11162022 NEWS AND SPORT

‘APOLOGY LETTER’ FOR FYRE FESTIVAL

FYRE Festival organiser Billy McFarland report edly has sent a letter to the Bahamas government in which he “profusely apolo gises” for the disastrous event, claiming he wants to make things right with The Bahamas.

Mr McFarland admitted he was “completely wrong” and said he regrets his actions.

The apparent attempt to make amends comes after Deputy Prime Minister and Exuma MP Chester Cooper said the government will not endorse or approve any event in The Bahamas asso ciated with the convicted felon, whom he dubbed a “fugitive”.

Billboard revealed yes terday that Mr McFarland’s

MAN SNATCHING TOURIST’S PURSE CAUGHT ON CAMERA

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

PHOTOS of a man snatching a tourist’s purse downtown went viral on social media yesterday.

The incident took place on Bay Street, near McDonald’s.

In the photos circulat ing on social media, a man is seen approaching two people and snatch ing a woman’s purse. The woman fell to the ground

during the incident.

When asked by report ers about this matter, police press liaison officer Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings told reporters on the sideline of an event that police are actively investigating.

She could not confirm social media reports that the suspect was in custody.

“I don’t have that infor mation, but it has been brought to our attention,

DEPUTY PM CONFIDENT THAT SECURITY COMMISSION CAN HANDLE FTX FALLOUT

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle @ tribunemedia.net

Mr

“Let me just say that the prime minister will be speaking to this FTX matter. It’s in his remit as minister of finance. It’s a matter for the

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

PLANS TO DETER YOUTH FROM CRIME

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle @ tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said his ministry plans to launch a series of crime prevention programmes in the coming days geared towards youth to help deter them from turning to a life of crime.

His comments to the press came as the coun try continues to record a rash of homicides, with the

murder count for this year now at 118, according to this newspaper’s records.

This is just one murder shy of last year’s tally of 119.

“The only way that we’re going to stop murderers is if we stopped producing murderers and that is our challenge,” Mr Munroe said of the rising murder toll before going to a Cabinet meeting yesterday.

“There are going to be some programmes that have been launched that you’ll be made aware of and the object of those is to

DEPUTY Prime Minister Chester Cooper yesterday expressed confidence in the Security Commission’s abil ity to handle matters related to FTX’s fallout, adding “we have had curve balls thrown at us before in financial ser vices and we persevered.”

Cooper, who is also minister of tourism, invest ments and aviation, was asked to comment on the ongoing FTX saga ahead of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

for Fyre Festival

representatives gave the publication a copy of the letter claimed to have been sent to the govern ment in response to the minister.

The letter read: “I am writing to you to profusely apologise for my actions five years ago. I was com pletely wrong and I wholly regret my actions. I’ve now served my punish ment in prison and now that I am out, my main focus is how I can right my wrongs and how I can make The Bahamas and Family Islands, a region I care so deeply about, whole again.

“Over the years, and particularly since my release on August 30, I have been in constant touch with the people throughout the islands. Their generosity and kind hearts have been a con stant guide and motivation for me. I have been reengaging with the families of the islands to see what I can do to begin making amends.

“I don’t have much right now, but I am committed to make these families whole as soon as I am allowed. I ask for guidance on whom to speak with to begin my journey to do right by the incredible people of The Bahamas and Family Islands. I truly acknowledge the hurt I caused to the people, and

region, and I will spend the rest of my life working to right my wrongs,” Mr McFarland wrote.

Several international media outlets recently reported that Mr McFar land has a new venture, with plans of returning to the country to host a “treasure hunt” that will be the focus of an upcom ing documentary. He also had been teasing the hunt on TikTok.

According to MixMag, Mr McFarland is heading back to Exuma, the origi nal site for the failed 2017 Fyre Festival, to launch “PYRT” which will “see participants take part in a treasure hunt where they track down bottles

containing messages”.

Mr Cooper released a statement on Monday explaining no application has been made to the gov ernment for consideration of any event promoted by Mr McFarland or any entity or parties known to be associated with him.

The minister also said Mr McFarland is consid ered to be a “fugitive” due to several pending com plaints made against him with the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF).

The Tribune spoke to Elvis Rolle on Sunday as his business Exuma Point Beach Bar and Grill did catering for the failed fes tival. He said he has not been paid as yet and is

owed money by festival organisers.

He is one of many people on Exuma who claimed that they were shafted by Mr McFarland.

While Mr McFarland alleges in his letter that he has been in touch with the people through out the islands, Mr Rolle

Police call for vigilance during Christmas season

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

POLICE have warned people to be more vigilant and take the neces sary precautions to avoid becoming victims of crime this Christmas season.

Press liaison officer Chief Super intendent Chrislyn Skippings told reporters on the sidelines of an event yesterday that she cannot “definitively” say whether crime has increased leading into the Christmas season, however, she offered words of advice to locals.

CSP Skippings urged Bahami ans to discard Christmas gifts in a proper manner to avoid being tar geted during this holiday season.

She said: “If the Bahamian people

are not wise on how they go through this Christmas season, they can find themselves or their homes being broken into, by them not taking the proper steps in discarding gifts that may have been received over the Christmas holiday.

“What we found over the years that has assisted criminals is that after the Christmas holiday, after persons have already opened their gifts, they have a tendency to place all of the boxes that those gifts came in, right at their garbage.

“And so those persons with deviant mindset, traverse the neigh bourhoods and they can tell exactly what it is that you would have received for Christmas,” she added.

CSP Skipping encouraged people to discard the gift boxes by “cutting

them up” or disposing of them at the nearest dumpster site, rather than placing them outside of the garbage receptacles of their homes.

She also suggested that residents keep their blinds closed as an addi tional step to avoid being a victim of crime, as she said Bahamians are refusing to take the necessary precautions.

“I would like to say in order for crime to occur three things must be present,” she told reporters yesterday.

“You must have a suitable target, the opportunity must present itself, and there must be something of value.

“If you remove one of those from the equation, crime can’t cannot occur,” she continued.

said: “From the time they left the country, I haven’t heard nothing from them.”

Meanwhile, in reaction to the apology, Mr Cooper told reporters yesterday: “As I’ve laid out yester day (Monday) in my press statement, I believe there are several complaints

with the Royal Bahamas Police Force. I think he should have a conversa tion with them.”

Asked if the govern ment would reconsider its position if Mr McFar land presents funds owed to persons in Exuma, Mr Cooper indicated that this is a police matter.

and we’re actively right now trying to reach out to the station to find out whether or not it is the case,” she said.

Scores of Bahamians took to social media to con demn the matter.

“I feel ashamed,” said one Facebook user.

Another user said: “It’s a crying shame.”

BILLY McFarland showing off one of the bottles in his Exuma “treasure hunt” in a video posted to TikTok.

TENTS at the Fyre Festival site in 2017.

PRESS liaison officer Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings. (File photo)

DEPUTY PM IS CONFIDENT SECURITY COMMISSION CAN HANDLE FTX FALLOUT

regulators. I can tell you though that I am confident in the regulators and I’m confident about the laws governing financial ser vices in The Bahamas,” Mr Cooper told reporters.

“We have had curve balls thrown at us before in financial services and we persevered. We have piv oted in financial services many times and I expect that we’re going to do like wise in the digital assets business.

“As it relates to the spe cifics, as you are well aware, the Securities Commission is handling the matter and anything from the govern ment will come from the minister of finance that happens to be the prime minister.”

The embattled cryptocur rency exchange is currently being investigated by the US Department of Jus tice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The probes are said to be focusing on whether FTX founder Sam Bank man-Fried - who has since resigned from his role as CEO of the company - and FTX used custom ers’ deposits to fund bets and trading activities at his hedge fund, Alameda Research.

Client funds are sup posed to be kept separate from company assets, and there were suggestions the FTX founder has commit ted the “ultimate sin” by tapping into FTX’s custo dial assets to fund Alameda Research.

In addition to the US investigations, local author ities are also looking into matters related to FTX – among them the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Securities Commission of The Bahamas.

Last week, local regu lators moved to protect clients of The Bahamas’

flagship crypto currency investor by “freezing” its assets, and seizing con trol of the company, amid reports FTX acquired $74m in local real estate this year alone.

Then on Sunday, a state ment from the RBPF said police were working with the Securities Commission to investigate if any “crimi nal misconduct occurred” in view of the collapse of FTX.

Yesterday, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe refused to comment on ongoing inves tigations or whether local officials were collaborat ing with US authorities to assist with their probe. However, he was able to confirm that “no one had been detained by police” in relation to the matter.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis had previously said his admin istration was working with FTX to structure The Baha mas’ blue carbon credits and exploring the creation of a carbon credit exchange with it where these securi ties could be traded.

Since the collapse of FTX, many have raised concerns about the carbon credits in view of what has transpired with the com pany as well as the impact of FTX’s loss.

Asked if he thought the fallout would negatively affect The Bahamas, Mr Cooper told reporters yes terday: “We have a very good brand in the inter national community as it relates to the financial services and as it relates to doing business in The Bahamas and I’m confident that we are going to pivot appropriately and we will persevere.”

FTX collapse an ‘opportunity to ensure greater transparency’

By JADE RUSSELL jrussell@tribunemedia.net

THE collapse of FTX could be used as a crucial learning lesson moving forward, a governance reformer said yesterday.

“We’re still learning about what’s going on with FTX and still learning about the circumstances. But from what we do know there is an opportunity for us to ensure that going forward, there is greater transparency,” Organization for Responsible Govern ance Executive Director Matt Aubry said yesterday.

He was contacted by The Tribune for com ment after the collapse of FTX resulted in local regulators taking quick action last week to protect clients of The Bahamas’ flagship crypto currency investor by “freezing” its assets, and seizing control of the company, amid reports it acquired $74m in local real estate this year alone.

The Securities Commission last week said the Supreme Court had approved Brian Simms, KC, as joint provisional liquidator with powers to take control of the crypto exchange’s Bahamian company and affiliate entities.

In an interview with The Tribune yesterday, Mr Aubry said the imploding circumstances surrounding FTX highlighted the importance of being mindful of companies that come into the country to conduct business.

“There is an opportunity to understand, you know, that groups that do come to The Bahamas — are they operating in the best practices and are they sufficiently solvent? Which was the issue here and we’ve seen that in other foreign direct investments that have come through The Bahamas,” he said.

When asked if he agreed with the Free National Movement’s call for the government to provide the investing public with a clear statement regarding FTX, Mr Aubry said the organisation is focused more on learning from these past incidents.

Mr Aubry explained: “When we look at something like FTX it becomes the kind of thing that The Bahamas depends upon

periodically which is foreign direct invest ment that really starts to bring a lot of capital into the country.

“But it’s happened periodically that we’ve had these incidents that have come up. It’s important not only that we get information on specifically what was done. So, things like the Freedom of Information Act in its full enactment are crucial, ensuring that our legislation and our policy is reflective of a culture of transparency and more informa tion is built out.”

The executive director of ORG stressed that officials should try to learn from situ ations such as FTX and more importantly similar instances have happened in past administrations.

“The most critical component, I think, is setting us up that we don’t keep making the same circumstances where things will happen. Industries fail, things don’t work out as planned. But the question and the scepticism that happens, we need to have is assurance.

“It’s not going to be in the specific unbun dling of this circumstance that will change that culture. It’s in looking at the circum stances, one like others that have happened in past administrations and seeing what can change now,” Mr Aubry said.

Since news has circulated about the col lapse of FTX and the provisional liquidation of FTX Digital Markets Ltd there has been concern raised on how this matter will affect the country. Free National Movement Leader Michael Pinder said in a press statement on Sunday that the opposition is dismayed at the turn of events regarding the collapse of FTX that held so much promise for the future of digital asset management in The Bahamas.

Mr Pintard also stressed the public needs to know what, if any exposure exists for the government in view of the developments, and if there are any implications for the national budget.

ORGANIZATION for Responsible Governance

Executive Director Matt Aubry.

FROM PAGE ONE DEPUTY Prime Minister Chester Cooper (right) and FTX founder Sam BankmanFried (below).

Talks on lifting mask mandate at schools, but no official word

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THERE have been talks about lifting the mask man date in schools, however, there is no official word on a decision from the Ministry of Health, acting Director of Education Dominique McCartney Russell said.

However, she added that education officials are “quite optimistic” it will be lifted soon.

In September, it was announced that begin ning October 1 people will no longer be required to wear a mask in the country, except for those accessing healthcare facilities, visiting senior care homes or in an indoor classroom setting.

Education Minister Glenys Hanna Martin had previously said that with the assistance of Health Minister Dr Michael Dar ville, plans to further relax mask measures are in the works.

She also emphasised that when students are outdoors, masks are not required, therefore it should provide some level of relief.

Asked about the discus sions with the Ministry of Health to lift this mandate, Mrs McCartney Russell replied: “I haven’t been a part of that discussion yet, but I know that’s something I heard that may come down the pipeline.”

As for how soon this may occur, she told The Tribune

she does not know.

“But I did hear that there were some discussions in regard to lifting the mask mandate, but we have not gotten, you know that word yet from the Ministry of Health, but as soon as they do we will follow suit.”

Mrs McCartney Rus sell said children are ready to stop wearing masks in schools.

“The reality is our chil dren, you know, they want to take off their masks, but we want to make sure that they are kept safe per the health protocols. But if the Ministry of Health advises us that we can have the mask mandate lifted, we will definitely do that,” she said.

PLANS TO DETER YOUTH FROM CRIME

FROM PAGE ONE

deter youth at risk from that type of behaviour.

“The programmes were ratcheted down over the last four years and we’re now ratcheting them back up.”

He said the intervention programmes set to be launched will be youth centred as many of the people being charged in the courts for murder offences are young people.

“The interventions used to be targeted at the high schools and we now have to target them at the primary schools because we’ve had a 15-year-old charged with murder and so the interventions have to happen ear lier because these are our children. I keep repeating that,” Mr Munroe added.

“These are our children. We have socialised them to be murderers. We have socialised them to have no regard for life. We have to arrest that development.”

Following Mr Munroe’s interview yes terday, The Tribune contacted Pastor Carlos Reid, a consultant to the Ministry of National Security, to get more information on the ministry’s new crime intervention initiatives.

He said the ministry has a “compre hensive” plan that will target at-risk youth and is also moving forward with its Shock Treatment programme that was created for students with disciplinary problems.

Pastor Reid said while focusing on crime prevention and intervention is important, the country also needs to find ways to solve murder cases faster.

This, he added, will help prevent people from taking justice in their own hands which has fostered a revenge culture here in The Bahamas.

“There are presently 300 persons that are out on bail right now because of murder because we have a huge backlog.

“What the attorney general is look ing at is how do we get rid of that backlog so people can go to court in a reasonable time,” he said.

“Because we have a constitution that the courts are responsible to protect, it states that unless we can bring people to court in a reasonable amount of time then they are entitled to bail because a person is pre sumed innocent until proven guilty so we need to get rid of that.

“If you check the statistics, the statis tics shows a lot of the murders that were carried out were retaliation killings so to speak - persons that were out on bail that was shot down but as we work towards swifter justice, if we can get people to court in a reasonable length of time then there would be no need for bail so then persons would not feel that they have to take justice into their own hands.”

GOVT IN FINAL STAGES OF SELECTING GB AIRPORT REDEVELOPMENT ‘PROVIDER’

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Davis administration is in the final stages of selecting “a provider” for the redevel opment of the Grand Bahama International Airport, accord ing to Tourism, Investments and Aviation Minister Chester Cooper.

Mr Cooper gave the update while responding to criticism that the government’s failure to adequately address the air port was the reason why the sale of the Grand Lucayan resort was not successful.

“I have listened intently to a lot of people speculating. I have listened intently to many members of the former board speaking to matters in which they had no information,” he said yesterday.

“Let me just say that we have laid out the circum stances as it relates to the Grand Lucayan. Suffice to say, that we are in the final stages of selecting a provider for the rebuilding of the Grand Bahama airport, so I am not going to get into a back and forth with persons who had a mandate to sell the property and didn’t do so. They must give account for their steward ship. We will give account for ours.”

Plans for the redevelopment of the airport were announced after the facility suffered extensive damage caused by Hurricane Dorian in Septem ber 2019.

Before Dorian, the air port was privately owned and operated by the Freeport Har bour Company, which is part

of Hutchison Port Holdings of the Hutchison Whampoa Group.

However, under the Minnis administration, the govern ment purchased it in April 2021 for $1, with plans to rede velop the airport under a PPP.

It also paid-out around $1m as its 50 percent share of the redundancy pay and associated benefits received by GBIA staff.

Since assuming office last year, the Davis administration has looked at several potential investors for the redevelop ment of the airport and the list has since been narrowed down to two, with an investor set to be selected soon.

As it relates to the Grand Lucayan resort, Mr Cooper had previously said the gov ernment was seeking an alternative purchaser after the resort’s $100m sale to Elec tra America Hospitality Ltd collapsed.

Explaining the reason for the collapse, he told reporters last week that the government had grown tired of the pro posed buyer constantly stalling over the deal by repeatedly asking for due diligence extensions.

“We will do what’s in the best interest of the Bahamian people,” the deputy prime minister added yesterday.

“We will do what’s in the best interest of Grand Bahama and suffice to say as we have laid out before, we are pressing for ward and I am confident that we will be able to do a trans action or a pivot as it relates to the Grand Lucayan resorts that’s going to be in the best interest of the people.”

GREAT COMMISSION MINISTRIES TO BREAK GROUND FOR $3M SHELTER IN JANUARY

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

GREAT Commission Ministries expects to break ground for the construction of a $3m shelter in January, with an estimated $30,000 saved so far for the venture.

Bishop Walter Hanchell, a long-time advocate for the poor and the founder and president of Great Com mission Ministries, said yesterday that due to the recent increase he has seen in persons needing shelter, he is eager to see the Hope City project launched soon.

Hope City will be a 100bed homeless shelter in the Carmichael Road area.

“There is an increase in the number of persons coming looking for shelter, subsequently we are in the process of building a 100bed homeless shelter, which we will be launching that project in two weeks, it’s called Hope City Homeless Shelter,” Bishop Hanchell said.

“It’s going to be on Car michael Road and it’s going to be costing us around $3m. We probably have about $30,000, very little, but we know that we could get it done, that’s our goal,” he said.

“We anticipate starting construction in January and we would love to have that facility completed by December of 2023.

Bishop Hanchell made these comments yesterday while accepting a donation

of some 40 cases of water and 40 cases of sodas from the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) Security and Intelligence Branch in con junction with members of the Bahamas Law Enforce ment Cooperative Union (BLECCU).

The collective 80 cases donated yesterday will go towards some 2,000 meals to be prepared for a free Thanksgiving give-away planned for Thursday at Great Commission Minis tries on Wulff Road.

Bishop Hanchell said yes terday, “We count it a joy to be able to take care of these people. A lot of people tell us that the meal that they get at Great Commission is the only meal that they have all day.”

He added, “We are so thankful to them (RBPF), and to the Commissioner of Police for this gesture of love that we really need. All the drinks that they have provided to day-to-day donating to Great Commis sion Ministries is so much needed. And we are so grateful for it.”

Keith Ferguson, assistant superintendent of police in the Security and Intelligence Branch, said yesterday, “Great Commission Min istry has been a part of this community for the last 35 years providing services to the community like food, shelter, clothing, youth pro grammes and the list could go on.

“So we thought it was

a great initiative and an effort to give back to the community. You know, we all are part of the commu nity. So we say thank you for allowing us to be in partnership with you. It is a pleasure.”

Damien Robinson of the BLECCU said that the credit union jumped on board to assist Great Com mission Ministries, so that the organisation can con tinue to help persons in need.

“I grew up in this com munity right down to Wellington Street and bishop has been doing an excellent job in giving back,” he said.

“The credit union’s motto is people helping people to help themselves. So as you can see, this is the reason why we thought it only fit ting that we would come on board with this initiative to help Bishop Hanchell, to help the people and by extension will help us,” Mr Robinson said.

“We’ve been trying to help to change the whole mindset of the way our community really sees law enforcement. So this will go a long way in that effort. Thank you for allowing us to partner in this session,” he said.

Great Commission Minis tries has focused on feeding and sheltering the poor, homeless and needy since 1987. This year the organisa tion is celebrating 35 years in operation.

ROYAL Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) Security and Intelligence Branch in conjunction with members of the Bahamas Law Enforcement Cooperative Union (BLECCU) donated some 40 cases of water and 40 cases of sodas to Great Commission Ministries yesterday.

PHOTOS: Austin Fernander

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe.

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(THE CONVERSATION) The risk of the conflict in Ukraine expanding further into Eastern Europe esca lated on Nov. 15, 2022, with reports of Russian-made missiles straying into neighbouring Poland.

It was not immediately clear if the apparent strike – in which two people were killed – was intentional or acci dental, or where the missiles had originated. But it represents a wor rying development and the first time since hostilities began in the Ukraine war that a member of the North Atlan tic Treaty Organization, or NATO, has been hit. It has led to questions over whether Poland may invoke Article 4 or Article 5 of the NATO treaty – something that could lead to military intervention by other member countries.

The Conversation asked John R. Deni, research professor at the U.S. Army War College, a lecturer at Amer ican University, and author of “NATO and Article 5: The Transatlantic Alli ance and the Twenty-First-Century Challenges of Collective Defense,” to explain what invoking these articles would mean – and what could happen next.

What is Article 5 of the NATO Treaty?

Article 5 really is the heart and soul of the NATO alliance. It is the part of the treaty that says that if one member is attacked, then all of the other mem bers will treat it as an attack on them all. In effect, it calls for a collective response once requested by any of the current 30 members of NATO and invoked by the entire alliance.

The NATO treaty was signed in April 1949 and Article 5 is central to it.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Western European countries sought a way to defend themselves in the event Germany again arose as a security challenge. By the late 1940s, concerns shifted toward the threat posed by the Soviet Union, which stationed large military forces across Eastern Europe, staged a coup in Czechoslovakia, and blockaded Berlin.

Initially, the United States was scep tical of joining any kind of post-war alliance in Europe, but Soviet actions convinced American leaders to sign on as a way of maintaining Western Europe as free and open.

Article 5 doesn’t automatically get triggered once a NATO member is attacked; the country attacked needs to request that the alliance invoke it – in this case, that would mean Poland, should Polish officials con clude that Russian missiles were sent deliberately.

What is the U.S. responsibility should it be triggered?

In practice, invoking Article 5 would mean that the United States would be called upon to help defend any Euro pean ally, or Canada, if attacked.

But, there is an important caveat. Article 5 was written in such a way that it allows each ally to decide for itself the best course of action to take – there is no prescribed response once the article is invoked.

In the case of U.S., the execu tive branch – that is, the president – would need to consider the views and responsibilities of the Congress. If the president were to decide on direct military action, then Congress would likely be involved in some capacity –and of course only Congress has the power to declare war.

But Article 5 doesn’t necessarily require a military response. In fact, there is enough flexibility in the lan guage of the treaty for a more nuanced response.

This is vital. Each member of NATO remains a sovereign state, and can’t be compelled into military action.

Decision-making over the use of force remains at the national level; such choices are not simply handed over to a supranational organisation.

That said, U.S. President Joe Biden – as with previous presidents – has been very clear about America’s will ingness to defend “every inch” of NATO territory.

As such, if there were a deliberate attack on a NATO ally, I’d expect a robust response by the U.S. and poten tially a military one.

It would, of course, depend on what the attacked ally requested, and what the U.S. believes it can and should provide.

In what instances has it been triggered in the past?

Article 5 has only been triggered once in the seven decades of NATO’s existence. That was on Sept. 12, 2001 –the day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The European allies came to the U.S.’s defence on that occasion. They did this by deploying patrol aircraft in U.S. airspace. Additionally, when the decision was made to invade Afghani stan, several NATO countries in which American troops are based – espe cially Germany – provided guards for U.S. military bases overseas so that American soldiers could deploy.

Could this apparent missile strike on Poland trigger Article 5?

That is tricky to assess at the moment, as not all the details are known – there are lots of variables at play.

It makes a massive difference whether this was a targeted attack on Polish military or civilian sites, or whether it was stray missiles. There is also the possibility that this was debris from a strike in Ukraine. We know that the missiles fell close to the Polish-Ukrainian border, in a village just a few miles away from the border. The loss of any innocent lives is tragic in any case, but I think the number of deaths resulting from the strike will also be a factor in whether Poland requests invocation of Article 5.

If it looks like an accident, that will definitely affect how and if the alliance responds. And even if it was deemed an intentional strike, the Poles may still decide not to request invocation of Article 5. This is when Article 4 of the NATO Treaty comes into play.

What is Article 4?

Article 4 can be invoked by any NATO member that feels threatened. Under its terms, a member state can request a consultation of the North Atlantic Council, or NAC – the high est political decision-making body in the NATO alliance.

A NAC meeting in itself isn’t unu sual. Every NATO summit is a NAC meeting at the level of heads of states. And a NAC meeting takes place every Wednesday at ambassadorial level in Brussels.

But what Article 4 does is open the way for a special meeting of the NAC to consult over the next steps that the alliance should take. This is still a big deal – just not as weighty as invoking Article 5.

Article 4 has been invoked several times over NATO’s lifetime. It was invoked by Turkey amid concerns over cross-border terrorism as a result of the Syrian War.

More recently, it was invoked by eight NATO members in Eastern Europe after the Feb. 24 Russian inva sion of Ukraine.

Poland is currently assessing whether to invoke Article 4.

(This article is by John Deni, American University, for theconversation.com)

We need a ‘New Day’ as to how we operate

EDITOR, The Tribune.

FTX crash brought me to think about our past and certainly suggest the theme adopted by the PLP in the last election is of significance and excep tional importance. Editor, we need a ‘New Day’ as to how we operate and give concessions - licences to unsavory parties.

Let’s establish critically important economic nega tive practices that our past- we encouraged and participated in - pirating, gun running, ship wreck ing, rum running during probation - drugs - human smuggling - that event in Exuma - FTX.

Said and ironically all of these eight-issues/prac tices actually all in their own way brought eco nomic effects, but all were illegal or involved fraud.

What was the old saying

‘turn a new leaf’ - Editor FTX should, I suggest, cause Government that adopted successfully the theme ‘A New Day’ to practice what they used to the fullest, but we also have to earn praise not as we do every new project is the world’s best - inter nationally renowned, etc, etc.

This evening on ZNS News one of the per sons involved in the Six sense project, build out described the project as it will be if not the best world hotel, but close –sorry aren’t true we have to earn those creden tials and praise from our customers.

Prime Minister set a new course and a ‘New

Day’ gone with our old sub-standard habits and raise the level of what we will allow to a level of excellence and fiscal credibility.

Might be slow to attract, but there are far more honest - credible inves tors than the opposite - we must get rid of the old and start anew with a ‘New Day of extreme excel lence!’ It is a challenge but you might be sur prised when you remove the stigma that anything goes in The Bahamas, they aren’t serious.

Maybe FTX did actu ally do something positive - changed our old ways to something we really can be proud of. Let’s hope.

K ALBURY Nassau, November

14, 2022.

Could Poland demand NATO act in event of Russian attack?

NASA’S new moon rocket lifts off from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday. This launch is the first flight test of the Artemis programme. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGE FOR JUVENILE

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A JUVENILE was sent to the Simpson

The 15-year-old defend ant, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, stood before Magistrate Kara TurnquestDeveaux on a charge of attempted murder.

The boy is accused of attempting to cause the death of Travis Knowles on September 30.

The accused was not required to enter a plea at this time. He was informed that his case would be fast tracked to the Supreme Court by a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

The boy is to be remanded at the Simpson Penn Centre for Boys until he is granted bail by the higher court. He is expected to receive his VBI on Feb ruary 22, 2023.

MAN CHARGED IN CONNECTION WITH $1MILLION DRUG BUST

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was granted $30,000 bail in a Magistrate’s Court yester day in connection with a $1 million drug bust off the coast of Grand Bahama in 2018.

David Colebrook, 62, rep resented by attorney Jerome

Roberts, faced Magistrate Samuel McKinney on a charge of posses sion of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

According to authorities, on the night of October 30, 2018 in waters off High Rock, officers encoun tered a white 23ft Stapleton boat and observed the vessel’s two occu pants throwing white crocus sacks overboard.

When authorities turned on their beacon lights, the pair fled rapidly from the scene. While a chase fol lowed, the culprits managed to evade the authorities by jumping off their boat and swimming away.

In addition to recovering the vessel in this incident, police seized 26 white crocus sacks from the ocean which further investigations confirmed contained Indian hemp.

The drugs had an estimated value of $1,027,000. In court Colebrook pleaded not guilty to the offence and was granted $30,000 bail.

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

Two year prison sentence for shop breaking

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was sentenced to two years in prison yes terday after admitting to shop-breaking to fund his cocaine addiction.

Jean Carlos, aka “James Toussaint”, 36, faced Mag istrate Samuel McKinney on three counts of shopbreaking and stealing.

On three occasions between October 28 and November 11, Carlos is accused of breaking into Gloria’s Daiquiris and Tropical Delights in Raw son’s Square. During these break-ins, Carlos stole an estimated $1,193 worth of

FLAG RAISING CEREMONY AT ST AUGUSTINE’S COLLEGE

assorted alcoholic bever ages, cigarettes and other items.

In court the accused pleaded guilty to the offence. He told the court that he suffers from a drug addiction: a 20-year cocaine habit.

He asked Magistrate McKinney to order that he be given drug counselling.

After being told by the prosecution that Carlos has prior convictions, with one carrying jail time for a similar offence under his alias, the magistrate con victed him.

Carlos was then sen tenced to serve two years at the Bahamas Department

of Correctional Services for the shop-breaking charges with a further one-year sentence for the theft charges to be served

concurrently. Additionally he was ordered to fully compensate the complain ant for the loss or risk an additional three months

in custody. Before being taken into remand, the court noted that Carlos is to attend drug counselling while he serves his time.

MAN ACCUSED OF RIFLE ASSAULT

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was granted bail in Magistrate’s Court yesterday after being accused of a rifle assault earlier this month.

Chrishawn Hall, 28, stood before Magis trate Samuel McKinney on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

On November 1 in New Providence, Hall is alleged to have assaulted Dwayne Demeritte with a rifle.

After electing to continue his case in the Magistrate’s Court, the accused pleaded not guilty to the offence.

He was granted $7,500 bail with one or two sureties on condition he sign in at the Carmi chael Road Police Station every Wednesday and Saturday by 6pm.

His lawyer told the magistrate that her client was allegedly punched by police officers during his initial arrest on November 13. The court officially noted this complaint.

Hall’s trial is set to begin on January 5, 2023.

Afterwards,

The

Penn Centre for Boys yesterday in connection with a failed murder bid.

GOVERNOR General Sir Cornelius A. Smith attended the annual Flag Raising Cer emony of St. Augustine’s College, on the school’s grounds, on Friday. Arriving promptly at 9:15 am, the Governor General was greeted by the Catholic Archbishop of Nassau, the Most Reverend Patrick C. Pinder and School Principal Ms. Marici Thompson, along with executive members of the school’s board.

school’s assembly commenced shortly afterwards, where the guest speaker was Retired Commodore of the Royal Bahamas

Defence Force Davy Rolle, who gave a talk on the history of the Bahamian Flag, its colours and proper etiquette and protocol on how the flag is to be treated, raised and lowered, and the meaning of the flag’s colours. During the presentation speech, members of the RBDF Colour Guard gave demonstrations on flag conduct.

the Governor General, along with Archbishop Patrick Pinder, proceeded with the ceremonial flag raising. (BIS Photos/Mark Ford)

Many ways to meet the need for companionship

SOCIAL media is, and has always been, complicated. The platforms are fickle and the moderation is never strong or swift enough. Open to everyone, these platforms can become cha otic. While we can largely curate our feeds by choos ing who and what we follow and like carefully, more and more, we are being exposed to what they follow and like. Many of our feeds are flooded with content we never chose to see, both because we are seeing others’ activity and ads are taking up a significant amount of space.

There are two tweets that have been circulat ing quickly and widely this week. In the first, a woman posted about her 60-yearold mother who “needs a man” because she’s “super lonely.” She went on to say that it is not okay to tell women that it is fine to grow old alone, noting that it is “not a pretty sight to see.” My immedi ate thought was, “What a wretched daughter,” because who would want this kind of detail about their personal life broadcast to the point that over 20,000 like it, more than 3,800 respond to it with their own opinions, and another 3,400 people use it to start their own conversations on their own pages?

The replies on the post itself, of course, run the range from “This is disre spectful to your mother and people can be single and happy” to “Absolutely, how

pathetic and desperate you think she is.” Another said, “My mom divorced decades ago. She’s 67, retired, has a dog, travels, and has her grandkids and her family functions. I never heard her once say she is lonely. If your mom is lonely, it doesn’t mean she needs a man. Our universe should not ever revolve around a man.”

Today, marriage is not a priority for many women. We have come to learn that marriage has been thrust upon us under false pre tenses. Generation after generation has convinced women that they need men to take care of them, even when women work and contribute to household income in addition to car rying the unfair burden of domestic and care work.

is it possible to be happy and unmarried?” One person said, “Maybe she’s sad and lonely because her daughter puts her personal business on a website for strangers to judge and gawk at. Hope she doesn’t have Twitter to read about how

They have convinced women that we need the protection of men when, really, for many reasons, it is men that we need protec tion from.

In addition to the threat of being without protection of a man (from other men), the threat of loneliness is

regularly used. This threat completely ignores the companionship women find in each other and in platonic relationships with people of all genders. It ignores that romantic and sexual partners do not always turn out to be the best or the most consist ent company over time. In fact, there are many mar ried women who are bored and lonely, and not only because their husbands refuse to meaningfully engage them, but because many of the same husbands have systematically coerced or forced women into iso lation from their support systems so that they depend entirely on those men who later withdraw.

In the second tweet, a TikTok video is shared with the simple caption, “She had a cancer treatment earlier in the day [by the way].” In the video, a woman asks a man what he is doing as he makes jalapeño poppers. He says, “I asked you to do this while I was golfing, and, uh, I come home, and you were sitting on the couch. So, apparently, I gotta do this myself.” He went on to say, “If you could have done this while I was golf ing, I’d just come home and eat this.”

At this point in the video, it has not come up that the woman behind the camera is not only going through cancer treatment, but was receiving treatment while her husband was golfing. It is absurd and selfish that he expected her to return from a grueling treatment to make jalapeño poppers, as a matter of urgency, while he played golf. She com mented that he was doing a good job of making them himself. He then tried to guilt her by saying, “Some times you gotta figure it out if your person — you—isn’t gonna help you.” He later said, “You just sat on your keister today, because you had a “treatment”.” Yes, he used air quotes on “treat ment” as though cancer treatment is not legitimate

healthcare or reason to be tired or need to relax.

Some people in the replies said there were indications that the second video was a skit. Others said it was a play on another video with a similar issue. Whether this particular incident was real or not, we all know this happens and it is not particularly unu sual. Women are expected to be superhuman, to meet everyone in the household’s needs, and to choose their own suffering in order to be pleasing to others. The expectation is that this will somehow secure their futures, working as cred its toward good treatment, eventually. Unfortunately, not many ever get to cash in on that, dying early, getting sick and being left because they are no longer useful appliances or robots for their husbands, or ridiculed by their children for not doing a better job of secur ing their own futures.

Many women make con sistent deposits to these accounts of care from which they will never be able to withdraw. Still, those who refuse to participate in the farce are ridiculed if and when they find themselves in a less than desirable position.

Marriage is not synony mous with companionship, security, protection, or a loving relationship, no matter what people try to say about it. No two mar riages are the same. It seems, especially when we look at the public discus sion about marital rape, that many marriages are, in fact, violent.

They are certainly not all happy or fair to the people in them. The same goes for romantic and sexual relationships.

Their existence does not mean that they are good, much less fulfilling. Some times they are meeting a particular need, and some times they are a habit, or exist only because one or both of the people is/are too scared, lazy, or tired to end them.

There are many ways to meet the need for

companionship. One of the best ways of doing this is to build community. Make friends. Be genuine. Create a space where you can share your experiences, name your needs, and show up for one another.

Do not let one relation ship dominate your life and end your participation in others. It is important to have friends.

It is critical to maintain relationships with people who understand you and care about your wellbeing. Some of these people may be relatives, some may be longtime friends, and some may be people you recently met and with whom you have built a strong connec tion. None is necessarily more important than the other.

Women with friend groups fare better in the long run. There is always someone who can bring dinner, accompany you to a doctor’s appointment, help plan a vacation, talk you through a difficult decision, listen to your rants, and give advice on starting a new hobby or project. There is someone who can stay with you through a tough week. There are people to pool resources and buy prop erty or a house that allows you to be together, with ample space, and more than enough support.

Not being married or in a romantic or sexual rela tionship does not mean you have to grow old alone. Women can be good com pany for each other. There do not have to be strings attached.

The love and care does not and should not only travel in one direc tion. Building community results in shared resources, consistent support, and companionship. Communities grow and change over time as people enter and exit, and they reshape to suit members’ needs. Even with more people involved, this can be easier to manage and more satisfying than a oneon-one relationship where gender norms dominate and define.

“There are many ways to meet the need for companionship. One of the best ways of doing this is to build community. Make friends. Be genuine. Create a space where you can share your experiences, name your needs, and show up for one another.”

EXPLAINER: NASA’S NEW MEGA MOON ROCKET, ORION CREW CAPSULE

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is kicking off its new moon programme with a test flight of a brand-new rocket and capsule.

Liftoff was slated for early this morning from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test flight aims to send an empty crew capsule into a far-flung lunar orbit, 50 years after NASA’s famed Apollo moonshots.

The project is years late and billions over budget. The price tag for the test flight: more than $4 billion.

A rundown of the new rocket and capsule, part of NASA’s Artemis programme, named after Apollo’s mytho logical twin sister:

ROCKET POWER

At 322 feet (98 metres), the new rocket is shorter and slimmer than the Saturn V rockets that hurled 24 Apollo astronauts to the moon a half-century ago. But it’s mightier, pack ing 8.8 million pounds (4 million kilogrammes) of thrust. It’s called the Space Launch System rocket, SLS for short, although a less clunky name is under discus sion. Unlike the streamlined Saturn V, the new rocket has a pair of side boosters refashioned from NASA’s space shuttles.

The boosters peel away after two minutes, just like the shuttle boosters. The core stage keeps firing before crashing into the Pacific. Less than two hours after liftoff, an upper stage sends the capsule, Orion, racing toward the moon.

MOONSHIP

NASA’s high-tech, auto mated Orion capsule is named after the constella tion, among the night sky’s brightest.

At 11 feet (3 metres) tall, it’s roomier than Apollo’s capsule, seating four astro nauts instead of three. For the test flight, a fullsize dummy in an orange flight suit occupies the

commander’s seat, rigged with vibration and accel eration sensors. Two other mannequins made of mate rial simulating human tissue — heads and female torsos, but no limbs — measure cosmic radiation, one of the biggest risks of spaceflight. Unlike the rocket, Orion has launched before, making two laps around Earth in 2014. For the test flight, the European Space Agency’s service module was attached for propulsion and solar power via four wings.

FLIGHT PLAN

Orion’s flight is set to last 25 days from its Florida lift off to Pacific splashdown, about the same as astronaut trips. It takes nearly a week to reach the moon, 240,000 miles (386,000 kilometres) away. After whipping closely around the moon, the cap sule enters a distant orbit with a far point of 38,000 miles (61,000 kilometres). That puts Orion 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometres) from Earth, farther than Apollo.

The big test comes at mis sion’s end, as Orion hits the atmosphere at 25,000 mph (40,000 kph) on its way to a splashdown in the Pacific. The heat shield uses the same material as the Apollo capsules to withstand reen try temperatures of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,750 degrees Celsius).

But the advanced design anticipates the faster, hotter returns by future Mars crews.

HITCHHIKERS

Besides three test dum mies, the test flight includes a slew of stowaways for deep space research.

Ten shoebox-size satel lites pop off once Orion is hurtling toward the moon. NASA expects some to fail, given the low-cost, high-risk nature of these mini satel lites. In a back-to-the-future salute, Orion carries a few slivers of moon rocks col lected by Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969, and a bolt from one of their rocket engines,

salvaged from the sea a decade ago.

APOLLO VS. ARTEMIS

More than 50 years later, Apollo still stands as NASA’s greatest achievement. Using 1960s technology, NASA took just eight years to go from launching its first astronaut, Alan Shepard, and landing Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon. By con trast, Artemis already has dragged on for more than a decade, despite building on the short-lived moon exploration programme Constellation. Twelve Apollo astronauts walked on the moon from 1969 through

1972, staying no longer than three days at a time. For Artemis, NASA will draw from a diverse astronaut pool and is extending the time crews spend on the moon to at least a week. The goal is to create a longterm lunar presence that will grease the skids for sending people to Mars.

WHAT’S NEXT There’s a lot more to be done before astronauts step on the moon again. A second test flight will send four astronauts around the moon and back, perhaps as early as 2024. A year or so later, NASA aims to send

another four up, with two of them touching down at the lunar south pole. Orion doesn’t come with its own lunar lander like the Apollo spacecraft did, so NASA has hired Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide its Starship space craft for the first Artemis moon landing. Two other private companies are devel oping moonwalking suits. The sci-fi-looking Starship would link up with Orion at the moon and take a pair of astronauts to the surface and back to the capsule for the ride home.

So far, Starship has only soared six miles (10 kilometres).

TECHTALK

ELECTRIC AIR TAXI COMPANY ARCHER PLANS $118M GEORGIA FACTORY

By JEFF AMY Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — A California company seeking to build small electric aircraft says it will invest $118 mil lion to construct a plant near Atlanta, eventually hiring up to 1,000 people. Archer Aviation, based in Santa Clara, California, said Monday that it would seek to build its aircraft adjoin ing an airport in Covington, Georgia.

Archer is one of many companies trying to build electric air taxis. Archer’s plan involves a battery-pow ered vertical takeoff and landing craft with six propel lers, holding four passengers and a pilot. The propellers would pivot allowing the air craft to take off and land like a helicopter and fly like a plane. The idea is that such craft could be used for short flights, especially in urban areas. United Airlines last week said it would fly the craft from downtown Man hattan to United’s hub at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, cutting a trip that can take an hour by car in congested traffic to 10 minutes.

OREGON UNIVERSITY PLANS TO DEVELOP NEW RECHARGEABLE BATTERY

By MONICA SAMAYOA Oregon Public Broadcasting

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)

— A research team led by Oregon State University is planning to develop a new rechargeable battery that could reduce the need for environmentally destruc tive mining of rare minerals like nickel and lithium and accelerate the clean energy transition. The U.S. Depart ment of Energy awarded OSU $3 million to explore the development of a new rechargeable battery tech nology that would accelerate the clean energy transition without relying on rare finite minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. OSU chem istry professor Xiulei “David” Ji, who will lead a battery research team, said it could be a game-changer.

“It’s a new paradigm,” he told Oregon Public Broad casting. “We are very excited and very grateful to have this opportunity to work on this project.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)

— Researchers at Vanderbilt University and other schools around the country are con ducting an experiment in Nashville next week to try to decrease the number of stopand-go traffic jams on a local interstate.

The new experiment will deploy up to 100 cars equipped with adaptive cruise control technology along a

4-mile stretch of Interstate 24 during morning rush hour, according to a news release from Vanderbilt. That stretch is outfitted with hundreds of ultra-high definition cameras that will give researchers a digital model of how every vehicle behaves.

Previous research has shown that a small percentage of artificial intelli gence-equipped vehicles can

go a long way toward alleviat ing the stop-and-go dynamic that often leads to traffic jams with no obvious cause.

In addition to being frus trating, these jams waste fuel and increase pollution. The experiment next week will help researchers determine whether the traffic improve ments from the smaller experiment can be replicated on a much larger scale.

As the world transitions from fossil fuels to clean energy to reduce contribu tions to climate change, there is a growing need for batter ies to store renewable energy and power electric vehicles. The resulting battery boom has generated environmen tal concerns because of the impacts of mining battery materials such as lithium, and it has driven up prices and demand for the minerals used to make batteries.

THIS combination of photos shows the Saturn V rocket with Apollo 12’s spacecraft aboard on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in 1969, left, and the new moon rocket for the Arte mis programme with the Orion spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 18, 2022. (AP Photo, File)

HAITI FEARS SPIKE IN CHOLERA CASES AS FUEL BLOCKADE LIFTS

By EVENS SANON and DÁNICA COTO Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Cholera cases are overwhelming Haiti, and experts warn the situation could worsen now that the country is bustling following the end of a para lysing fuel blockade that lasted two months.

Dr. Jeanty Fils, a spokes man for Haiti’s Ministry of Health, told The Associ ated Press that people are back on the streets and likely spreading cholera as the government struggles to find life-saving equipment including IV supplies amid an ongoing discussion on whether to request cholera vaccines.

“We need more resources,” he said. “Chol era cases continue to climb in Haiti.”

At least 161 people have died and more than 7,600 are hospitalised, according to the Pan American Health Organization and Haiti’s government, although offi cials believe the numbers are much higher as a result of under-reporting. Chol era is caused by a bacteria found in contaminated food or water that leads to vom iting and diarrhea. If not treated in time, it can cause fatal dehydration.

The worsening situation led the United Nations to announce Tuesday that it, along with Haiti’s govern ment and other partners, was seeking $146 million to help fight cholera. At least half a million people in Haiti are at risk of contract ing the disease, according to PAHO and the World Health Organization.

“The surge in cases in recent weeks and the rapid spread of cholera in the country is worrying,” said Ulrika Richardson, U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator.

Fils noted that cholera cases were likely contained during the fuel blockade since gas stations were closed and many in the country of more than 11 million people remained at home.

“Now people are going to move around more,” he said. “It could start spreading.”

Stephanie Mayronne, medical operations man ager for Doctors Without Borders, agreed. She said if people sick ened with cholera start traveling to areas with poor sanitation and a lack of drinking water, the number of cases will likely rise.

“It’s a match that can light a fire,” she said.

The number of patients seeking help at Doctors Without Borders hospitals in the capital of Port-auPrince have spiked in recent weeks, with more than 6,500 admitted so far. Beds filled up so quickly that the aid group was forced to open a fifth center two weeks ago, said Alexandre Marcou, Haiti’s field communication manager.

Inside that new center, mothers hovered over their children on a recent morning. One rearranged the tangle of intravenous cables surrounding her baby while another pumped the little cheeks of her young daughter to force her mouth open and give her an oral supplement. Nearby, adult patients sat in silence in plastic chairs with large white buckets between their legs, holding their head to one side with their arm. Some ate rice and red beans out of small containers that nurses later collected.

Marcou noted that people can survive chol era if treated on time, but the recent lack of fuel and ongoing violence between gangs that has worsened since the July 2021 assassi nation of President Jovenel Moïse has prevented Haitians from reaching hos pitals and medical clinics.

“There’s a huge security crisis. And we are tremen dously lacking resources,” said Ralph Ternier, chief medical officer in Haiti for the nonprofit Partners in Health. “The epidemic is spreading so quickly that vaccines are really the tool that we need.”

The Pan American Health Organization told the AP that it is support ing Haiti’s government in preparing a request for vaccines as well as to plan and implement vaccination campaigns. But it wasn’t clear if and when that might happen.

Trump seeks White House again amid GOP losses, legal probes

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will mount a third White House campaign, launch ing an early start to the 2024 contest. The announcement comes just a week after a disappointing midterm showing for Republicans and will force the party to decide whether to embrace a candidate whose refusal to accept defeat in 2020 sparked an insurrection and pushed American democracy to the brink.

“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for presi dent of the United States,” Trump said to an audience of several hun dred supporters, club members and gathered press in a chandeliered ball room at his Mar-a-Lago club, where he stood flanked by more than 30 American flags and banners bearing his “Make America Great Again” slogan. “I am running because I believe the world has not yet seen the true glory of what this nation can be.”

“We will again put America first,” he added.

Another campaign is a remark able turn for any former president, much less one who made history as the first to be impeached twice and whose term ended with his support ers violently storming the Capitol in a deadly bid to halt the peaceful transi tion of power on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump enters the race in a moment of political vulnerability. He hoped to launch his campaign in the wake of resounding GOP midterm victo ries, fueled by candidates he elevated during this year’s primaries. Instead, many of those candidates lost, allow ing Democrats to keep the Senate and leaving the GOP with a path to only a bare majority in the House.

Far from the undisputed leader of the party, Trump is now facing criticism from some of his own allies, who say it’s time for Republicans to look to the future, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis emerging as an early favourite White House contender.

The former president is still popu lar with the GOP base. But other Republicans, including former Vice President Mike Pence, are taking increasingly public steps toward campaigns of their own, raising the prospect that Trump will have to nav igate a competitive GOP primary.

He’s launching his candidacy amid a series of escalating criminal investi gations, including several that could lead to indictments. They include the probe into dozens of documents with classified markings that were seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago and ongoing state and federal inquiries into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

But Trump, according to people close to him, has been eager to return to politics and try to halt the rise of

other potential challengers. Aides have spent the last months ready ing paperwork, identifying potential staff and sketching out the contours of a campaign that is being modelled on his 2016 operation, when a small clutch of aides zipping between rallies on his private jet defied the odds and defeated far better-funded and more experienced rivals by tapping into deep political fault lines and using shocking statements to drive relent less media attention.

Even after GOP losses, Trump remains the most powerful force in his party. For years he has consist ently topped his fellow Republican contenders by wide margins in hypo thetical head-to-head matchups. And even out of office, he consistently attracts thousands to his rallies and remains his party’s most prolific fund raiser, raising hundreds of millions of dollars.

But Trump is also a deeply polar ising figure. Fifty-four percent of voters in last week’s midterm elec tions viewed him very or somewhat unfavourably, according to AP Vote Cast, a survey of more than 94,000 voters nationwide. And an October AP-NORC poll found even Repub licans have their reservations about him remaining the party’s standardbearer, with 43% saying they don’t want to see him run for president in 2024.

Trump’s candidacy poses profound questions about America’s demo cratic future.

The final days of his presidency were consumed by a desperate effort to stay in power, undermining the centuries-old tradition of a peaceful transfer. And in the two years since he lost, Trump’s persistent — and baseless — lies about widespread election fraud have eroded confi dence in the nation’s political process.

By late January 2021, about twothirds of Republicans said they did not believe President Joe Biden was legitimately elected in 2020, an APNORC poll found.

VoteCast showed roughly as many Republican voters in the midterm elections continued to hold that belief.

Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evi dence the 2020 election was tainted. The former president’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by numerous courts, including by judges Trump appointed.

But that didn’t stop hundreds of midterm candidates from parroting his lies as they sought to win over his loyal base and score his coveted endorsement.

In the end, many of those candi dates went on to lose their races in a sign that voters rejected such extreme rhetoric.

While some Republicans with pres idential ambitions, like former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, have long ruled out running against Trump, others have said he would not figure into their decisions, even before his midterm losses.

They include Pence, who released a book Tuesday, and Trump’s former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, as well as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who ran against Trump in 2016.

Other potential candidates include Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, South Caro lina Sen. Tim Scott and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Trump is also likely to face challenges from members of the anti-Trump wing of the party like Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the House committee that has been investigating Jan. 6.

But the person who has most occupied Trump and his allies in recent months is DeSantis, whose commanding reelection as gover nor last week was a bright spot for Republicans this cycle. The former congressman, who became a popular national figure among conservatives during the pandemic as he pushed back on COVID-19 restrictions, shares Trump’s pugilistic instincts and has embraced fights over social issues with similar zeal.

Even some enthusiastic Trump supporters say they are eager for DeSantis to run, seeing him as a natu ral successor to Trump but without the former president’s considerable baggage.

Trump has already begun to lash out at DeSantis publicly. On Tuesday, the Florida governor shot back.

“At the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night,” DeSantis told reporters.

A crowded field of GOP rivals could ultimately play to Trump’s advantage, as it did in 2016, when he prevailed over more than a dozen other candidates who splintered the anti-Trump vote.

Trump’s decision paves the way for a potential rematch with Biden, who has said he intends to run for ree lection despite concerns from some in his party over his age and low approval ratings.

The two men were already the oldest presidential nominees ever when they ran in 2020. Trump, who is 76, would be 82 at the end of a second term in 2029. Biden, who is about to turn 80, would be 86.

If he is ultimately successful, Trump would be just the second U.S. president in history to serve two non consecutive terms, following Grover Cleveland’s wins in 1884 and 1892.

POLAND: RUSSIAN-MADE MISSILE FELL ON OUR COUNTRY, KILLING TWO

By JOHN LEICESTER and JAMES LAPORTA Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Poland said early Wednesday that a Russian-made missile fell in the eastern part of the country, killing two people in a blast that marked the first time since the invasion of Ukraine that Russian weap ons came down on a NATO country.

Ukrainian President Volo dymr Zelenskyy decried the strike as “a very significant escalation” of the war.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the government was investigat ing and raising its military preparedness.

A statement from the Polish Foreign Ministry iden tified the missile as being made in Russia. But Presi dent Andrzej Duda was more cautious about its origin, saying that officials did not know for sure who fired it or where it was made. He said it was “most probably” Rus sian-made but that is being still verified.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called an emergency meeting of the alliance’s envoys to dis cuss the events close to the Ukrainian border in Poland.

Poland’s statement did not address the circumstances of the strike, including whether it could have been a target ing error or if the missile could have been knocked off course by Ukrainian missile defences.

If Russia had deliberately targeted Poland, it would risk drawing the 30-nation alliance into the conflict at a time when it is already strug gling to fend off Ukrainian forces.

Polish media reported that the strike took place in an area where grain was drying in Przewodów, a village near the border with Ukraine.

The Russian Defence Min istry denied being behind “any strikes on targets near

the Ukrainian-Polish border” and said in a statement that photos of purported damage “have nothing to do” with Russian weapons.

Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau summoned the Russian ambassador and “demanded immediate detailed explanations,” the government said.

On Tuesday, Russia pounded Ukraine’s energy facilities with its biggest bar rage of missiles yet, striking targets across the country and causing widespread blackouts.

The barrage also affected neighbouring Moldova. It reported massive power out ages after the strikes knocked out a key power line that supplies the small nation, an official said.

The missile strikes plunged much of Ukraine into dark ness and drew defiance from Zelenskyy, who shook his fist and declared: “We will sur vive everything.”

In his nightly address, the Ukrainian leader said the strike in Poland offered proof that “terror is not lim ited by our state borders.”

“We need to put the ter rorist in its place. The longer Russia feels impunity, the more threats there will be for

everyone within the reach of Russian missiles,” Zelenskyy said.

Russia fired at least 85 mis siles, most of them aimed at the country’s power facilities, and blacked out many cities, he said.

The Ukrainian energy min ister said the attack was “the most massive” bombardment of power facilities in the nearly 9-month-old Russian invasion, striking both power generation and transmission systems.

The minister, Herman Haluschenko, accused Russia of “trying to cause maximum damage to our energy system on the eve of winter.”

The aerial assault, which resulted in at least one death in a residential building in the capital, Kyiv, followed days of euphoria in Ukraine sparked by one of its big gest military successes — the retaking last week of the southern city of Kherson.

The power grid was already battered by previ ous attacks that destroyed an estimated 40% of the coun try’s energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy said the number of Ukrainians without power had fallen from 10 million to 2 million by Tuesday evening. Russian President

By striking targets in the late afternoon, not long before dusk began to fall, the Russian military forced rescue workers to labour in the dark and gave repair crews scant time to assess the damage by daylight.

More than a dozen regions — among them Lviv in the west, Kharkiv in the north east and others in between — reported strikes or efforts by their air defences to shoot missiles down. At least a dozen regions reported power outages, affecting cities that together have mil lions of people.

Almost half of the Kyiv region lost power, authorities said.

Zelenskyy warned that more strikes were possible and urged people to stay safe and seek shelter.

“Most of the hits were recorded in the centre and in the north of the country. In the capital, the situation is very difficult,” said a senior official, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.

He said a total of 15 energy targets were damaged and claimed that 70 missiles were shot down. A Ukrainian Air Force spokesman said Russia used X-101 and X-555 cruise missiles.

As city after city reported attacks, Tymoshenko urged Ukrainians to “hang in there.”

With its battlefield losses mounting, Russia has increasingly resorted to tar geting Ukraine’s power grid, seemingly hoping to turn the approach of winter into a weapon by leaving people in the cold and dark.

Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra took to a bomb shelter in Kyiv after meeting his Ukrainian coun terpart and, from his place

of safety, described the bom bardment as “an enormous motivation to keep standing shoulder-to-shoulder” with Ukraine.

The strikes came as author ities were already working furiously to get Kherson back on its feet and beginning to investigate alleged Russian abuses there and in the sur rounding area.

The southern city is with out power and water, and the head of the U.N. human rights office’s monitoring mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, on Tuesday decried a “dire humanitarian situa tion” there.

Speaking from Kyiv, Bogner said her teams are looking to travel to Kherson to try to verify allegations of nearly 80 cases of forced disappearances and arbitrary detention.

The head of the National Police of Ukraine, Igor Kly menko, said authorities are to start investigating reports from Kherson residents that Russian forces set up at least three alleged torture sites in now-liberated parts of the wider Kherson region.

The retaking of Kherson dealt another stinging blow to the Kremlin.

Zelenskyy likened the recapture to the Allied land ings in France on D-Day in World War II, saying both were watershed events on the road to eventual victory.

But large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine remain under Russian control, and fighting continues.

In other developments, leaders of most of the world’s economic powers were drawing closer to approval of a declaration strongly denouncing Russia’s invasion.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy pressed fellow G20 leaders at the summit in Indonesia for a robust condemnation of Rus sia’s nuclear threats and food embargoes. More discussion and a possible vote come Wednesday.

Vladimir Putin has not com mented on the retreat from Kherson since his troops pulled out in the face of a Ukrainian offensive. But the stunning scale of Tues day’s strikes spoke volumes and hinted at anger in the Kremlin.

POLICE officers gather outside a grain depot in Przewodow, eastern Poland, on Tuesday where the Polish Foreign Ministry said that a Russian-made missile fell and killed two people. The ministry said Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau summoned the Russian ambassador and “demanded immediate detailed explanations.” (AP Photo)

IN this image from video, former President Donald Trump announces he is running for president for the third time as speaks at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo)

TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORYBILL RUSSELL GRABS NBA RECORD 49 REBOUNDS

NOVEMBER 16

1957 — Notre Dame ends Oklahoma’s NCAA record 47-game winning streak with a 7-0 triumph.

1957 — Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics sets an NBA Record with 49 rebounds in a 111-89 victory over the Philadelphia Warriors.

1962 — Wilt Chamberlain scores 73 points, including 45 in the first half, to lead the San Francisco Warriors to a 127-111 victory over the New York Knicks.

1968 — Ron Johnson rushes for 347 yards and scores five touchdowns to lead Michigan to a 34-9 rout of Wisconsin.

1976 — Rick Barry of the San Francisco Warriors ends then the longest NBA free throw streak of 60 in a 110-102 win over the Seattle SuperSonics. Barry scores 33 points, including 9 of 10 from the free-throw line.

1980 — Doug Williams of the Tampa Bay Bucca neers passes for 486 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-30 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

1982 — The NFL Man agement Council and the NFL Players’ Association announce settlement of a 57-day player strike.

1991 — Gerry Thomas of No. 1 Florida State misses a 34-yard field goal by the length of a football with 25 seconds left, giving No. 2 Miami a 17-16 victory.

1993 — Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf of the Denver Nuggets has his consecu tive free throw streak end at 81 in an 86-74 loss to San Antonio. AbdulRauf’s streak is the second longest in NBA history, trailing only the record 97 established by Minnesota’s Micheal Williams one week earlier.

1996 — Byron Hanspard of Texas Tech becomes the sixth major-college player to run for 2,000 yards in a season, rushing for 257 yards and four touchdowns in the Red Raiders’ 56-21 victory over Southwestern Louisiana.

1996 — Corey Dillon set an NCAA rushing record for a quarter, gaining 222 yards on 16 carries in the first period as No. 15 Wash ington overwhelmed San Jose State 53-10.

2002 — Larry John son rushes for 327 yards, a career-high four TDs and shatters the 31-yearold school career rushing record, leading Penn State to a 58-25 victory over Indiana.

2008 — Pittsburgh rallies to beat San Diego 11-10, the first such final in NFL history, spanning 12,837 games.

2012 — Stanford snaps defending national cham pion Baylor’s 42-game winning streak, winning 71-69 when player of the year Brittney Griner misses a short turnaround at the buzzer.

2013 — Cartel Brooks of Heidelberg runs for 465 yards to set an all-division NCAA record in a 42-14 win over Baldwin Wallace. Brooks, with 38 carries, scores on runs of 81, 41 and 13 yards.

2013 — Ricardo Louis scores on a deflected 73-yard pass on fourth and 18 with 25 seconds left to lift No. 7 Auburn to a stun ning 43-38 victory over No. 25 Georgia.

2014 — Erica EndersStevens wins the Auto Club NHRA Finals to become the first woman to earn the Pro Stock world champion ship title.

MIGHTY WARRIORS

FROM PAGE 16

Strachan team. “We put in a lot of hard work and these guys really played with a lot of heart,” Thompson said.

“Even on fun day, they said ‘Mr Thompson, we have to practice,’ They put in a lot of hard work. I am so proud of them.

“I want to thank God for giving us those opportuni ties. We’ve been waiting on this since COVID-19 happen. We’re just glad that we got this opportu nity to make it happen.”

As Thompson was crowned the top coach of

the boys’ tournament, Her nandez Touissant earned the most valuable player as well as the golden boot champion, having scored the most goals. Novins Emile was the Golden Glove winner as the top goal keeper.

Despite losing the title, coach Margaret Albury said she was still pleased with her team’s performance.

“I just went there in the last week of September and we started practicing in October,” she said. “They did very well considering the time they had to prac tice. I’m pleased. We came second, but Sybil Strachan was beating everybody, but

they only beat us by four, which was good.”

Cleveland Eneas were the third place finishers.

On the girls’ side, Eva Hilton Primary School pulled off a 3-1 victory over Claridge Primary.

Zindora Munnings, head coach of Eva Hilton, said it was good to add another title to their ledger this year after winning the Primary Schools Golf Champion ship title in March.

“I think the girls played very well. They worked together, even though Clar idge scored the first goal. Our girls were able to stay focused, they came back with revenge and we won the title,” Munnings said.

“They worked very hard for it, so I am very pleased with these girls who won those awards,” Munnings said. “Team work makes the dream work and our goal was to come out here and win the championship and that is what we did today.”

Mariska

Rolle,

an 11-year-old sixth grader.

“We worked hard today and we listened to our coach (Mariska Thomp son). It was still a good tournament for us.”

With the tournament, which got started last week, it had to be halted because of the passing of Hurricane Nicole.

Bain-Sturrup said the teams will now gear up for its next competition when softball for girls and base ball for boys will be played from November 28 to December 2.

Aiyanna Hernandez led the attack for Eva Hilton as she was named the MVP and the winner of the Golden Boot. Her goalkeeper Dwanae Rah ming was the winner of the Golden Glove.

Thompson of Cleveland Eneas was awarded the Shinning Light Coach of the Tournament. One of her players, Kiyarah

sang her praises for guiding them to the third place finish. “We’re not dis appointed. At least we won something,” said Rolle,

TG Glover Primary Boys - third place finishers.

YELLOW Elder Boys runners up.

CLEVELAND Eneas girls third place finishers.

CLARIDGE Primary girls runners up.

EVA Hilton girls champions celebrating.

Nadal out of ATP Finals after loss, Ruud through to semis

TURIN, Italy (AP) —

Rafael Nadal’s error-strewn performance yesterday saw him eliminated from the ATP Finals, missing out once again on adding one of the few major trophies still missing from his glit tering list of titles.

The top-seeded Nadal lost 6-3, 6-4 to tournament debutant Felix Auger-Ali assime to leave him with two straight group-stage defeats in Turin.

That result coupled with a victory for third-seeded Casper Ruud over Taylor Fritz in the later match meant a swift exit for Nadal.

Ruud became the first player to book a spot in the semifinals.

It also meant that Carlos Alcaraz is guaranteed to end the year ranked No. 1 and the Spanish player will travel to Turin to attend a special ceremony today.

The 36-year-old Nadal has now lost four straight matches for only the second time in his career, following defeats at the U.S. Open and Paris.

After starting the season by winning the Australian Open and French Open to take his tally of Grand Slam titles to a record 22, Nadal has played just eight singles matches since having to withdraw from

the Wimbledon semifinals with an injury.

“Couple of positive things. I was able to play two tournaments in the past three weeks. That’s the positive thing, some thing that I was not able to do for a while,” Nadal said.

“I don’t think I forgot how to play tennis, how to be strong enough mentally. I just need to recover all these positive feelings and all this confidence and all this strong mentality that I need to be at the level that I want to be.

“I don’t know if I going to reach that level again. But what I don’t have any doubt is that I (am) going to die for it.”

Nadal was beaten by eighth-seeded Fritz of the United States in their opening match on Sunday.

The fifth-seeded AugerAliassime also lost his opener, to Ruud, and so Tuesday’s match was crucial to both players’ hopes of staying in the tournament.

The turning point came in the eighth game. Nadal was 40-0 up on his serve but two double-faults and a string of errors handed Auger-Aliassime the first break of the match.

Nadal had already wasted four break points, including two in the first

game. Auger-Aliassime served out for the set and went on to break Nadal’s serve again in the third game of the second set. The Canadian sealed the match at his first oppor tunity when Nadal hit a return into the net.

“I wasn’t sure If I would be here one day or if I could only dream of it,”

said Auger-Aliassime of his first victory over Nadal in three attempts.

“The age difference is huge, and it proves what a champion he is and what an example because he is still here at 36, battling against guys in their young 20s.

“He is a great champion and has a great attitude.”

Nadal has never won the ATP Finals title in 10 attempts.

He finished runner-up in 2010 and 2013.

Nadal needed Fritz to beat Ruud in two sets to have any chance of reach ing the semifinals and that hope was dashed when the Norwegian won 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6).

UNVACCINATED DJOKOVIC SET FOR VISA TO PLAY AUSTRALIAN OPEN

MELBOURNE, Aus tralia (AP) — A year after Novak Djokovic’s high-profile deportation from Australia because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19, the 21-time Grand Slam champion is set to be granted a visa to enter the country so he can compete at the Australian Open in January.

The Australian Broad casting Corp. said yesterday it had confirmed newspaper reports that the immigration minister would put aside a potential three-year ban from entry that Djokovic, a 35-yearold from Serbia, had faced as a foreign citizen whose visa was revoked.

The Australian Border Force previously explained that exclusion period could be waived in cer tain circumstances — and that each case would be assessed on its merits.

Immigration Minis ter Andrew Giles’ office declined to comment on privacy grounds.

Djokovic’s representa tives did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment. He currently is participating in the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, where he won his opening match Monday against Stefanos

Tsitsipas 6-4, 7-6

After Monday’s victory, Djokovic indicated that his lawyers were in touch with the Australian government with an eye to him being able to contest the Austral ian Open, which runs from Jan. 16-29.

The nine-time Aus tralian Open champion was not allowed to seek a 10th title at Melbourne Park after a tumultuous 10-day legal saga early this year over his COVID-19 vaccination status that cul minated with his visa being taken away on the eve of the tournament.

Djokovic arrived at Mel bourne Airport with a visa he had obtained online via what he believed to be a valid medical exemp tion from the country’s strict laws governing unvaccinated visitors.

His application had been endorsed by Tennis Aus tralia and the government of Victoria state, which hosts the tournament.

Confusion reigned, gen erating global headlines. As it turned out, that apparent medical exemp tion allowed him to enter the tournament — which,

in theory, required all play ers, fans and officials to be vaccinated against the coronavirus — but not necessarily to enter the country, and it was rejected by the Australian Border Force.

Alex Hawke, Australia’s immigration minister at the time, used discretionary powers to cancel Djoko vic’s visa on character grounds, stating he was a “talisman of a community of anti-vaccine sentiment.”

Australia has had a change of government since and changed its border rules this year. Since July, incoming trave lers no longer have to provide proof of receiving

shots against COVID-19. That removed the major barrier to entry for Djoko vic, who says he has not been — and will not be — vaccinated against the coronavirus, even if it means he misses important tennis tournaments.

Indeed, he sat out the U.S. Open in September, and other events in the United States, because he could not fly into the country as an unvacci nated foreign citizen. He was allowed to play in the French Open, where he lost in the quarterfinals, and at Wimbledon, which he won.

“I don’t have any regrets. I mean, I do feel sad that

I wasn’t able to play (at the U.S. Open), but that was a decision that I made and I knew what the con sequences would be,” Djokovic said in Septem ber at the Laver Cup in London. “So I accepted them and that’s it.”

Djokovic has spent more weeks at No. 1 in the ATP rankings than anyone else, breaking Roger Federer’s record, and is No. 8 at the moment, in part because of a lack of activity and in part because there were no ranking points awarded to anyone at Wimbledon this year.

Australia’s changes allowed Djokovic to apply to Giles to reconsider his visa status. In Djokovic’s favor were two other fac tors: He left Australia quickly after his visa was revoked 10 months ago, and he has not pub licly criticized Australian authorities.

As the Department of Home Affairs website explains, applicants in Djokovic’s circumstances must explain in writing why the exclusion period should be put aside, saying, “You must show us that there are compassionate or compel ling circumstances to put aside your re-entry ban and grant you the visa.”

NATIONAL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION TODAY

THE

Youth,

at 6pm.

Included in this year’s inductees are a pair of inter nationally acclaimed boxers, an outstanding female body builder, a male and female volleyball player, a couple of baseball and softball players and the five original members of the “Golden Girls”, the nickname coined for the country’s most deco rated sprinters.

The list of inductees for this year are as follows:

Lorenzo “Ray” Minus – Boxing

Stephen ‘the Heat’ Larri more – Boxing

Wellington Edison Miller - Sports Administration

Evette ‘BL’ Johnson – Softball

Sidney ‘Bobby Baylor’ Fernander – Softball

Charles Franklyn Adder ley - Martial Arts

Raymond ‘Wilson - Volleyball

Perry Thompson Sr – Basketball

Frederick Alonzo Laing Sr – Basketball

Maxine Darville – Bodybuilding

Pauline Elaine DavisTrack & Field

Eldece Clarke-LouisTrack & Field

Savatheda Fynes-CokeTrack & Field

Debbie FergusonMcKenzie - Track & Field Chandra Sturrup - Track & Field

Dr Patricia L ‘Patti’ Symonette - Volleyball

Monique Leary – Bowling Ivern Davis* (deceased) – Squash

John Terry Wildgoose* (deceased) – Basketball

AUSTRALIAN NBL PLAAYER HUMPHRIES ANNOUNCES HE’S GAY

MELBOURNE, Aus tralia (AP) — Melbourne United starting centre Isaac Humphries has announced that he is gay and said he hopes his decision to go public will give confidence to other pro athletes o do the same.

Humphries, a former US collegiate player with Kentucky, became the first openly gay player in Aus tralia’s National Basketball League when he made his announcement to team mates yesterday. He posted the video on Twitter.

“I believe it is definitely time to make a change and set an example to the next generation that they can be anything they want while still being true to them selves,” Humphries said.

By HANK KURZ JR and BEN FINLEY Associated Press

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Virginia foot ball coach Tony Elliott smiled broadly when asked to share thoughts about three of his players slain in a campus shooting, as if doing so would offer some respite from two days of intense heartache.

Lavel Davis Jr, D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler were funny, competitive and great teammates, Elli ott said, with personality quirks all their own that stood out.

Davis was gentle, but pas sionate, with a smile that lit up a room, Elliott said. The 6-foot-7 wide receiver set the standard when it came to practicing and preparing for a game — even when the coaches weren’t around.

“The other thing that resonated is just how good of a teammate he

was and how much he loved his teammates and would do anything for his teammates,” Elliott told reporters at a news confer ence yesterday.

Perry was probably the most interesting guy on the roster, the coach said, a dedicated player but also a studio art major who shaped pots out of clay, liked to draw and listen to classical music.

“And he had a sense of humour that was one of a kind that only D’Sean could have,” Elliott said. “You knew immediately when somebody said something, yeah, that was D’Sean.”

The three young men were returning from a class trip Sunday night when authorities say they were killed by a fellow student and former football player.

Two other students were wounded, including another football player, Mike Hol lins, who underwent a second surgery yesterday.

LAVEL DAVIS JR.

Davis was from Dorches ter, South Carolina. His major was undecided in the College of Arts and Sci ences. Davis finished the 2020 season ranked No. 2 in the nation and No. 1 in the Atlantic Coast Confer ence for average yards per reception.

An injury sidelined Davis for the 2021 season but he returned this year, starting six of the first seven games. In the season opener

against the University of Richmond, he caught four passes for 89 yards, includ ing a 56-yard touchdown. He was on a watch list for 2022 Comeback Player of the Year.

DEVIN CHANDLER Chandler was a wide receiver from Huntersville, North Carolina. He recently transferred from Wisconsin, where his accomplishments included a 59-yard kickoff return and 18-yard rush in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl

against Wake Forest in 2020. Hamilton wrote on Twitter that Chandler was in one of his large lecture classes. “He nevertheless made a point to come to my office hours repeatedly, often just to ask questions about how things worked around UVA,” Hamilton wrote.

The professor later helped Chandler to declare his major in American stud ies, “which he was really excited about.”

“He was an unbelievably nice person, always a huge smile, really gregarious and funny,” Hamilton wrote. “One of those people who’s just impossible not to like.”

D’SEAN PERRY

Perry was a linebacker from Miami majoring in studio art.

In September, Perry recalled how linebackers coach Clint Sintim asked him to move to defensive end, according to the Daily Progress.

Perry told the newspaper it was “no problem at all. It was a smooth transition.”

“Honestly, I feel like I can do both (linebacker and defensive end),” Perry said. “And I prepared myself well to work in space and pass rush during the offsea son. … So, both positions I’m very comfortable with and I’m just trying to help the team win.”

Perry appeared in seven games this year and made seven tackles.

(4) and is next scheduled to play — and speak to the media — today against Andrey Rublev.

Ministry of

Sports and Culture will hold its 2022 Class of the National Hall of Fame Induction today in the Andros Ballroom at the Baha Mar resort. The event is scheduled to begin

RAFAEL Nadal reacts during his singles tennis match with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the ATP World Tour Finals, at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy, yesterday. (Nicolo’ Campo/LaPresse via AP)

SERBIA’s Novak Djokovic reacts after winning a point against Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas during their singles tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals on Monday. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

THIS combo of undated images provided by University of Virginia Athletics shows NCAA college football players, from left, Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry. (University of Virginia Athletics via AP)

McCollum, Pelicans beat Grizzlies without injured forward Zion Williamson

NEW ORLEANS (AP)

— C.J. McCollum scored 14 of his 30 points in the third quarter and the New Orleans Pelicans overcome Ja Morant’s 36-point effort to beat the Memphis Griz zlies 113-102 last night.

McCollum had aver aged just 9.5 points on 27 percent shooting in his pre vious four games, was 7 of 13 from long range to help make up for Zion William son’s scoring absence with the star forward out with a bruised right foot.

The Pelicans led 89-87 after three quarters and opened the fourth with a 15-4 run, led by five points from reserve guard Jose Alvarado, to take a 104-91 lead.

The Pelicans also got 19 points each from Brandon Ingram and Larry Nance Jr, and they held Memphis to 15 fourth-quarter points.

McCollum hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter.

Morant had a 24-point first half to power Mem phis to a 60-59 lead.

Morant did his damage driving into the paint and also from the outside, going 8 of 12 from the floor, including 2 of 3 from long range.

He also made 6 of 8 from the foul line and had three first-half steals.

Dillon Brooks added 19 for Memphis. Morant closed the first quarter with a 45-foot, 3-pointer that beat the buzzer to break a 35-35 tie.

TIP

missing Sunday’s loss

The

…

very disappointing that the team can’t travel. He said he and assistant coaches Deven ‘DD’ John son and Anastacia Sands had prepared the team for Mexico.

“Those young ladies put in the work. Some of them went back to college after Cuba, but the others took a couple of days off and they were back in the gym,” he said. “We brought in a per sonal trainer and a lot of them lost weight and got quicker.

“They put in the work with practice for at least six days a week. To come down to this where we can’t travel because of a lack of funds, it’s disappointing. The men are always travelling. They wanted the coaching staff to seek the financial assis tance, but I think that was too much for us. That isn’t the coaches’ job.”

Culmer said once again the federation and the Min istry of Youth, Sports and Culture dropped the ball and missed the shot for the women’s team to travel.

He’s confident that the women had a better chance to advance than the men. “We went to Cuba in JuneJuly. They had ample time. They knew this trip was

coming,” Culmer said. “The minute we won that bronze, they knew that the next trip was coming in November. Everybody who was follow ing sports dropped the ball on the women’s team.

“Now it’s going to be hard whenever a tournament comes around again to ask the ladies to come out and give their free time or their spare time to represent this country. We begged some of these ladies to come out and they came out and put in the time and now there’s no trip.”

The Bahamas would have played against Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Guatemala.

“We had some veteran guards who came out. I even got one member of our coaching staff to get back on the court to help out and she was willing to do that,” Culmer said. “So it hurts that we won’t be able to travel.”

Diasti Delancy had turned in her coaching outfit to return to the court to play as she joined the team that would have been led by centre Britinique Harrison. Culmer, however, said it’s going to be hard to convince the players to try out for the team in the future.

of four

Pelicans:

right foot contusion and is day-to-day to return, said coach Willie Green. Williams, who is aver aging 23.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists a game, hurt his foot Sat urday early in the fourth quarter of a 119-106 victory

Green said there was “definitely some hope” he could play Wednesday night when the Pelicans host the Bulls.

UP NEXT Grizzlies: Host Okla homa City on Friday night. Pelicans: Host Chicago tonight.

SPORTS NOTES

VOLLEYBALL

BSAA POSTSEASON

THE Bahamas Scholastic Athletic Association com pleted its 2022 volleyball playoffs at the Tom “The Bird” Grant Sporting Com plex in Yellow Elder on Monday.

In the senior girls’ game, Teleos Christian School eliminated Genesis Acad emy 25-11, 23-25 and 16-14, while in the senior boys’ game, CV Bethel Senior High eliminated Mt Carmel Preparatory Academy 25-15 and 25-19.

The championship games got started yesterday and will continue today.

Here’s a look at the match-ups:

Primary boys - Believers Faith Christian Academy vs Teleos Christian School.

Junior boys - Teleos Christian School vs Believers Faith Christian Academy

Senior girls - C.V Bethel Sr. High vs Teleos Chris tian School and primary girls - CV Bethel Sr High vs Teleos Christian School.

VOLLEYBALL NPVA ACTION

THE New Providence Volleyball Association con tinued its regular season action on Sunday.

In the opener, the Lady Panthers defeated the Lady Warhawks in three sets 25-12, 25-14 and 25-20, while the Intruders pulled off a five-set thriller 25-18, 22-25, 25-19, 18-25 and 15-13 over the Technicians.

The NPVA is slated to continue play today at the Anatol Rodgers High School.

In the 7:30pm opener, the Johnson Spikers will play the University of the Bahamas and in the men’s feature game at 9pm, the Law Enforcers take on the Technicians.

“This is going to set the women’s programme fur ther back,” Culmer said.

“We will continue to see if we can get a gym. We haven’t practiced for about

two weeks after they closed the gym to get ready for the men’s games this weekend. “We want to try to see if we can get in a few games either in Jamaica or the

USA, just so that all of their work won’t go in vain. It’s hard because these ladies are disheartened.

“The men travelled up and down and the women can’t get in this one last tournament?”

Culmer said while they did make some inquiries to potential sponsors, they were informed that they had already made a contri bution to basketball.

He wanted to know if the funding received would have gone directly to assist the men’s team, much to the detriment of the women’s programme. “No one cares about the women. It’s going to hurt because this would have been a good oppor tunity for us to establish a programme for the young players we have coming up,”

Horton, however, said it was not for a lack of trying and he converged it to Culmer every time they spoke.

“It would have cost us about $25,000 to send the women’s team off,” Horton said. “At the time, FIBA gave us a dead line to commit. We didn’t commit because we didn’t have the funds. I got some people to assist, but when we contacted FIBA, they told us it was too late. “As

for the men’s team, we were committed to play and if we didn’t, we would have received a hefty fine and a ban for at least seven years for all national teams, so we had to continue playing in the tournament.”

Although the men’s team lost to Argentina 80-76 on Sunday after they won 83-79 over Panama on Friday, they still have one more round to play in Feb ruary when they travel on the road to play Venezuela and Panama.

The Bahamas team, coached by Moses Johnson and John-Marc Nutt, lost to Argentina, however, it quashed any chance of the Bahamas playing past the remaining two games to complete this window of the qualifying round.

The Bahamas is fifth in Group E at 3-7, with the sixth and final window left to play in February 2023. Canada leads the group at 10-0 and has already quali fied for the World Cup.

Venezuela, The Dominican Republic and Argentina are all tied at 7-3 while Panama is sixth at 2-8.

At the end of the second round, the top three teams in each group plus the best fourth place finisher among the groups will qualify for the World Cup.

SHOWN, from left to right, are Bahamas coaching staff Deven Johnson, Diasti Delancy and Donillo Culmer.

THE Bahamas Basketball Federation has pulled the plug on the women’s national basketball team’s trip to Mexico for the Centrobasket tournament. The team qualified to compete in the tournament after picking up the bronze medal in Cuba with a 68-57 decision over Jamaica at the FIBA Caribbean Women’s Basketball Championships in July. The event is set for November 20-27.

INS Grizzlies: F/C Jaren Jackson made his season debut after missing the first 14 games after right foot surgery. … G/F Des mond Bane, averaging 24.7 points a game, was out with a sore right toe.

Morant returned after

at Washington with left ankle soreness. …

Grizzlies won three

against New Orleans last year, including each of the final three by double digits.

Williamson missed the game with a

over Houston.

NEW Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum (3) drives to the basket past Memphis Grizzlies guard John Konchar in the second half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans yesterday. The Pelicans won 113-102.

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

BBA getting team ready

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IN preparation for the fourth annual Caribbean Baseball Cup from Decem ber 4-11 at the newly constructed Andre Rodg ers Baseball Stadium, the Bahamas Baseball Asso ciation will host a training camp in Grand Bahama.

Head coach Geron Sands said they will be taking the team to Grand Bahama today for a 10-day training camp, which is expected to be set up similar to what the players would experience when they are on the road playing for their respective professional league teams.

It’s expected that at least 17 players, including Toby Simmons, Warren Saun ders, Keithron Moss, Ian Lewis and Elliston Hanna,

will be in attendance. Sands, however, said they are still waiting on confirmation from Tahnaj Thomas to see if he will be available.

“We have a lot of play ers from the collegiate and minor league, so we will take this opportunity to see how we can mesh them together,” Sands said.

“It’s going to be a good time for us to gel together and look at what is avail able and how we can utilise each player.”

Avard Hart, a former national team player who serves as the team’s general manager, is arranging the camp, according to Sands, as they work on developing the culture they want to dis play during the tournament.

“We want to get every body to move around and get familiar with the guys,” Sands said.

“A lot of these guys played with and against each other when they were growing up, but it’s a while since they became young men and they played together.

“It also gives the coach ing staff a chance to see all of the players. I think we have a team to compete. Our goal is to win. But once we are available to compete, we have a chance to win. Once we compete, we have a better chance to win.”

Sands said the association wasn’t able to get the full team assembled.

But joining Sands on the coaching staff are Albert Cartwright, a former minor league baseball player and co-founder of I-Elite, who will be the bench coach, Dominique Collie, a former NAIA College standout

NFL ROAD TRIP: BEYOND GERMANY, LEAGUE EYES SPAIN AND FRANCE

By KEN MAGUIRE AP Sports Writer

MUNICH (AP) — The NFL wants to keep its European tour going now that Germany has joined Britain in hosting games.

Spain and France are atop the league’s wish list as it continues to look internationally for revenue growth.

The Tampa Bay Buc caneers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-16 on Sunday at Allianz Arena — a first for Germany as part of a four-year deal that the league hopes will extend long-term. London has hosted regular-season games since 2007.

Beyond Germany, which could also get additional games soon, the league’s analysis of fan growth and commercial poten tial puts Spain and France “very much on our radar,” Brett Gosper, NFL Head of UK and Europe, told The Associated Press in an interview. “We need to do our homework to make sure that there is the pos sibility of a place to land any games in those mar kets, gauge interest of the host stadia, gauge inter est of the host city, even the government, as to their enthusiasm to help us bring a game,” Gosper said.

Spain has a slight edge because the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins now have “home marketing” rights in the country.

The NFL has divvied up international rights to interested teams cover ing 10 countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Mexico and the UK. No teams have rights in France.

“When you know that there are teams operating in (the international rights programme) you want to look at the prospect and the viability of potentially having games in those markets at some point,” Gosper said.

There are five interna tional games this season: three in London, one in Munich, and one in Mexico City on Novem ber 21 when the Arizona Cardinals play the San Francisco 49ers.

International expansion was one reason why the NFL added a 17th game to the schedule. The league has committed to playing four international games each season, and teams are required to play a “home” game abroad once every eight seasons.

Outside of that commit ment, a team with rights in a country can opt to play home games there, as the Jacksonville Jag uars do in London. The Jags have played nine times in the British capi tal and currently have a three-year deal to play an annual “home” game at the 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium.

“A team might choose to do that. That’s a real possibility but again not imminent,” Gosper said.

“Certainly, in next six months to 12 months we’ll be really testing the viabil ity of our options from a stadium point of view — not just in Europe but elsewhere — and then at the same time in parallel seeing what the appetite is for clubs to potentially exploit those markets with a game,” he said.

In Spain, Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Sta dium is undergoing major renovations that will include a soccer pitch that retracts to make way for an artificial turf field that can be used for American football with a capacity over 80,000. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which

has a long-term deal with the NFL to host London games, has a similar system. Atlético Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano Sta dium seats 68,000.

Camp Nou is Europe’s largest soccer stadium with a capacity of 99,000, but Barcelona plans to begin a long-delayed renovation project that will last into 2026. The city’s Montjuic Olympic Stadium seats about 56,000 and was a former home to the Barce lona Dragons of the NFL Europe league.

Gosper said there are “a lot of synergies” with Spain considering the NFL’s large Spanishspeaking fanbase.

Nine teams have mar keting rights in Mexico.

The Stade de France just north of Paris has a capac ity of just over 80,000 for soccer games.

“France is a little bit outside of that and it’s its own market and culture,” Gosper said, “but at the same time it’s an incred ibly strong sports media market where returns could be higher and faster than Spain.

“They’re two very healthy media markets, healthy sports markets, some strong indicators from our streaming plat form as well as from our consumer sales,” he continued.

“When you mine the data a little bit, they cer tainly are two markets with high potential.”

and former minor league player with the Diamond backs, who will be the first base coach, Trae Sweeting, former division one college standout and national team player, will be the outfield coach, and Donovan Cox, a former national team player, will be the bull pen coach.

The BBA, headed by Sam Rodgers, will host the Caribbean Baseball Cup against teams coming in from the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Cuba,

defending champion Cura cao and Haiti.

The tournament, organ ised by COBABE, will grant two teams a bid into the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Sal vador in 2023 and Sands is hoping that the Bahamas will earn one of the spots.

“We won’t get everybody we want, but the Bahamas has so many guys who can step up,” Sands said. “We are using the phrase, ‘the next man up.’ The actual team we started off with, we

won’t have because some of the guys are engaged in their careers.

“So we had to go to the next man up, which is impressive. I feel any sort of guys can get the job done. We just need to work on pitching. We have suffi cient arms. But we have to find a way to get the elite pitching.”

This is the first time that the Bahamas is hosting a regional competition and Sands said he’s glad to be leading the ship.

SHOWN, from left to right, are Bahamas baseball coaching staff Trae Sweeting, Avard Hart, Albert Cartwright and Geron Sands.

A SEAHAWKS fan arrives for a NFL match between Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks at the Allianz Arena in Mu nich, Germany, on Sunday. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Mighty Warriors take home boys’ soccer title

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Sybil Strachan pulled off an impressive 5-1 victory over Claridge Pri mary to win the Bahamas Football Association’s New Providence Public Pri mary Sports Association boys’ soccer title, while Eva Hilton added the girls’ crown to their triumph in the golf tournament held earlier this year.

The champions were decided yesterday as the week-long tournament came to a close at the Flag Football Field in front of the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium.

“Very proud, over whelmed, full heart because of the efforts of the teachers, adminis trators, coaches and the kids,” said Carl Lynch, who organised the tournament on behalf of the federation.

“We have not played in two and-a-half years, so some of them were a little bit rusty. “But you could see the enthusiasm and the energy of the teams, espe cially in the finals. It was

priceless. This was a great year and we are going to start planning for an even bigger year next year.” Association president Latoya Bain-Sturrup said

the tournament turned out to be an excellent one.

“It was well organised. We had about 20 schools from the girls and about 24 from the boys.”

Bain-Sturrup and her Claridge Primary girls’ team had to play second fiddle to Sybil Strachan. Head coach Greer Thompson, who was

named the shining light coach of the tournament, said she was thrilled by the efforts of her Sybil

‘NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE WOMEN’ ON NATIONAL BASKETBALL TEAM

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER all of the sac rifices made and the hard work that they put in, head coach Donillo ‘Donnie’ Culmer said he’s disap pointed that the Bahamas Basketball Federation pulled the plug on their trip to Mexico for the Cen trobasket tournament.

The team qualified to compete in the tourna ment from November 20-27 after picking up the bronze medal in Cuba with a 68-57 decision over Jamaica at the FIBA Caribbean Women’s Basketball Championships in July.

But according to Eugene Horton, president of the BBF, the team had to skip the trip because of a lack of funding.

Horton said the fed eration had exhausted its funding getting the men’s national team through the rounds of the FIBA Ameri cas World Cup Qualifier.

Culmer, who took over from Yolett McPheeMcCuin, who went on to assist the men’s national basketball team, said it’s

SOCCER CHAMPIONS: The Sybil Strachan Primary Mighty Warriors show off all their hardware. The boys earned an impressive 5-1 victory over Claridge Primary to win the Bahamas Football Association’s New Providence Public Primary Sports Association boys’ soccer title. Photo courtesy of the BFA