11122021 NEWS AND SPORT

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Volume: 118 No.243, November 12, 2021

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BELLA’S MOTHER AND BOYFRIEND CHARGED

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was charged with murder yesterday and a mother arraigned on child cruelty charges in connection with the brutal death of four-year-old D’onya Bella Walker last weekend.

They were both denied bail.

Police said sometime around 5pm last Friday, they received information from medical practitioners at Princess Margaret Hospital stating that a female child was brought into the facility unresponsive.

Officers said initial investigations revealed the child, a resident of Major

Subdivision, sustained several injuries to her body, from which she later died.

Police said the four-yearold’s official cause of death was blunt force trauma.

Ostonya Walker, 29, the girl’s mother, appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt yesterday, charged with one count each of exposing a child to grievous harm and cruelty to children.

Prosecutors have accused Walker of exposing Bella in a manner that caused her serious injury on November 5. They further alleged that Walker unlawfully permitted little Bella to be abused in a manner that caused her SEE PAGE FIVE

GOVT REVIEWING HOW COVID FUNDING SPENT

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

FINANCE officials are in the midst of a full review of emergency COVID-19 spending to ascertain the amount of public funds spent by the Minnis administration before it left office, according to Press Secretary Clint Watson.

Mr Watson yesterday said financial experts were in the process of combing through records to determine the

value of that spending.

While in opposition, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis questioned this spending and why the government had refused to particularly reveal associated vendors, among other things.

Asked by The Tribune whether the government had yet to compile a dollar value of the emergency spending, Mr Watson said: “It is something that we are checking into.

SEE PAGE FIVE

PM PAYS HIS RESPECTS

PRIME Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis lays a wreath at the Cenotaph in the Garden of Remembrance yesterday to mark Remembrance Day. See page two for more photos.

Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune staff

BREAKWATER REPAIRS TREASURY TAKES HIT ARE NOW IMPERATIVE ON ALIV $40M LOSS

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Nassau Container Port’s top executive yesterday called

for long-needed repairs to the harbour’s breakwaters to become a high-priority item given the “grave bearing” for shipping safety.

SEE BUSINESS SECTION

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

ALIV’S near-$41m loss for the year to end-June

2021 continues to drag on both its BISX-listed parent and the Government, just-released financial statements reveal.

SEE BUSINESS SECTION

MUNROE - I’M EXACTLY MAN FOR THE JOB

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe, QC, defended his past as a criminal attorney yesterday insisting that only a “stupid” person would believe this was not a beneficial tool in the dispensation of his Cabinet portfolio’s duties.

Mr Munroe was responding to critics who have intimated that his extensive

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe. career as a criminal lawyer meant he could not work in the best interests of Bahamians.

However, the Free Town

MP was adamant that his experience was exactly what the government needed to ensure legislation was “bulletproof,” including how to ensure those who receive the death penalty retain their sentencing as opposed to having a higher court overturn it in the future.

“I would say that that’s an incredibly stupid person – and that would be an incredibly stupid person – who would believe

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE THREE

NAUGHTY: IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAY...BUT HOW YOU SAY IT !!

- SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Friday, November 12, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Remembering those who served REMEMBRANCE Day was marked with a wreath laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in the Garden of Remembrance yesterday. Among those laying wreaths were (clockwise from below right): Commander of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Raymond King, Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle, Chief Justice Brian Moree, Speaker of the House Patricia Deveaux and Governor General Cornelius A Smith. Photos: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune staff

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 12, 2021, PAGE 3

PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN FOR LAUNCH OF SEXUAL OFFENDERS REGISTRY

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

THE launch of a sexual offender’s registry will follow a public education campaign on its accompanying restrictions, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said yesterday.

That education campaign will include explaining under what grounds a judge can remove an offender from the list.

Mr Munroe said officials are ready to roll out the register

“So, as a people we have to be more vigilant about what we are doing. We have to be more considered because people will seek to vindicate rights and so we will seek to educate the public on exactly what the provisions of the register are, how safe you should feel because somebody is on the register that you know about and you may find that the launching of the register gives no comfort for you to let down their guards.”

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe but there are some manpower and resource issues that will be addressed “speedily” within the next week. However, this rollout will not be without logistical problems, Mr Munroe said, adding officials would have to track down sexual offenders who were released since July 2019.

As for the Marco’s Alert system, Mr Munroe said while Aliv is ready to launch its system to customers on its network on Monday, the Bahamas Telecommunications Company has “completely and utterly dropped the ball” in preparing for the

launch of the alert system.

He said he will not be patient with the company, which has a limited time to meet the demand for a working alert platform, adding he had no issues with encouraging people to port their numbers to Aliv if they wanted to receive alerts.

Mr Munroe spoke during the Office of the Prime Minister’s press briefing yesterday.

“The specifics on a sexual offenders registry in The Bahamas is the Act was passed and it was brought into force by an appointed day notice on the 27th of July 2019,” he said. “There was money paid for the electronic registration system and for kiosk machines for biometric reporting of sexual offenders.

“To date there is one person on the register who’s been released I am advised and there are other persons who are in the prison who have been put on the system.

“Now the thinking I suppose is that the scheme of our provision is the minister of national security is supposed to notify or determine how to notify the public on the release of a sexual offender and so that notification can be generally to everybody or to specific persons and you remain on the register for ten years unless you go successfully to a judge to be removed.

“Now to be quite plain, I for the big part of my career successfully sued the government.

A part of the justification of my appointment by the prime minister was just that and it doesn’t take much reflection to understand his thinking.

“As a lawyer before I present a case in court, I think about everything my opponent will do to defeat me and I move to neutralise that. In this job as minister of national security I will consider everything somebody can do to derail any efforts we take and we will definitely guard against them.

“So, the public will be educated about the sexual offenders register once it is aggressively launched and the public will be told for instance, if you hound somebody who is on the register and we are notified that is proven as good reason to have judges remove people from the register.”

He said the launch of the

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe. (File photo) register should not be a reason for people to let their guards down.

“So, as a people we have to be more vigilant about what we are doing. We have to be more considered because people will seek to vindicate rights and so we will seek to educate the public on exactly what the provisions of the register are, how safe you should feel because somebody is on the register that you know about and you may find that the launching of the register gives no comfort for you to let down their guards.”

Speaking of the Marco’s Alert system, Mr Munroe said as the initiative was long in the making, he did not understand how BTC was not ready to launch it.

“I’m advised that the billboards are up. I’m advised and directed that there is also to be

an automated notification to cellular phones.

“I’m distressed to advise that we have two telephone companies in this country that provide mobile service, mainly Aliv and BTC. “The system of a Marco’s Alert will be tested over the Aliv on the 15th of November which is Monday, but BTC has completely and utterly dropped the ball.

“They do not have the ability for the alerts to be sent out over their system.

“If they do not remedy it, it will certainly be my suggestion that anybody who wants to participate in Marco’s Alert will have to make a choice as to their mobile phone provider. I would challenge BTC not to cause me to tell people to port over to Aliv in order to make Marco’s

Munroe - I’m exactly man for the job FROM PAGE ONE that anybody thinks they’re immune to crime,” the minister said when asked to respond to people who have insisted that in representing a sexual offender previously, he was

“The one thing that I can tell you is my experience permits me to know exactly how you can attack any piece of legislation.

It permits me to be able to know what you have to do to ensure that legislation is bulletproof.” not minded to ensure the complete implementation of a sex offender’s registry.

“Somehow that would be a stupid person who would think that I think either of my two daughters (or) any of my children are immune

to crime.

“We need to get out of that stupid way of thinking.

“The one thing that I can tell you is my experience permits me to know exactly how you can attack any piece of legislation. It permits me to be able to know what you have to do to ensure that legislation is bulletproof.

Concept “We hire hackers to tell us how to safeguard our system from hacking so this concept that somebody who has no clue whatsoever about how you attack a city can defend the city is just foolish and I would simply call that an incredibly stupid person.”

Regarding the death penalty, Mr Munroe said the government’s position was to enforce all laws.

The issue has been a topical one for years and frequently becomes a point of national discussion after a heinous crime.

Marco City MP Michael Pintard told the House of Assembly on Wednesday

that in the wake of a recent brutal killing, it was now time for MPs to come together to better define the worst of the worst in criminal proceedings.

The death penalty is on the country’s lawbooks, however, the last hanging execution in The Bahamas occurred on January 6, 2000.

Mr Munroe said: “As far as I’m aware the DavisCooper administration’s position is to enforce all of the laws that are on the books.

“The thing people will simply say ‘Oh I did murder cases,’ yes, so I know how you can attack something.

“All of the skills that I use to question and to challenge laws will now be channeled into how we do things properly because it’s pointless, as we’ve seen, to get somebody sentenced to death in the Supreme Court be the subject of it being overturned by the Bahamas Court of Appeal or it being overturned by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

“So, if those silly people don’t want people who have experience in the areas

to be involved now when guarding against it, if they would have their way you would have people that put laws in place that are never going to withstand an appellate process.

“As a people we have to understand that we are a country of laws and when we design our laws, we have to design them to stand up so when you get somebody sentenced to death, they remain sentenced to death.”

Views He continued: “I have my views on how that can be done and I certainly will be sharing them with my colleagues. I have spoken about them publicly.

“I have always gone on the record as supporting the death penalty but not for any deterrent reason whatsoever and so we will see what we can do about it and I’m happy to hear Mr Pintard say that they would cooperate.

“It’ll be interesting to see if they actually do because a promise is a comfort to a fool,” Mr Munroe said.

alert work.

“They have had sufficient time. I don’t intend to be patient with them.”

Concerning logistical problems with the sexual offender’s registry, Mr Munroe said there were many people released since the law came into force in 2019.

Those people have to now be found in order to meet the reporting requirements.

“It will prove a logistical problem now because persons would have been released. We would have to find them.

“If we can get them on the register to get them to report as they need to report.

“As minister I would have to determine in consultation with the director and the commissioner of the correctional institution who should be notified and to what extent.”

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Death Notice For Sonia Patricia Fay Gibson Callender, 87 a resident of Soldier Road died at Doctor’s Hospital Thursday, November 4th, 2021.

She is the daughter of the Late Timothy Gibson Composer of The National Anthem of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas and his wife the Late Rosena Hilton Gibson.

She is survived by Laura Callender Brown, Lee and JoAnn Callender, Barton Callender, Kea Callender, Nikolai Callender, Gail Newbold Munroe, Carol Raad, Paul Gibson and Langton and Eva Hilton; and a host of other relatives and friends too numerous to mention.

Funeral arrangements are entrusted to THE NEW COMMONWEALTH FUNERAL HOME and will be announced at a later date.

PAGE 4, Friday, November 12, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

PM: Bahamas is ‘safely and wisely’ opening for business

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis told a group of tourism stakeholders yesterday that the Bahamas is “safely and wisely” opening for business, while noting a decline in COVID-19 cases and hospital rates.

He highlighted positive trends in the country’s COVID-19 situation and the improving tourist numbers while addressing the Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference and Operation Summit at Baha Mar. In his remarks, Mr Davis noted the expansion of testing protocols and access to vaccines. He referred to the impending end to the country’s state of emergency to be replaced by health legislation for the managing COVID-19.

“These measures alone should give you great comfort that The Bahamas is safely and wisely opening for business. The expansion in testing, the rapid increase in vaccination uptake, and the improvement in trace and contact seem to be having the desired effect. Levels of infection (are) weaning.

Hospitalisations are falling,” he said.

“Restrictions on international travel are in line with globally accepted safety protocols. As a result, our tourist numbers are rising and bookings for the next quarter and beyond are at historically high levels.”

Mr Davis also highlighted the government’s commitment to build a new hospital on New Providence and Grand Bahama as well as healthcare developments in the Family Islands.

“We will make major investments in developing and improving (our) mini hospitals in Abaco, Exuma and Eleuthera and construct new satellite clinics and refurbish existing ones with telemedicine capacity for other Family Islands,” he said.

“My government is convinced beyond doubt that by alleviating the COVID19 health crisis and strengthening our healthcare infrastructure, we will be well placed to secure our economic future.

“I’m happy to report that The Bahamas is now on course to experience a rapid rebound in tourist arrivals to pre-pandemic levels meaning we should soon recover our position as a premier destination for business and leisure travels. The climate for the investment of tourism continues to improve every day.”

He added: “We are encouraging the investor community to pursue further developments and economic growth in the Family Islands with high end boutique resorts, bed and breakfast establishments, fishing lodges, and exclusive villas that would cater to those visitors seeking a more island way of life.

“Our plan for each island will focus on the island’s niche in the tourism market and promote unique opportunities….

In the spirit of partnership offer stronger incentives for international investors to partner with Bahamian owned and joint vendor boutique hotels.

In conjunction with the Residency by Investments programme we are encouraging joint ventures with Bahamians on projects with sustained economic growth. Through Bahamas

PRIME Minister and Minister of Finance Philip Davis speaks during the opening of the 10th Anniversary Edition of the Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference and Operations Summit (CHICOS) at Baha Mar. (BIS Photos / Eric Rose) Invest, we will create the framework to expedite projects under this initiative.”

The prime minister said officials are now considering projects that will upgrade the airport infrastructure throughout the islands to enhance the visitor experience and encourage direct international flights.

He pointed out that the Nassau Cruise Port is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion by Summer 2022.

‘TRULY A NEW DAY’ AS SENATE PASSES COVID-19 BILL

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

THE Senate last night passed legislation that will lead to the end of suspensions of certain provisions put in place under the state of emergency.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Special Provisions Bill 2021 addresses the suspension of local government elections and school board elections as well as the suspension of the renewal of permits under the Immigration Act, among other things, which were in place during the state of emergency.

The state of emergency ends tomorrow, however, health and safety regulations which were tabled in the House of Assembly earlier this month will come into force and empower the Ministry of Health and Wellness to manage the ongoing pandemic.

Attorney General Ryan Pinder, while presenting his contribution to the debate on the legislation, pointed out that due to the Emergency Powers Orders, certain rights, obligations and laws were suspended.

“This is truly a new day,” he said. “It’s a new day where immediately upon coming to office this PLP government has committed to deliver on core principles of the mandate that the people of The Bahamas gave us.

“This Bill is an example of just that.

“The Bill we debate today is the last piece to transition the country out of a state of emergency which has lasted in excess of 18 months into a state of normalcy – into a state where we do not govern ultra vires to the laws of The Bahamas in a state where we become regularised in our day-to-day activities as a country.

“It is important for the Bahamian people to know that under

ATTORNEY General Ryan Pinder. (File photo)

the state of emergency, certain rights and obligations and laws were suspended. Once the state of emergency expires, which will occur (at) midnight tomorrow night, it is important for the state of the country that we transition smoothly out of that state of emergency.

“There are certain provisions as mentioned that were suspended according to the Emergency Powers.

“I will summarise all of the provisions in the interest of the Bahamian people and members of the Senate.”

Mr Pinder listed the points of the Bill that he wanted to emphasise – provisions that were suspended that will now resume.

“This Bill seeks to permit adequate time for the conducting of

local government elections and school board elections,” he said.

“Local government elections had been suspended beyond the period of time permitted in the Local Government Act and the same for the school board elections.

“We seek to continue this in a transition period of 90 days to allow for the proper and orderly conducting of these elections.

Certainly if we can hold a general election in this country we can certainly hold local government and school board elections.

“I am informed that the minister of local government has set a time for elections in the first quarter 2022 within the prescribed 90 days that this Bill gives.

“We look forward to the resumption of local government elections and their conduct in the Family Islands.”

Mr Pinder also shed light on payment methods practised by the National Insurance Board which he considered unlawful.

“We look to continue to provide the safety and support to the Bahamian people who need it most by not interrupting the method of payment of their NIB benefits,” he said.

“NIB during the state of emergency was utilising payment service providers to be able to electronically pay benefits to the Bahamian people.

“The use of these third party payment providers is in contravention of the Data Protection Act because NIB is

sharing individual’s data with third parties without their explicit consent.

“We certainly think it is imperative that we do not interrupt the payment of support benefits to Bahamians who need it most.

“In that vein this Bill seeks to extend for a three-month period, the ability for NIB to continue paying in this fashion.

NIB will have three months to find a viable solution to electronic payments of benefits to the Bahamian people.”

He said officials at NIB are comfortable that this is enough time and he said the government is not interested in giving more time than that.

Moving on to another point addressed in the Bill where immigration approvals were practically suspended during the pandemic, Senator Pinder said business will now resume.

“This Bill seeks to provide an extension under the Immigration Act,” he said.

“During the state of emergency there would have been work permits and residency visas that would have expired and due to lock downs and the rotation of the civil service and the like, the expiration of these work permits and visas were suspended.

“Now it would not be prudent if we, on Saturday, November 13, would cause for all the people who were unable to renew their work permits and visas to be automatically in contravention of the law and illegally in The Bahamas.

“Through consultation with the Department of Immigration they feel three months is an adequate time to have renewal applications submitted, processed and approved or declined according to normal policies and procedures of the Department of Immigration.”

THE TRIBUNE

GOVT REVIEWING HOW COVID FUNDING SPENT FROM PAGE ONE “There was no defined amount and so what it requires is us having our financial experts to go and look through and identify what was done under emergency spending.

What was done as far as the food security programme and who those vendors are and so we have engaged that already.

“We spoke to the financial secretary who has said that he has a team who are going to look through and identify these amounts so we can get a handle on it.”

He continued: “Of course you know the Davis administration – it’s a question that was asked when the administration would have been in opposition. It would have been, who are these vendors and what was sent to them and so that’s something that we have asked our financial team to look at and to give us an answer on.

“We are told that a full review according to the financial secretary is being done and a report will be made available on the emergency spending during the pandemic.”

In a report from the International Monetary Fund back in January, the Minnis administration pledged that the Auditor General would probe all COVID-19 related spending and revenue losses in a bid to uncover any “irregularities.”.

The fund, in a newlyreleased full Article IV report on The Bahamas, said at the time that this effort – which will see the Auditor General complete his investigation of pandemic-related actions taken in the prior 20192020 fiscal year by March 2021 – was key to fostering public trust in the government and ensuring value for money was obtained for every dollar spent.

Later in August, Mr Davis called for more accountability and transparency by the Minnis administration on the awarding of COVID-19 related contracts.

“It is relevant, I think, to note here that since last March, he (thenPrime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis) has had the power to reward his political donors and insiders with pandemic spending contracts – without being transparent or accountable and without having to debate his choices in this House or defend his decisions to the public,” Mr Davis said at the time.

“The anti-corruption non-profit group Transparency International has said COVID-19 is a corruption crisis as well as a health and economic crisis.

“In their report they talk about the importance of ensuring that funds for COVID treatment and relief are ‘not lost to corruption and reach the intended recipients’.”

He added: “So on the one hand, we have Transparency International recommending that countries ensure open and transparent contracting. And then on the other hand, the competent authority has so far refused to answer the simplest questions from the Bahamian public—questions, like who was paid how much, and for what?

Millions borrowed in the name of the people— don’t the people deserve answers?”

Tribune Business also reported the government had failed to meet the Auditor General’s demand to provide ownership details on all the companies awarded COVID-related contracts despite this being deemed “pivotal” to good governance.

The revelation was in the Office of the Auditor General’s report on how the government used the proceeds from last June’s emergency $250m International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan that kept the country and government afloat during the pandemic’s peak. It also reveals its request for information on who beneficially owns these entities remains “pending”.

Friday, November 12, 2021, PAGE 5

PM: Effort to change law on marital rape should be part of national conversation

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis says he believes a national conversation is needed concerning the criminalisation of marital rape, noting the country remains one of the few in the world that has no legislation addressing the issue.

“Marital rape is wrong,” Mr Davis said in a tweet from his verified Twitter account yesterday. “We remain one of the few countries where that is not recognised in the law. An effort to change the law should be part of a larger national conversation and consensus. I very much support having that national conversation.”

Mr Davis’ comments came after he recently indicated to a local daily that his administration could not commit to prioritising the criminalisation of marital rape while in office.

“I have too many other things on my agenda to be thinking about,” he told the Nassau Guardian on Wednesday when asked about the issue.

However, Mr Davis’ response is not surprising as he made similar comments

last year when asked by The Tribune if criminalising marital rape would be a key item on his government’s agenda if elected. He was opposition leader at the time.

“Let me just say this: there are a number of policy initiatives that we as a government, when we are elected, which we will have to prioritise,” Mr Davis said last year.

“So, for example, our primary focus would have to be on the economy because

that’s priority number one because the only demographic of our society that seems to be doing well in this economy is that two percent at the top. The middle class is suffering.

Those ordinary Bahamians are suffering and continue to be weighted upon by what this government is doing to them. So for me to say prioritise marital rape, to commit right now….we commit that we will address it.”

Mr Davis has previously

condemned the practice, however, saying his party does not support men raping their wives.

The issue has returned to the national spotlight after it was reported many respondents of a recent study believe that spouses cannot rape their partners.

The findings were highlighted in the study titled, “Mental Health and Negative Sexual Experiences of Bahamian University Students.”

The study found that 39.6 percent of male and 43.8 percent of female respondents at the University of The Bahamas agreed that a married couple cannot rape each other.

However, there have also been widespread calls to criminalise marital rape in recent years.

When contacted by The Tribune yesterday, local activist Khandi Gibson said she believes now is the time for the country to decide whether spousal rape should be considered a crime.

She also condemned marital rape.

“I personally feel like no is no. . .A man has no right to hop on you and have sex with you without giving your consent,” she told The

Tribune yesterday. “We need to have a discussion on that.”

Asked if she thought the issue should be a priority for the Davis administration, she replied in the affirmative, but also pointed to other issues of sexual violence and violence against children that need to be addressed as well.

“I believe everything right now needs to be a priority so it’s not just that. . . I feel like everything concerning human rights should be a priority,” she said.

In 2018, then-Attorney General Carl Bethel told the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland that the Minnis administration had drafted an amendment to the Sexual Offences Act to outlaw aggravated spousal sexual abuse.

At the time Mr Bethel said although the proposed offence was not to be labeled marital rape, it had all the elements of the offence of rape in a marriage.

However, the legislation was never brought to Parliament by the former administration.

MINISTER ASSESSES CLINICS IN ANDROS MINISTER of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville toured clinics in North, Central and South Andros yesterday to assess their condition and the needs of the staff.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Technical and Vocational Training Zane Lightbourne and Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Leon Lundy, as well as health officials accompanied Minister Darville.

(BIS Photos/Ulric Woodside)

AG CONGRATULATES INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNAL ON TECH ADVANCEMENTS

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net ATTORNEY General Ryan Pinder yesterday congratulated the Industrial Tribunal on the technological advancements it made over the last year to improve court services during a ceremony to mark the opening of its legal year.

Yesterday’s ceremony, which was held virtually, also featured congratulatory remarks from leading jurists in the Caribbean, including president of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Adrian Saunders; president of the Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago, Deborah Thomas-Felix and chairman of the Commonwealth Education Council, Dennis Byron.

This year’s theme is titled “The Industrial Tribunal: The New Digital Age, A Year of Progress.”

In his remarks, Mr Pinder highlighted yesterday’s event as the second virtual opening ceremony hosted by the Industrial Tribunal since the implementation of its smart court services.

He said: “It has set the standard

in The Bahamas with the implementation of the first smart courts, having constructed four smart courts; three in New Providence and one in Freeport, Grand Bahama. In addition, the Industrial Tribunal has implemented the first e-filing platform and case management solution in The Bahamas.

“Remarkably, the Industrial Tribunal has not only set the standard in The Bahamas, it has also blazed trails in the Caribbean region with these accomplishments. Indeed, The Bahamas can proudly boast today of having the remarkable distinction of four smart courts, with a fully operational and user-friendly e-filing and case management solution.”

Mr Pinder said the move speaks to the innovativeness and resourcefulness of the Industrial Tribunal, while also praising the contributions made by Indira Demeritte- Francis, the Industrial Tribunal’s president.

He also noted that the court’s digitisation efforts fell in line with the Davis administration’s plans for total digital transformation of all sectors in Bahamian society.

He added: “Whilst courts all around the world, including in The

Bahamas were closing their doors due to the pandemic, Madam President, imbued with the vision and mission of the Tribunal to provide a quick and economical judicial forum for deciding trade disputes within a reasonable time, set about constructing new smart courts to service The Bahamian public.

“The decisive action by Madam President in implementing the smart courts aligns with my government’s vision and plans for a new direction and a new way forward in every aspect of our existence, moving towards transformative change. Some of these plans have been highlighted by the honourable Prime Minister, Philip Edward Davis in his recent presentation of the 2021/2022 Supplementary Budget in the House of Assembly.”

“Moreover, the honourable prime minister stated in his delivery of his speech from the throne at the opening of Parliament... that ‘my government will introduce legislation to facilitate a comprehensive programme of digitisation for the country.’

“The Governor General also stated that ‘my government will re-establish harmonious tripartite

relations between labour, employers and the government.

“My government will ensure that all labour issues are addressed as a matter of priority.’ Certainly, this framework of smart courts and the digitisation goes a long way in achieving that goal of the government,” Mr Pinder also said.

Mrs Demeritte-Francis, who also spoke yesterday, told those attending that by incorporating new digital services, the court was able to fulfil all of its goals last year.

“The Industrial Tribunal has now fulfilled its 2020 objectives to implement the four smart courts within The Commonwealth of The Bahamas,” she said. “What was promised is now delivered.

“There is more convenience for the judge and the parties, increase of faster and timely settlements, greater convenience to litigant’s cost savings, to litigant’s faster turnaround time for service request, the ability to share court e-files with litigants and the options to have cases heard online by the judges from their residence if necessary or online in the courtroom.”

BELLA’S MOTHER AND BOYFRIEND CHARGED

FROM PAGE ONE unnecessary suffering and injury to her health.

Walker’s reported boyfriend, Darion Smith, 33, was also charged with a count of child cruelty and murder, after police accused him of intentionally and unlawfully causing Bella’s death on the day in question.

The couple did not show any visible emotions when the charges were read to them, although Walker, who appeared to be slightly disheveled, was asked to speak up when she confirmed her date of birth, as the magistrate could not hear her soft tone when she spoke the first time.

During the hearing, Chief Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt

noted that all of the matters were related to the more severe charge of murder. As a result, she said the prosecution would proceed by way of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

The magistrate said that as the matter had attracted “much national concern,” the Department of Public Prosecutions might consider fast tracking the VBI

to the Supreme Court. She subsequently adjourned the matter to December 17 for a status hearing.

In the meantime, both accused were denied bail and remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

Walker is represented by attorney Barry Sawyer.

While her sister was present during the hearing, it

did not appear that anyone attended court for Smith.

Also absent during the arraignment was Bella’s father, Deno Smith, who was visibly distraught when he spoke to reporters outside the Magistrate’s Court complex.

Although he did not say much, he said he was “thankful for the support” of the public.

PAGE 6, Friday, November 12, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

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Marital rape issue is a stain on our reputation IT’S hard to understand why the issue of marital or spousal rape is still a subject of discussion in this country.

There’s so much else wrong that needs to be put right in our society you would have thought in this day and age we would have resolved this issue years ago.

For a partner to force themselves on their spouse against their will is rape, nothing else and we applaud Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis for stating his very clear view that he agrees with this and that spousal rape should be treated as a crime.

“Marital rape is wrong,” Mr Davis said in a tweet.

“We remain one of the few countries where that is not recognised in the law.

An effort to change the law should be part of a larger national conversation and consensus. I very much support having that national conversation.”

How hard is it to accept that all nonconsensual sex is rape? If a woman – or indeed a man – says ‘no’ that should be the end of the discussion.

As Mr Davis pointed out most countries have laws making spousal rape illegal yet for some reason we find it impossible to take that step.

Our neighbours to the north put this into law years ago with all 50 states in the US having ruled marital rape is illegal. Are those millions of God-fearing Americans – many of whom share the same churches as we do – all wrong?

And, of course, it is the churches and their teachings many people point to when they defend the “right” of one partner to force themselves on another.

Sex within a marriage should be an act of love, not an act of violence and intimidation.

When you read your Bible the message we’re given is quite clear: “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them” (Colossians 3:19).

Where does forcing your partner to submit to sex fit in with this instruction not to be harsh?

Of course, it doesn’t.

But the people who persist in defending the “right” of forcing yourself on a partner don’t want to hear that. When you hear them saying this ask yourself why?

Who in this modern, supposedly civilised world could even contemplate defending such intimate violation?

Think what it is actually saying about them?

Sadly things are very likely not to change any time soon.

To do so we would need proper sex education in our schools explaining clearly to our young people – who engage in sex much earlier than previous generations – exactly how they should behave in a relationship.

In many homes the parenting structure has broken down and we suspect things like this issue are not even discussed. Somehow that needs to change.

Unfortunately Mr Davis –- despite making his position clear – says his administration has too much on its agenda to act now.

He’d rather have a national debate about the issue – what’s called kicking the ball into the long grass and hoping it stays hidden there for a while.

This shouldn’t happen. Mr Davis and his ministers should make time, force through a resolution on a matter which is a stain on our reputation in the international arena.

Bahamian men who act like a Pithecanthropus should be treated like one EDITOR, The Tribune.

Academicians at the University of The Bahamas (UB), according to The Nassau Guardian, conducted a poll in which it was discovered that nearly 25 percent of its female participants were raped. This sobering statistic, I believe, is representative of a significant percentage of the overall population. I know of at least seven victims of sexual abuse, which underscores the troubling fact that rape in The Bahamas is a systemic issue.

Famed American philosopher Dr Sam Harris once nonchalantly remarked that, if given a choice to get rid of either religion and rape, he wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of the former. Harris’ insensitive remarks would no doubt deeply offend rape victims at UB. Along with fellow New Atheists Christopher Hitchens, Daniel C Dennett and Richard Dawkins, Harris champions the Dawinian Evolutionary theory that British biologist Charles Darwin postulated in the latter part of the 19th century. Evolution is an alternative to biblical creationism, for which Harris and Co. have a disdain – for obvious reasons, not the least of which is having to give an account to Jesus Christ on the day of judgment. With God out of the picture, there are no moral absolutes with Harris and Co. Right and wrong are judged on the basis of human empathy. Militant atheists cannot even say with a straight face that rape is morally reprehensible.

Darwinism has had devastating ramifications in Hitler’s Germany, with his “survival

of the fittest” ideology, in which the Führer attempted to preserve the purity of the Aryan race. Hitler was a racist.

In the Darwinian worldview, human beings (or homo sapiens) are a notch above apes, gorillas and orangutans – species that routinely engage in rape. Man is hence stripped of his imago dei.

Scientists believe that they have found the missing link between man and his primal ancestors, with the purported discovery of the Pithecanthropus (ape-man), the Java Man (Homo Erectus) and Sinanthropus (Chinese-man).

Any violent male aggression meted out against women is simply rationalized away as men exhibiting their primal urges to breed, as studies have purportedly demonstrated in the aggressive sexual behaviour of male apes. This seems to be the message hinted at in an American Scientist writeup entitled “Despicable, Yes, but Not Inexplicable” by one Craig Stanford. This write-up is similar to Duetsche Welle’s “Male apes are natural sexual harassers.” In this piece, the writer wrote the following: “With baboons showing the same behaviour, the researchers suggest sexual intimidation might be a common trait in primates living in large groups – particularly when males are typically larger than females.

That would include humans. Huchard suggests that their recent findings “open the possibility that sexual intimidation has an evolutionary basis.” It would even explain sexual violence

of men towards women.”

Again, notice the rationalization for rape. It is hoped that the academicians at UB do not subscribe to this aberrant worldview that removes God from the equation.

Only a biblical worldview can successfully counter a belief system that has very little regard for women and children. The Bible makes it painstakingly clear that sexual perverts will be relegated to the lake of fire. Bahamian rapists, while behaving like a Pithecanthropus (ape-man), are human beings created in the image of God; and are fully aware that their crimes against women are sinful.

Jude 10 calls such evildoers “brute beasts.”

I am willing to wager that many of these Bahamian perpetrators of sexual abuse were given a godless upbringing, where church and Sunday school attendance were few and far between.

The Progressive Liberal Party government, the Bahamas Christian Council, UB, Bahamas Crisis Centre and other stakeholders must all make a concerted effort to address the issue of rape in this country. I personally believe that corporal punishment with the cat-o-nine tail in a public setting would be a very effective deterrent to rape and other forms of sexual abuse. If Bahamian rapists persists in acting like a Pithecanthropus, then they should be treated like one.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama November 10, 2021.

Hoping we choose a sustainable future EDITOR, The Tribune.

I am Promise Russell, and I am a Bahamas Environmental Steward Scholar.

This programme aims to train youth like me into becoming the next generation of environmental stewards.

My love for the ocean existed from a young age.

At the beginning of 10th grade I went on my very first snorkel in the ocean.

The beautiful variety of marine life around me and the weightless feeling of the water enveloping my being made me fall in love with the oceanic world. Around this time I became a lot more aware of environmental issues surrounding us.

There’s a special beach in West Grand Bahama where I lived, my family would go there often. You can see many boats like cruise ships, mail boats and sadly oil tankers come in from here. Over time I saw ship traffic increase and people visiting the beach and tourism decrease.

I wonder why oil spills are tolerated, especially in our country where we rely on our reefs for protection and income. I realize it’s because most Bahamians do not know the effects of an oil spill to our marine environment and just how crucial our ocean is to our survival.

Oil is a deadly substance, I’m sure no one would want to ingest it accidentally while swimming.

So why would marine life? Bahamian waters are home to many species that beach for air, such as whales, turtles, and dolphins. Also,

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net sea birds which sometimes dive into or lay on top of the water.

These animals do not know the dangers of ingesting oil until it is too late.

It affects their immune system, their lungs, and their reproductive ability.

Tiny fishes can also accidentally ingest oil while trying to eat phytoplankton (microscopic algae/plants) and zooplankton (microscopic animals) which are on the surface of the water.

If these marine animals do survive ingesting oil they are then eaten by a predator or bigger fish, which in turn are eaten by their predator.

Soon, these infected species are eaten by us, the top of the food chain.

The Bahamas isn’t the only place oil spills can and have occurred. Because all of our oceans are connected we are all affected by any oil spill.

Also, we are experiencing more frequent and intense hurricanes, sea level rise, coral bleaching, blazing temperatures, and toxic food.

All these things are results of Climate Change and use of fossil fuels.

This is not an ideal situation if the health of the Bahamian people and the tourists in our waters are a priority.

One huge oil spill that happened in Grand Bahama during Hurricane Dorian was the oil spill from South Riding Point, which has still not been cleaned up

completely.

At the time of this spill, I and many other Bahamians were not aware of just how devastating this was.

This week there is a gathering of world leaders called COP 26, which is short for Conference of Parties. Here leaders from across the globe will discuss issues stopping their countries from curbing emissions of CO2 and other harmful gases. This is one of the most important gatherings to Combat Climate change because those in charge of doing something about it can finally put their heads together and get it done.

Our job is to make sure our leaders know and understand the importance of protecting our ocean and marine life.

How can we ask other countries for financial support to combat climate change when we are not using our provided renewable energy?

The future of our country is in our own hands and I hope that we will choose a sustainable future and not a disastrous one that we will not be able to come back from.

I implore my Bahamian people, especially my fellow youth, to protect the ocean that takes care of us. For when it is gone, it is gone for good.

No amount of money can bring back a dead ocean.

This is our responsibility as citizens of this nation and children of this earth.

PROMISE RUSSELL Nassau, November 11, 2021.

HOW ACCURATE HAVE THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS BEEN? EDITOR, The Tribune.

If The Tribune had a quote of the week, certainly that attributed to MP Kwasi Thompson, MP for East Grand Bahama when he said…paraphrase…we only need to state what we wish to –we don’t state in financial statements everything.

Sorry Minister, not the precise text but close.

This is scary to say the worst – your Government can decide, what it will state in a financial statement and what it will not.

We can’t forget it was the Minnis government, that copied Barbados with the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Sounded great but incredibly, no one in the House of Assembly, picked up that the Government had

the legal authority to exclude, whatever they wished from the fiscal and financial statement they issued, as required by the Act one time a report on the calling of an election.

Conclusion….how accurate have been any or all of the financial statements since the Act? What will Deloitte find? Already suggested a difference – understated of $1bn.

Competent? Well seems not, but all they did was incredibly legal – they wrote the Law so it was.

W POWELL Nassau, November 6, 2021,

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 12, 2021, PAGE 7

FORMER EMPLOYEES ACCUSED OF STEALING NEARLY $500,000

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MANAGER at Battery and Tyre Specialists realised something was wrong when he discovered discrepancies on reviewing some of the company’s invoices, a court was told.

He made the comment while testifying against four of his former employees who are accused of collectively stealing nearly $500,000 from the establishment over a two-year period.

In 2018, Anthonique Bowleg, Alice Murphy, Bradlisha Bullard and Shalesia Bannister were charged with several fraud related offences concerning $495,325.57 they were accused of stealing from Battery and Tyre Specialists from as far back as 2016.

Prosecutors said Bannister and Bowleg purchased several luxury items with the money they obtained illegally.

They allege that Bowleg stole $111,498.55 by reason of her employment between April 2017 and March 2018 and laundered this money between those dates.

Bowleg is also alleged to have used money that represented the proceeds of her criminal activities to purchase Michael Kors watches, a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses, a Gucci backpack, a Gucci luggage bag and a 42-inch flat screen television, intending to conceal or disguise those items.

When the women appeared before Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain three years ago, they denied the allegations.

As a result, the matter was

adjourned and transferred to Magistrate Samuel McKinney for trial.

When Carl McCartney gave evidence, he said he was the warehouse manager of the establishment.

He said that around the time of the incident, the supervisor for the cashier’s cage where all of the accused worked, had gone away.

He said because of this, they had a junior employee filling in for her, and during that period, their point of sale (POS) system failed.

“Noticing that the POS system went down, I took it upon myself to assist with combing through invoices at the end of the day,” he said.

“After that, I discovered a discrepancy with a return item. A large battery was returned in the POS system but had not been returned (to the warehouse) physically.”

Mr McCartney said upon further investigation, he printed out several reports from the POS system, including customer purchases and physical count and inventory reports, in which he noticed discrepancies.

He said he “brought the evidence” to another manager then called the police.

He also said he started gathering records, reports and video surveillance that were taken between January 2016 and March 2018.

“I showed the videos to our IT manager who pulled the footage and burnt it onto a CD for the police,” he said.

That footage, which was shown to the court during a previous court sitting, concerned all of the accused as well as items listed as returned in Battery and Tyre’s point of sale system, that weren’t present in their inventory.

The case continues.

RETRIAL ORDERED FOR MAN CONVICTED OF KIDNAPPING, ATTEMPTED ARMED ROBBERY

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net THE Court of Appeal has reopened the appeal and ordered the retrial of a fourth man who was convicted of kidnapping and attempting to rob a senior immigration officer and his girlfriend in 2013.

The latest ruling comes just months after the court overturned the convictions of two other men who were found guilty of murdering the couple eight years ago.

On December 21, 2013, the decomposed remains of senior immigration officer Shane Gardiner and his girlfriend Tishka Braynen were found on the grounds of Newbold Farms in Fresh Creek, Andros. Both victims had been killed execution style and had each received a gunshot wound to the head.

Daniel Coakley, Zintworn Duncombe, James Johnson and Cordero Saunders were later tried together for the couple’s murder, kidnapping and attempted armed robbery. At the conclusion of the trial, Coakley was convicted on all counts, with the exception of the murder charges.

Shortly after, he appealed his convictions; however, his application was denied by the Court of Appeal in April 2018.

Following the dismissal of Coakley’s appeal, the applications of Saunders, Duncombe and Johnson were heard and allowed on the basis of a material irregularity—a ground not raised in Coakley’s appeal.

After his co-accused were granted a retrial, Coakley argued the material irregularity which resulted in their appeals being allowed affected the entire trial and the safety of the verdicts of all involved.

He argued that in view of this fact, he should be afforded the benefit of a retrial as Saunders, Duncombe and Johnson were.

Yesterday, Justices Sir Michael Barnett, Milton Evans and Carolita Bethell allowed Coakley’s latest appeal and quashed his convictions and sentences, before ordering the applicant to be retried at the same time as his co-accused.

In the judgment, delivered

by Sir Michael, the panel noted there is a jurisdiction that allows a court to reopen a concluded appeal in “exceptional circumstances.”

“The present application involves exceptional circumstances as the material irregularity which the court found in the Saunders, Duncombe and Johnson appeals affected the entire trial and therefore the safety of all

the verdicts,” Sir Michael stated. “The interests of justice require that the applicant should undergo a retrial as will his co-accused. “... It is not in the interests of justice that a retrial takes place for Duncombe, Saunders and Johnson but not for Coakley. I would allow the application to reopen the appeal and quash the convictions and sentences and order that Mr. Coakley be retried at the same time as Messrs Duncombe, Saunders and Johnson.”

MAN STABLE AFTER SHOOTING

A MAN is in stable condition in hospital after he was shot on Wednesday.

Police said they received reports of the shooting in Adelaide Village after 3pm.

Responding officers were informed that a man was at a boat ramp when he was approached by a masked man armed with a firearm.

The assailant discharged the weapon in the direction of the victim, hitting him several times about the body.

The victim was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle.

An investigation is ongoing.

VISITORS FLOCK TO BAHAMAS PAVILLION AT EXPO2020 DUBAI

AMBASSADOR TONY JOUDI, Commissioner General, hosting a group of pupils from Emirate School.

VISITORS are pouring into the Bahamas Pavillion at Expo2020 Dubai. From the official opening on October 1, through to November 10, the expo hosted a quarter of a million excited visitors, all eager to learn more about The Bahamas.

“They want to experience the beauty, history, culture and, yes, the eco-challenges of our small island nation,” a press release from the pavillion’s’s representatives said.

“They have been an eclectic group – families

STAMPING Expo2020 passports with

The Bahamas seal.

VISITORS crowd the Bahamas Pavillion at Expo2020 Dubai.

who wonder at the incredible blues of our ocean; world travellers, who have vowed that The Bahamas will be the next stop in their calendar; school parties, who are learning about us, many for the first time. . .”

A major thrust for the pavillion is business development.

Hundreds of business persons have left their cards, expressing interest in doing business here, representatives said.

The expo closes on March 31, 2022.

PAGE 8, Friday, November 12, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

It’s not what you say... but how you say it!!

MINISTER of National Security Wayne Munroe .

T

HIS week has been hard for Bahamians.

Ever since news broke late last Friday that a beautiful, young baby girl affectionately known as ‘Bella’ lost her life, there’s been a pall cast over the nation.

There has been noticeable verbal lashing out from grieving Bahamians on social media, upset at the senselessness of it all.

An online petition championing the return of the cat-o-nine tails has racked up close to twenty thousand signatures in record time.

Many of our people – fueled by unproven claims on social media – are crying out for a much-discussed sexual offender’s registry.

Many are just crying. Some groups have even taken to the streets.

In the midst of all this, the Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe found himself in the spotlight.

Stuck on Stupid At this week’s press briefing facilitated by the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr Munroe addressed the media and fielded questions.

From the break, he seemed peeved.

He talked a little about Bella’s tragic end, careful not to say too much since the case is now before the courts. Munroe laid out his thoughts on a sexual offender’s registry (he questions the efficacy), made glib remarks directed at those he feels injected unproven elements into this national tragedy, and appeared pretty much done with “some” Bahamians.

Then a reporter asked a question that opened the floodgates.

Reporter: “What would you say to critics who say that you previously represented a sexual offender so you wouldn’t put, I guess, the necessary effort into the sex offender’s registry that somebody else would have?”

Munroe: “I would say that’s an incredibly stupid person. Um, that would be

an incredibly stupid person who would believe that anybody thinks they’re immune to crime. Um, somehow that would be a stupid person who would think that I think that either of my two daughters, any of my children, are [sic] immune to crime.”

Munroe seemed upset.

Not at the reporter, mind you, but likely at the droves of online “stupid’’ Bahamians who have indeed raised the same question and hurled accusations at him from the comfort of their keyboards.

The minister went on to liken himself to a hacker who, I guess, once hacked the law for his clients’ benefit? He also painted the picture of himself as someone who can defend a city because he knows how to attack the city, a feat anyone unlearned in the ‘art of war’ could never pull off.

Yes, it was a lot.

As someone who has interviewed the National Security Minister in the past (while he was a criminal defence attorney and candidate), I feel I have a fair understanding of his personality type. He’s a “plain speaking” fellow.

So I wasn’t surprised he “popped off’ because of that question.

Munroe (like me in some ways, honestly) is not a politically correct kind of guy. Indeed, you can’t get less politically correct than calling a whole swath of the populace “stupid” because of their emotional reaction during a trying time. (Disclaimer: I know I wouldn’t have done it).

With the “stupid” genie now out of the lamp, Wayne then went on to accuse Bahamians of wishing and wanting there to be a darker abuse aspect to the case, and that’s where he lost even me.

In truth, when the news of this heinous case first broke, it was a well-known (PLP leaning) online “news” website that “reported” on these unproven darker elements and lit all of social media aflame with outrage.

POLICE ON DOWNTOWN TOUR SENIOR members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, including Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle, are pictured on a tour of Downtown Nassau on Wednesday.

Photo: Racardo Thomas/Tribune staff

As the Minister of National Security in the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), a party that went so far as to write to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg about “misinformation” earlier this year, you would think Munroe would know and address that directly.

Instead, the “stupid” Bahamians on the receiving end of this propaganda became objects of his wrath.

Undoubtedly, Munroe is frustrated at having to defend his motives as he attempts to close the loopholes he has identified in “the system”, to the benefit of Bahamians. He’s had a long and successful career both interpreting and arguing the law.

But now he comes before Bahamians as a servant and politician, and rule number one in the politician’s handbook is certainly “try not to offend or alienate your constituents unnecessarily.”

We all want the minister to succeed at his job, but it would be stupid of him not to realise that in times of national mourning, sometimes it’s “not what you say, but how you say it.”

Stupid…and Lazy?

Not only have “some” Bahamians been labeled “stupid” this week, but apparently, a bunch of us are “lazy” too.

At least, that’s the word a top Central Bank inspector used to describe those amongst us who have yet to

grasp or take advantage of online and mobile banking.

A little background: Late last week, Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell made an impassioned plea in the House of Assembly for parliament to do something about the “atrocious” fees Bahamians have to pay to (Canadian) banks, which, according to Mitchell, “don’t give a heck about what’s going on down here.”

Mitchell referenced Barbados Prime Minister Mia Motley, whom he hopes will provide model legislation we can use here to “right this wrong”.

Fast forward to this past Tuesday, when a little-known Central Bank employee named Charles Littrell, an Australian import, lambasted Bahamians whom he feels have brought these millions of dollars in fees on themselves.

Littrell told Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) members that “probably 80 percent” of the fees were generated by people’s “banking habits” because Bahamians chose to bank in person.

According to Littrell (as reported in this newspaper): “Bank fees are a great thing for politicians to whinge about…most banks would be happy not to charge those fees…ninety percent of people in those queues would be better off doing

online and electronic banking…our banking habits impose costs on the banks that are reflected back in their fees...probably 80 percent of the fees generated are [the result of] the choice of people in how they do business. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for that.”

But wait, there’s more.

The Aussie went on to say: “We’re in the middle of a pandemic. Do your banking online, do your banking on a mobile phone, look at remote payment systems, and things like that... if people are too lazy to switch, then it’s their own damn fault. Don’t come complaining to us about fees when you could have switched.”

“Don’t come complaining to us?”

Who is “us”? Well, I’ll be!

Evidently, it’s a new day indeed!

Imagine telling “Grammy” or “Granddaddy” who bank in person – as they have been doing for most of their lives – it’s “their own damn fault” for not getting with the programme? And that they, who stand on long lines for hours inside (and outside, mind you) of banks that they’re ‘lazy?’

For his part, Central Bank governor John Rolle has offered a much more sober approach. In January of this year, he pledged to deliver “greater transparency” on commercial bank

fees, adding that “governance, transparency and consumer protection will also require bolstering.”

That’s what Bahamians want to hear from those in positions of power. Not the verbal beat down Charles Littrell delivered (this of all weeks) in front of a room full of accountants.

(On a separate note, did anyone in that room stand up for Bahamians?

Anyone, anyone? Bueller?

Bueller?)

Now the exciting part of this conversation is what’s to come next.

I take it Mr. Littrell is not too familiar with Mr. Mitchell, especially when Mitchell has power.

You want whingy? Well, Littrell, meet the “whingiest” Bahamian politician in the history of this tiny country.

Having incurred the wrath of Mitchell on many an occasion, I look forward to watching this debate play out. Mitchell says bank fees have been his “whipping horse” for a while. And now Littrell has (inadvertently?) offered himself up as a new ‘whipping boy.’

Good luck with that.

At the end of the day, I’m sure lessons will be learned; it’s not what you say, but how you say it.

P.S. Rest In Peace, D’Onya Bella Walker.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 12, 2021, PAGE 9

Is COVID-19 here to stay?

By SARA SAWYER, Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, ARTURO BARBACHANOGUERRERO, Postdoctoral Researcher in Virology and CODY WARREN, Postdoctoral Fellow in Virology and Immunology, University of Colorado Boulder

immunologists from the University of Colorado Boulder studying animal viruses that infect humans.

An essential focus of our research is to identify and describe the key adaptations that animal viruses require to persist in the human population.

Given the highly transmissible nature of the delta variant, the challenge for eliminating the virus will be much greater, meaning that the virus is more likely to become endemic.

NOW that kids in the US ages five to 11 are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination and the number of fully vaccinated people in the country is rising, many people may be wondering what the endgame is for COVID-19.

Early on in the pandemic, it wasn’t unreasonable to expect that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) might just go away, since historically some pandemic viruses have simply disappeared.

For instance, SARS-CoV, the coronavirus responsible for the first SARS pandemic in 2003, spread to 29 countries and regions, infecting more than 8,000 people from November 2002 to July 2003. But thanks to quick and effective public health interventions, SARS-CoV hasn’t been observed in humans in almost 20 years and is now considered extinct.

On the other hand, pandemic viruses may also gradually settle into a relatively stable rate of occurrence, maintaining a constant pool of infected hosts capable of spreading the virus to others. These viruses are said to be “endemic.”

Examples of endemic viruses in the United States include those that cause the common cold and the seasonal flu that appear year after year. Much like these, the virus that causes COVID-19 likely won’t die out, and most experts now expect it to become endemic.

We are a team of virologists and

• What determines which viruses become endemic?

So why did the first SARS virus from 2003 (SARS-CoV) go extinct while this one (SARSCoV-2) may become endemic?

The ultimate fate of a virus depends on how well it maintains its transmission. Generally speaking, viruses that are highly contagious, meaning that they spread really well from one person to the next, may never die out on their own because they are so good at finding new people to infect.

When a virus first enters a population with no immunity, its contagiousness is defined by scientists using a simple mathematical term, called R0, which is pronounced “R-naught.” This is also referred to as the reproduction number. The reproduction number of a virus represents how many people, on average, are infected by each infected person.

For example, the first SARS-CoV had an R0 of about 2, meaning that each infected person passes the virus to two people on average. For the delta variant strain of SARS-CoV-2, the R0 is between 6 and 7.

The goal for public health authorities is to slow the rate by which viruses spread. Universal masking, social distancing, contact tracing and quarantines are all effective tools to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses.

Since SARS-CoV was poorly transmissible, it just took a little bit of public health intervention to drive the virus to extinction.

It’s clear SARS-CoV-2 is very successful at finding new people to infect, and that people can get infected after vaccination. For these reasons, the transmission of this virus is not expected to end.

It’s important that we consider why SARS-CoV-2 moves so easily from one person to the next, and how human behaviour plays into that virus’ transmission.

SARS-CoV-2 is a respiratory virus that is spread through the air and is efficiently transmitted when people congregate. Critical public health interventions, like mask use and social distancing, have been key in slowing the spread of disease. However, any lapse in these public health measures can have dire consequences.

For instance, a 2020 motorcycle rally brought together nearly 500,000 people in Sturgis, South Dakota, during the early phases of the pandemic. Most of the attendees were unmasked and not practising social distancing. That event was directly responsible for an increase in COVID-19 cases in the state of South Dakota and nationwide. This shows how easily the virus can spread when people let their guard down.

The virus that causes COVID19 is often associated with superspreading events, in which many people are infected all at once, typically by a single infected individual. In fact, our own work has shown that just two percent of the people infected with COVID19 carry 90 percent of the virus that is circulating in a community.

These important “supercarriers”

• Is COVID-19 ever going away?

have a disproportionately large impact on infecting others, and if they aren’t tracked down before they spread the virus to the next person, they will continue to sustain the epidemic. We currently don’t have a nationwide screening programme geared toward identifying these individuals.

Finally, asymptomatically infected people account for roughly half of all infections of COVID-19. This, when coupled with a broad range of time in which people can be infectious – two days before and 10 days after symptoms appear – affords many opportunities for virus transmission, since people who don’t know they are sick generally take few measures to isolate from others.

The contagious nature of SARS-CoV-2 and our highly interconnected society constitute a perfect storm that will likely contribute to sustained virus spread.

• What will our future with COVID-19 look like?

Given the considerations discussed above and what we know about COVID-19 so far, many scientists believe that the virus that causes COVID-19 will likely settle into endemic patterns of transmission. But our inability to eradicate the virus does not mean that all hope is lost.

Our post-pandemic future will heavily depend on how the virus evolves over the coming years.

SARS-CoV-2 is a completely new human virus that is still adapting to its new host. Over time, we may see the virus become less pathogenic, similar to the four coronaviruses that cause the common cold, which represent little more than a seasonal nuisance.

Global vaccination programmes will have the greatest impact on curbing new cases of the disease.

However, the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine campaign so far has touched only a small percentage of people on the planet. In addition, breakthrough infections in vaccinated people still occur because no vaccine is 100% effective. This means that booster shots will likely be needed to maximize vaccine-induced protection against infection.

With global virus surveillance and the speed at which safe and effective vaccines have been developed, we are well poised to tackle the ever-evolving target that is SARS-CoV-2. Influenza is endemic and evolves quickly, but seasonal vaccination enables life to go on as normal. We can expect the same for SARS-CoV-2 – eventually.

• How will we know if and when SARS-CoV-2 becomes endemic?

Four seasonal coronaviruses circulate in humans endemically already. They tend to recur annually, usually during the winter months, and affect children more than adults. The virus that causes COVID-19 has not yet settled down into these predictable patterns and instead is flaring up unpredictably around the globe in ways that are sometimes difficult to predict.

Once rates of SARS-CoV-2 stabilize, we can call it endemic.

But this transition may look different based on where you are in the world. For instance, countries with high vaccine coverage and plentiful boosters may soon settle into predictable spikes of COVID-19 during the winter months when the environmental conditions are more favourable to virus transmission. In contrast, unpredictable epidemics may persist in regions with lower vaccination rates. theconversation.com

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

US URGES CITIZENS TO LEAVE HAITI AMID DEEPENING TURMOIL

By EVENS SANON Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The U.S. government is urging U.S. citizens to leave Haiti because of the country’s deepening insecurity and a severe lack of fuel that has affected hospitals, schools and banks. Gas stations remained closed on Thursday.

The rare warning from the U.S. State Department comes as Haiti’s government and police are struggling to control gangs that have blocked fuel distribution terminals for several weeks.

“Widespread fuel shortages may limit essential services in an emergency, including access to banks, money transfers, urgent medical care, internet and telecommunications, and public and private transportation options,” the State Department warned on Wednesday. “The U.S. Embassy is unlikely to be able to assist U.S. citizens in Haiti with departure if commercial options become unavailable.”

It’s unclear how many

U.S. citizens currently live in Haiti. A State Department official told The Associated Press that it does not provide those statistics and U.S. citizens are not required to register their travel to a foreign country.

Canada also issued a similar warning on Wednesday: “If you’re in Haiti and your presence isn’t essential, consider leaving if you can do so safely.”

The warnings comes as U.S. and Haitian authorities are trying to secure the safe release of 17 members of a missionary group from Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries who were kidnapped by the 400 Mawozo gang on Oct. 16.

There are five children in the group of 16 U.S. citizens and one Canadian. Their Haitian driver also was abducted.

“We request continued prayer for the kidnappers, that God would soften their hearts,” the organization said in a statement on Wednesday. “As you pray, remember the millions of Haitians who are suffering through a time of serious upheaval and unrest.”

On Tuesday, top Haitian government officials acknowledged the widespread lack of fuel during a news conference and said they were working to resolve the situation, although they provided no details.

Defense Minister Enold Joseph said the government is investigating why 30 fuel tanks sent to Haiti’s southern region went missing, adding that he has observed gasoline being sold on the black market.

In addition, Le Nouvelliste newspaper recently reported that truck drivers have been kidnapped and fuel trucks hijacked.

“Everything is upside down,” said Pierre Alex, a 35-year-old who works at a factory that makes clothes hangers. He said his son isn’t able to go to school but can’t work at home either because there is no power and no internet. “I don’t know what saints to call upon to come help me.”

The fuel shortage also has threatened Haiti’s water supply, which depends on generators, and hospitals in Port-au-Prince and beyond.

Marc Edson Augustin,

PEOPLE wrangle over a gas pump as they try to get their tanks filled at a gas station, in Portau-Prince, Haiti, last week. The U.S. government is urging U.S. citizens to leave Haiti given the country’s deepening insecurity and a severe lack of fuel that has affected hospitals, schools and banks. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File) director of St. Luke Hospital, said he can only care for 50 patients with COVID19 despite having 120 beds set aside for them because the company that provides oxygen to the institution has been hit by the lack of fuel.

On Wednesday, Doctors Without Borders warned that the shortages have forced it to reduce medical care since last week, with staff treating only patients with life-threatening conditions. The aid group said that its hospital and emergency centre will run out of fuel for generators in three weeks or less if new supplies don’t arrive.

“As tensions and armed conflict escalate in Haiti’s capital, shortages of fuel, public transportation and drinking water are putting medical facilities and patients at risk,” the aid group said.

“Nearly all public and private health facilities in Port-au-Prince have stopped or limited admissions to only acute cases or closed their doors due to similar problems.”

The aid group said that one patient with respiratory distress was recently refused at four different medical centers because the lack of fuel forced them to halt admissions. A fifth

facility took her in, officials said.

Doctors Without Borders also said that the lack of fuel is preventing staff from reaching the hospital because of the scarcity of public transportation. It’s a problem seen elsewhere, with parents unable to send their children to school and some employees unable to go to work.

The situation also has led to a spike in food prices in a country of more than 11 million people where more than 60% of the population makes less than $2 a day. Meanwhile, a gallon of gasoline, when available, currently costs $15.

PAGE 10, Friday, November 12, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Biden salutes troops as ‘spine of America’ on Veterans Day

By COLLEEN LONG and ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden saluted the nation’s military veterans as “the spine of America” on Thursday as he marked his first Veterans Day as president in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

“There’s nothing low risk or low cost about war for the women and men who fight it,” said Biden, whose administration earlier in the day announced a federal effort to better understand, identify and treat medical conditions suffered by troops deployed to toxic environments.

That expanded effort centers on lung problems suffered by troops who breathe in toxins and the potential connection between rare cancers and time spent overseas breathing poor air, according to the White House. Federal officials plan to start by examining lung and breathing problems but say they will expand the effort as science identifies potential new connections.

Biden’s son Beau served in Iraq, and the president has suggested a potential link between Beau’s death from an aggressive brain cancer and his exposure to toxins in the air, particularly around massive pits where the military

disposes of waste by burning.

There’s no scientific evidence to establish that link.

This year’s Veterans Day commemoration comes just two months after Biden ordered the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. It was a chaotic ending to America’s longest war, which killed 2,461 American service members over the nearly 20-year conflict.

In his remarks at Arlington, Biden praised generations who have served, declaring they’ve “endured and survived challenges most Americans will never know.”

He also paused to remember three high-profile veterans who recently died: Colin Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state; Gen. Ray Odierno, an Army chief of staff and top general in Iraq; and Sen. Max Cleland, a Georgia Democrat who lost three limbs while serving in Vietnam.

“You are the very spine of America,” Biden said of the nation’s veterans.

The new federal effort on toxic exposure is designed to make it easier for veterans to make claims based on their symptoms, to collect more data from troops who are suffering and to give veterans more time to make medical claims after symptoms such as asthma and sinus problems develop.

“We’re discovering there is a

whole host of lung conditions related to deployment,” said Dr. Richard Meehan, an immunologist and rheumatologist. The retired U.S. Naval Reserve officer, who served in the Mideast during the 1990s and again in 2008, is co-director of the Denver-based National Jewish Health Center of Excellence on DeploymentRelated Lung Disease.

Beau Biden’s death was a defining moment for Joe Biden, one he said affected his decision to sit out the 2016 presidential race. The younger Biden deployed from October 2008 until September 2009 as a captain in the Delaware Army National Guard. In 2013, he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, and he died two years later at age 46.

Meehan, who along with his colleagues is investigating the role of inhalation exposures among military personnel who were deployed to Southwest Asia, said it isn’t only burn pits that are the issue — the air quality in some countries is so poor that troops would not be allowed to work there under civilian federal workplace guidelines.

The centre receives funding from the Department of Defense, along with private donors.

Meehan has worried that troops who came back with breathing problems are being compared with other Americans to determine whether there is a higher

PRESIDENT Joe Biden pauses during a wreath laying ceremony to commemorate Veterans Day and mark the centennial anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, Thursday in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) rate of lung illness. But those deployed with the U.S. military are in peak physical condition, stronger and more fit than average Americans.

To come back unable to make it up stairs without getting winded or unable to lift anything without breathing heavily is highly unusual.

“When you compare them to another group, you have to compare them to another healthy, fit group,” Meehan said. “That’s one of the problems overlooked in surveys that have shown no higher incidence of cancer.”

The new rules will allow veterans to make claims within 10 years of service, and the government has changed how it determines what symptoms count and why.

The U.S. military has been

aware for years of health risks associated with open-air burn pits. In 2013, federal investigators found a military camp in Afghanistan was operating a pit for more than five years, nearly four times longer than Pentagon rules allowed.

The Defense Department has said burn pits should be used only as a temporary last resort when no other alternative trash disposal method is feasible.

Also in marking Veterans Day, a group of Democratic U.S. members were reviving an effort to pay the families of Black World War II service members for benefits they were denied or prevented from taking full advantage of when they returned home.

A similar Senate bill is to be introduced later this month.

TEXAS A&M STUDENT INJURED AT ASTROWORLD DIES; DEATH TOLL AT 9

By JUAN LOZANO Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — A 22-year-old college student who was critically injured in the crush of fans at the Astroworld festival in Houston has died, the family’s lawyer said Thursday, bringing the death toll to nine.

Bharti Shahani, who

was set to graduate from Texas A&M University in the spring, died Wednesday night, attorney James Lassiter said during a news conference.

All of the concertgoers who died following the Friday night show were between the ages of 14 and 27, underscoring how the tragedy unfolded in a

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mostly younger crowd.

A 9-year-old boy who was also injured at the sold-out festival of 50,000 people remained in a medically induced coma, according to family.

“For the first time in her life she just wanted to have fun, and that was taken from her,” said Namrata Shahani, her sister, who attended the concert with Bharti and their cousin.

Namrata Shahani said her sister’s last words to her were, “Are you OK?” Concertgoers have described the packed crowd growing dangerous even before headliner Travis Scott appeared on stage, and seeing people collapse while the rapper performed.

Scott’s attorneys have said he did not know about the deaths and injuries until after the show.

On Thursday, Scott’s representatives said in a statement that he was distraught and has been trying to connect with the affected families to share condolences and provide them aid.

Hundreds of people were injured in the intensifying surge.

A criminal investigation into the deaths at Astroworld is underway.

SPORTS PAGE 12

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021

Jones catches fire with monster 44-point game

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

J

onquel Jones had the most dominant performance of her professional basketball career to lead Bosnia and Herzegovina to an opening round win in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers.

Jones finished with 44 points and 22 rebounds in her team’s 87-81 win over Belgium yesterday at the Mirza Delibašic Arena in Sarajevo.

The reigning WNBA MVP shot 14-26 from the field, 3-7 from three-point range and 13-14 from the free throw line.

Bosnia and Herzegovina will continue play in Group B with a matchup against North Macedonia at 1pm local time on Sunday, November 14.

Germany currently leads Group B on point differential after a lopsided 73-41 win over North Macedonia.

The second leg of the qualifiers will take place in 2022 when Bosnia and Herzegovina is slated to

face Germany on November 24 and Belgium on November 27.

In 2023, they will face North Macedonia on February 9 and Germany on February 12.

A total of 30 countries are participating in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers.

Teams are divided into 10 groups, with each team playing the others in its group in home and away games, following a roundrobin system over three windows in November 2021, November 2022 and February 2023.

The hosts of the next edition of women’s flagship event in Europe - Israel and Slovenia - are qualified for the Final Round directly, with 14 places reserved for the 10 group winners and the four best second-placed teams.

In order for the secondplaced teams across all 10 groups to be ranked on a like-for-like basis, their results against the fourth-placed teams in the groups of four will not be taken into consideration.

In Jones’ last national team

AN HISTORIC DOUBLE DOUBLE: Jonquel Jones finished with 44 points and 22 rebounds yesterday as she led Bosnia and Herzegovina to an opening round 87-81 victory over Belgium in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers at the Mirza Delibašic Arena in Sarajevo. appearance, she led Bosnia and Herzegovina to an historic 5th place finish and a spot at the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket last June. She was named to the tournament’s “All-Star Five” after

leading the tournament in scoring and rebounding at 24.3 points and 16.8 rebounds per game. She shot 50 percent from the field, 33 percent from three and 82 percent from free

throw line and also added 1.5 blocks per game.

The EuroBasket finish led Bosnia and Herzegovina to a spot in the FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournaments.

Keyshawn Strachan heading off on 4-year scholarship to Auburn

AUBURN, HERE I COME - After moving to New Providence from Lowe Sound, Andros, javelin thrower Keyshawn Strachan, second from left, has thrown his name into the Bahamas national record books and now he’s headed off on a four-year scholarship to Auburn University. Surrounded by his family members, Blue Chips Athletics and St John’s College Giants team-mates, the 17-year-old 6-foot, 5-inch Strachan signed his letter of intent, becoming the latest Bahamian to earn an athletic scholarship to a major division one school.

SEE THE FULL STORY ON PAGE 15 Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

World Cup, Page 14

BAHAMAS DEFEATS BELIZE TO IMPROVE TO 2-2 THE Bahamas defeated Belize to improve to 2-2 at the International Cricket Council’s T20 World Cup Americas Qualifying event in Antigua and Barbuda.

The Bahamas won by 11 runs and Marc Taylor was named the Man of the Match at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua yesterday.

The Bahamas won the toss and elected to bat first. They scored 150 runs and for eight wickets in 20 overs. Taylor accounted for 67 of the team’s runs.

Bermuda responded with 139 runs for six wickets in 20 overs.

Kervon Hinds was the top bowler for The Bahamas and allowed 36 runs for three wickets in four overs.

The Bahamas will face the United States on Saturday, November 13.

A STUNNER: DOLPHINS WIN 2ND STRAIGHT, BEAT RAVENS 22-10

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Xavien Howard forced a fumble and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown, Tua Tagovailoa came off the bench and capped his night with a 1-yard sneak for a score with 2:19 left and Miami Dolphins stunned the Baltimore Ravens 22-10 last night.

The Dolphins (3-7) got three field goals from Jason Sanders and got their second win in five days.

Tagovailoa threw for 158 yards in relief of Jacoby Brissett, who passed for 156 yards before needing to depart in the third quarter with an injured right knee.

Baltimore’s streak of 51 regular-season games with at least 14 points — the second-longest such streak in NFL history behind a 63-game run by New England from 2009 through 2013 — came to an end.

Miami’s defence carried an offence that had one quarterback get hurt, have an injured one take his place, and saw its only trip to the end zone in the first 57 minutes come from an offensive lineman who reached just far enough on a back flip to get the ball over the goal line — only to have it not count because he wasn’t an eligible receiver.

Nesbitt, Miller making immediate impact on hardwood

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net DAVID Nesbitt and Tavario Miller swapped clubs and leagues for the 2021-22 season and have had immediate impacts for their respective organisations.

Both veteran forwards have helped their team get out to undefeated starts in week one.

In his first season with Boca Juniors in Argentina’s Liga Nacional de Básquet, Nesbitt has averaged 12 points and 3.7 rebounds per game en route to a 3-0 start.

In the season opener, Nesbitt finished with a season high 16 points and

three rebounds in a 75-72 win over Argentino. He moved into the starting lineup in game two and finished with eight points and four rebounds in an 82-71 win over Regatas. He also totalled 12 points and four rebounds in a 77-68 win over Olimpico.

Miller is in his first season with Minas Belo Horizonte of Brazil’s Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB).

The club is off to a 4-0 start and Miller is averaging 12 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. In the season opener he finished with eight points and seven rebounds of a 77-59 win over U. Corinthians.

He also posted 11 points and four rebounds in a

DAVID NESBITT

TAVARIO MILLER

79-63 win over Caxias Do Sul, a season high 19 points and 7 rebounds in a 109-75 win over Mogi and scored 10 points in just 18 minutes of a 79-67 win over Pato Basquete. Nesbitt made the move to Argentina after

a four-year tenure in Brazil’s Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB). The veteran 6’6” forward spent last season with Minas.

In 31 games, he averaged 10.4 points and 5.5 points per game en route to being

named an NBB All-Star.

Minas finished with the second best record in the league, reached the semifinals and finished third in FIBAs Basketball Champions League Americas Final.

Following two seasons in Argentina, Miller headed to the NBB last offseason.

Last season, he spent 40 games with Boca Juniors.

He averaged 13.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and helped the team advance to the semifinals.

In the previous campaign, he played with Quimsa Santiago del Estero and in 21 games he averaged 10.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. He played an integral role in Quimsa winning the league’s pennant and

finishing as the runners-up in the final.

In 2019, he played with Union Athletic Club in Uruguay where in 10 games he averaged 16.9 points, 12.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

Miller also played in the Spanish LEB-Silver league with Grupo Eleyco Baskonia and in 33 games with the club, he averaged 11.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game.

He has also played professionally in Mexico and Norway (Fyllingen BBK).

Miller’s team made it to the Norwegian BLNO Semifinals in 2018. He was also voted Eurobasket.com All-Norwegian BLNO 2nd Team in 2018.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 12, 2021, PAGE 13

Bahamas Roadmasters Virtual 9th Bahamas Half Marathon/ 10k set for November 20-21

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net WHILE they wait on the restrictions to be lifted for mass gatherings at public outings, Bahamas Roadmasters is encouraging persons to come out and participate in their Cancer Treatment of America Virtual 9th Bahamas Half Marathon and 10 Kilometre race.

The event, sponsored by the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, is scheduled for the weekend of Saturday-Sunday, November 20-21. Part proceeds will go to The Nurses Association of the

Commonwealth of the Bahamas (NACB).

For an entry fee of $50 for the half marathon (13.1 miles) and $25 for the 10K (6.2 miles), runners can choose their route and day and time as they attempt any aspect of the run, but it is hoped that they can be completed by Saturday morning when the executives of the Bahamas Roadmasters will be on hand to distribute medals and t-shirts for participants to complete the suggested route.

“We are asking them to come out and run any way they want to run, but we have come up with a suggested route,” said

Bahamas Roadmasters’ president Marcel Major.

“If they can, we are suggesting they use the route from Arawak Cay where

the Saxons practice on Saturday.

“For the 10k, they can travel from Arawak Cay to the round-a-bout just before Rosewood and back to Arawak Cay to give them the 6.2 miles,” Major said. “And from Arawak Cay to Sun Fun and back, that would give them the 13.2 miles for the half marathon. That is the suggested route.”

Major said they are also encouraging the general public to pre-register by going online: http://www. bahamashalf242.com]www. bahamashalf242.com or visit in person the Four Seasons Nursery in Chippingham or the Palmdale

Vision Centre in Palmdale to fill out their application forms.

“We want to drum up as much support as we can,” Major said. “We are looking to accommodate about 250 persons,” said Major, compared to the 300 entries they had last year.

“So we want people to sign up as quickly as possible.”

Once signed up, persons will receive a swag, which will include a buff, a commemorative t-shirt and medal for participating in the event.

Sun Tee and the Caribbean Bottling Company Limited, distributors of Coca-Cola, are also sponsoring the event.

VanVleet, Trent hit late 3s as Raptors past 76ers, 115-109

By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kyle Lowry’s mom was in the house, repping the Raptors in a sweatshirt even though her son has moved on to Miami. But the competitive sprit Lowry left behind in turning Toronto into a champion has rubbed off on this year’s team.

Gary Trent Jr and Fred VanVleet hit back-to-back 3-pointers over the final 1:10 to lift the Raptors past the undermanned Philadelphia 76ers, 115-109 last night.

VanVleet hit six 3s and scored 32 points, and Trent added 20. The Raptors lost to Boston on the front end of a back-to-back but the late 3s rallied them to a needed road victory.

The Raptors played hard until the end, a trait that can work wonders for a team trying to surprise this season.

“It’s been in the culture with the Raptors for a

WIGGINS DOMINATES FORMER WOLVES MATES WITH SEASON-BEST 35 POINTS SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Andrew Wiggins drove the baseline for an emphatic one-handed slam right over old teammate Karl-Anthony Towns, and it sure felt sweet.

Wiggins had two dunks over Towns and dominated his former Timberwolves with a season-high 35 points, leading the Golden State Warriors to a 123-110 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday night.

Anthony Edwards scored a career-high 48 points for Minnesota, hitting seven 3-pointers in the Timberwolves’ sixth straight loss.

Wiggins, traded by Minnesota to Golden State in February 2020, made his initial 10 shots, scored 22 of his points on 9-for-9 shooting in the first half.

Stephen Curry scored 25 points to go with six assists coming off a 50-point masterpiece Monday night against Atlanta.

while,” coach Nick Nurse said. “We just believe in it, talk about it, drill it. We hold guys accountable. I think the biggest metric is your heart and your toughness and your desire to want to do it. Fortunately, our guys most nights will do that.”

Joel Embiid, Isaiah Joe, and Matisse Thybulle are still in the NBA’s health and safety protocols and sat out again. Seth Curry did return from a foot injury and Tobias Harris scored 19 points in his return from a six-game absence after testing positive for COVID-19.

“We just need bodies.

He’s a warm body. The fact that he’s one of our better players helps,” coach Doc Rivers said.

The Sixers need more reinforcements and have lost three straight games.

Tyrese Maxey did score 33 points for the Sixers.

Andre Drummond had put the Sixers ahead 109107 with 1:44 left and then followed with a blocked

RAPTORS’ Fred VanVleet (23) goes up for a shot during the first half against the Philadelphia 76ers last night in Philadelphia.

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum) shot on the next possession that sent the crowd into a frenzy.

Trent, though, hit the 3 with 1:10 left that put the Raptors ahead.

The Raptors led most of the fourth quarter until the Sixers went on a late run.

Shake Milton hit a 3 and

his baseline drive cut it to 92-89 before Harris scored to bring the Sixers within one.

VanVleet and Svi Mykhailiuk, though, each buried 3-pointers that stretched the lead and OG Anunoby dunked off a turnover.

Anunoby then hit a 3, one of 14 for the Raptors.

“He’s always been a great all-around talent,” Trent said. “This year, I’ve seen him lead in certain situation situations, find certain guys. He’s just being that ultimate team player, that ultimate winner.”

LAKERS RALLY LATE IN REGULATION, HOLD OFF HEAT IN OT

By GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Malik Monk scored five of his season-high 27 points in overtime, and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from a big deficit in the final minutes of regulation before surging in overtime for a 120-117 victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.

Russell Westbrook had 25 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds for the Lakers, who improved to 2-2 while LeBron James is sidelined by a strained abdominal muscle.

Monk put on an impressive shooting display with four 3-pointers, and Anthony Davis had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Los Angeles. The Lakers trailed by nine in the fourth quarter before rallying to beat the Heat, who had won six of eight.

Bam Adebayo scored 28 points before fouling out and Kyle Lowry had 18 points and 11 assists for the Heat, who lost Jimmy Butler to a sprained right ankle in the first half.

Butler scored seven points while playing the entire first quarter, but didn’t return for the second.

LAKERS forward Anthony Davis dunks on Heat guard Duncan Robinson and centre Dewayne Dedmon (21).

(AP Photo/Ashley Landis) Tyler Herro scored 27 missed a jumper and points, but missed two Davis missed the tip at the 3-pointers in the final nine buzzer, sending the Lakers seconds of overtime in to overtime for the second Miami’s third loss in four straight game. games. Herro also missed Los Angeles jumped a 3 with 23 seconds left in to a five-point lead in regulation, but P.J. Tucker OT while Miami missed threw down a tying six of seven shots. Aderebound dunk. Westbrook bayo trimmed the lead to

119-117 with 23 seconds left before fouling out, and the Heat forced a five-second violation by the Lakers on the ensuing inbounds play — but Herro missed an off-balance 3-pointer.

Carmelo Anthony hit one of two free throws with 6.5 seconds left, and Herro missed again to end it. Avery Bradley scored 17 points with a seasonhigh five 3s for the Lakers.

Roughly 13 months after the Lakers beat the Heat in the 2020 NBA Finals in the Florida bubble, the Heat showed much more cohesion than the former champs until LA’s stirring late rally.

The Lakers have jettisoned all but three players from their title team — and of those three, only Davis was healthy for this meeting.

TRIPLE TROUBLE Westbrook had his second straight tripledouble and his third with his hometown team. He extended his NBA record to 187 triple-doubles and scored two huge baskets in the final minute of regulation, but also committed eight turnovers and missed the probable game-winner in regulation.

MICKELSON TIED FOR LEAD, LANGER SHOOTS 68 WITH BALKY BACK

By JOHN MARSHALL AP Sports Writer PHOENIX (AP) — Bernhard Langer squatted to tee up his ball instead of bending at the waist. Lining up putts looked like he was doing calf stretches against a wall, more of a chest-high view than ground level.

By the sixth hole, the 64-year-old gave up on retrieving the ball from the hole altogether, asking caddie Terry Holt to do it for him. Any other tournament, Langer would have withdrawn. He nearly did anyway, even with a sixth Schwab Cup on the line.

Playing through pain, Langer shot a 3-under 68 in the opening round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship yesterday, putting him three behind Phil Mickelson and two others.

“It was the most pain I’ve had playing golf in 30 years,” Langer said. “It was pretty bad. I told Terry I probably shouldn’t even be here right now, but somehow I started praying out there that the pain would subside and I managed to make it through, but it’s not good. Not sure I can do this for four days. Hopefully, I’ll feel better tomorrow.”

Mickelson had seven birdies and a bogey to match Jim Furyk and Kirk Triplett for the lead in the PGA Tour Champions season finale at Phoenix Country Club.

Langer arrived in the desert as the prohibitive favourite to win his sixth Schwab Cup, joining Furyk, Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez as the only players with a chance to win the season championship.

LEONA MAGUIRE THRIVES IN STAR PAIRING FOR 62 TO LEAD LPGA BELLEAIR, Fla. (AP) — Solheim Cup star Leona Maguire thrived in a star grouping yesterday with an 8-under 62 for a twoshot lead over defending champion Sei Young Kim in the Pelican Women’s Championship.

Maguire played alongside Kim and Lexi Thompson.

No one in the group made bogey at Pelican Golf Club on a day ideal for scoring.

Maguire is still trying to become Ireland’s first winner on the LPGA Tour.

Her best result is a runnerup finish at tournaments in Michigan and Hawaii this year.

For now, she happily is best known for going unbeaten in five matches to lead Europe to a Solheim Cup victory two months ago.

Maguire put on a clinic by hitting every fairway and taking only 24 putts.

“It was just really, really solid,” she said. “Hit a lot of greens gave myself a lot of chances and rolled in some nice putts. ... Yeah, it’s all just clicking nicely.”

It helped to have her coach, Shane O’Grady, with her for the week. It’s the first time he has watched her play in person since she was on her way to getting an LPGA Tour card at the end of 2019. O’Grady has been grounded in Ireland

by COVID-19 since then.

Kim, who won by three shots last year in the inaugural event, opened with three straight birdies until cooling slightly, staying in range of Maguire with an eagle on the par-5 14th.

PAGE 14, Friday, November 12, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

PREMIER LEAGUE CLUBS OPPOSE FIFA BID FOR BIENNIAL WORLD CUPS

By ROB HARRIS AP Global Soccer Writer

GERMANY’S MATTHIAS GINTER, right, heads the ball at goal during the World Cup 2022 group J qualifying soccer match between Germany and Liechtenstein in Wolfsburg, Germany, yesterday.

(AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Spain profits from Sweden’s slip, Portugal draws in Ireland

By JAMES ELLINGWORTH AP Sports Writer SPAIN, Portugal and Croatia all put themselves one game away from securing World Cup qualification, while Sweden’s hopes took a heavy blow with a surprising loss yesterday.

Spain beat Greece 1-0 thanks to Pablo Sarabia’s penalty to overtake Sweden, which slipped to a 2-0 loss at already-eliminated Georgia. Spain hosts Sweden on Sunday in one of three winner-takes-all matches to decide World Cup places. Another decisive fixture pits Portugal against Serbia after a frustrating 0-0 away draw for Cristiano Ronaldo’s team against Ireland. Croatia and Russia also face off for a spot in Qatar after each had a big win Thursday.

Only group winners qualify automatically, and second-place teams head to the playoffs along with two teams selected on their record in the Nations League. The 12 teams in the playoffs will be fighting for three places at next year’s World Cup in Qatar in brackets of four teams.

GROUP A Portugal’s goalless draw in Dublin was less than impressive, but it was enough. The point Portugal earned against Ireland saw it ease ahead of group rival Serbia in the standings on goal difference.

That means a draw will be enough for Portugal to qualify automatically when it hosts Serbia in Lisbon on Sunday. They drew 2-2 in their earlier game in the qualifying cycle.

It was a bittersweet game for veteran defender Pepe, who became the oldest player to start a game for

REFEREE Jesus Gil Manzano shows a red card after a second yellow to Portugal’s Pepe, left, during the World Cup 2022 group A qualifying soccer match between the Republic of Ireland and Portugal at the Aviva stadium in Dublin yesterday.

(AP Photo/Peter Morrison) Portugal at 38 years old, but was sent off for two bookings and will be suspended for the crucial game against Serbia.

Next year’s World Cup host Qatar was beaten 4-0

by Serbia in a friendly for its seventh winless game in a row and third consecutive game without scoring.

Qatar is playing homeand-away friendlies against the teams from Group A alongside the qualifying tournament, without much success.

If Qatar’s results were included in the group table, it would rank fifth of the six teams, above only Azerbaijan, with the group’s worst defensive record with 20 goals conceded.

GROUP B Sweden had its fate in its own hands in

qualifying, and let it slip.

Twenty-year-old winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia of Rubin Kazan may be little known outside of the Russian league where he usually plays, but he had a big impact with two second-half goals to surprise Sweden.

That gave Spain the chance to overtake Sweden and take the advantage ahead of the decisive game against the Swedes on Sunday.

Spain had to work hard in its 1-0 win over Greece, sealed with a penalty, but moved one point ahead of Sweden.

Spain only has to avoid defeat against Sweden in Seville. They drew 0-0 in the same city this year at the European Championships.

The defeat to Spain ensured Greece can’t qualify.

GROUP H Russia and Croatia each won big against overmatched opponents in games which were merely a warm-up for their qualifying decider.

Croatia hosts Russia on Sunday and the winner will qualify for the World Cup automatically, with Russia going through if it’s a draw.

Russia laid down a marker with a 6-0 demolition of Cyprus and Croatia responded with a 7-1 hammering of Malta.

Croatia’s Andrej Kramaric had the distinction of scoring for both teams after he made up for a firsthalf own-goal with a goal in the correct net in the second half.

GROUP J Germany has already qualified for the World Cup and cruised to a 9-0 win against Liechtenstein after early concerns for midfielder Leon Goretzka when he was struck in the head and neck by an opponent’s boot.

Goretzka was fine, and the incident led to an early red card for Liechtenstein, and a penalty to start the scoring. Leroy Sané and Thomas Müller finished with two goals each and there were two own-goals.

North Macedonia leads the race for a playoff spot after beating Armenia 5-0 and will secure second place with a win over Iceland on Sunday. Romania’s qualifying hopes took a hit with a 0-0 draw against Iceland.

LONDON (AP) — Premier League clubs united in their opposition to plans for biennial World Cups when they discussed the FIFA overhaul of the international calendar at a meeting yesterday.

The 20 teams also all opposed a FIFA proposal to reduce the five windows for international men’s matches to just two in a year.

“The Premier League is committed to preventing any radical changes to the post-2024 FIFA international match calendar that would adversely affect player welfare and threaten the competitiveness, calendar, structures and traditions of domestic football,” Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in a statement after declining to be interviewed.

UEFA has already expressed its concerns about the changes to world football being championed

by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager who is now chief of global football development at FIFA. “We are open to reforms and new ideas, but they must enhance the complementary balance between domestic and international football in order to improve the game at all levels,” Masters said.

“This process should also involve meaningful agreements with the leagues that provide the foundations for the game. We will continue to work with supporter groups, players, domestic and international stakeholders to find solutions that are in the best interests of football’s longterm future.”

Infantino has said FIFA organising a men’s or women’s World Cup every year — rather than retaining quadrennial cycles — is important to attract young fans, give more countries the chance to qualify and provide more competitive games more often.

The next World Cup, in Qatar, will significantly disrupt competitions like the Premier League since it is being played across November and December rather than in the usual June-July slot due to the Gulf nation’s fierce summer heat.

The Premier League confirmed yesterday that next season will begin slightly earlier on the weekend of August 6-7, 2022 and the final round before the World Cup will be November 12-13.

The tournament begins November 21 and the final is December 18, with the Premier League resuming on December 26 for the traditional Boxing Day fixtures and ending on May 28, 2023.

EUROPEAN LEAGUES, FANS TEAM UP TO LOBBY FOR DOMESTIC SOCCER

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer GENEVA (AP) — Two Europe-wide fan groups that work with UEFA have teamed with national leagues aiming to lobby more effectively against projects they believe threaten domestic soccer.

Their cooperation deal announced yesterday follows turmoil caused by the club-led Super League project and a fresh FIFA vs.

Europe dispute over the global soccer body pushing to stage the World Cup every two years instead of four.

The fan representatives — Football Supporters Europe (FSE) and Supporter Direct Europe — and the 31-nation European Leagues group are arguing for “appropriate involvement” in decision-making and how soccer is run.

“Fans and leagues share common principles and we now want to put them into action in specific projects and activities,” SD Europe chief executive Antonia Hagemann said in a joint statement by the three organisations.

European Leagues managing director Jacco Swart said the move was a “natural step to converge and work together to protect domestic football.”

Though leagues and fans have helped UEFA in opposing the Super League and biennial World Cup proposal, they disagree with some Champions League changes set to take effect in 2024.

Those include UEFA giving two wild-card entries to clubs based on a 10-year record of results in European competitions.

“The parties acknowledge the importance of

competitive domestic competitions in full capacity stadiums with home and away fans, with sporting merit as the primary driver for success,” the joint statement said.

Fans and leagues also want UEFA to abolish using a league table of clubs’ historical records to allocate 30 percent of Champions League prize money — worth 600 million euros ($688 million) this season.

It guarantees top-ranked Real Madrid 36.4 million euros ($41.8 million) while No. 32-ranked Sheriff gets only 1.14 million euros ($1.3 million) from it.

Sheriff beat Madrid 2-1 in September.

UEFA also agreed in April to add four clubs to the Champions League in 2024 and give them 10 guaranteed games instead of six, despite FSE opposition to

the extra cost in money and time for fans.

FSE, which is formally recognised by UEFA as “one of its key stakeholders,” has said the extra games were a power grab by wealthy clubs.

In their statement yesterday, the leagues and fans said UEFA and FIFA allowing international competitions to expand too much “will distort the competitive balance of leagues and the health of domestic football.”

The decision-making UEFA executive committee has two seats for club delegates — currently Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser al-Khelaifi and Bayern Munich’s KarlHeinz Rummenigge — and just one for the leagues, who send Javier Tebas of Spain.

The fans are not represented.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, November 12, 2021, PAGE 15

Javelin thrower Keyshawn Strachan earns four-year scholarship to Auburn

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net AFTER migrating to New Providence from Lowe Sound, Andros, three years ago, javelin thrower Keyshawn Strachan has thrown his name into the Bahamas national record books and now he’s headed off on a four-year scholarship to Auburn University.

Surrounded by his family members, Blue Chips Athletics and St John’s College Giants team-mates, the 17-year-old 6-foot, 5-inch Strachan signed his letter of intent, becoming the latest Bahamian to earn an athletic scholarship to a major division one school.

In an emotional time as he tried to hold back the tears, Strachan thanked everyone who supported him from the time he left Andros, transferring from North Andros High to St John’s College to continue his education.

“I want to thank you all for being there for me one day. I appreciate it,” said Strachan, who singled out his Blue Chips Athletics’ coach Corrington Maycock and St John’s College for embracing him and his family.

He noted that coach Pat Ebel, the assistant coach at Auburn University, made his decision an easy one, added to the fact that they have a great programme that will help his pursuit of a degree in aviation.

“My expectations at Auburn is to be the best athlete at Auburn and to achieve many accolades at Auburn,” he stated.

Strachan, who erased Grenada’s Anderson Peters’ record at the last CARIFTA Games staged in 2019 in George Town, Cayman Islands, is coming off an appearance at the World Athletics’ World Under-20 Championships, in August in Nairobi, Kenya, where he finished seventh in the men’s javelin final with a best of 70.30m.

“It’s an honour and I’m grateful and I just want to thank you all for showing up. I appreciate you all and I will continue to make you all proud,” he stated.

No one was more proud of his achievement than his mother Dukisha Moss.

JAVELIN thrower Keyshawn Strachan, heading off on a four-year scholarship to Auburn University, shares a special moment with family members after signing his letter of intent, becoming the latest Bahamian to earn an athletic scholarship to a major division one school.

Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune Staff “I want to express how proud I am of Keyshawn.

He’s the first one in the family to attend a university and so I’m just so thankful,” she said.

“God’s grace and mercy has brought him this far. As he said, there were many challenges along this journey, but we overcame them all together.”

She expressed her gratitude to Maycock for his stickability in ensuring that her son succeeded, along with her parents, including her mother Sabrina Moss, who was also present.

Strachan’s sisters Kamara Strachan and Ramaya Knowles, brothers Malachi Knowles and Carson Roberts, his aunt Charmaine Munroe-Lubin and his cousin Tamari Wallace were also in attendance.

In June on day one of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ National Track and Field Championships Friday night at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium, Strachan shattered the Bahamian national record with a heave of 71.62m or 234-feet, 11-inches to erase the previous national record of 70.72m (234-0) by Denzel Pratt at the Big South

Championships in Charleston, South Carolina on May 12, 2017.

His Blue Chips Athletics coach Corrington Maycock said he remembers three years ago when the CARIFTA Games was being staged in the Bahamas and he advised Dukisha Moss to look for her son to sign an athletic scholarship.

Yesterday, that dream became a reality.

“It’s on to the next. I have a lot of athletes I have to prepare for this same process,” Maycock said.

“In Blue Chips, we look forward to the kids going off to school. That’s what we’re all about.”

Although he will be heading into his freshman year at Auburn, Maycock said they have already agreed that Strachan will only compete in about five meets to get ready for the World Junior Championships in Colombia in 2022 and the Olympic Games in Paris, France in 2024.

“That’s the end game, but everything is just taking it one day at a time,” Maycock said.

To the other members of the Blue Chips Athletics team that will remain here, Maycock encouraged them to continue to work hard and stay focused and the

same thing will happen for them.

“We reload, we don’t replace,” he said. “Beside Keyshawn, we have Nathaniel Zervos, Cailyn Johnson, G’Shan Brown, Calea Jackson, Caden Cartwright and Nicholas Zervos.

“Those are the ones in the next two years that we have to get ready for the same occasion as Keyshawn.”

To his team-mates, who are expected to follow in his footsteps, Strachan expressed his confidence that Maycock will provide the same opportunity for them as he did for him, but they have to “work hard” and “they will get there.”

BAAA president Drumeco Archer, referring to Strachan as the next Keshorn Walcott, Trinidad & Tobago’s 2012 Olympic Games’ gold medallist, said Strachan has proven to be a supreme athlete over the years of his junior career.

“It reminds me of 2012 when we saw the young Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad & Tobago, who would have won the CARIFTA Games, setting a CARIFTA record and then going on in the same year to win the Olympic Games,” Archer said. “I

believe that Keyshawn Strachan has the very same characteristics, the very same trajectory and the very same physicality.

He is extraordinary in the sense that I don’t think that anyone in this country has seen the likes of Keyshawn Strachan and I believe that the future is bright for Keyshawn.”

As a federation, Archer said the BAAA’s mandate is not just to raise incredible athletes, but to produce wonderful Bahamians who are productive and are able to make wonderful contributions to Bahamian society.

“I believe this is a very special and proud moment for his family,” Archer said.

“His mother just whispered to me that we’ve broken the family curse by Keyshawn becoming the very first person in his family to have been given an athletic scholarship.

“I believe this is an event that will not only change his life, but the life of his family.”

On behalf of the BAAA, Archer encouraged Strachan to “shoot for the stars” as he ventures into the next phase of his athletic career, which was fuelled by the relentless efforts of Maycock.

Sakkari beats Swiatek in opening match at WTA Finals GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — Maria Sakkari used her strong first serve to extend her dominance over former French Open champoin Iga Swiatek with a 6-2, 6-4 win yesterday in their opening match at the WTA Finals.

The 26-year-old Sakkari, who is having a breakout year, also ousted Swiatek in straight sets in the French Open quarterfinals and

Ostrava semifinals this year.

Sakkari started the year ranked 21st and although she did not win a title this season, she reached the final in Ostrava and the semifinals at the US Open, Roland Garros and Miami to become the first Greek woman to qualify for the WTA Finals.

Swiatek, who won titles in Adelaide and Rome in

2021, is also making her debut at the season-ending tournament.

Sakkari won 26 of the first 27 points on her first serve and broke her opponent in the third and seventh games of the first set. She then broke again for a 4-3 lead in the second.

The tournament, which was cancelled last year because of the COVID19 pandemic, features a

PAUL HOLDS OFF MURRAY TO REACH SEMIS STOCKHOLM (AP) — Tommy Paul held off Andy Murray’s comeback attempt to beat the former No. 1 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 yesterday and reach the semifinals at the Stockholm Open.

Paul jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set but struggled with his first serve in the second, allowing the two-time Wimbledon champion back in the match.

But Murray double-faulted to hand Paul a 4-3 lead in the deciding set, missing out on a chance to reach his first semifinal since the European Open in October 2019, before undergoing hip surgery.

“He is a legend,” Paul said of Murray. “I played some of my best tennis today and I even looked over at my coach midmatch and thought it was fun to battle him today.”

Paul will face fellow American Frances Tiafoe, who became the first player to reach the semis by rallying to beat Dan Evans 1-6, 6-1, 6-1.

That earned the eighthseeded American a place in the semifinals for the second time in three weeks, having got to the final at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna where he lost to Alexander Zverev.

Earlier, Felix AugerAliassime reached his fifth semifinal of the season with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Botic de Zandschulp.

The second-seeded Canadian’s serve was the bedrock of his victory, with Auger-Aliassime hitting 11 aces and winning 27 of 33 first-service points.

“I moved well and I mixed up the ball speeds and heights,” he said.

“The court suits me well here.”

Auger-Aliassime will play defending champion Denis Shapovalov, who beat Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

round-robin group stage before the semifinals.

The WTA Finals are being played in

Guadalajara for this year only, with the event scheduled to return to Shenzhen, China in 2022.

WOMEN’S WORLD BOXING CHAMPS POSTPONED AMID COVID PANDEMIC LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The women’s world boxing championships have been postponed from next month to March 2022 because of restrictions in place amid the coronavirus pandemic, the International Boxing Association said.

AIBA said late Wednesday that teams were finding it difficult to compete at the traditionally amateur world championships in Turkey, which are offering prize money for the first time, with $100,000 on offer for gold medallists.

“The feedback received is that too many National Federations are facing difficult situations and restrictions within their countries,” AIBA said.

The championships were without a host for much of 2021 before Turkey stepped in October 2. They were due to be held from December 6 through 19.

The announcement comes a week after the men’s world championships concluded in Serbia.

No women’s world championships have been held since 2019 because of the pandemic.

KORDA, NAKASHIMA SET UP ALL-US SEMIFINAL AT NEXT GEN FINALS MILAN (AP) — Sebastian Korda and Brandon Nakashima set up an allAmerican semifinal at the Next Gen ATP Finals by winning their last roundrobin matches yesterday.

The 21-year-old Korda, the son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda, methodically picked apart local favourite Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in a 4-2, 4-3 (4), 4-2 victory to win Group B with a record of 3-0.

Earlier, the 20-yearold Nakashima defeated Holger Rune 3-4 (3), 4-1, 4-1, 4-3 (1) to secure second place in Group A behind top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz at the season-ending tournament for the top 21-and-under players.

Korda won his first career title on Italian soil in Parma in May, after which Nakashima reached back-to-back championship matches at Los Cabos, Mexico, and Atlanta to become the youngest American to play in multiple finals since Andy Roddick in 2001-02.

PAGE 16, Friday, November 12, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

AUSTRALIA’S MARCUS STOINIS, right, and Matthew Wade celebrate after winning their Cricket Twenty20 World Cup semi-final match against Pakistan in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.

(AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Wade lifts Australia into T20 World Cup final over Pakistan DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Matthew Wade smacked three successive sixes off Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi in the penultimate over and lifted Australia into the final of the T20 World Cup with a five-wicket victory yesterday.

Wade crashed Pakistan hopes in a stunning display of power-hitting against a premier T20 fast bowler as Australia cruised to 177-5 with an over to spare.

Pakistan reached the semifinals on the back of five successive wins in the group games and had stretched their win streak in the United Arab Emirates to 16 matches over five years.

But Hasan Ali dropped a regulation catch of the left-hander Wade at midwicket before Afridi was hit for three sixes with two of those scooping over the short fine leg.

Hasan also went for 27 runs off his last two overs against Wade and Marcus Stoinis and returned with the expensive figures of 0-44.

Wade made an unbeaten 41 off just 17 balls and Stoinis supported him superbly with 40 off 31 balls as both batsmen shared a match-winning 81-run partnership off just 40 balls.

Earlier, half centuries by in-form Mohammad Rizwan (67) and Fakhar Zaman (55 not out) helped Pakistan reach 176-4 after Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to field.

“Probably hasn’t sunk in, I’ve just finished batting,” Wade said. “When I got out there with Marcus, he was really confident we’d get them, even though I was a little unsure. … It got down to two a ball, and from there it was if you got one in your arc, just try to hit it.”

Leg-spinner Shadab Khan (4-26) had Australia’s back against the walls at 96-5 in the 14th over before Stoinis and Wade’s onslaught against the fast

bowlers took the game away from Pakistan in the death overs.

“If we had taken that (Hasan Ali) catch, it might have made the difference,” Pakistan captain Babar Azam said. “I hope we try and learn from our mistakes after this. We’ve played so well in the tournament, we’ll gain confidence, and we’ll continue to try and play this way.”

Shadab had the wickets of Mitchell Marsh (28), Steve Smith (5) and Glenn Maxwell (7), but his most prized wicket came in controversial circumstances when David Warner didn’t go for a television referral.

Warner made 49 off 30 balls and had the chase under control but didn’t review a caught behind decision as the television replays suggested he didn’t edge the ball to wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan.

Earlier, Rizwan became the first batter in the world to score 1,000 runs in Twenty20s in a calendar year, but not before he twice got dropped.

Warner dropped a tough chance while running backward from mid-off before Rizwan had scored and Zampa missed a difficult low catch in the deep.

Those letoffs allowed Rizwan to share two solid stands -- adding 71 runs with Babar (39) and then 72 with Zaman, who provided a perfect finish by hammering two sixes to Mitchell Starc. However, Zaman was also lucky to get a life when Smith dropped him on 40 before the left-hander added vital runs in the last over.

Australia will take on New Zealand in the final on Sunday at Dubai after the Black Caps defeated England in the first semifinal — also by five wickets — on Wednesday.

The toss could again prove vital in the final as 11 out of 12 games in the tournament has been won by the teams chasing the targets in Dubai.

BROKEN HAND RULES OUT CONWAY DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — New Zealand batsman Devon Conway has been ruled out of Sunday’s T20 World Cup final against Australia with a broken right hand.

New Zealand Cricket said Conway sustained the injury when he struck his bat immediately after being dismissed during the semifinal match against England, which the Black Caps won by five wickets.

New Zealand will take on Australia in the final after Aaron Finch’s team beat Pakistan by five wickets in Dubai yesterday.

Conway is also ruled out of New Zealand’s tour to India next week, during which they will play three T20s and two test matches.

Coach Gary Stead said

Conway was “absolutely gutted” to bow out of the T20 World Cup. “It looked a pretty innocuous reactionary incident on the field, but the blow obviously caught the bat between the glove padding and while it’s not the smartest thing he’s done there’s certainly an element of bad luck in the injury,” Stead said in a statement. “Devon is a great team-man and a very popular member of the side so we’re all feeling for him.”

Stead said New Zealand will not be flying in a replacement of Conway for Sunday’s final and the T20 series against India, beginning from next Wednesday, but “are working through our options for the Test series later this month.”