this case and there is nothing unu sual about it,” Mr Mitchell said over a week ago.

On Thursday, Mr Watson said that the full cost of the trip was still not known and he was unable to say how much money was spent on hotel accommodations, transportation, food, per diem and other trip-related elements.

Three murders in violent weekend

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Regarding last night’s shooting, he said initial reports indicate that a group of people were stand ing outside talking when occupants of a silver col oured Japanese vehicle pulled up. Two men got out of that car, one of whom had a high-powered rifle, and fired at the crowd.

Four people were shot. A woman in her mid-twenties died at the scene while the other victims were taken to hospital. Another victim, a man in his thirties, died on the way to the hospital.

“We are receiving infor mation, the male that died en route to hospital, he was being monitored and is on bail for a serious offence,” CSP Johnson said. He said all the victims are residents of the area, but could not say if they are related.

Asked if the area is deemed a hotspot for crimi nal activity, he stopped short.

“I wouldn’t say (it’s) a hotspot,” he said. “These areas have to be policed and we have been doing that. Our operations are up and about and we would con tinue to control these areas

to ensure that the public remains safe, but we advise persons to always be vigi lant of their surroundings.”

The man killed on Sat urday is Fred Lifaite, who was of Haitian descent, this newspaper understands.

According to police, around 7.30pm on Saturday, the deceased was standing in the area of Sixth Street when two men got out of a small silver coloured Japa nese vehicle and discharged multiple shots.

The victim was shot mul tiple times about the body, and later pronounced dead at the scene by Emergency Medical Services personnel.

Recently, numerous offenders who have been released on bail have been murdered, while some have been posted on wanted police posters for suspected murder or other serious crimes.

Some have argued that offenders are safer inside prison rather than being granted bail, due to the high frequency of people on bail being killed.

Recently, The Tribune spoke to Leon Bethell, former assistant commis sioner of police and CEO of Metro Security Solutions, regarding issues with the

ankle monitor system for people on bail.

Mr Bethell defended the system, noting there is no fault in the devices offered.

However, reports have circulated that those being monitored have not adhered to curfew con ditions; it has also been reported that the devices’ batteries have intention ally been allowed to die and there are cases where some have removed the devices from their bodies.

This has resulted in some offenders breaching bail conditions or being killed.

National Security Min ister Wayne Munroe said earlier this month that offi cials are concerned about the high number of people committing offences while they are being electroni cally monitored.

“The issue is the high incidence of persons com mitting offences while they are monitored and on bail and the high incidence of people who are being the victims of murders them selves. That is a concern for us,” he said.

Anyone with information on these crimes is asked to contact CID at 5029991/2 or Crime Stoppers at 328-(TIPS)-8477.

RETAILERS ‘UNDERSTAND’ MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

MERCHANTS said they understand the move to increase minimum wage as it is necessary to help ease the cost of the living crisis within the country.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis announced an increase in the minimum wage from $210 to $260 per week.

The higher wage will be

retroactive in the public service to July of this year.

For those in the private sector, the change will begin in January 2023. The time line, Mr Davis said in his national address earlier this month, is to give employ ers time to prepare for the increased expense.

Mr Davis has also said he is aware the increase is not enough for those grappling to survive in inflationary times, however adding that it is a positive step in the

right direction.

William Cash, managing director of Lowe’s Phar macy, told The Tribune in a recent interview that the company has already made the necessary changes.

“It’s going up and we’ve already adjusted our sala ries accordingly, so it’s not going to affect us at this point,” he said.

While Mr Cash acknowledged that the minimum wage increase will be “tough for many

businesses”, he also said the company understands the need for the change.

Super Value owner Rupert Roberts shared similar views as he says the foodstore chain has not paid below $260 for more than two years.

When asked how the company is going to handle the higher minimum wage in the upcoming year, Mr Roberts said: “We have been paying the minimum wage ($260) for over two

years now, that’s not going to bother us.

“In fact, we take indi viduals in, train them, and put them to work. For the past two years, we’ve never started under the $260, as that’s been our mini mum wage for the past two years,” he added.

As the company currently pays above the current min imum wage rate of $210, Mr Roberts says he hopes staff are more “productive” as a result.

Gowon Bowe, a top financial expert, said pre viously he thinks it would be “disingenuous” or pre mature for businesses to outright conclude that there will be closures or even lay offs once the new policies take effect.

Though, Mr Bowe acknowledged that some businesses might be forced to make difficult decisions, especially if they are not making the profits needed to sustain operations.

THE SCENE at Lightbourne Alley in the Rock Crusher area last night and, below, Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson.

Photo: Moise Amisial

Doctors alarm at outsourcing plan

place with patients on the ward and they are looking to partner with Doctors Hospital West to assist the hospital.

He added that officials are still at the table with Doctors Hospital and nothing is finalised as yet.

“Sorry, it’s a bit more compli cated than just outsourcing — we are planning extensive renova tions of our wards. We are still at the table with Doctors Hospital and nothing is finalised as yet,” Dr Darville explained.

“As you are aware we (are) planning some extensive renova tions at the PMH starting with Female Medical One and the replacement of an old elevator. Secondly the basement of the Eye Ward is in bad shape and we will be awarding a contract for some structural repairs to the columns and steel components of the first floor of that wing of the hospital. Once that is done we will proceed to renovate the Eye Ward and get the eye theatre up and running again.

“Plans are also on the way for the renovation of Male Medi cal 2 and the Children’s Ward to bring back in service this critical bed space while the COVID-19 disease burden in the country is low. From our aggressive agenda and the time necessary for

completion of the work in just under 12 weeks, we will need to manage some of our patients elsewhere and, yes, these impor tant decisions are on the table with Doctors Hospital.”

He added: “The aggressive renovations cannot take place with patients on the ward and we are looking to partner with Doc tors Hospital West to assist the hospital complete these essential repairs so that we can best serve our patients.”

According to the consultants’ document, a draft action plan for “outsourcing” of inpatients to Doctors Hospital Health System is being proposed for Princess Margaret Hospital.

“This plan outlines how patients will be selected and moved between the institution and stipulates that a ‘private’ group of physicians, who are also contracted to work at Prin cess Margaret Hospital, will be subcontracted to manage these patients at an additional fee for services. Patients who become unstable and with prolonged stay are to be returned to Princess Margaret Hospital,” the consult ants’ memo read.

“This action plan singularly involves only one specialty department which is the Adult Medicine/Internal Medicine inpatients in the Department of Medicine at the PMH. Internal

Medicine was directed to review this plan without any previous involvement in the drafting of the plan for the Department of Medicine and its patients. Never theless, the draft action plan was reviewed by the Department of Medicine’s consultants in a sched uled staff meeting on September 20, 2022.”

Concerns were raised why this exercise was being currently undertaken noting there is a rela tively low census of inpatients and COVID patients at the time of the proposal and the institution is not in a crisis currently where beds are short. The doctors also feel that the current inpatients could be accommodated elsewhere in the institution while repairs are being made to the aforementioned areas, particularly “if repairs to wards were implemented in a staggered approach”.

“Hence, at the time of the writ ing of this feedback, the census of the Department of Medicine, including COVID patients, is low: This is an ideal time to pri oritise continued development of the institution; there is no reason to justify transfer of patients at this time; modular units can be installed while COVID-19 patients are managed in negativepressure isolation spaces.

“It was emphasised repeatedly that the Princess Margaret Hos pital is not currently in a state

MINISTRY REVIVES NURSING PROGRAMME

IN reviving the nursing cadet programme, the Min istry of Health and Wellness is focusing on attracting the

best recruits to be added to the health system across the country. An opening ceremony to

mark the recommencement of the programme was held at St Barnabas Church Hall on Thursday.

The programme attracted about 176 interested senior high school students from throughout the country to the nursing profession. The programme returned after a two-year hiatus, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Cherita Moxey, acting chief medical officer, deliv ered remarks on behalf of the Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville.

“Cadets, your interest in this programme is a great marker for how we can build upon our recruitment pursuits and, by extension, our nursing complement,” she said.

Regarding nursing as a noble profession and of paramount importance to a thriving healthcare system, Dr Moxey said it is also a career that calls nurses to demonstrate compassion,

where the number of admissions is greater than the number of available empty beds.”

The document also questioned the appropriateness of this exer cise considering the large expense to the public purse related to this enterprise. The practice of continuing to transfer inpatients from the public sector to Doctors Hospital West for management is “not fiscally prudent”, the doctors said.

According to the document, this practice was started in the COVID-19 crisis to facilitate the surge in patients presenting to the health system in a public health emergency and the costs exceeded “$50 million in two years,” accord ing to public records.

“The health system is no longer challenged with a surge of COVID-19 patients, given the way the virus has evolved and available vaccines, therapeutics and immunity. The consultants in the Department of Medicine have concerns about why we would endeavour to continue to trans fer inpatients given the exorbitant costs.

“The more appropriate stew ardship of public funds is to fix and maintain the Princess Margaret Hospital’s current infra structure as present circumstances can allow,” the doctors wrote.

The consultants said 121 beds are out of commission at PMH

across seven wards. Some have been out of commission for sev eral years.

“It is appropriate to fix the existing seven wards and bring them back into commission and to invest in the public hospital system currently and going for ward rather than continuing a costly care model that does not build the public hospital capacity in any way,” the doctors wrote.

As for the process that is proposed for the transfer and management of patients, it was described as “flawed and unsafe”. The consultants said the head of department and key senior physi cians and stakeholders were not included in the preparation and drafting of the proposal.

Then there was the allegation that there has already been a death in the pilot of this process.

“A patient had an endo scopic intervention performed and shortly thereafter became unstable. This patient was not reviewed, became unstable and was transferred in extremis and arrived at the Princess Margaret Hospital in a state where he was coding and required resuscitative measures which were unsuccess ful,” the physicians said. “He was transferred directly to the ICU where resuscitation was deemed unsuccessful and he was pro nounced dead within minutes of arrival back to the institution.”

service and leadership.

“By simply having the title nurse you will have a plethora of people who will seek your guidance, follow your advice or benefit from your skillful touch.

“I am always amazed at how many nurses I meet who knew from an early age that nursing was their life’s calling and they have

remained steadfast to the calling – establishing longstanding careers in the field,” she said.

Dr Moxey then under scored the importance of the nursing profession in delivering health care to all with whom they come in contact.

“Cadets, the system needs you. You are the

future of healthcare. It may sound cliché; however, it is true. Too many of our citi zens are ill and perishing from preventable diseases. Poor health choices and unhealthy daily practices continue to burden our healthcare system,” she said.

Photos: Ulric Woodside/BIS

ONE-YEAR BAN ON BUILDING IN SPANISH WELLS

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

THE Spanish Wells Com monage Committee has implemented a one-year building ban due to the expansion of shanty towns on generational farmland.

According to a letter posted to Facebook by Ivanhoe Sweeting, chair man of the Spanish Wells Commonage Committee, the ban went into effect on October 25.

According to Mr Sweet ing the letter was delivered to the office of the adminis trator for North Eleuthera’s district council, the Minis try of Works, and Bahamas Power and Light.

In the letter, Mr

Sweeting states that the ban is on “any and all build ings”, including additions to existing structures or making connections to BPL for power supply in the area of Blackwoods, which is considered to be “within the Spanish Wells common age land”.

“We will not grant any such permission in light of the recent, drastic increase of illegal building by persons disregarding the laws of the land,” Mr Sweeting wrote in the letter.

Work and Utilities Min ister Alfred Sears was contacted for comment by this newspaper but was

unresponsive up to press time.

Mr Sweeting said the organisation has made several attempts to seek assistance from government officials, however, their complaints were “ignored and disregarded”.

He wrote: “We have in the past voiced concerns and stipulations, but our words have thus far been ignored and disregarded.”

On Mr Sweeting’s Face book page, he has made several posts showing photos of the alleged illegal structures that were torn down.

“Another illegal house torn down by the

Commonage Committee yesterday that’s (three) so far,” he wrote on October 18, sharing three images.

He also posted two images in late September of a wooden structure he said was illegally built and torn down.

Similar incidents have reportedly taken place in Abaco, as there has been a recent expansion of sev eral shanty towns, with one unregulated community mushrooming to 200 acres since 2019, according to government officials.

Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis recently said his administration is look ing at how best to deal with the shanty towns in Abaco that are not covered by an existing court injunction.

Recently, Mr Sears advised people contemplat ing building on land that does not belong to them to cease and desist because the government “will not tolerate it”.

According to the minis ter, officials will announce “shortly” the measures they will be taking to resolve the shanty town problem within the country.

WOMAN JAILED FOR BURNING MALL

BY DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A FREEPORT woman found guilty of arson was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment on Friday in the Supreme Court on Grand Bahama.

Jezeel Malone, 30,

appeared for sentenc ing before Justice Andrew Forbes.

Malone was found guilty during her arson trial in connection with a mas sive blaze that destroyed the Britannia Mini Mall on February 27, 2019.

The mini mall, located at Lunar Boulevard and

Polaris Drive, had com prised of several small businesses, including a clothing store, computer shop, barbershop, beauty salon/supply store, meat shop, liquor store and a variety store. There were also three churches at the location. The entire build ing was destroyed.

CONSTRUCTION work in Spanish Wells.

DR CHERITA MOXEY

BPL meeting with hotels a ‘listening opportunity’

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Power and Light CEO Shevonn Cam bridge said today’s meeting with hoteliers is more of a “listening opportunity”.

He added it is right in line with the company’s plan to be more communicative and to discuss things with all stakeholders.

Robert Sands, the Baha mas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA)’s pres ident, revealed last week the industry has set up a meeting with the leadership of BPL.

Mr Cambridge told The Tribune yesterday it was an opportunity to talk with them as “one of our main stakeholders”.

“They called for the meeting, so it’s more of a lis tening opportunity and we intend to do this with all of our stakeholders from all of the different (rate) classes. It’s just that, you know, they kind of jumped the gun on

us, and they called for the meeting,” he said.

“So it’s right in line with our plan to be more com municative and to discuss things with all stakeholders things that we’re gonna discuss tomorrow were things like, some of the conservation initiatives that we would like to see them implement. We’re going to talk to them about some of the cost savings initiatives that we intend to imple ment and just to see how we can be better partners.

“They have a seasonal business and they have cer tain power quality concerns and we have some concerns about the manner in which they consume power. So it’s just, you know, an oppor tunity to talk with them as one of our main stakehold ers,” Mr Cambridge said.

Mr Sands’ comments came weeks after Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis’s announcement of the increase of the monthly fuel charge at BPL.

In reaction to this news,

the BHTA president told Tribune Business ear lier this month that the “extraordinary” magnitude of the proposed hikes - to be phased in quarterly over the next 11 months - will force resort operators to “re-engineer” their expense structures and business models to cope with the increase in their secondlargest cost item.

Asked if he sees any feasible resolutions to aid hoteliers in any cost savings, Mr Cambridge replied: “Well, when you look at the new utility busi ness model, there are a lot of opportunities for a break for all consumers. So there are a number of like new techniques and billing tech niques that are available or that are out there.

“Things like time of use rates and demand side man agement - and these are some of the things we want to discuss with them as we explore moving forward. We’re trying to, you know, meet their needs using all

of the things that are now currently being done in industry.

“So those are things that we currently don’t do in The Bahamas. We don’t have time of use rates. We don’t do demand side man agement. We don’t have a really sophisticated propo nent, compensation plan. So these are the things that we’re going to investigate. So we’re looking at how do we maximise the opportu nities, given the resources that are currently available to everybody,” Mr Cam bridge said.

Mr Sands also suggested several ideas on mitigat ing the effects of the rise in the BPL fuel surcharge that BHTA will be propos ing to BPL executives to try to ease the burden on hotels and those with large properties.

Asked if he feels this meeting will help ease the burden for hoteliers, the BPL chief executive officer indicated: “First of all, we got to identify where the

burden is. Because like, I said, we feel that there are some opportunities for some cost saving meas ures to be implemented by both us and the hotel iers and it just requires us working together in a full understanding, and that’s why the meeting is so important.”

Mr Cambridge spoke about the inquiries from other stakeholders and trying to find solutions.

“Not other sectors but other stakeholders within the sector and so, you know, we have dif ferent rate classes,” he explained.

“We have residential, we have large commercial, and then we have medium sized commercial and those are different weight classes but even as we look now, like we’re getting a lot of inquiries and stuff from manufacturers, and while there isn’t a separate man ufacturer rate class at the moment, based on the dis cussions, if there’s a need,

then we may do so.

“I know at one point there used to be a church rate. And that went away, again, as we speak with them if the need arises, then that’s something that we may have to look at. You know, so as I said, it’s not about, you know, any existing issues, but it’s, it’s about trying to find solu tions and to work with all stakeholders.”

Earlier this month, Mr Davis announced that for BPL customers who con sume less than 800 kWh (kilowatt hours), the fuel charge is increasing by 2 cents per kWh, “which will result in an increase this quarter of less than $20 per month.”

However, he gave an assurance that the bill increases will only be tem porary and are expected to come down over the next 12 to 18 months.

For those who consume more than 800 kWh, the increase will be 4.3 cents per kWh.

WORKS MINISTER INSPECTS $60M EXUMA INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

WORKS and Utilities Minister Alfred Sears and other officials were in Exuma on Friday to assess and inspect the progress of the $60m roadworks and infra structure project on the island.

Mr Sears, along with Parlia mentary Secretary Bacchus Rolle, Permanent Secretary Luther Smith and Deputy Director Damien Francis, visited various sites in Exuma, including those in Mount Thompson, Moss Town and George Town.

They inspected the progress of paving and other infrastructural work on the island carried out by Caribbean Paving Solutions Ltd (CPSL), a subsidiary of the Baha mas Striping Group of Companies Limited (BSGC).

The government is in a public private partnership (PPP) agree ment with BSGC for this $60 million project, which is expected to be fully completed in mid-2024.

In Exuma, where much of the roads are unpaved and uneven, some seven to ten miles of an overall estimated 60 miles of road have been paved on Queen’s Highway so far. Mr Sears said the road is now thicker, wider, more resilient and sustainable.

“This PPP is to pave up to 60 miles of road, main road, also community roads to widen those roads, most of which are 18 feet, and where the space allows up to 24 feet to install drainage infrastructure, culverts so that the roads will be protected from the potting of water which can

compromise the integrity of the road. Approximately seven miles have been completed,” he said.

Some 50 Bahamians are employed on the project.

“In addition to the employment, the contractors are Bahamians, they are using Bahamian busi nesses, Bahamian restaurants, they’re renting property for their employees. So we have really a multiplier effect, where the local community, they’re feeling the economic impact of the project,” he said.

BSCG managing director Allen Albury said that some $7m has been spent on the project so far.

“We’re looking at about $7m into the project thus far,” he said.

“We brought in sufficient (materi als for road works) to do ten miles and then we’ll have another ship ment coming in the first quarter of 2023, and so that will allow us to keep the project moving.”

Officials also visited the LN Coakley High School, the Ferry Bridge and the George Town City Centre where other road and

infrastructure works are being completed.

At LN Coakley High School in Moss Town, BSGC has undertaken the paving and infra structure of the track and field, as well as construction of bathrooms on the site, through partnership with a local construction com pany, Upon this Rock, contracted at $250,000.

At the George Town City Centre, Varma Singh, BSCG chief engineer and superintendent, said plans are still being made to pave the busy main road after replacing and changing old underground utility pipes.

At the bridge linking Little and Great Exuma, commonly called the Ferry Bridge, which has had ongoing structural issues for over ten years, Jumaane Paul, a civil engineer in the Ministry of Works, said there are also plans to bring the bridge up to international standards so that it can last for at least 75 years.

“The Ferry Bridge is cur rently about 565 feet long. It’s a

single-lane bridge and right now there is a lot of deterioration to the superstructure, so part of the plan is to reconstruct a new bridge, a two-lane bridge and a sidewalk on the western side of the existing bridge,” Mr Paul said.

“Right now, in the ministry we’re undertaking preliminary designs to put it out to tender very soon,” he said.

He said construction may be anywhere from 18 to 24 months, not including the planning and pre liminary stages of the project. In the meantime, the current bridge is being monitored and weight restrictions have been instated.

In 2011, under the Ingra ham administration, there was a

rehabilitation programme under taken by the Ministry of Works, to temporarily mitigate and stop the deterioration of the bridge. A detailed inspection was also done at this time.

The last time road works took place in Exuma was in 2020 and before that 20 years ago with a pea rock and seal road, which lasts up to 15 years, as opposed to an asphalt road, which lasts a min imum of 20 years, Mr Sears said.

Mr Sears also said the Andre Roberts Stadium in New Provi dence will be completed by December and there are also plans to rehabilitate the Thomas A Robinson Stadium in the future.

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Striping Group of Companies in collaboration with the Min istry of Works and Utilities on Friday presented an Exuma Junkanoo group with a cheque for $5,000 for the upcoming Junkanoo season.

Works and Utilities Min ister Alfred Sears as well as representatives from BSGC were in Exuma on Friday to tour road works there.

Mr Sears said it was only fitting that while on the island something be given back to the community.

“I want to thank Car ibbean Paving Solutions (a subsidiary company of BSGC) for responding, pro moting and nurturing and encouraging the cultural artists of The Common wealth of The Bahamas and here in Exuma,” Mr Sears said.

“The Musical Youth Jun kanoo group in Exuma is keeping the African Junka noo alive and that tradition nourishes the spirit, it also provides the basis of the orange economy.”

Atario Mitchell, BSGC president, said as some one with a grant-winning

company from the gov ernment’s Self-Starter programme, he knows the importance of funding.

Mr Mitchell said this is why his company continues to support Junkanoo groups in an effort to get the parade back on the streets and up to the standard it was before the pandemic.

“Our company’s

philosophy has always been of always giving back, we saw fit to partner with the Musical Youth of Exuma (Junkanoo group), to donate to them a $5,000 cheque to help them with this upcoming Junkanoo parade,” he said.

Ricardo Rolle, leader of the Musical Youth Jun kanoo Group, said the

money would help them to prepare for the Exuma Junkanoo parade on Janu ary 10, 2023.

“We’ve been fighting and struggling to find sponsor ship for a little while now and to date actually this is really the first person that came on board to give to us,” Mr Rolle said.

“We can’t do this without

good-hearted people in the community. We really appreciate Bahamas Strip ing for this. We need a whole heap of raw materi als like crepe paper, contact glue, so we’ll send this off to Nassau to get stuff right away.”

Earlier this month, BSGC donated $200,000 to the Roots Junkanoo

group in New Providence which was to be disbursed in increments of $50,000 per year over the next four years. This was a part of a continued partnership established with the Roots. BSGC got its start in 2010 through an initial $5,000 self-starter grant from the government.

WORKS Minister Alfred Sears operating a paving machine in Exuma on Friday during his visit to examine infrastructure work. Photos: Moise Amisial

LEON

Drought, rising seas threaten traditions

IN A makeshift arena in the French coastal village Aigues-Mortes, young men in dazzling collared shirts come face-to-face with a raging bull. Sur rounded by the city’s medieval walls, the men dodge and duck the ani mal’s charges while spectators let out collective gasps. Part ritual and part spectacle, the tradition is deeply woven into the culture of the coun try’s southern wetlands, known as the Camargue.

For centuries, people from across the region have observed Camarguaise bull festivities in the Rhone delta, where the Rhone river and the Mediterranean Sea meet. But now the tradition is under threat by rising sea levels, heat waves and droughts which are making water sources salty and lands infertile. At the same time, there are efforts by authori ties to preserve more land, leaving less for bulls to graze.

“Here in Camargue the bull is God, like a king,” said Aigues-Mortes resi dent Jean-Pierre Grimaldi as he cheered on from the private arena stands, where he’s watched competitions for decades. “We live to serve these animals … some of the most brilliant bulls even have their own tombs built for them to be buried in.”

Generations of “manadiers,” or ranchers, like Frederic Raynaud, have dedicated their lives to raising the bulls that are indigenous to the region. Wilder bulls that can win pres tigious fighting events are the most prized.

Raynaud, a fifth-generation mana dier, has raised many such bulls on his “manade” — a term for ranches in the region — just east of Aigues-Mortes. His ranch currently looks after around 250 Camargue bulls and 15 horses that graze in semi-wild pastures along the coast. He fears that soon his much-cele brated cattle will not have lands to feed on.

“The sea level rises on our coast and takes more and more of our land,” Raynaud said.

A temporary dike constructed by local authorities to stop the growing sea has sunk in on itself, the water passing right through it and into the manade’s pastures.

The edge of the ranch is slipping into the sea. Land that hasn’t been swallowed up is becoming unusable as encroach ing waters make the wetlands more and more salty.

Heat waves and drought, exacerbated by climate change, are also depriving the land of fresh water, allowing sea water to take over.

“We used to have the salt rising up on just on our land” nearer the coast, Raynaud said. “But now the salt rises up through the soil five or six kilometers (3 to 4 miles) beyond the shoreline where you can see salt encrusting over the vegetation.”

The sea level around the town of Saintes-Marie de la Mer in Camargue has risen by a steady 3.7 millimeters (0.15 inches) per year from 2001 to 2019, almost twice the global average sea level rise measured throughout the 20th century, according to the local Tour du Valat research institute. Warm ing, expanding oceans and the melting of ice over land, both a result of climate change, are contributing to higher sea levels.

Researchers added that the advance of salt into the soil would leave the land barren and uninhabitable long before the sea engulfs it. Some affected pastures have already become bare with little vegetation and the abnor mally high salt content poses health risks to organisms not able to tolerate it.

People have always been attracted to the Camargue because of the abundance of species and resources it contains despite the challenges of living between the ebb and flow of an ever-evolving delta.

Its nutrient-rich wetlands contain an enormous amount of biodiversity, making it one of the most productive ecosystems in the world.

The Rhone river has long served as the Camargue’s lifeline, bring ing fresh water from the Alps and

dampening salt levels in the Camar gue. As rain and snowfall decrease, it’s becoming a less reliable fresh water source, with researchers esti mating the river’s flow has reduced by 30% in the last 50 years and is expected to only worsen.

“Glaciers which are in the process of melting at an incredibly high rate have already passed the point of no return, so probably in the years to come, the 40% of river flow that arrives in Camarague will be reduced to a much smaller per centage,” said Jean Jalbert of Tour du Valat.

During summers plagued by high temperatures and diminished rain fall, the sea water can reach up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) into the Rhone river. During a heat wave in August this year, the Raynaud fam ily’s water pump in the Petite Rhone, an offshoot of the main river, began pumping salt water. They were forced to move the pump farther up the river outside the perimeters of their own ranch to irrigate their land and feed their animals.

The Raynauds recently bought ten hectares (24 acres) of land to the north of their property to allow their bulls to graze.

“It isn’t that much for 250 bulls, but if one day there’s a catastrophe, that will be a fall back if we ever are forced to start again somewhere new,” Raynaud said.

Manadier Jean-Claude Groul already grazes his animals across sepa rated pastures, taking advantage of the different conditions each offers for his cattle.

At the crack of dawn, he whistles as he walks through an open field until a group of cotton-white Camargue horses heed his call and emerge from the fog. Groul loads his horses onto a truck and drives from one of his pas tures to another he owns farther down the road.

“One day if things get worse, we will have to find land further north” he said.

Less and less territory is being prioritized for the ranches as authori ties work to acquire land destined for preservation. Christine Aillet, the mayor of Saintes-Maries de la Mer, has said statewide conservation efforts are putting nature over her townspeople.

“They tell you on TV that the Cama rgue needs to be returned to nature,” said Aillet, who is skeptical of schemes aimed at saving the region by limiting global warming and reforesting the land.

“The Camargue will be dry without fresh water” if such preservation plans are enacted, she added.

Aillet favors measures such as increasing the number of tidal barri ers along the coastline, which she says will help residents, but researchers say these ideas are only a temporary fix and won’t withstand the effects of coastal erosion and a fast-altering climate.

Scientists in the region say the Cama rague risks losing both its economic and cultural worth as well as its natural beauty if interventions aren’t taken to help curb climate change. Top climate experts around the world say sea levels will continue to rise and that drastic action is needed to stop making the problem worse.

“For the past five generations the Camarguaise lived with the belief that the balance of Camargue is and forever will be stable, but we are in a delta that is beginning to face climate change,” Tour du Valat’s Jalbert said. “This eco system, that we believed to be stable, is starting to show cracks.”

For Frederic Raynaud, how big those cracks get will determine whether he’ll be able to maintain a ranch that has been in his family for more than a century.

“I’ve always been here, grown up here, the animals have always been here,” he said. “Leaving this place would be awful but if one day the sea arrives here, we will have to go.”

By DANIEL COLE, Associated Press

Injustice that affects Bahamians

EDITOR, The Tribune,

COUNTLESS Baha mians are being and have been left behind due to societal and economic dis crimination, across the political divide and eco nomic diaspora. It would seem that the traditional rich are getting richer and the ever with us poor are getting poorer. Most of you people accept the status quo as it is and as it has been for generations. You have been indoctrinated into the bogus and false narrative that the politi cians; the clergy and the so-called lawyers are gifted with the solutions which stare you all in your eyes every day.

The so-called justice system is not in favour of the small man who is unable to afford legal coun sel. Most petty thieves go straight to jail. White collar criminals, especially law yers; doctors and accounts never seem to ever go to justice and to jail, where warranted. Stealing a can of corned beef or tuna could net you six months or more in jail. Carry off a few

hundreds of thousand of dollars and you may receive a slap on the wrist, if at all.

Social justice, I submit, is a myth in The Baha mas. The majority of our people are actors on a large stage. Most could not or would not even want to call a spade a spade once we are being greased, by any means necessary. Poor people are destined, under the socialistic system, to remain poor for ever,under almost any administration. There should be no Minis try of Social Services. There should be a Ministry of Financial Empowerment. Inculcating people to become wards of the state is not the way forward, I submit.

The justice system is literally contributing to the deaths of scores of Bahamians who are not being properly processed through the court and judicial processes. Under some dubious provisions accused persons of serious

allegations, inclusive of murder, are released on bail. This is an indictment of potential retaliation and possibly revenge kill ing. Ankle bracelets and other methods have proven futile, so far. The system, obviously, has failed.

We also appear to have a serious mental health problem within our midst, especially here in New Providence; Grand Bahama and Eleuthera. I am not suggesting that some of you all may have gone crazy as a direct result of Dorian or the pandemic but the facts on the ground speaks for themselves. Take a casual glance. Many have lost homes; vehicles and other material possessions. They have, in fact, lost their bearings and sense of nor malcy. No, not crazy, but not far from it. We have to do better. The climate is critical, but what about the mentally and finan cially challenged unwashed masses?

ORTLAND H Bodie, Jr Nassau, October 30, 2022.

Good riddance to a bad Act

EDITOR, The Tribune.

GOVERNMENT is to be commended for its decision to repeal the Commercial Enterprises Act, an egre gious piece of legislation passed by its predecessor.

Having said that, it was disappointing to hear Min ister Keith Bell describe the Act’s worst section (which stipulates that, unless the Director of Immigration decides on an application by a foreigner for a work permit within 14 days, then the permit is deemed to have been granted) as deserving of repeal because it is “impractical”.

With respect to Minister Bell, that section (and the whole act) deserves repeal not because it is impractical, but because it is offensive.

Imagine a bill that per mits Bahamian applicants to Town Planning to simply ignore the requirement for planning approval and com mence with their proposed

projects on the grounds that the committee took too long to revert with its decision.

Or imagine an act that required the Prime Minis ter (as minister for Crown lands) to respond to an application by a Bahamian businessman for a lease or a grant within 14 days, after which the applicant can simply start generating revenues from the use of government land.

As absurd as they may sound, both these meas ures would actually make it easier for Bahamians to do business in The Bahamas.

But none of them would ever have been contem plated by the FNM when it was coming up with ways of improving the country’s ease of doing business.

Why? Because the FNM did not have Bahamians in mind when they were talk ing (with foreigners, no doubt) about improving the ease of doing business in

The Bahamas. They were thinking exclusively about (and for) foreigners.

That is why the myriad indignities and outrageous charges that Canadian banks impose on Bahami ans trying to do business and the needless delays involved in the local business licens ing process have never been addressed – much less by targeted legislation.

But when it comes to for eigners, Minnis and crew were prepared to abrogate the most fundamental privi lege Bahamians enjoy as workers and owners in their own country (i.e. Bahami anisation) in favour of a default proposition benefit ing foreigners and hinged on an issue (government unresponsiveness) of which Bahamians not only have no control, but are all too often themselves the victim.

WORKS Minister Alfred Sears testing the height of paving in Exuma on Friday

Photo: Moise Amisial

NATIONAL VOLUNTEER MONTH

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis has pro claimed November National Volunteer Month, and the government is using the opportunity to promote the mission of the Gover nor General’s Volunteer Bahamas.

This was announced at a press conference on Friday at the Office of the Gover nor General.

Sir Cornelius Smith’s per sonal life-long belief and promotion of volunteerism steered the formation in 2019 of an NGO called The Governor General’s Volun teer Bahamas. Its mission is to encourage people to volunteer.

Accountant and

volunteer Lindsey Cancino serves as chairperson of the registered NGO. “We are a nation blessed with many good souls who by their very nature help others at the drop of a hat, and yet many still hesitate,” said Mr Cancino. “We want to encourage more people to experience the joy of vol unteering because we know they will love it and con tinue and encourage their friends to also help others.”

On November 22, Governor General’s Vol unteer Bahamas Awards will recognise a number of outstanding volun teers throughout the country, among other planned events.

GOVERNOR General’s Volunteer Bahamas Committee members are pictured with Secretary to the Governor, Office of the Governor General, Jack Thompson, centre. Committee members are from left: Vice-Chairman Anthony Newbold; member Patrice ‘Puppy’ Robinson; Chairman Lindsey Cancino; and planning committee member/PR Serena Williams. Not pictured are planning commit tee members, Undersecretary/Ministry of Education Lisa Adder ley; and committee member, Archdeacon Keith Cartwright.

POTTER’S CAY VENDORS RELIEVED THEY CAN REBUILD

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A SPOKESPERSON for Potter’s Cay vendors said it is a “relief” that they are able to rebuild their stalls and get back to work more than a year after a fire at the site.

Potter’s Cay Dock Fish, Fruit, and Vegetable Ven dors Association president

Ormanique Bowe explained that all the materials needed to rebuild the dam aged stall are covered by FYP, a local hardware store. She hopes the affected ven dors will be back in business by Christmas.

Agriculture, Marine Resources and Family Island Affairs Minister Clay Sweeting revealed that offi cials have met with Potter’s

Cay vendors and provided them with the approved plans from the Ministry of Works for new stalls.

Asked for her reaction to the news, Ms Bowe told The Tribune about meetings that were held.

“They did that last week sometime - they gave them the final approvals,” she said on Friday. “So vendors, they can go ahead now

and start building, but they had a meeting on Tuesday (about some construction issues).”

A fire in April 2021 burned six stalls to the ground and left two others damaged.

The association president described how it feels to rebuild after the blaze.

“Finally it’s a relief that they’re able to build their

stalls back and get back to work. Hopefully everyone will be back to work before Christmas. One structure has already started because you know they have to find the money for their labour. But as far as materials is concerned, all the materials are covered by FYP.”

She later added: “Christ mas is normally a busier time out here in Potter’s

Cay other than the week ends and everyone should want to be able to enjoy a good Christmas. So if their stalls are opened up and they’re making their money and stuff like that, I think you know they’ll be satis fied and there’ll be a joy to know that they’re open for Christmas and they’re bringing in the New Year in the right way.”

TWO HAVE MURDER CHARGES FROM 2016 KILLING DROPPED

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

TWO men had their 2016 murder and attempted murder charges dropped in the Supreme Court on Friday because of insuf ficient evidence against them.

Giovanni Clarke, repre sented by attorney Calvin Seymour, and Dekeil Bowe, represented by attorney Ryszard Humes, stood before Justice Guilimina Archer-Minns on charges of murder and attempted

murder.

It was alleged that on April 13, 2016, the accused shot 23-year-old Akeem Raheem Brennen and Ken Rolle while their car was parked at a traffic light on Robinson Road.

Rolle survived his inju ries but Brennen was pronounced dead in the parking lot of the Police Traffic Division on East West Highway on the same night.

During their latest court appearance, Justice ArcherMinns read the official nolle prosequi (no prosecution)

signed by Director of Public Prosecutions Garvin Gaskin.

This document indicated that prosecutors for the Crown, Kenny Thompson and Timothy Bailey, lacked sufficient evidence to con tinue their trial against the accused.

As such, Justice ArcherMinns officially discharged Clarke and Bowe of the offences. After hearing that their matter had been dis continued, the accused and their assembled fami lies expressed joy in the courtroom.

MAN ADMITS POSSESSION OF GUN ‘TO PROTECT HIMSELF WHILE SELLING DRUGS’

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was sent to prison on Friday after admitting owning a gun to protect himself as a drug dealer.

Basil Clarke, 46, stood before Magistrate Shaka Serville on charges of pos session of an unlicenced firearm, possession of ammunition and possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

Clarke was arrested on October 25 after he was found with a black Glock .45 pistol with the serial number erased. Clarke was also found in possession of

three unfired rounds of .45 ammunition as well as a stash of Indian hemp.

In court, Clarke pleaded guilty to the offence and admitted to having a gun for his own protection while selling weed.

The magistrate remanded the accused to the Bahamas Department of Correc tional Services as he awaits sentencing for the offence on January 16, 2023.

In a separate case, a man was fined $5,000 in Magis trate’s Court after admitting to having 31 rounds of unfired ammunition in 2015.

Barry Rolle, 34, rep resented by attorney Ian Cargill, appeared

before Magistrate Samuel McKinney on a charge of possession of ammunition.

In 2015, Rolle was arrested after he was found with 31 unfired rounds of 9mm ammunition.

In his latest court appear ance, Rolle reversed his earlier position and pleaded guilty to the charge.

His attorney asked the court to be lenient with his client citing the fact that he is both gainfully employed and a father. Rolle was fined $5,000 for the offence; he is expected to pay $3,000 before his release. Rolle’s outstanding balance is expected to be paid by December 1.

MAN ACCUSED OVER $60K DRUG BUST

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was granted $10,000 bail in Magistrate’s Court on Friday in connec tion with a drug bust of over $60,000 worth of Indian hemp over the summer.

Don Reuben Bastian, 40, faced Magistrate Samuel McKinney on charges of possession of dangerous

drugs with intent to supply, conspiracy to possess dan gerous drugs and conspiracy to possess dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

On August 1 on Jean Street, it is alleged that Bas tian, being concerned with others, conspired to and possessed 63.1lbs of Indian hemp.

DEU officers seized an estimated $63,100 worth of marijuana after conducting

a raid on the premises.

In court, Bastian pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was granted $10,000 bail.

Under the conditions of his bail, the accused is to be fitted with an electronic monitoring device and is expected to sign in at the nearest police station every Saturday by 6pm.

The trial in this matter is to begin on December 8.

Another chance for Davis to press case on climate

By MALCOLM STRACHAN

IT has not been a good week for the PLP government.

Officials still can’t find their way to an answer on how much the trip to Ber muda by the PLP – rather than an official government trip – has cost the public and who authorised the administration to float the party a free loan by paying the cost of the visit. At the end of last week, press sec retary Clint Watson was saying that we don’t even know the cost of the trip – so that free loan was a blank cheque.

And awkward questions linger over advice given to Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and Works Minister Alfred Sears after a letter was tabled in Par liament from BPL’s former chief executive with regard to the company’s fuel hedg ing strategy and the need to maintain it.

The suggestion there is that the administration missed out on an oppor tunity to save millions – leaving all of us to liter ally pick up the bill from increased prices.

Given the public utter ances by senior officials on the topic, that leaves some sticky questions.

So a good week would do the administration the world of good – and they face the prospect of that soon, with the next United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP27, coming up soon.

The event runs from November 6-18, and a size able party of 70 is headed to the event from The Bahamas. That trip prob ably would benefit from not setting off in the shadow of questions over the Ber muda expedition – but in truth they are two very dif ferent matters.

Instead, this is a return to the same platform that gave Mr Davis perhaps his best moment since becoming Prime Minister.

At the event’s prede cessor, COP26, held in Glasgow last year, he called on leaders to “do what is needed, not what you can get away with” and told them to “turn promises to small island developing states into action”.

He talked of how “we cannot outrun your carbon emissions, we cannot outrun the hurricanes

which are growing more powerful and we cannot outrun rising sea levels, as our islands disappear beneath the seas”.

He warned: “Without change – if we are lucky –we will become refugees. Without change – if we are unlucky – then we will be left to the mercy of future Hurricane Dorians. More of my people will die. More will be left traumatised and homeless.

“People will be forced to flee but flee to where? These are my neighbours, my family, my friends. My plea is both urgent and deeply personal. And I make it on behalf of all humanity.”

Mr Davis’ speech brought international attention, and he has continued to beat the drum on behalf of action over climate change ever since.

In terms of direct action, the most notable effort here at home has been to set up the system to benefit from carbon credits. Other nations, companies and so on that are polluters can then offset their emissions by using our carbon credits – and paying us for doing so.

That money can then

be used in many ways –but the most sensible one would be to pay for the damage caused by climate change or in preparing to mitigate the effects coming our way.

The call for pollut ing nations to pay up was echoed last week by Rochelle Newbold, the Prime Minister’s special advisor on climate change, who said: “The climate is such a focus for us. Because if you’re not going to make the necessary changes now, then in that sense, we need you to pay for whatever is happening to us at this time, until you are able to make your adjustment.”

Perhaps underreported, there is another encour aging measure that the government is introducing, with a new coastal man agement scheme being launched.

The Tribune reported on this last month, with Works Minister Mr Sears launch ing the Integrated Coastal Zone Management project at Balmoral Club.

There is a loan agreement involved for $35m from the Inter American Develop ment Bank, and Mr Sears said the goal is to build infrastructure to help with

coastal resilience through out the country, including New Providence, central Long Island, Andros and East Grand Bahama.

Mr Sears said at the time:

“The most notable impact of climate change is the rising sea levels. Are you aware that global sea levels have increased by 3.7mm per year between 2006 and 2018? And experts believe with great confidence that sea levels will continue to rise over the next century. This is frightening for a flat coastal country.”

Indeed, in another arti cle, a study predicted that half the nation is vulnerable to storm surge – and things as they stand aren’t going to be getting better.

Put all that together and you see rising waters, increased hurricane strength, more damage, vanishing shorelines, people being driven out of their homes and forced to become refugees. So yes, getting the nations respon sible for emissions to pay for the damage that is caused is exactly the right thing to be calling for.

In this very column after last year’s event, I wrote: “It has been a good week for Prime Minister Philip

There remain questions about how we follow up on our end of the deal with any money that will be received or to further our own tran sition to renewable energy. In last week’s Tribune, it was reported that BPL faces a dilemma if the big hotels convert to renewable energy because suddenly there goes 15 percent of its revenues.

If Atlantis and Baha Mar provide their own power, BPL could be on shaky ground – so where does that leave any push we might have as a nation to move to solar, wind or tidal energy?

Still, COP27 is another opportunity for Mr Davis to make a stand on the inter national stage, and remind the world that nations at risk from climate change will continue to be a thorn in the side of those most able to effect change.

Until he gets there, his government may still be dogged by issues that could probably be solved by straight answers – and any consequences that spring from those. But once he gets there, my bet is that it will be another good week for Mr Davis.

‘Brave’ Davis…”

BRITAIN’S PRINCE WILLIAM, right, speaks with Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis at the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, last year and, below, Mr Davis addressing the summit.

Something in the tea

GROWING up on a remote family island with limited access to traditional western medicine led many indigenous Bahamians to find alternative natural cures for their medical ail ments. Colloquially, this natural alternative in both topical and oral formu lations is referred to as “bush medicine” and in many instances, relying on the knowledge of which plant treated which illness could mean the difference between life and death and battling a prolonged and critical illness or enjoying a quick recovery.

For many Family Island ers, what grew on the bush and was boiled or steeped to make tea was not a casual power drink but a matter of survival. Today, even with the unfettered availability of traditional medicine in island inhabit ants, bush medicine is still readily used throughout the Bahamian diaspora par ticularly among the older generation.

One such patient, hereaf ter referred to as Cecily, has consumed bush medicine since she was a child. Now aged 90, she attributes her strength, energy and good health to the bush tea that she consumes daily.

Cecily lives on one of the Family Islands and in fact when I called around 5.30pm to interview her for this report, she told me she wouldn’t be available until after ten that night because she was about to walk out the door to meet with some friends.

Cecily has no medical problems, is not on any medication and has never undergone surgery. She has an incredibly active social life and tells me she has no intention of slowing down anytime soon.

Cecily’s older sister is 96 and she also consumes bush medicine daily. Their grand mother was born in 1861 – the year the Civil War in the United States started.

Growing up, they spent a lot of time with their grand mother so the tradition of making bush medicine was indoctrinated into them and passed down from one gen eration to the next. Never a fan of the bitter taste of bush medicine, Cecily prefers a less potent form referred to as bush tea and she drinks a cup made from sugar cane leaf daily.

The difference, as I’ve been told, between bush medicine and bush tea is in the preparation. Once the appropriate leaves are collected, Hibiscus, Fevergrass, Five-fingers, Neem, Cerasee and Moringa being among the more popular varieties, they are washed.

For tea preparation, boil ing water is poured over the leaves and it steeps for at least five hours but prefer ably overnight.

Bush medicine is stronger and notably more bitter so its preparation requires that the leaves be placed into a pot with water and slowly brought to a boil. Once it begins to boil, the pot is removed from the heat and then steeped for approxi mately ten minutes before consuming.

Proponents of bush medi cine and teas suggest that among many other benefits, the various preparations aid in blood sugar regula tion as well as helping to control blood pressure and cholesterol. Soursop has long been touted as a treat ment for cancer, papaya for wounds and sugar cane leaf for liver disease, improved digestion and to fight infection.

To the best of my knowl edge, no formal long-term scientific studies have ever looked at the effect of bush medicine on various conditions.

Unfortunately, until a well-respected institution leads this study and pub lishes positive findings to the effect, regardless of the universal growing appetite for more natural therapies, bush medicine will likely never be considered a main stream treatment option across the globe.

Should it occur, a pri vate-public partnership to establish a bush tea indus try will benefit all parties

involved. It will, for exam ple, limit this country’s reliance on imported phar maceuticals and ease the burden on the healthcare sector by offering at home natural low-risk treatment options for a population ripe with co-morbidities.

A theory in medicine, more popular in Canada than the US, suggests that the acid-alkaline PH bal ance of the body is the absolute most significant factor in determining one’s health. I believe that bush medicine throughout the Caribbean has stood the test of time because what it’s essentially doing is detoxifying the acid in the body and making the PH more alkaline, thus allow ing the body to fight various illnesses more effectively.

Researchers suggest that to maintain optimum health, the body has to be in a slightly alkaline (7.4) PH balance. This is the perfect environment for organs to function at maximum effi ciency and best produce hormones for immunity to fight disease. The PH scale runs from 0 to 14, where 0 is extremely acidic, 7 is neutral and 14 is extremely alkaline (or basic). Each number is ten times higher or lower than the next. The acid in a car battery has a PH of 1 so, for comparison, it is 10 times more acidic than PH 2 and 100 times more acidic than PH 3. Coke soda has a PH of 2.5.

Therein lies the problem; everything that we eat can alter this delicate PH bal ance. Our body naturally adjusts and tries to main tain a perfect acid/alkaline balance environment pri marily via the lungs and the kidneys.

Unfortunately, those organs and buffer system become overwhelmed when we consume too much acidic foods like sugar and artificial sweeteners, soda, fried foods, coffee and msg (found copiously in Chi nese food). Conversely, the most basic/alkaline foods, among others, include apples, berries, spinach, kale, cucumbers, salmon, almonds, decaffeinated green tea, sweet potatoes, avocados and broccoli.

So, imagine a Bahamian who drinks two cans of soda daily, eats a donut, downs it with a cup of coffee laden with sugar, then gobbles fried food for lunch, and ignores or eschews the

fruits and vegetables that would at a minimum help to neutralise the acid ingested.

Diseases thrive in a system that is feeding them exactly what they need without the healthy alter natives that would at least help to counter the impact.

The acid-alkaline theory has been intently debated in medicine for years with detractors stating that it has a negligible effect on disease occurrences or the severity thereof. Nonetheless, if there is even the slightest merit to the argument, it will help explain the effectiveness of bush medicine in the treat ment of various illnesses.

As alluded to earlier, bush medicine has equally been met with criticism from members of the medical community. The dilemma and uncertainty exist in the absence of sci entific evidence based on studies of the impact of bush medicine on differ ent groups of subjects, its relevance, if any, in combat ing, averting or lessening the severity of certain con ditions or diseases, and whether there are variances according to age, gender, genetic predisposition. Nor has a study ever been con ducted on dosing.

With the benefits of improved health and successful ageing come dis advantages, not the least of which are emotional.

Cecily has outlived her beloved parents, husband, two children, countless friends from her youth and 12 of her 13 siblings.

She thinks of them daily and mourns their loss pro foundly but the greatest manner in which she can honor their memory is to enjoy life and celebrate the happy times that they shared. So that’s exactly what she does. When others see her, they’re reminded of all the people that Cecily has lost and they begin to share stories about her loved ones. While listening to those stories, she expe riences the same warmth in her chest that she gets from drinking hot tea and it makes her smile.

So, patients like Cecily don’t care about formal studies and dosing inves tigations. What she cares about are what her parents and grandparents have taught her. She doesn’t know exactly how or why bush medicine works or what properties in it help

to improve her health but, in her own words, there’s something in the tea that

By DR KENNETH D KEMP

makes her better and that’s all she needs to know.

This is the KDK Report.

• Nicknamed ‘The Prince of Podiatry’, Dr Kenneth D Kemp is the founder and medical director of Baha mas Foot and Ankle located in Caves Village, Western New Providence. He served as the deputy chairman for the Health Council for ve years and he currently sits on the board of directors for the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in his role as co-vice-chairman.

FIVE-fingers is one of the plants that can be used in bush tea

Why the US should tread carefully as it weighs supporting armed intervention in Haiti again

By CLAIRE ANTONE

Payton University of Virginia

HAITI appears to be on the precipice of foreign intervention yet again.

Gangs have been block ading the country’s biggest fuel terminal since midSeptember 2022, strangling Haiti’s food and energy supplies. The World Food Program says that Haiti’s need for humanitarian aid is urgent.

The government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry began in early October to call for foreign troops to come help it gain the upper hand against the gangs. The first international response has been a UN resolution placing sanctions on the pri mary gang leader, former police officer Jimmy “Bar becue” Chérizier.

More direct involvement may be on the horizon. The Biden administration has indicated that the US and Mexico plan to submit another proposal for the UN Security Council’s consideration that would authorise a “non-UN inter national security assistance mission” to quell violence and facilitate the distribu tion of aid.

Conditions in Haiti today are alarming, but as a scholar of 20th-century Hai tian history, I am concerned that foreign intervention runs the risk of making a bad situation worse – as has happened repeatedly there for more than 100 years. I believe any response should carefully consider how past aid and military interven tions have shaped the dire situation Haitians face today.

US OCCUPATION

Foreign influences have long exerted power over Haitian internal affairs.

Initially enslaved in a brutal French sugar colony, Haitians won their freedom and independence in 1804 after 13 years of war and revolution.

But a state of free Black people was viewed suspi ciously by the surrounding slave-holding empires in North and South America. There were many efforts to weaken, control or contain the young country.

The most expansive of these efforts was the US occupation of Haiti.

In 1915, the US occupied Haiti and ruled it as a client state for 19 years. The pre text for the invasion was to calm political turmoil in Haiti, but scholarship has shown how the US was primarily interested in pro tecting and expanding its economic interests in the region.

Many white Ameri cans justified the

occupation because of their paternalistic ideas about Black people. And many US Marines in Haiti shared a Jim Crow mentality about race, which shaped govern ing styles and exacerbated tensions between lightskinned and dark-skinned Haitians.

The US military claimed to be a modern ising force in Haiti, but the changes it made weakened the country’s institutions. It undermined Haitian political autonomy by establishing a puppet government that rubberstamped legislation drafted by US officials.

The US invested heavily in the capital city of Portau-Prince while letting the

rest of the country fall into decline. When US troops departed in 1934, power had been concentrated in the central government, leaving Haiti’s provinces weak and the country with few counterweights to exec utive authority.

THE DUVALIERS

This centralised system became a major liability when, in 1957, François Duvalier was elected presi dent of Haiti.

Duvalier, a black nation alist, found support by mobilising racial ani mosities that had been heightened by the US occu pation. He had little respect for democratic norms and

leaned on a violent paramil itary to crush his opponents.

Within a few years, Duvalier had established a kleptocratic dictatorship that ruled over a major decline of Haiti’s economic and political life. After his death in 1971, his son, JeanClaude Duvalier, took over as “president-for-life”.

The younger Duva lier, who portrayed himself as a moderniser, enjoyed ever-increasing amounts of support from the international com munity, especially the United States. But reforms remained superficial and Haiti’s government was still a dictatorship.

In 1986, a popular upris ing fueled by grassroots organising, spiraling eco nomic crises and social discontent pushed the Duv alier family into exile.

STRUGGLES WITH DEMOCRACY AFTER DICTATORSHIP

Since then, Haitian political life has been a push-and-pull of democratic aspiration and authoritar ian repression. In the wake of the dictatorship, Haiti reinvented itself as a consti tutional democracy, but the political transition remains incomplete to this day.

Duvalier loyalists and allies in the military vio lently disrupted the first attempt at an election in 1987. When voting finally took place in 1990, the people elected a left-leaning populist and former Catho lic priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in a landslide vic tory that saw historic levels of voter participation.

But once again, anti-dem ocratic elements in the elite and the military intervened, overthrowing Aristide after just a few months in office and establishing a violent military junta.

President Bill Clinton sent troops back to Haiti in 1994 to push out the junta and reinstall Aristide.

Aristide was overthrown again in 2004, launching new waves of sweeping political violence. A US, French and Canadian coa lition sent an “interim international force” of troops to restore order and help organise new elections.

They were soon were replaced by a blue-helmeted UN peace keeping mission led by Brazil, known as MINUS TAH. Initially planned as a six-month intervention, those forces remained in Haiti until 2017.

When Port-au-Prince was struck by a devastat ing earthquake in 2010, MINUSTAH forces were

already on the ground. The international commu nity launched a massive, ill-coordinated relief and recovery effort, but, much like the American occupa tion a century earlier, the primary benefactor was the private sector in the US and other major donor countries.

MINUSTAH’s most enduring legacy was a chol era epidemic caused by poor sanitation practices at a UN base in Haiti’s countryside.

THE CURRENT CRISIS

MINUSTAH and the Obama State Department oversaw Haiti’s 2010 presi dential elections and had a major hand in securing the victory of President Michel Martelly, a pop star-turnedpolitician who quickly gained a reputation for corruption.

He was succeeded by his chosen successor, Jovenel Moïse, who dissolved par liament in 2020. According to human rights agencies, he workedwithlocal gangs to terrorise his opponents.

Moïse was assassinated in July 2021 – a murder that has yet to be solved. With out a parliament, there is no constitutional line of succession.

Haiti’s government has since lurched forward under the leadership of Henry, an unelected and unpopular official who has been linked to Moïse’s alleged assassins.

Despite these concerns, Henry has enjoyed the backing of the US over his rivals. A coalition of Hai tian civil society groups drafted a proposal for a new interim government to take power and organise elections.

But negotiations with Henry’s government have gone nowhere. Given the vacuum of legitimate authority, the gangs Moïse empowered have begun asserting themselves as independent politi cal actors. Chérizier has joined many local leaders in demanding Henry either resign or share power.

Critics are worried that Henry, unrestrained by a democratic mandate or a functioning parliament, plans to use foreign troops to reinforce his political position.

And while past foreign interventions in Haiti have often been launched in the name of stability and democracy, they have not proved capable of provid ing either.

MEDICAL personnel attend patients with cholera symptoms at a clinic run by Doctors Without Borders in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Thursday.

Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP

Union ‘in bad position’ as members ready ultimatum

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Public Service Union (BPSU)

president Kimsely Fergu son will be faced with an “ultimatum” from union members as they are disgruntled with his lead ership, this newspaper was told.

Arison Wilson, a member of the People Organizing With Effective

Results (POWER) team, is seeking clarification from the BPSU president on several issues, as he said the union is currently in a “bad position”.

Mr Wilson said BPSU members will serve the union’s president with an ultimatum today in hopes of seeking answers.

The ten-year union member said he, along with fellow union members, will stage a silent protest

at 11am, starting from the Department of Social Ser vices on Baillou Hill Road to the union’s building on Wulff Road.

“They are going to do almost an ultimatum to the president to find out why he is not actually taking no industrial agreement,” Mr Wilson told The Tribune yesterday.

“If he is not able to take the industrial agreement that is being presented by

the government, we are moving to a vote of no confidence.”

Mr Wilson emphasised this action is geared towards the union’s president and his executive team and not against the government.

BPSU’s membership is said to be stagnant, as there has not been an increase in numbers in about ten years, according to Mr Wilson.

He said since the

appointment of former leader John Pinder and Mr Ferguson, agencies such as Bahamas Customs and Immigration, and Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation have with drawn from the union.

“The union has not been seeing an increase almost in ten years, it’s been a steady downfall. Currently, right now we are under three thousand members,” Mr Wilson said.

Mr Wilson explained the challenges with which union members are faced under the leadership of Mr Ferguson.

He claimed that some retirees had issues getting their retirement benefits and alleged some members with health issues cannot benefit from medical claims.

When contacted yester day by The Tribune, Mr Ferguson declined to com ment on the matter.

BAHAMAS

THE Bahamas National Trust held its 30th Wine & Art Festival over the week end at the Retreat Garden National Park, marking the festival’s return after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those attending sampled an array of wines and spirits from different parts of the

world and enjoyed luxury champagne brands in the VIP champagne lounge. Culinary delights from local food vendors as well as Ministry of Tourism-spon sored celebrity chefs were also offered while arts and crafts from over 35 local artists and vendors were on display and available for

purchase.

The event is one of the BNT’s annual fundrais ers and the kickoff to the organisation’s much-antic ipated Fall events. All proceeds from the event support the management of Bahamian national parks and conservation in The Bahamas.

THE BAHAMAS National Trust Wine and Art Festival.

Photos: Moise Amisial

JOURNALIST KILLED AFTER POLICE IN HAITI OPEN FIRE

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti Associated Press

A HAITIAN journal ist died yesterday after being shot in the head when police opened fire on reporters demanding the release of one of their col leagues who was detained while covering a protest, witnesses told The Associ ated Press.

Reporters at the scene identified the slain

journalist as Romelo Vil saint and said he worked for an online news site. His body was lying face down inside the park ing lot of a police station in Delmas in the capital of Port-au-Prince as col leagues surrounded it, crying out as they lifted their arms.

Richard Pierrin, a free lance photographer for Agence France-Presse, told the AP he saw police open

BOLSONARO BEATEN IN BRAZIL ELECTION

SAO PAULO Associated Press

LUIZ Inácio Lula da

Silva has done it again:

Twenty years after first winning the Brazilian presi dency, the leftist defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro yesterday in an extremely tight election that marks an about-face for the country after four years of far-right politics.

With more than 99 per cent of the votes tallied in the runoff vote, da Silva had 50.9 percent and Bolsonaro 49.1 percent, and the elec tion authority said da Silva’s victory was a mathematical certainty.

It is a stunning reversal for da Silva, 77, whose 2018 imprisonment over a cor ruption scandal sidelined him from the 2018 election that brought Bolsonaro, a defender of conservative social values, to power.

Da Silva is promising to govern beyond his leftist Workers’s Party. He wants to bring in centrists and even some leaning to the right who voted for him for the first time, and to restore the country’s more pros perous past. Yet he faces headwinds in a politically polarised society where economic growth is slowing and inflation is soaring.

His victory marks the first time since Brazil’s 1985 return to democracy that the sitting president has failed to win reelection. The highly polarised election in Latin America’s biggest economy extended a wave of recent leftist victories in the region, including Chile, Colombia and Argentina.

Da Silva’s inauguration is scheduled to take place on January 1. He last served as president from 2003-2010.

It was the country’s clos est election in over three decades. Just over two mil lion votes separated the

two candidates with 99.5 percent of the vote counted. The previous closest race, in 2014, was decided by a margin of 3.46 million votes.

Thomas Traumann, an independent political ana lyst, compared the results to US President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, saying da Silva is inheriting an extremely divided nation.

“The huge challenge that Lula has will be to pacify the country,” he said. “People are not only polarised on political mat ters, but also have different values, identity and opin ions. What’s more, they don’t care what the other side’s values, identities and opinions are.”

Bolsonaro had been lead ing throughout the first half of the count and, as soon as da Silva overtook him, cars in the streets of downtown Sao Paulo began honking their horns. People in the streets of Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema neighborhood could be heard shouting, “It turned!”

Da Silva’s headquarters in downtown Sao Paulo hotel only erupted once the final result was announced, underscoring the tension that was a hallmark of this race.

“Four years waiting for this,” said Gabriela Souto, one of the few supporters allowed in due to heavy security.

Outside Bolsonaro’s home in Rio de Janeiro, ground-zero for his sup port base, a woman atop a truck delivered a prayer over a speaker, then sang excitedly, trying to gen erate some energy. But supporters decked out in the green and yellow of the flag barely responded. Many perked up when the national anthem played, singing along loudly with hands over their hearts.

LEBANON PRESIDENT LEAVES WITH NO REPLACEMENT

BEIRUT Associated Press

PRESIDENT Michel Aoun left Lebanon’s presi dential palace yesterday, marking the end of his six-year term without a replacement, leaving the small nation in a politi cal vacuum that is likely to worsen its historic eco nomic meltdown.

As Aoun’s term ends, the country is being run by a caretaker government after Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati failed to form a new Cabinet follow ing May 15 parliamentary elections. Aoun and his supporters warn that such a government doesn’t have full power to run the coun try, saying that weeks of “constitutional chaos” lay ahead.

In a speech outside the palace, Aoun told thousands of support ers that he has accepted the resignation of Mikati’s government. The move is likely to further deprive the caretaker administration of legitimacy and worsen existing political tensions in the country.

Mikati responded shortly afterward with a statement from his office saying that his government will con tinue to perform its duties in accordance with the constitution.

Many fear that an extended power vacuum could further delay attempts to finalise a deal with the International Monetary Fund that would provide Lebanon with some

$3 billion in assistance, widely seen as a key step to help the country climb out of a three-year finan cial crisis that has left three quarters of the population in poverty.

While it’s not the first time that Lebanon’s parlia ment has failed to appoint a successor by the end of the president’s term, this will be the first time that there will be both no president and a caretaker cabinet with lim ited powers.

Lebanon’s constitution allows the cabinet in regu lar circumstances to run the government, but is unclear whether that applies to a caretaker government.

Wissam Lahham, a con stitutional law professor at St Joseph University in Beirut told The Associated Press that in his view, the governance issues the coun try will face are political rather than legal.

Although the constitu tion “doesn’t say explicitly that the caretaker govern ment can act if there is no president, logically, con stitutionally, one should accept that because… the state and institutions should continue to function according to the principle of the continuity of public services”, he said.

Lebanese are deeply divided over Aoun, an 87-year-old Maronite Christian and former army commander, with some seeing him as a defender of the country’s Christian com munity and a leading figure who tried to seriously fight corruption in Lebanon.

fire and Vilsaint get hit.

Gary Desrosiers, a spokesman for Haiti’s National Police, confirmed to the AP that Vilsaint was fatally shot but declined further comment except to say it was a lamentable situation.

As journalists and citi zens surrounded the police station after Vilsaint was killed, officers fired tear gas to disperse them.

Reporters at the scene

said the journalist being held is Robest Dimanche, who works at local Radio Tele Zenith and was cover ing a protest when he was detained.

The Online Media Col lective, a local journalists’ association, denounced Dimanche’s arrest, saying he was being treated like a “dangerous criminal” and said he was charged with disturbing public order. Dimanche also

is a spokesman for the organisation.

“Our spokesperson acted within the framework of the journalistic mission by cov ering a protest movement,” the organisation said. “The detention ... is the latest signal, without doubt the most worrying, of a resur gence of attacks on freedom of information, and this jour nalist must be released.”

The organisation also demanded that those

responsible for the recent killing of radio journalist Garry Tess and the Octo ber 25 attack on Roberson Alphonse, a reporter for Le Nouvelliste newspaper, be brought to justice.

On Wednesday, Le Nou velliste, Haiti’s largest newspaper, announced it was suspending publication of its print product given “serious security problems” that are hampering produc tion and distribution.

153 die in crush during Halloween parade in Korea

SOUTH Koreans mourned and searched for relatives lost in the “helllike” chaos that killed more than 150 people, mostly young adults, when a huge Halloween party crowd surged into a narrow alley in a nightlife dis trict in Seoul.

It remained unclear what led the crowd to surge into the downhill alley in the Itaewon area on Saturday night, and authorities promised a thorough investigation. Witnesses said people fell on each other “like dominoes,” and some victims were bleeding from their noses and mouths while being given CPR.

Kim Mi Sung, an official at a non profit organisation that promotes tourism in Itaewon, said she per formed CPR on ten people who were unconscious, mostly women wearing witch outfits and other Halloween costumes. Nine of them were declared dead on the spot.

“I still can’t believe what has hap pened. It was like a hell,” Kim said.

As of Sunday evening, officials said 153 people were killed and 133 were injured. Nearly two-thirds of those killed — 97 — were women. More than 80 percent of the dead were in their 20s and 30s, and at least four were teenagers.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said the death count could fur ther rise as 37 of the injured people were in serious condition.

Witnesses said many people

appeared not to realise the disaster that was unfolding steps away from them. Some clad in Halloween cos tumes continued to sing and dance nearby as others lay lifeless on the ground.

Ken Fallas, a Costa Rican archi tect who went to Itaewon with expat friends, used his smartphone to film video showing unconscious people being carried out from the alley as others shouted for help. He said the loud music made things more chaotic.

“When we just started to move for ward, there was no way to go back,” Fallas said. “We didn’t hear anything because the music was really loud. Now, I think that was one of the main things that made this so complicated.”

At least 20 of the dead are for eigners from China, Russia, Iran and elsewhere. There is one American among the dead, the Interior Ministry said in a release.

Authorities said thousands of people have called or visited a nearby city office, reporting missing rela tives and asking officials to confirm whether they were among those injured or dead after the crush.

The bodies of the dead were being kept at 42 hospitals in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province, accord ing to Seoul City, which said it will instruct crematories to burn more bodies per day as part of plans to sup port funeral proceedings.

An estimated 100,000 people had gathered in Itaewon for the country’s biggest outdoor Halloween festivities

since the pandemic began. The South Korean government had eased COVID-19 restrictions in recent months.

Witnesses said the streets were so densely clogged with people and slowmoving vehicles that it was practically impossible for emergency workers and ambulances to swiftly reach the alley near Hamilton Hotel, a major party spot in Seoul.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared a one-week national mourning period yesterday and ordered flags at government buildings and public offices to fly at half-staff.

Around 100 businesses in the Ham ilton Hotel area have agreed to shut down their shops through today to reduce the number of partygoers who would come to the streets through Halloween day.

• At least 60 people died and many are feared injured after a century-old cable suspension bridge collapsed into a river yesterday evening in the west ern Indian state of Gujarat, sending hundreds plunging in the water, offi cials said.

Authorities said the 19th-century, colonial-era bridge over the Mach chu river in the state’s Morbi district collapsed because it could not handle the weight of the large crowd, as the Hindu festival season drew hundreds of people to the recently opened tour ist attraction.

The bridge had been closed for ren ovation for almost six months and was reopened just four days ago.

MAN ATTACKED US SPEAKER’S HUSBAND

WASHINGTON Associated Press

A MAN accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband car ried zip ties with him when he broke into the couple’s San Francisco home.

The attack on Democratic leader’s 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, less than two weeks before before the November 8 election was an unsettling reminder of the nation’s toxic political climate. With threats to public officials at an all-time high, members of Congress were being urged to reach out for addi tional security resources, including increased police patrols of their neighbourhoods.

US Capitol Police Chief J Thomas Manger said in a weekend memo

to lawmakers that the attack “is a somber reminder of the threats elected officials and families face in 2022”.

Police in San Francisco said the assault of Paul Pelosi was intentional. Authorities said the suspect, identified as David DePape, 42, confronted Paul Pelosi in the family’s Pacific Heights home early Friday and, the AP has reported, demanded to know, “Where is Nancy?”

The two men struggled over a hammer before officers responding to a 911 call to the home saw DePape strike Paul Pelosi at least once, police said. DePape was arrested on sus picion of attempted murder, elder abuse and burglary. Prosecutors plan to announce the charges today during a new conference and expect his

arraignment tomorrow.

Nancy Pelosi was in Washing ton when her husband was attacked at home. She soon returned to San Francisco, where her husband was hospitalised. He had surgery for a skull fracture, and suffered other inju ries to his arms and hands, her office said.

“Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and trauma tised by the life-threatening attack on our Pop,” she said in a letter late Sat urday to colleagues. “We are grateful for the quick response of law enforce ment and emergency services, and for the life-saving medical care he is receiving.”

Paul Pelosi remains hospitalised and “continues to improve,” she told colleagues.

SEOUL, South Korea Associated Press

RESCUE workers carry injured people on the street near the scene in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday after a crush during Halloween festivities in the capital of Seoul.

Photo: Lee Jin-man/AP

‘Buddy’ heats up, Ayton injured

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Chavano

“Buddy” Hield has enjoyed a hot shooting streak over the last four games

while Deandre Ayton contin ues to be sidelined with an ankle injury to highlight play from Bahamian players in the NBA.

Hield finished with a near triple double on Saturday night - 17 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists - as the Indiana Pacers won their second consecutive game 125-116 over the Brooklyn Nets. He shot 5-11 from three-point range (46 percent) in 38 minutes.

The Pacers made a franchiserecord 23 three-pointers. Their previous franchise record for 3s in a regular season game was 21 at home against Milwaukee on May 13, 2021.

It was Hield’s third consecutive with at least five three-point field goals and his fourth consecutive game scoring at least 17 points.

Over the course of that fourgame stretch, Hield has averaged

HURTS, BROWN POWER UNBEATEN EAGLES PAST STEELERS 35-13

By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer

21.3 points per game and shot 48 percent from three-point range.

Hield’s streak began in an October 24 loss to the Philadel phia 76ers when he finished with 18 points, six rebounds and six assists. He followed with 25 points and a season high seven three pointers in a loss to the Chicago Bulls on October 26.

On October 28, he repeated his 25-point performance against the Washington Wizards and shot 5-9 from three-point range.

On the season, Hield is averag ing 17.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.

“Everybody’s voice is needed. We just have to learn quickly, and adapt,” Hield said in train ing camp. “We brought in a group of guys that are a great fit, have great personalities when you understand and like each other, it’s easier to have great vibes. When guys bring in their egos and go about things in different ways it’s not a good vibe. I think the guys we have in the locker room are a group of guys.”

Ayton missed his first game of the season last night when his

Lakers earn first win

Phoenix Suns took on the Hou ston Rockets.

In Friday night’s 124-111 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, Ayton hurt his left ankle in the first quarter when he stepped on the foot of Pelicans centre Jonas Valanciunas.

He got up and walked to the bench, but a few minutes later walked back to the locker room for further evaluation.

He had four points and three rebounds in just eight minutes prior to the injury. Ayton’s ankle will be re-evaluated in a week, according to the Suns.

Through four games, Ayton averaged 18.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game on 55 percent shooting from the field.

He notched 30 double-doubles last year in only 58 games played and already has two in the first week of the season.

He opened the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds in the season opener against the Dallas Mavericks and had 16 points and 14 rebounds against the Golden State Warriors.

USA BASKETBALL PICKS NEXT WORLD CUP QUALIFYING ROSTER

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A.J.

Brown hauled in his third touchdown catch — of the first half — and the Eagles’ star receiver peered through his tinted visor at two Steelers defend ers knocked to the turf because of a slapstick collision on a futile attempt at breaking up the pass.

Brown then pointed at each fallen Steeler and mocked them as the Philly crowd roared — and he was hit with a taunting penalty.

Well worth the 15 yards for a little fun. “I just said, ‘One, two, it’s not enough,’” Brown said with a laugh.

Three TDs were pretty good for Brown. So was taking the Eagles to seven, as in 7-0 and the lone unde feated team in the NFL.

Hurts threw three touchdown passes to Brown in the first half and finished with 285 yards and four TDs overall as Philadelphia raced past Pittsburgh 35-13 on Sunday.

Brown had six receptions for 156 yards and helped the Eagles win their first seven games for only the second time in franchise history and first since 2004, when Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens led them to the Super Bowl.

In that season, the Eagles were denied an 8-0 start with a loss to the Steelers. Pittsburgh (2-6) offered no resistance this time once Hurts and

T20 World Cup: South Africa beats India, Pakistan, Bangladesh

By CHETAN NARULA Associated Press

PERTH, Australia (AP)

— David Miller overcame bowling friendly condi tions to help South Africa beat India by five wickets in the 2022 T20 World Cup yesterday as Pakistan and Bangladesh also secured victories.

Miller scored 59 not out off 46 balls to shepherd South Africa to 137-5 (19.4 overs) in reply to India’s 133-9 (20 overs).

Lungi Ngidi took 4-29 to help restrict the Indian score, while Suryakumar Yadav scored a counterattacking 68 off 40 balls.

Earlier, Shadab Khan took three wickets and then hit the winning runs as Pakistan beat Netherlands by six wickets with six overs to spare, finally posting a

victory at the Twenty20 World Cup.

Pakistan lost in a last-ball thriller in its tournament opener against archrival India and was upset by Zimbabwe before a thump ing win over the Dutch to start a Group 2 doubleheader in Perth.

In the day’s other game in Brisbane, Bangladesh held on to beat Zimbabwe by three runs in the Group 2 clash after a dramatic last over that produced two wickets and an unu sual no-ball that meant the last delivery had to be re-bowled.

In the Western Aus tralian capital, Ngidi was named player of the match for helping South Africa beat India in an ICC event for the first time since 2011.

“It has always been my dream to put in a

performance like that in a World Cup. But it got pretty nerve wracking ‘till the end. I will cherish this perfor mance for a long time,” said the fast bowler.

Opting to bat, India ran into Ngidi who ripped up

its batting order with a fourwicket burst.

Rohit Sharma (15) topedged after facing a short ball barrage while Lokesh Rahul (9) was caught at slip

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

USA Basketball has picked the 12 players that will be tasked with clinching a berth in next year’s World Cup.

The roster for the next two World Cup qualify ing games at Washington was revealed yesterday, for matchups against Brazil on November 11 and Colombia on November 14.

The Americans are clos ing in officially securing a spot in the 32-team World Cup that will take place in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia next summer; one win may be enough to get that done, and two wins a certain to clinch a berth.

The US roster is: Charlie Brown Jr, Chris Chiozza, Will Davis II, Michael Fra zier II, Langston Galloway, Rodney Hood, DaQuan Jeffries, Alize Johnson, Jake Layman, Henry Sims, David Stockton and Craig Sword.

ARSENAL, MAN UNITED PROVE GUARDIOLA RIGHT WITH EPL WINS

By JAMES ROBSON AP Soccer Writer

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Pep Guardiola says he can sense the coming tide.

The Manchester City manager will be even more convinced of the new threats to his team’s dominance after the latest round of Premier League games.

Manchester United is “finally” on its way back under Erik ten Hag, Guardiola declared Friday. Newcastle is “already there,” while Arsenal, in his opinion, has been the best of the lot.

On a weekend when City briefly moved to the

top of the table, Guar diola once again finds himself looking up to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal — which won 5-0 against Nottingham Forest yes terday to retake first place — and over his shoul der to the rising forces of Newcastle and Man United.

Arsenal provided the latest evidence of its growing belief, responding to last week’s disappointing draw with Southampton to complete a rout of bottom-place Forest.

United demonstrated the character that is developing under Ten Hag when surviving an

NETHERLANDS’ Bas de Leede leaves the field after her was hit on the face while batting during the T20 World Cup cricket match against Pakistan in Perth, Australia, yesterday.

Photo/Gary Day

HANGTIME: Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) goes to the basket against Denver Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic (15) during the first half last night in Los Angeles. SEE STORY ON PAGE 17 (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

INDIANA Pacers’ Buddy Hield reacts after scoring a three-point shot in the second half against the Chicago Bulls on October 26 in Chicago. The Bulls won 124-109.

(AP Photo/Charles R Arbogast)

PHOENIX Suns centre Deandre Ayton (22) looks to pass during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors on October 25 in Phoenix.

(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

VASILIY LOMACHENKO WINS IN RETURN FROM MILITARY SERVICE IN UKRAINE

By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Vasiliy Lomachenko is headed home to Ukraine, ready to resume military service during his country’s war with Russia.

Next time he returns, he hopes it’s for a chance to become the undisputed lightweight champion.

“Look, I’m ready,” Lom achenko said. “I’m ready for any option.”

Lomachenko beat Jamaine Ortiz by unani mous decision Saturday night to restart his quest to get another shot at what he calls his dream of owning all four 135-pound titles.

Lomachenko got stronger as the fight went on after a slow start that perhaps could have been due to his ring rust.

Lomachenko returned to his country after it was invaded in February and joined a territorial defence battalion, patrolling the streets to enforce a 10pm curfew.

Wearing trunks that looked like military cam ouflage with Ukraine’s blue-and-yellow flag along

LEGENDS

FROM PAGE 19

Barnes (World Cham pionship Team) (World Championship Team Indoor); Edward Elder (Olympic Team Staff); Chryste Gaines (Olym pic Team) (World Championship Team) (Pan American Team); Claudette Groenendaal (World Championship Team); Stephanie High tower (Olympic Team) (World Champion ship Team); Carol Lewis (Olympic Team) (World Championship Team; Lee Palles (Olympic Team); Edwin Roberts (Olympic Team) (Pan American Team); Tommie Smith (Olympic Team) (World Championship Team); Mary Wineberg (Olympic Team); Earl Jones (Olympic Team); Aretha Thurmond (Olympic Team) (World Championship Team) (Pan American Team) (USATF Staff); Wallace Spearmon (Olympic Team) (World Championship Team) (Pan American Team) (USATF Staff) and Shar rieffa Barksdale (Olympic Team) (World Champion ship Team) (Pan American Team) (USATF Staff).

While the group was entertained on Friday night at Tonique’s Beach Bar & Grill, a newly opened res taurant by “Golden Girl”

the side of the belt, he’s back now and hoping for a shot at Devin Haney, the undisputed lightweight champion who was sitting ringside and joined him in the ring after the fight.

“You know what moti vated me?” Lomachenko said. “Four belts!”

Lomachenko (17-2) won

by scores of 117-111, 116112 and 115-113 — a couple of the cards too wide for Teofimo Lopez, the former 135-pound champion who beat Lomachenko in Octo ber 2020.

“Welcome to the busi ness of boxing,” he said as he walked by press row at Madison Square Garden.

The Associated Press scored it 115-113 for Lomachenko.

The area around Lom achenko’s right eye was already swollen in the second round as he tried to get inside against his longer-armed opponent, but the two-time Olympic gold medalist eventually found his footing.

He won the final six rounds on two of the score cards and finished with a 125-122 advantage in punches landed.

Tonique Williams, they were feted to a dinner on Saturday. The majority of the members left town on Sunday. Others will be leav ing today.

Through the Ministry of Tourism’s Sports in Para dise concept, Mike Sands, president of NACAC, said it was only fitting that USATF make the Bahamas its first destination for their reunion.

“This is not just about competition, but it’s about embracing their sporting families and their sport ing communities,” Sands said. “As a tourism-based destination, we have any number of things that we can offer.”

As their largest member of NACAC and with their close proximity to the Bahamas, Sands said it was only a natural fit to have the Reunion/Retreat here.

“Wherever I travel, I always tell people, consider the Bahamas,” he said. “Whenever we have meet ings, I always tell them to consider the Bahamas. I don’t try to take credit for anything, but I do consider myself a sports ambassador separate and apart from all the roles that I play within the sporting community, so I’m always happy to enter tain my friends for life.”

In the absence of Mario Bowleg, the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, acting sports director Kelsie Johnson said it was their

Ortiz (16-1-1) lost for the first time, appearing to wear down in the later rounds under Lomachenko’s relentless pressure.

Lomachenko said he was given breaks to train during his service, so he didn’t expect to have any ring rust.

The bigger problem was Ortiz’s 3 1/2-inch reach advantage.

He used it to start well, pushing Lomachenko back with good shots to the body. Even by the time Lomachenko landed some good straight lefts in the fifth, the confidence coming from around the Worcester, Massachusetts product was clear.

“Let’s go! You’re bigger than this dude!” came a shout from his corner.

But Lomachenko is used to that and he eventu ally started landing much cleaner shots, knocking Ortiz off balance a few times in a strong finish.

Lomachenko has already owned titles in three weight classes, but the goal is to have all four at lightweight. He was on his way there earlier this year, with a bout being planned against George Kambosos Jr.

Ali’s grandson stays unbeaten

NEW YORK (AP) — Nico Ali Walsh, Muhammad Ali’s grand son, stayed unbeaten in his boxing career Satur day night with a victory at Madison Square Garden, where The Greatest fought some of his most memora ble bouts.

Richard Torrez Jr and Duke Ragan, who won silver medals for the US last year in the Olympics, also were winners on the undercard of Vasiliy Lom achenko’s match against Jamaine Ortiz.

Ali Walsh (7-0) beat Billy Wagner by

unanimous decision in his first six-round bout. Ali Walsh bloodied Wagner’s face early and the middleweight dem onstrated some of his grandfather’s showman ship, pausing to raise his arms and encourage the chants of “Ali! Ali!” while he had his opponent on the ropes in the first round.

It was Ali Walsh’s second bout at Madison Square Garden, where Ali fought eight times, win ning all of them except the “Fight of the Century,” the 1971 first fight of his tril ogy with Joe Frazier.

Women’s Track and Field programme and the head women’s coach of their 2020 Olympic team, said she was honoured to be in the Bahamas with the rest of the legends and they’re even more appreciative of the support from Sands and NACAC, of which the USA is a member.

“When Sharrieffa (Barks dale) and the committee met and we said where shall we have this, we said the Bahamas and it was a no brainer,” Monday said.

“We loved it when the World Relays were here.

Ali avenged that loss at the Garden in 1974 before winning their epic rubber match in the Philippines.

Torrez (4-0, 4 KOs) stopped Ahmed Hefny of Egypt in the third round of their heavyweight bout, after winning his last match by knockout in 44 seconds.

Ragan (8-0), a feath erweight, had a much tougher time before edging Puerto Rican vet eran Luis Lebron by close but unanimous decision. There were some boos after the decision was announced.

Bahamas. She noted that it’s a Bahamazing experience.

“We’re so delighted to have you here, we’re so happy that you chose the Bahamas,” she said. “As an athlete myself, I know many of you. My good friend Chryste Gaines, who led off the 4 x 1 relay for the USA back in 2000 when the Golden Girls won the gold medal, we’re great friends.

pleasure to host the legends in the Bahamas and she wished them every success and hopefully their expe rience will allow them to come back again and again.

And Roy Colebrooke, a first vice president of the BOC, said they support the visiting Olympians to the Bahamas.

“Having this first ever retreat is very important and historic, as it relates to the United States Leg ends,” Colebrooke said.

“They have the blessing and support of the Baha mas Olympic Committee.”

Sharrieffa Barksdale, the senior manager of alumni relations at USATF, said while they were eating lunch with some friends and OIympians, the idea came up to have a reunion. Once she took it back to

their office in Indianapolis, Indiana, she said everybody agreed to do it and they started the process to come here a year ago.

“A lot of the athletes had a setback because of COVID-19, but now that the economy is moving for ward, I believe there will be so much more coming as we move forward,” she said. “The Bahamas is so beau tiful and the people are family because everyone has treated us with open arms.”

Barksdale said with so many people dying, they decided to bring the event to the Bahamas in unity in one family and they hope to have the reunion retreat at least every two years, if not, every four years.

Rose Monday, the chairperson of the USA

Heinicke leads late rally as Commanders top Colts 17-16

By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)

— Terry McLaurin punc tuated his homecoming with a clutch play in a Washington win.

Taylor Heinicke made sure of it.

McLaurin’s spectacular 33-yard catch with 26 sec onds left set up Heinicke’s 1-yard TD plunge, lift ing the Commanders to a 17-16 win over the Indian apolis Colts yesterday.

“Terry’s that dude. He’s got that dog in him,” Heinicke said. “People want to fight for him. The guy is a treasure. We’re glad he’s on our team.”

That certainly has been the case the past two weeks, when McLaurin and Heinicke appeared to be in perfect sync. On Sunday, they helped the Commanders (4-4) score twice in the final five minutes to overcome a nine-point deficit in Wash ington’s third straight win.

Heinicke went 23 of 31 for 279 yards, one touchdown and one interception, convert ing a crucial fourth-and-1 from his 20-yard line on

the final drive. McLaurin caught six passes for 113 yards in his first pro con test at Lucas Oil Stadium — the same venue where he attended games with his father and celebrated three high school state championships and two Big Ten titles.

With nearly six dozen friends and family in attendance, McLaurin wrestled the ball away from 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Ste phon Gilmore on his big catch near the goal line. Heinicke scored on the next play.

“A lot of my love for football started here, a lot of my family and friends were here,” McLaurin said. “I had a lot of con fidence I was going to come down with that ball (against Gilmore).”

For the Colts (3-4-1), it was more of the same despite making a quar terback change. Sam Ehlinger took over from injured and benched vet eran Matt Ryan, who was inactive for the game.

Ehlinger was solid, going 17 of 23 for 201 yards. But he also was sacked twice, lost a fumble

that cost Indy points and came up just short on a third-down scramble with 3:38 remaining.

Indy challenged the ruling and lost before opting to punt, which gave Washington one more chance.

“I thought I had it, I thought I had it judg ing by the reaction of my teammates and then obvi ously my knee was down,” Ehlinger said.

“You never know you’re ready until you’re put in that situation. I know now it wasn’t good enough.”

Ehlinger did, however, set up Chase McLaughlin for three field goals to give Indy a 9-7 lead. Following a Shaquille Leonard inter ception, the Colts made it 16-7 on Nyheim Hines’ 6-yard TD run with 11:12 to go.

But Washington answered with a 28-yard field goal and got the stop it needed before Heinicke and McLaurin combined for the final, dramatic scene — fulfill ing the wishes of one of McLaurin’s friends who maneuvered his way close enough for a midgame conversation.

“Don’t worry about it,” McLaurin said was the response when he asked his buddy how he made it there. “Just go make the play to win the game.”

RINGING IT IN Former Colts left tackle Tarik Glenn was inducted into Indy’s Ring of Honor at halftime, the 18th member of the club.

Glenn started 154 games for Indy, primarily at left tackle, from 1997-2006 and was part of the Colts’ Super Bowl-winning team. Hall of Famers Peyton Manning, Marvin Harri son, Edgerrin James and Bill Polian attended the festivities, and former Colts center Jeff Saturday donned Glenn’s No. 78 jersey before the game.

“I’m so grateful for this opportunity and I couldn’t do it without a village,” Glenn said. “I am so grate ful to have played all my 10 years in Indianapolis.”

UP NEXT Commanders: Host Minnesota and former quarterback Kirk Cousins next Sunday.

Colts: Renew their rivalry on a road trip to New England next Sunday.

In my opinion, it should be here every year. I’ve been here for all of the relays when they were hosted here. It’s just love the warmth of this country. We’re like family.”

Maybeline Miller, the chief executive officer of the BAAA, welcomed the group to the Baha mas on behalf of president Drumeco Archer, who was unable to attend the event.

“I’m glad that you chose the Bahamas to have your event,” she stated.

“I know this won’t be your last time here. So we’re glad to have you and we just hope that this can be a partnership that we can have with the country going forward.”

Pauline Davis, the vin tage Bahamian Olympic quarter-miler, also joined in welcoming the leg ends from the USA to the

PAGE 13

onslaught from West Ham to win 1-0 at Old Traf ford, with Marcus Rashford scoring his 100th goal for the club. “I thought ‘I like it’ what I see from United just now,” Guardiola said on Friday.

United’s victory against West Ham was not as easy on the eye as some other recent performances but it showed another side to Ten Hag’s team — a resilience to see out a win when under pressure.

Ten Hag underlined his own ambitions when responding to Guardiola’s comments and United’s continued progress.

“It’s a nice compliment, but I also see still a lot of room for improvement in our game and we have to, if we want to compete for the top four positions, improve,” Ten Hag said after the match. “For instance, in the first half, we have to dominate more on the ball.

“When you see second half, definitely, we were I think quite poor in possession.”

It required three out standing saves from David de Gea to deny West Ham an equaliser it probably deserved.

“You have to make that second goal because then games will be easier,” Ten Hag said. “But I think it is also a skill for a team, if necessary, to protect your

“She’s here also and so I’m just delighted to spend some time with her and spend some time with the rest of you who I know all so well. We’re so thankful that you chose these islands of the Bahamas.”

Williams said she was thrilled to have entertained the group at her beach bar and grill where they had a lot of fun where they got to share their best stories of what they remembered of their careers and she noted that they were all hilarious.

“We just extended our hospitality to the athletes visiting here,” she stated. “It was definitely a good time to get together in a different format, not com peting against each other. We’re on the same side, so it was a lot of fun.”

Williams said she’s hoping that the BAAA will follow suit and have their own retreat for the Baha mian athletes in the future.

Another “Golden Girl”, Eldece Clarke was also in attendance although she didn’t speak.

box, to survive an opponent who come and go for the equaliser.

“There are some posi tives, but still a lot of negatives in our game and we have to see that and work on that.”

United moved up to fifth after extending its unbeaten run to eight games in all competitions since losing 6-3 to City at the start of the month.

Newcastle sits one place and one point above United after its 4-0 win against Aston Villa on Saturday, while Tottenham is third.

Meanwhile, City’s fiercest rival in recent years, Liv erpool, continues to look short of confidence and consistency after losing to Leeds on Saturday.

Arsenal is undoubtedly the surprise package and bounced back impressively after a difficult week raised doubts about its ability to maintain its fine start to the season.

The draw with South ampton was followed by a loss to PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League.

But against a Forest team that shocked Liverpool a week earlier, Arsenal pro vided a resounding response to lead City by two points.

“We can have a result after the run that we were in,” Arteta said. “Now it is about how we respond, we did it from the beginning in a really convincing way.”

No one will be more convinced of that than Guardiola.

NICO Ali Walsh reacts during a middleweight boxing match against Billy Wagner Saturday. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

ROY COLEBROOKE, first vice president of the Bahamas Olympic Committee, speaks to the media at USA Track and Field’s first Legends Reunion and Retreat in the Bahamas.

Photo: Moise Amisial/Tribune Staff

CAPSULES

McCaffrey does it all, leads 49ers to another victory over Rams

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Christian McCaf frey became the 11th player in NFL history with a rushing touchdown, a passing touchdown and a receiving touchdown in one game, and the San Francisco 49ers extended their regular-season mas tery over the Rams to four full years with a 31-14 vic tory over Los Angeles yesterday.

McCaffrey threw a 34-yard TD pass to Bran don Aiyuk in the first half, caught a TD pass from Jimmy Garoppolo in the third quarter and then put the Niners (4-4) in control with a TD run early in the fourth.

Garoppolo passed for 235 yards and two touch downs as San Francisco scored 24 unanswered points to finish its eighth consecutive regular-season victory over its NFC West rivals.

McCaffrey finished with 94 yards rushing and 55 yards receiving in his second game with the Niners. LaDainian Tomlin son was the last player with rushing, passing and receiv ing TDs in the same game, doing it for San Diego back in 2005.

Matthew Stafford passed for 187 yards and scored his first rushing touchdown since 2016 for the defend ing Super Bowl champion Rams, who are under .500 for the third time — all occurring this season — in coach Sean McVay’s career.

Los Angeles managed 43 net yards in the second half while getting shut out after halftime for the third time already this season.

SEAHAWKS 27, GIANTS 13

SEATTLE (AP) — Tyler Lockett caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from Geno Smith with 9:18 left and Seattle won its third straight.

The only matchup of teams with winning records in the NFL this week was a slugfest until the fourth quarter, when Lockett made up for two big mis takes earlier in the game and Seattle rookie running back Kenneth Walker III finally broke free, helping the surprising Seahawks (5-3) stay atop the NFC West.

New York (6-2) saw its four-game win streak snapped entering its bye week and lost ground to undefeated Philadelphia in the NFC East — largely because the Seahawks cor ralled Saquon Barkley, who was held to a seasonlow 53 yards on 20 carries and had three catches for 9 yards. Walker finished with 51 yards on 18 carries,

EAGLES

FROM PAGE 13

Brown turned the Linc into their own pitch-andcatch playground. “I know I can’t let him down,” Brown said. “We’re just having fun and playing for one another. I’m pretty sure he knows that I’ve got his back and I know he’s got mine, too. I think that’s exactly what this is.”

Rookie Kenny Pickett showed more short-term growing pains for the Steel ers and was 25 of 38 for 191 yards and an interception.

Wide receiver Chase Clay pool threw a 1-yard pass to fullback Derek Watt on a trick play in the first quar ter for Pittsburgh’s only touchdown.

“We need more explosive plays,” Pickett said.

The World Series banner went up across the street outside Citizens Bank Park — the Phillies and Houston Astros are 1-1 headed into Game 3 tonight in Philly — and it’s suddenly the point in the NFL season where it’s time to stamp the Eagles as Super Bowl favourites.

These are intoxicating times for Philly sports fans and Brown became the latest star to deliver them a

including a 16-yard TD after New York’s Richie James fumbled his second punt return of the game in the fourth quarter. Smith was 23 of 34 for 212 yards and two touchdowns.

FALCONS 37, PANTHERS 34, OT ATLANTA (AP) — Younghoe Koo booted a 41-yard field goal in over time after Carolina’s Eddy Piñeiro missed a pair of kicks that could’ve won it, giving Atlanta an improb able victory.

The teams combined for three touchdowns in the final 3:06 of regulation before a silly penalty by the Panthers’ D.J. Moore opened the door for the Falcons (4-4) to pull it out and stay alone atop the NFC South.

Carolina had another chance to win in OT after C.J. Henderson returned an interception 54 yards to the Falcons 20. But Piñeiro botched another kick, yanking a wobbler left again from 32 yards out — shorter than a regular extra point.

The Panthers wouldn’t get another shot. Marcus Mariota, who threw three touchdown passes, ripped off a 30-yard run for the Falcons that set up Koo’s game-winner with 1:55 left in the extra period.

Mariota was 20 of 28 for 253 yards with a pair of interceptions.

VIKINGS 34, CARDINALS 26

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Za’Darius Smith had three sacks to help Minne sota’s defense hang on and the Vikings beat Arizona for their fifth consecutive victory.

Dalvin Cook rushed for a season-high 111 yards and a touchdown and Kirk Cousins passed for two scores and ran for another for the Vikings (6-1), who stayed unbeaten at home in coach Kevin O’Connell’s rookie year.

Kyler Murray passed for 326 yards and a seasonhigh three touchdowns, including a one-handed grab for a score by DeAn dre Hopkins with 47 seconds left in the second quarter, but he threw two second-half interceptions for the Cardinals (3-5).

The Vikings went 31 yards in four plays for a touchdown after the first one, a dangerous heave by Murray under pressure from his own end zone.

Hopkins had 12 catches for 159 yards in his second game back from suspen sion, Rondale Moore had seven receptions for 92 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown, and Murray’s always-dangerous ability

few more memorable Octo ber moments.

Make it three in the first half.

Brown might still be scoring and taunting in Ten nessee had the Titans not felt in the spring his asking price for an extension was too high.

Once Titans decided they didn’t want to pay Brown, he was traded during the draft. The Eagles gave him a $100 million, four-year contract with $57 million guaranteed upon complet ing the trade.

No buyer’s remorse yet.

Brown became the first receiver since Tennessee’s Drew Bennett in 2004 with three receiving touchdowns of 25-plus yards in the first half.

Hurts hit Brown from 39 yards, 27 and 29 yards for a 21-10 halftime lead.

Brown made an overthe-shoulder grab in the end zone for the third score as Pittsburgh defenders Minkah Fitzpatrick and Ahkello Witherspoon col lided with each other.

Brown then might have made Owens proud with the type of celebration once seen out of the retired receiver.

Their first TD might have been the most impressive.

to leave the pocket kept an active Vikings defense honest all game.

PATRIOTS 22, JETS 17

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Bill Belichick passed George Halas for second place on the NFL’s career coaching victories list and New England beat New York for the 13th straight time.

Devin McCourty had two of the Patriots’ three interceptions of Zach Wilson, Nick Folk kicked five field goals against his former team and New England (4-4) slowed the surprising Jets (5-3), who had won four in a row.

Belichick got his 325th win, including playoffs, and now trails only Don Shula (347).

Mac Jones, who was benched in Monday night’s loss to Chicago rookie Bailey Zappe, fin ished 24 of 35 for 194 yards with a touchdown to Jakobi Meyers and an interception.

COMMANDERS 17, COLTS 16

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Taylor Heinicke scored on a 1-yard plunge with 22 seconds left, cap ping an 89-yard drive in the final 2 1/2 minutes and sending Washington past Indianapolis.

Indy native Terry McLaurin set up the deci sive score by wrestling the ball away from Stephon Gilmore for a 33-yard catch one play before Heinicke scored. Washington (4-4) has won three straight.

Indy (3-4-1) man aged only one TD in Sam Ehlinger’s first career start. He took over at quarter back this week when coach Frank Reich benched vet eran Matt Ryan.

The Commanders car ried a 7-3 lead into the second half. But Chase

Brown went up to catch the 39-yard heave and won a battle for the ball with Fitzpatrick, who pounded the turf in frustration.

Hurts caught Brown in stride for the second touch down as the speedy receiver outran cornerback Arthur Maulet.

Brown had his best game in his short Eagles tenure, topping the 155 yards he had in the season opener against Detroit. He had only two touchdowns enter ing the game.

One knock on the Eagles this season was their sec ond-half slowdowns. They had scored only four sec ond-half touchdowns and were shut out after half time against Minnesota and Washington.

Hurts waved off those concerns when threw a 39-yard TD pass to Zach Pascal in the third for a 28-10 lead.

“They were making those plays and we did not,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “We have to own it.”

The only player with more than four TD passes of 25-plus yards or more in a single game since 1980 was Hall of Famer Dan Marino, who had five in Week 1 of 1994 against the Patriots.

McLaughlin’s third field goal of the day, a 20-yarder, gave Indy a 9-7 lead early in the fourth quarter.

TITANS 17, TEXANS 10

HOUSTON (AP) — Derrick Henry dominated Houston again, running for 219 yards and two touch downs to carry Tennessee.

It was Henry’s fourth straight 200-yard game against the Texans, making him the first player in NFL history to have at least 150 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in four con secutive games against the same opponent.

The 28-year-old has six 200-yard games in his career, tying O.J. Simpson and Adrian Peterson for the most in NFL history.

With rookie quarterback Malik Willis making his first start for the injured Ryan Tannehill, the AFC South-leading Titans (5-2) went to Henry early and often. He ripped off a sea son-long 41-yard run on his second carry of the game and never looked back against Houston’s NFLworst run defense.

Henry had a season-high 32 carries and touchdown runs of 29 yards and 1 yard to help the Titans build a 14-3 lead.

BRONCOS 21, JAGUARS 17

LONDON (AP) — Lat avius Murray scored on a 2-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter, and Denver beat Jacksonville at Wembley Stadium to snap a four-game skid.

Russell Wilson led two go-ahead scoring drives in the second half. Wilson finished 18 for 30 for 252 yards with a touchdown and interception after miss ing the Broncos’ previous game with a hamstring injury.

The embattled quar terback looked rusty

“Those are the types of guys that reach his ceiling,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said of Hurts. “I don’t know if we know what his ceiling is going to be.”

Hurts almost matched Marino in the fourth quar ter, but Brown was tripped up at the 11 on a 43-yard pass.

No worries.

Miles Sanders rushed for the touchdown and a 35-13 lead on the next play.

With a short week ahead, Eagles starters got a rest and center Jason Kelce playfully wore a Batman mask on the sideline in a nod to the superhero nick names assigned to their wide receivers. Brown is “Swole Batman.”

“We were out there doing celebrations and every thing,” Brown said. “It’s fun. There’s nothing like it.”

SAY A PRAYER

Among the Eagles inac tives: Book, Jobe and Sermon. Make that QB Ian Book, RB Trey Sermon and CB Josh Jobe.

INJURIES

Nick Sciba kicked field goals of 38 and 29 yards for the Steelers in place of injured Chris Boswell (groin).

Eagles DT Jordan Davis suffered an ankle injury.

early, but connected on a 47-yard completion to KJ Hamler after the Broncos fell behind 17-14 on Travis Etienne’s 1-yard touch down run with 3:54 to play. Wilson then scrambled for 10 yards on a third-and-5 to get to the Jacksonville 28.

The late score gave Murray a touchdown for two different teams this month in London. He ran for a score for New Orleans earlier this month at Tot tenham Hotspur Stadium.

SAINTS 24, RAIDERS 0

NEW ORLEANS (AP)

— Alvin Kamara scored his first three touchdowns of the season and New Orleans shut out Las Vegas.

Kamara converted short receptions into touch downs of 36 and 16 yards for the Saints (3-5). He also rushed for a 3-yard score.

Andy Dalton justified the Saints’ decision to start him for a fifth straight game despite season-open ing starter Jameis Winston having recovered enough from back and ankle inju ries to be a full participant in practice this week.

Dalton was 22 of 30 for 229 yards and two TDs. His top receiver was Kamara, who had nine receptions for 96 yards to go with his 62 yards rushing.

Derek Carr, who was pulled late in the fourth quarter, finished 15 of 26 for 101 yards with one interception. He was sacked three times.

COWBOYS 49, BEARS 29

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Dak Prescott threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, Micah Parsons returned a fumble for his first NFL score and Dallas beat Chicago.

Tony Pollard ran for 131 yards and three TDs with Ezekiel Elliott sidelined by a right knee injury as the Cowboys (6-2) made it 2-for-2 in a four-game stretch against the NFC North.

Justin Fields rallied the Bears (3-5) within five after trailing 28-7. But he made a big gaffe by jumping over Parsons after the star linebacker’s fumble recov ery instead of touching him down. Parsons got up, stumbled and rolled over the goal line for a 36-yard touchdown that made it 42-23.

Pollard had a 54-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. Prescott was 21 of 27 for 250 yards with an interception in his second game back after missing five with a frac tured right thumb. Pollard tied his career highs in yards and carries (14).

UP NEXT The Steelers have a bye before hosting New Orleans on Nov. 13.

The Eagles play at Hou ston on Thursday night for

TAGOVAILOA FACILITATES DOLPHINS’ TURNAROUND IN 31-27 WIN OVER LIONS

By LARRY LAGE AP Sports Writer

DETROIT (AP) — Tua Tagovailoa threw a goahead, 11-yard touchdown pass to Mike Gesicki late in the third quarter, capping the Miami Dolphins’ rally from a double-digit, sec ond-half deficit for a 31-27 win over the Detroit Lions yesterday.

The Dolphins (5-3) have won two straight since Tagovailoa returned from a concussion.

The Lions (1-6) have lost five in a row.

Detroit scored on all five of its posssessons in the first half to lead 27-17 after scor ing a total of six points in its previous two games.

The Dolphins opened the second half with a touchdown drive, scoring when fullback Alec Ingold took a snap that fooled the defence and scored on a 1-yard sneak.

They took their first lead late in the third on Tago vailoa’s pass to Gesicki, who was wide open in the end zone, to score on a fifth straight possession.

Tagovailoa was 29 of 36 for 382 yards with three touchdowns, including two to Jaylen Waddle, who had eight catches for 106 yards. Tyreek Hill had 12 recep tions for 188 yards for the Dolphins.

Hill and Waddle have 1,688 yards receiving com bined, setting a Super Bowl era record for two team mates through the first eight games of a season.

Detroit’s Jared Goff was 27 of 37 for 321 yards with a touchdown. Goff would have had a second scoring pass at the end of the first half, but Josh Reynolds dropped a pass in the end zone and the Lions settled for a field goal. The fourpoint difference proved to be critical.

Jamaal Williams had two touchdowns for the Lions, who had a 21-7 lead after he scored for a second time early in the second quarter.

INJURIES Dolphins: LG Liam Eichenberg had a gameending knee injury in the second half.

Lions: TE Brock Wright left the game with a con cussion and CB A.J. Parker (hip) was injured during the game.

UP NEXT Dolphins: Play at Chicago.

Lions: Host Green Bay.

what could be the start of a crowded Philly sports week in Texas. Games 6 and 7 (if necessary) of the World Series are set for Friday and Saturday in Houston.

SAN Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) runs with the ball against the Los Angeles Rams yesterday. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

McPhee-McCuin looks to build on last year’s success

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH a new contract signed, Grand Bahamian Yolett McPheeMcCuin is looking forward to building on the success of last year by her University of Mississippi Lady Rebels.

Ole Miss, as they are commonly referred to, pulled off an impres sive 80-38 victory against Delta State in an exhibition game played on Friday night.

Now McPhee-McCuin and the Lady Rebels are looking forward to the start of the regular season that will include her first trip home to showcase her team in November.

Entering her fifth season and the first of her new four-year deal at Ole Miss, McPhee-McCuin said despite the loss of First Team AllSEC centre Shakira Austin, they will have a pretty good season.

“It’s a lot of newness, trying to figure things out,” she said of Austin, who is now playing in the Women’s National Basketball Association with the Washington Mystics. “Minus our pro player, we’re learning how to survive and function without her. That is our focus right now. So we’re trying to figure out what we want to do and be who we want to be. It’s a pro cess, but I enjoy it.”

Ole Miss women’s basketball has been picked to finish fifth overall in the SEC Preseason Media Poll released on Tuesday.

The ranking is the highest pre season slot by the media for the Rebels in the poll since the 200506 Ole Miss team was selected to finish fifth.

The defending national cham pion South Carolina was voted to win the conference for the second straight season in a row, with NCAA Tournament teams in Tennessee, LSU and Arkansas rounding out the top-four.

McPhee-McCuin said she’s going to build her team around what is available to her.

“We’re going to look different and so we have to play differently,” she projected. “We’re going to have to play more of a community thing by committee for sure. But someone will emerge.”

Aliyah Boston, who was once again selected as the Preseason Player of the Year, after earning the 2022 Player of the Year award as a junior, is one of the top players to watch for Ole Miss this year.

Ole Miss heads into the 2022-23 campaign, coming off of one of its best seasons in programme history and its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 15 seasons.

The Rebels return a solid start ing core in juniors Madison Scott and Snadda Collins with reigning SEC Sixth-Woman of the Year Angel Baker looking to make a mark in the starting lineup. Ole Miss’ winning percentage of 71.8% off of a 23-9 record last year, was the highest for the programme since 1993-94.

Nine newcomers joined the Rebels including two freshmen and seven transfers, with three wellversed to the grind of the SEC.

After leading the SEC in assists last season. Myah Taylor joins the Rebels from Mississippi State as one of the nation’s top point guards after earning a spot on the Nancy Lieberman Award Preseason Watch List.

Pitt transfer Rita Igbokwe also looks to shine on the interior, after blocking 68 shots last season as a junior to rank 20th in the country.

“We just want to continue to build on the foundation that we already laid,” McPhee-McCuin said. “Now it’s putting those cor nerstones in place so that we can be successful in the future.

“Last year, I thought we did a good job setting the foundation and now we have to continue to

build the house. The house isn’t complete until you win a national championship. So we have a lot of ways to go.”

The Rebels will begin their regu lar season on Monday, November 7 at 5pm at home against Kennesaw State. They will play three more games on November 10 against Southeast Missouri State; Sunday, November 13 on the road against Little Rock and Wednesday, November 16 against Southern Miss.

Then it’s here in the first for the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Champi onships in their two games against Dayton on Monday, November 21 and Utah on Wednesday, Novem ber 23, “We’re looking forward to that. We’re excited about that,” McPhee-NMcCuin said. “I’m look ing forward to coming back home personally because I’m from the Bahamas.

“But for the team, we are going to be playing two great teams who will really put us to the test. So we definitely want to come down and put on a show for my Bahamian people.”

Ole Miss is expected to come to town with a contingent of about 35 people, but McPhee-McCuin said they are expecting a large group of fans to accompany them to the Bahamas, just as they do whenever they play on the road in the United States of America.

“We just want the Bahamian people to come out and support us,” McPhee-McCuin said. “I’m in the SEC so there’s pressure every time I step out on the floor.”

McPhee-McCuin is a former Bahamian national team point guard and the first female player to sign a division one letter of intent when she went to play for the University of Rhode Island for her junior and senior years in 2003 and 2004 after she played for Miami-Dade Community Col lege the previous two years. She

went on to earn her first assistant coaching job at Frank Phillips Col lege in 2004 before she moved on to Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Pittsburgh and Clemson before getting her first head coaching job at the Uni versity of Jacksonville in 2013.

“I’m pleased with where I am at. I love what I do. I’m coach ing at the highest level. I’m able to recruit the best talent and I’m competing against the best play ers and the best coaches,” said McPhee-McCuin, who signed her first contract with Ole Miss in 2019.

“So for me, I’m excited about where I’m at right now. It’s just pretty much trying to complete the mission here. It’s going to take time. I just signed a new contract, so I plan to be at Ole Miss for a while and really build this pro gramme up to one where it has national recognition.”

McPhee-McCuin earned national prominence when she coached to lead the women’s national team to their first cham pionship title in 10 years in a 55-51 victory over Jamaica at the Carib bean Basketball Confederation to qualify for the 2016 CentroBasket Championship.

And during the 2021-22 cam paign, McPhee-McCuin also became the first woman in Baha mian history to coach at the men’s national level, serving as an assis tant with the Bahamas men’s senior national team during the World Cup qualifiers.

Although she has coached one Bahamian guard Valerie Nesbitt at Ole Miss from 2019-2021, she’s looking forward to adding the second to her roster and that could happen very soon.

Potter has losing return to Brighton, Manchester City tops EPL with win

By MATTIAS KARÉN Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Well before halftime, Brighton supporters were already taunting the manager they once adored with chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning.”

Graham Potter may not have to worry about being fired just yet, but his return to Brighton created the closest thing to a crisis he has experienced in his fledgling Chelsea reign.

Brighton beat Chelsea 4-1 in the English Premier League on Saturday to hand Potter his first loss since leaving the southcoast club to take over the Blues in September. After a strong start under Potter, Chelsea has dropped points in three straight league games following draws against Brentford and Manchester United.

And the worst part for Chelsea was that the scoreline wasn’t at all misleading.

Brighton was 2-0 up after 14 minutes and added the third before halftime, having looked more confident and ambi tious than the visitors

who saw forward Chris tian Pulisic miss their best chance when he somehow shot wide with the goal gaping after a rebound. Kai Havertz pulled one back for Chelsea early in the second half but Pascal Gross finished off the scor ing in injury time for the hosts. “The atmosphere was really intense here, and we didn’t necessarily match that level of intensity from the start,” Potter said.

“Clearly, Brighton were better at what they did, so we have to take that as a lesson – even though it’s a painful one for us.”

Brighton has taken just two points from a possible 15 since Potter’s departure but earned a first win under new coach Roberto De Zerbi — and the club’s first over Chelsea since 1933.

The loss means Chel sea dropped eight points behind Manchester City, which took the overnight lead in the standings by beating Leicester 1-0 away thanks to an inch-perfect free kick from Kevin De Bruyne in the second half.

Liverpool is far off think ing about the title after losing at home to Leeds 2-1, the latest poor result in

the league in what is prov ing a difficult season for Jurgen Klopp’s team.

Arsenal can reclaim top spot on Sunday by beat ing last-place Nottingham Forest at home.

NO HAALAND

City was without star striker Erling Haaland for the first time because of an ankle problem that will also likely see the Norway international miss the mid week Champions League match against Sevilla, if not the league game against Fulham next weekend.

“We have seven days until then so we will see,” City manager Pep Guar diola said.

De Bruyne made sure Haaland’s absence wasn’t too keenly felt by curling in a set-piece from 25 meters that dipped under the

crossbar and in via the post in the 49th minute.

Guardiola has publicly challenged De Bruyne, who won English soccer’s player of the year award the last two seasons, to raise his level even higher for the club.

The quality of the free kick the Belgium play maker produced to beat Leicester was certainly top class.

“He’s back,” Guardiola said of De Bruyne. “He was not playing good in the last games. (Today he was) amazing. He knows it.”

SPURS COMEBACK

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte was furious after his team was denied a late winner against Sporting by VAR in the Champions League in mid week, but there was no stopping the team’s cele brations after coming from two goals down to beat Bournemouth 3-2.

Substitute Rodrigo Bentancur scored deep in stoppage time to complete Spurs’ comeback after Kieffer Moore’s double put Bournemouth into a twogoal lead. Ryan Sessegnon started the comeback in the 57th minute and Ben

Davies leveled following a corner.

“It was vital to win this game,” said Conte, whose team had lost its last two league games.

RAMPANT NEWCASTLE Newcastle’s place in the top four is looking more and more warranted.

The Saudi-owned club beat Aston Villa 4-0 for its fifth win of its last six matches, including one over Spurs.

Newcastle consoli dated fourth place, two points behind Tottenham and three points ahead of Chelsea.

After Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez went off with a concussion in the first half — having initially tried to play on despite looking groggy following a collision — Callum Wilson scored two for Newcastle before Joelinton and the in-form Miguel Almiron added one each.

Crystal Palace beat Southampton 1-0 for a third straight home win while Brentford settled for 1-1 against Wolverhamp ton, whose striker Diego Costa was sent off for a headbutt in stoppage time.

DEROZAN REACHES 20,000 POINTS BUT SPURS TOP BULLS 129-124

By RAUL DOMINGUEZ Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Keldon Johnson scored 33 points for San Anto nio, spoiling a career milestone for former team mate DeMar DeRozan and leading the Spurs to a 129-124 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Friday night.

DeRozan had 33 points for Chicago, becoming just the 50th player in NBA his tory to reach 20,000.

The Spurs improved to 4-2 in what is sup posed to be a rebuilding season. They earned their first home win hours after Joshua Primo was waived in a surprise move.

“We’re a family and we stay together,” Johnson said. “We went out on the court and played hard. We’ve been playing hard all year and we continued that tonight.”

The 6-foot-6 Primo was selected by San Antonio with the No. 12 pick in the 2021 NBA draft. He had averaged 7.0 points in four games this season while battling minor injuries.

After the Spurs announced the move with no explanation, the 19-yearold Primo provided a statement to ESPN.

“I know that you all are surprised by today’s announcement,” he said. “I’ve been seeking help to deal with previous trauma I suffered and will now take this time to focus on my mental health treatment more fully.

“I hope to be able to discuss these issues in the future so I can help others who have suffered in a simi lar way. I appreciate privacy at this time.”

San Antonio shot 53.5% and had seven players score in double figures. Jakob Poeltl had 21 points and 13 rebounds. Zach Collins scored 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting.

Poeltl was 10 for 12 from the field. “For us, he’s kind of boring the way David Robinson got boring,” Spurs coach Gregg Popo vich said. “‘We’d say, what did David do?’ You look at the stats: 24 points, 12 rebounds, four blocked shots, that kind of thing. Jakob does the same thing. He gives it every single night. Very solid. He defi nitely anchors our defense.”

Reserve center Andre Drummond had 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulls.

DeRozan was part of the Spurs’ restructuring when they traded Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors for him in July 2018. DeRozan spent three seasons with the Spurs before signing with the Bulls.

Known for his mid-range jumper, DeRozan reached the milestone by sinking a 19-footer with 5:43 remain ing in the first quarter.

PAGE 13

four balls later. Kagiso Rabada held two tricky catches at fine leg to help dismiss both Virat Kohli (12) and Hardik Pandya (2).

India was rocked by pace and bounce, reduced to 49-5 in 8.3 overs. Anrich Nortje (1-23) dismissed Deepak Hooda (0) for a three-ball duck in between.

Yadav provided resistance with a counterattacking half-century off 30 balls. He smacked six fours and three sixes to res urrect the Indian innings and put on 52 runs off 40 balls with Dinesh Karthik, who only contributed six runs to the sixth-wicket partnership.

Then Wayne Parnell initiated a double break through, sending back Karthik and Ashwin (7) as India floundered again.

Yadav’s dismissal in the 19th over reduced India to 127-8, and it finished with a below-par score on a bowler-friendly surface.

In response, Arshdeep Singh hit South Africa’s top-order hard. He had Quinton de Kock (1) caught at slip and then trapped Rilee Rossouw lbw for a two-ball duck.

South Africa went from 3-2 to 24-3 as Mohammed Shami had Temba Bavuma (10) caught behind.

But Markram and Miller resisted the flow of wickets, adding 76 runs off 60 balls for the fourth wicket.

Markram hit six fours and a six to bring up his half-century off 38 balls.

He survived two major chances. Virat Kohli dropped him in the deep off Ravichandran Ashwin in the 12th over, and Sharma missed an easy run-out thereafter. Miller reached his half-century off 40

deliveries, upping the ante with four fours and three sixes.

Yadav finally held a catch to dismiss Markram, but it was too late. Ashwin also trapped Tristan Stubbs (6) lbw to make it 122-5.

Despite the break through, India had no response for the calm Miller who finished off the game with two balls to spare.

In Brisbane, Bangla desh, with four competition points from three games, moved past Zimbabwe with a dramatically narrow win in warm, sunny conditions.

Opener Najmul Hossain Shanto scored 71 from 55 balls in Bangladesh’s total of 150-7.

Taskin Ahmed (3-19) and Mustafizur Rahman (2-15) combined to skittle Zimbabwe’s top order but finished their full allocation with three overs to spare, leaving a chase of 40 off 18 balls.

Sean Williams (64) and Ryan Burl (27 not out) took it close, but couldn’t get Zimbabwe over the line.

Spinner Musaddek Hos sain held his nerve twice, in particular after the players were recalled to the field to re-bowl the last delivery, and helped restrict Zimba bwe to 147-8.

Bangladesh’s players celebrated early when Musaddek appeared to wrap up the last over with consecutive stumping dismissals.

But replays showed wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan took the ball in front of the stumps before whipping off the bails to complete the dismissal of Blessing Muzarabani.

Players shook hands and left the field while the umpires waited to assess TV replays, which showed the keeper’s error and meant everyone had to return.

Muzarabani couldn’t take advantage of the second chance, not able to score any of the four runs required for victory.

“It was a new experi ence for us! Musaddek bowled very well in this pressure situation,” he said.

“Honestly it was a little bit nervous, but we believed we could do it.”

In the Perth opener, Paki stan’s pace attack restricted Netherlands to 91-9, with Shadab taking 3-22 and Mohammad Wasim Jr. returning 2-15. Netherlands had won the toss and opted to bat but couldn’t cope with Paki stan’s quick bowlers and slumped quickly to 26-3.

Colin Ackermann (27) tried rebuilding the innings but Shadab ran through the middle order and Wasim Jr. narrowly missed his hat trick toward the end.

He had dismissed Tim Pringle (5) and Fred

Klaassen (0) off successive balls.

Only two Dutch players scored in double digits.

Pakistan replied with a sedate innings and knocked up the runs in 13.5 overs, finishing with 95-4.

Mohammad Rizwan scored 49 off 39 balls, com bining with Fakhar Zaman (20) in a 37-run secondwicket stand after Pakistan skipper Babar Azam (4) was run out.

Pakistan is fifth in the Group 2 standings, and Netherlands has been knocked out of conten tion after three consecutive losses in the Super 12 stage.

South Africa is now atop group 2 with five points while India is now down to second with its first defeat in three games.

However, India’s loss also means Pakistan now has to beat South Africa on Thursday in Sydney to stay alive in the tournament.

LEANDRO TROSSARD

JAMES, DAVIS HELP LAKERS WIN FOR FIRST TIME THIS SEASON

By JILL PAINTER LOPEZ Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP)

— LeBron James scored 26 points and Anthony Davis added 23 to help the Los Angeles Lakers to their first win of the season with a 121-1110 victory over the Denver Nuggets last night.

Russell Westbrook had 18 points for the Lakers (1-5), who had lost their first five games of the season under first-year head coach Darvin Ham. Los Angeles was the last winless team in the NBA.

Westbrook drove the lane and scored on a layup to extend the Lakers lead to 117-106 in the final minutes as the Lakers closed out the win.

Nikola Jockic scored 23 points and Jamal Murray added 21 for the Nuggets (4-3), who had four of their last five and two straight games before Sunday’s loss.

Austin Reaves made a 3-pointer from the top of the arc and Lonnie Walker IV drove the baseline for a dunk to give the Lakers a 113-100 advantage. That 13-point lead was their largest of the season. The Lakers made 13 3-point ers after struggling with long-range shooting this season in their previous five games. The Nuggets made 15 3-pointers. Davis was aggressive early after missing one game with lower back tightness and was questionable Sunday but played. He tweaked his back in the game against Denver on Wednesday when the Nuggets beat the Lakers 110-99 in Denver.

The Lakers led 55-51 at halftime. They trailed by as many as 10 points in the first quarter but overcame that deficit by halftime.

UP IN THE RAFTERS

Hall of Famer George Mikan had his jersey

retired. His family was there to celebrate the honour and watch No. 99 be unveiled. He’s the 11th player to have his jersey retired, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Jerry West, Jamaal Wilkes and James Worthy. Worthy was there Sunday and spoke about Mikan.

Doncic has season-high 44 points, Mavs beat Magic 114-105

DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic scored 30 of his season-high 44 points in the first half and the Dallas Mavericks rebounded from a collapse a night earlier by beating the Orlando Magic 114-105 last night.

Rookie Paolo Banchero was held to 18 points for the Magic, the first time this season the No. 1 pick in the draft has failed to reach 20. His six-game streak was tied for the third-longest to begin a career.

Tim Hardaway Jr. added a season-best 21 points off the bench for the Maver icks, who lost to Oklahoma City in overtime Saturday after blowing a 16-point lead in the final four min utes of regulation.

Banchero shot 6 for 20 from the field, going 1 of 6 on 3-pointers. Bol Bol added 16 points.

PELICANS 112, CLIPPERS 91

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Zion Williamson had 21 points and 12 rebounds in his return and New Orleans routed Los Angeles.

CJ McCollum added 22 points to help the Pelicans improve to 4-2. William son was out the last two games with a right hip and lower back contusion, one of three starters to have missed last two games.

Norman Powell had 18 points off the bench for the Clippers. Paul George added 14 points and Marcus Morris had 12. With Kawhi Leonard again sidelined, the Clippers dropped their

fourth in a row. Leonard missed his fourth game because of knee stiffness and also will sit out tonight against Houston.

PISTONS 128, WARRIORS 114 DETROIT (AP) — Saddiq Bey scored 28 points, Cade Cunningham was an assist short of a triple-double and Detroit beat defending champion Golden State to end a fivegame losing streak.

Cunningham had 23 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to help the Pis tons won for the first time since their opening game. Isaiah Stewart added 24 points and 13 rebounds as Detroit’s starters scored 111 points. Steph Curry had 32 points and Jordan Poole added 30 for Golden State,

coming off a 120-113 over time loss in Charlotte on Saturday.

SUNS 124, ROCKETS 109

PHOENIX (AP) — Devin Booker scored 30 points, Cam Johnson added 19 and Phoenix beat Hou ston for its fourth straight victory.

Booker shot 14 of 24 from the field on his 26th birthday, while fellow All-Star Chris Paul had a season-high 15 assists.

Booker scored 21 points in the first half on 10-of16 shooting, pushing the Suns to a 65-56 advantage.

Jock Landale scored all of his 16 points before the break. Kevin Porter Jr. led the Rockets with 26 points. Alperen Sengun added 16 points and nine rebounds.

Shamar Burrows leads Tigers to opening weekend wins

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

SHAMAR Burrows and the defending Atlantic University Sport champion Dalhousie Tigers began their 2022-23 campaign on a winning note with backto-back wins on opening weekend.

The versatile guard dis played his skillset on both ends of the floor in wins over the University of New Brunswick Red Bombers in New Brunswick, Canada.

In game one, Burrows flirted with a rare quad ruple double and finished with eight points, eight rebounds, seven assists and seven steals in the Tigers’ 70-67 win at UNB’s Richard J Currie Center.

The Red led 23-16 at the end of the first and main tained a 38-34 lead at the half.

Sparked by a Burrows layup and assist on consecu tive possessions, the Tigers opened the second half on a 9-0 run to take the lead and eventually outscored the Tigers 22-10 in the period. Dalhousie took a 60-48 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Reds had one final run to get back into contention.

In the fourth, UNB used a 15-2 run to go up 63-62 with less than four minutes to play. A last second gametying three from the Reds was waved off as the Tigers held on for the opening night win.

Game two was a much more decisive win as the Tigers dominated 90-65.

SHAMAR BURROWS

Burrows finished with 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals in the rout.

The Reds made six three pointers in the first quar ter to open the game on a 20-8 run before the Tigers responded with a 13-5 run to trim the deficit, 25-21.

Trailing by 10 early in the second, 31-21, Dalhou sie responded with another run. Tied at 35, they closed the final five minutes of the half on a 17-3 run to take a 52-38 lead at intermission and eventually, a 76-52 lead into the fourth as the game was out of reach.

The Tigers will continue their season against the Saint Mary’s Huskies on Thursday.

Burrows led the Tigers in scoring in five preseason games and posted three doubles.

The Tigers concluded their 2021-22 season with a fifth place finish overall at the U Sports Men’s Bas ketball Final 8. In three Final Eight games, he aver aged 12.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

On the season, Burrows was named a second team AUS All-Star. He finished third in scoring for Dalhousie, averaging 14.8 points per game shooting 73 percent. He also led the Tigers in rebounding with 6.7 boards per game. Burrows’ numbers have progressed across the board since he transferred to the Tigers programme in 2018.

In his first season he aver aged just 3.3 points in 19 appearances off the bench and in year two progressed to 8.8 points and four rebounds per game in 20 appearances with six starts.

Following the COVID-19 cancelled 2020 season, he averaged career highs last season with 14.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.

BAHAMIANS GET EARLY START IN NCAA DIVISION I

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE NCAA Division

I basketball season is still days away from tip-off but several Bahamians got an early start to their 2022-23 campaigns with exhibition games.

Yolett McPhee-McCuin and Ole Miss paid homage to a Mississippi basketball legend while Fredrick King and Lathaniel Bastian had the opportunity to suit up for their respective pro grammes for the first time.

Ole Miss defeated Delta State 80-38 inside the SJB Pavilion in a game that also served as a tribute to the late Hall of Famer and Delta State basket ball legend Lusia Harris Stewart.

“Just grateful nobody got hurt, this game was bigger than us getting the win it was us trying to figure out who we are going to be as

a team,” McPhee-McCuin said. “And then obviously, Lusia Harris, this game meant alot to me to keep her name alive, to keep her story alive. One of the Mississippi greats, we try to honour her as much as pos sible, we’re just thankful to Delta State and thankful to fans who came to the game.

Harris Stewart won three major college NAIA national championships in the mid 1970s while starring at Delta State. She became the first and only woman ever officially drafted by an NBA team - the New Orleans Jazz.

“Last year, we felt incred ibly moved, I know me personally, by the death of the original queen of the ‘Sip,” said McPhee-McCuin of Harris Stewart prior to the game. “We celebrated her with our shirts. That is how the whole Delta State opportunity for us came about. It’s just a team that is rich in history and tradition

and dominated for a long time.”

Ole Miss opens the season on November 7 against Kennesaw State.

Freshman big, Freder ick King, had 10 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots in his first game in a Creighton Bluejays uniform.

Creighton dominated Drury 109-97 in last night’s exhibition in Omaha, Nebraska. He shot 5-9 from the field but left an addi tional five points at the free throw line on 0-5 shooting.

The Bluejays were selected to finish number one overall in the Big East when the confer ence announced its preseason poll. They fin ished last season 23-12, fourth place in the Big East Conference regular-season standings, and runner-up in the league tournament.

After receiving an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament, they defeated

San Diego State in the first round before they lost in the second round to even tual national champion Kansas Jayhawks. King joins a roster that returns three double figure scorers from last season, several players that received allconference honours.

A 6’10” frontcourt player out of the NBA Acad emy (Latin America), he decided on the Bluejays over the BYU Cougars, Georgia Tech Yellow Jack ets, and Utah Utes.

Creighton will open its regular season on Novem ber 7 against St Thomas.

Junior transfer Lathan iel Bastian played his first game as a member of the Cal State Fullerton Titans. He finished with four points and three rebounds in 15 minutes of his team’s 92-51 win over La Verne.

Bastian is one of nine new players and five trans fers to a Titans programme that came in at no.7 on the

Big West Conference pre season men’s basketball coaches’ poll. Fullerton opens up the season on the road against San Diego State on Novem ber 7. “We’re excited to use these games to grow and develop our team,” Titans head coach Dedrique Taylor said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge of these games to help us prepare for making another run at winning the Big West Conference Championship and playing in the NCAA tournament!”

Cal State Fullerton fin ished with a 21-11 overall record and an 11-4 record in conference play last season. They were the champion of the Big West Conference Tournament and earned a No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The programme also has a Big West Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018.

CAVALIERS 121, KNICKS 108

CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell had 38 points and a season-high 12 assists, Kevin Love scored 16 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter and Cleve land rallied to beat the New York.

Mitchell and Love com bined for 28 points in the final period as Cleveland outscored New York 37-15. Love made five 3-point ers and Mitchell scored 12 points — both also had four-point plays — in ral lying the Cavaliers from a nine-point deficit.

Brunson and Evan Fournier finished with 16 points apiece, while Julius Randle and RJ Barrett each had 15 for New York.

CELTICS 112, WIZARDS 94

BOSTON (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored 24 points and Boston took advantage of cold shooting by Bradley Beal to beat Washington.

Jayson Tatum had 23 points, including five 3-pointers, and Malcolm Brogdon added 21 points off the bench to help Boston avoid its third straight loss. The Celtics made 21 3-pointers.

Kristaps Porzingis scored 17 points for the Wizards. Beal missed his first 11 shots and was scoreless until the third quarter before finish ing with 12 points and eight assists.

SPURS 107, TIMBERWOLVES 98

SAN ANTONIO (AP)

— Keldon Johnson scored 25 points, Doug McDer mott added 23 and San Antonio beat Minnesota for the second time a week.

Karl-Anthony Towns led Minnesota with 26 points and Anthony Edwards had 18.

Rudy Gobert was held to nine points and 12 rebounds.

USA BASKETBALL PICKS NEXT WORLD CUP QUALIFYING ROSTER

FROM PAGE 13

Davis, Frazier, Gallo way, Jeffries and Stockton have all appeared in some of the first eight US quali fying games in this World Cup cycle. Chiozza was part of the team that helped the US qualify for the 2019 World Cup.

Frazier, Galloway, Jef fries and Stockton all played for the US in the most recent qualifying window back in August, when the Americans went 2-0 by topping Uruguay in Las Vegas and going on the road to win at Colombia.

Jim Boylen will remain as coach for the fifth consecutive two-game qualifying window, assisted by Ty Ellis, Cor liss Williamson and Mike Wells.

There are 12 teams remaining — two groups of six teams — from the Americas region, all vying for seven World Cup spots.

The US is 7-1 in quali fying, leading Group F by two games with four remaining. Brazil, Mexico and Uruguay are all 5-3; Puerto Rico is 4-4 and Colombia is 3-5.

Canada leads Group E at 8-0, followed by Ven ezuela (7-1), Argentina (6-2), the Dominican Republic (5-3), Panama (2-6) and the Bahamas (2-6). Group E also has games in mid-November.

The top three teams in each group, along with the best fourthplace team, will receive World Cup berths. The final window of qualify ing is in February, the World Cup draw takes place in Manila in March and the tournament runs from late August through mid-September.

DALLAS Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) celebrates after a 3-point basket during the first half against the Orlando Magic yesterday in Dallas. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade)

LOS Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) grabs a rebound from Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr (1) during the first half last night in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/ Michael Owen Baker)

ASTROS

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer

HOUSTON (AP) — Framber Valdez swapped his glove and his spikes midgame. He repeatedly rubbed his hands.

By the time he strode off the mound to a stand ing ovation and handed the Houston Astros’ bullpen a seventh-inning lead, it was clear he had thrown a curve at the Philadelphia Phillies.

“This was a really good game for the fans, a really good game for our team and also for me,” he said through a translator after pitching the Astros over the Phillies 5-2 Saturday night to tie the World Series at one game apiece. “I’ve just been playing really inspired.”

Valdez made a five-run lead stand up after Hou ston’s lightning first-inning burst and Alex Bregman homered as the Astros rushed to a 5-0 lead for the second straight night. Unlike ace Justin Verlander in the opener, Valdez and Houston held on.

“His curveball was on tonight,” Phillies star Bryce Harper said after going 0 for 4. “It was big, sharp.” Houston became the first team to open a Series

game with three straight extra-base hits, and Valdez pitched shutout ball into the seventh, rebounding from a pair of poor out ings against Atlanta last year that had left him with a 19.29 Series ERA. He threw 42 curveballs among 104 pitches and got six of nine strikeouts with that pitch, three of them look ing. He allowed four hits and one run in 6 2/3 innings, giving up a leadoff double in the seventh to Nick Cas tellanos, who scored on Jean Segura’s sacrifice fly off Rafael Montero.

Valdez said his hand-rub bing was inconsequential.

“Nobody should think of it as anything like in the wrong way. I do it out in the open,” he said. “It’s all tendencies I do. I do it throughout the game, maybe distract the hitter a little bit from what I’m doing, Like maybe look at me, rubbing different things, and nothing about the pitch that I’m going to throw. I’ve been doing it all season.”

Valdez started the game with a tan glove and spikes with orange and yellow trim, then swapped ahead of the second inning for a dark glove and dark cleats with a white stripe.

PHILLIES

“Normally have different spikes when I warm up and the ones that I go into the game. Today I decided to start the game with the ones I warmed up in,” he said. “I had a long inning there and I was like, You know what, I’m going to change every thing. I’m going to change my glove, my belt, my cleats. And those are just things that us Dominicans do, just some tendencies here and there.”

When the Phillies put two runners on for the only time against him in the sixth, Valdez struck out Game 1 star J.T. Realmuto with high heat, then got Harper to bounce a first-pitch sinker into an inning-end ing double play.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson didn’t take issue with Valdez rubbing his palm — social media was abuzz, wondering if there was some banned sticky substance. “The umpires

check these guys after almost every inning and if there’s something going on MLB will take care of it,” Thomson said. “We saw it the last time he started, too.”

Jose Altuve, Jeremy Peña and Yordan Alvarez all doubled as Houston took a two-run lead four pitches in against Zack Wheeler. Shortstop Edmundo Sosa’s throwing error allowed

WORLD SERIES

another run in the first. Bregman added a two-run homer in the fifth when Wheeler left a slider over the middle of the plate, Bregman’s sixth career Series homer.

A day after coming back for a 6-5 win in 10 innings, Philadelphia tried to rally in this one, too.

With the Phillies trailing by four runs, Kyle Schwar ber hit a drive deep down the right-field line with a man on in the eighth against Montero that was originally ruled a two-run homer by right field line umpire James Hoye.

First base umpire Tripp Gibson signaled for umps to conference and the call was reversed on a crew chief review when it was determined the ball was just to the foul side of the pole.

Schwarber, who led the NL with 46 home runs this season and added three more in the playoffs, hit the next pitch 353 feet to right, where it was caught by Kyle Tucker just in front of the wall.

Ryan Pressly finished a six-hitter for a bullpen that lowered its postseason ERA to 0.89, giving up a run on when an first base man Yuli Gurriel allowed Brandon Marsh’s grounder

to skip past him and down the right-field line for an error.

Following the split in Houston, the Series resumes tonight when Citi zens Bank Park hosts the Series for the first time since 2009.

Of 61 previous Series tied 1-1, the Game 2 winner went on to the title 31 times — but just four of the last 14.

“I just can’t wait to get out on Monday and keep it rolling,” Segura said.

Altuve, who broke out of a 4-for-37 postseason slump with three hits, lined a sinker into left on Wheeler’s first pitch and Peña drove a curveball into the left-field corner on the second for a 1-0 lead. Alvarez fouled off a pitch and drove a slider high off the 19-foot wall in left.

Wheeler gave up five runs — four earned — six hits and three walks in five innings, a day after Aaron Nola struggled.

“I think everybody deserves a poor start every once in a while,” Thom son said. “Those guys have been so good for us for so long, and I fully expect them to come back and be ready to go and pitch well for us.”

HOUSTON Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez cele brates a double play to end the top of the sixth inning in Game 2 of baseball’s World Series against the Philadelphia Phil lies on Saturday in Houston. (AP Photo/David J Phillip)

USA TRACK & FIELD STAGES ITS FIRST LEGENDS REUNION AND RETREAT IN THE BAHAMAS

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IN their bid to enhance their relationship in their post track and field careers, the United States of Amer ica Track and Field decided to stage their first Legends Reunion and Retreat in the Bahamas.

The three-day event took place from Thursday to Sunday at the Grand Hyatt at Baha Mar with assistance from the North American, Central American and Car ibbean (NACAC).

Bahamian Olympians along with members from

the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, the Bahamas Olympic Com mittee and the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations also joined in the celebrations.

A total of 38 persons rep resenting the USATF staff were in attendance along with the top-notch class of athletes, who competed for the USA in the Pan American Games, World Championships and the Olympic Games.

The list included EarlGivan Alexandria (Pan American Team); Tiffany

PAGE

Auger-Aliassime wins Swiss Indoors

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Felix Auger-Alias sime won his third straight title in October, beating Holger Rune 6-3, 7-5 in the Swiss Indoors final yesterday.

Auger-Aliassime went through his five matches at Basel without dropping serve, and he saved all three break points Rune had.

The third-seeded Canadian won the only break-point chance of the first set to lead 3-1, and pressured Rune into drop ping his serve to take a 6-5 lead in the second. AugerAliassime clinched with his third match point when Rune sent a forehand long.

Auger-Aliassime added the Basel title to wins in the last two weeks at Flor ence, Italy, and Antwerp, Belgium. He extended his winning streak to 13 matches. The world No. 9 improved his career record in finals to 4-9 with all four titles won this year at indoor hard-court events in Europe.

The 19-year-old Rune is now 2-2 in finals and will be ranked inside the top 20 for the first time today.

The combined age of the 22-year-old AugerAliassime and Rune added up to the same 41 years of Swiss great Roger Federer who had intended to return to tournament play at his hometown event.

CANADA’s winner Felix AugerAliassime poses after the final at the Swiss Indoors yesterday. (Georgios Kefalas/ Keystone via AP)

Federer announced his retirement last month because of persistent knee injuries.

Federer won a record 10 titles at Basel and every winner of the tournament from 2006 up to this edition also has a US Open title.

The others are Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro and Marin Cilic.

Auger-Aliassime beat the current US Open cham pion, top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday in the semifinals to advance to face Rune.

Rune had also held every service game in Basel on his way to the final.

AP sources: Big 12 agrees to 6-year extension with ESPN, Fox

By RALPH D RUSSO AP College Football Writer

THE Big 12 has reached an agreement on a sixyear contract extension with ESPN and Fox worth more than $2 billion that will keep the conference’s media rights with those networks through the 203031 college sports seasons, according to people famil iar with the deal.

Two people confirmed details of the new media rights deal to The Asso ciated Press yesterday, speaking on condition of anonymity because con tracts have yet to be finalised and no offi cial announcement was expected soon.

Sports Business Journal was the first to report the deal would be worth $380 million annually. The Big 12 still has two years left on its current deals with Fox and ESPN.

New Big 12 Commis sioner Brett Yormark announced in August he was engaging the networks in discussions about an

extension and just a few weeks ago said a new deal could be done soon.

The television deal pro vides stability to a league that a little more than a year ago seemed to be in danger of falling apart.

Oklahoma and Texas announced in the summer of 2021 that they intended to leave the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference at the end of the current TV deal, which expires in 2025.

Former Big 12 Com missioner Bob Bowlsby and the conference moved quickly to add Houston, Cincinnati, Central Florida and BYU. Those four will join next year, giving the Big 12 14 teams for at least one season. It would cost tens of mil lions of dollars for Texas and Oklahoma to break current contracts and leave the conference early.

Without the Longhorns and Sooners, there were concerns about how much networks would value the the Big 12.

The final two years of the current deal pays $220 mil lion annually.

AMERICAN and Bahamian Olympians and dignitaries at USA Track and Field’s first Legends Reunion and Retreat in the Bahamas, held at the Grand Hyatt, Baha Mar, October 27-30.

Photo: Moise Amisial/Tribune Staff