Briland tourism operator: Expartner ‘trying to destroy me’
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor
A BRILAND tourism operator urgently sought the Supreme Court’s protection amid fears that its former US partner was “actively trying to destroy the business” just as the tourism “high season” launched. The ‘certifcate of urgency’, which resulted in an Order barring Pablo Conde from interfering or intervening with Conch & Coconut’s Harbour Island operations, revealed that Julian ‘Shaq’ Gibson’s ex-business partner had totally cut the tour operator, destination management and visitor “concierge” business of from access to its customer base.
Simone Morgan-Gomez, the Callenders & Co attorney representing Mr Gibson and Conch & Coconut’s Bahamian operations, successfully argued in a November 12, 2025, document obtained by Tribune Business that there
• Conch & Coconut feared ruin for tourism ‘high season’
• Cut-o from customer base amid false closure claims
• reat of sta walk-out, clients, bank, suppliers lost
was “a real possibility” the Briland business would be “irreparably harmed” if the injunction was not granted because Mr Conde’s actions were undermining its “ability to secure and maintain customers, creditors, banking partners and suppliers”. Prior to the acrimonious break-up of the two sides’ business relationship, Conch & Coconut’s website, social media, booking and payments platforms were under Mr Conde’s control in the US. Mr Gibson and his Bahamian attorneys are arguing
that their former US partner has exploited this to falsely describe Conch & Coconut as closed on Google, while refusing to pass on customer contacts and leads to the Bahamian operation.
They also allege that Mr Gibson and the Briland-based business have been cut-of and excluded from their traditional customer acquisition platform even though Mr Conde, as a foreigner, cannot own or operate Conch & Coconut as it is in an industry reserved 100 percent exclusively for Bahamian
ownership and control under the National Investment Policy.
Amid all the noise stemming from his messy split with Mr Conde, Mr Gibson and his attorneys told the Supreme Court that the negative publicity - combined with Mr Conde’s alleged continuing obstruction and interference - would deter and eliminate customer bookings; undermine Conch & Coconut’s supplier and creditor relationships, with the result it may lose access to vendor credit; and drive staf to seek jobs elsewhere.
Emphasising that Mr Conde and his US companies “cannot lawfully own, operate and/or control the business of” Conch & Coconut, “which is restricted to Bahamian nationals”, Mr Gibson and his attorneys alleged: “The claimant is actively trying to destroy the defendants’ business by… listing the defendants’ business as temporarily closed on
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Regatta boom exceeds Long Island bed capacity by 1/3
By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net
LONG Island’s hotel bed inventory is exceeded by onethird, or around 400 persons, when the island’s population swells at regatta time, it was asserted yesterday, exposing the need for a co-ordinated strategy to maximise the benefts of such events.
Dwight Burrows, treasurer of the Long Islanders Association, told the Long Island Business Outlook conference that the destination excels in cultural tourism, its annual regatta, Mutton Fest, mini-regattas, homecomings
and sailing club events, which attract thousands tourists and Bahamians. He said that during the last Regatta week, the island attracted about 1,200 visitors, which represented a 45 percent increase in persons present in Long Island over that weekend compared to normal population size. The jump in visitors spiked the demand for transportation, food, accommodation, entertainment and local products. However, Long Island lacks accommodation and is unable to meet peak demand, said Mr Burrows. His research revealed that there are 10
‘Stop the haemorrhaging’ on Long Island air access
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMASAIR can cut its losses and double annual Long Island seat capacity to 24,000 once airport improvements are executed, it was afrmed yesterday, amid pleas that the island “must stop the haemorrhaging”.
Kerry Fountain, the Bahama Out Island Promotion Board’s executive director, told the Long Island Business Outlook conference that improving air accessibility to the island - from Stella Maris airport in the north to Deadman’s Cay airport in the south - is the “button with the quickest fx” for both the tourism sector and wider economy that relies heavily upon it. Speaking to the performance of the Promotion
hotels, ofering only 182 total rooms as well as 143 actively-listed vacation rentals, with only 25 of those being ofcially registered. He said that with so many unregistered vacation rentals, Long Island loses visibility, quality control, marketing power and revenue, which limits visitor stays and overall spend.
“My research also revealed that the average daily rate for rooms on Long Island is $230, and I'm sharing this information for a reason,” Mr Burrows said. “So in practical terms, this means that rough estimates refect that Long Island has approximately
seven to 800 total visitor beds - not rooms, beds - because some rooms have more than one bed. And this is split almost evenly between hotel beds and those Airbnbs or home stay-away beds.
“So with that information, consider what happens when 1,200 visitors show up for regatta week. Immediately, demand outstrips supply, so people have to rent spare rooms. Homes become temporary motels. Coaches and sofas become makeshift beds for the lucky ones, because concrete and tile foors also work.
• Airport ‘obstacle limitations’ cut by 25 feet to-date
• ‘Price of progress’: Temporary Stella Maris divert
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
LONG Island’s year-to-date air arrivals have grown by 26.5 percent compared to pre-COVID levels despite “capacity constraints” that have forced the island to “press the brakes at the same time as the gas pedal”, the Government’s aviation director asserted yesterday.
Dr Kenneth Romer, also deputy director general of tourism, told the Long Island Business Outlook conference that inadequate airport infrastructure - primarily a Deadman’s Cay runway that is too short with nearby hills providing further “obstacles” - has retarded the island’s economic growth and forced Bahamasair to “sometimes operate at 50-60 percent” passenger load capacity.
Conceding that improvements are “long overdue”, he pledged that construction is underway and “moving aggressively to completion of airside works” that involve extending the Deadman’s Cay runway to 6,500 feet and eliminating the presence of hills that presently prevent larger aircraft bringing increased visitor numbers to Long Island. However, while revealing that 25 feet has been cut-of the ofending hills, Dr Romer warned that “there’s a price for progress”. He added that, come January 2026, aviation traffc will have to be diverted from Deadman’s Cay to Stella Maris in Long Island’s north for around three months to enable the runway upgrades to be completed.
By NEIL HARTNELL
Business Editor
A SENIOR tourism executive says the annual 200,000 empty seats on inbound fights to Nassau represent “200,000 opportunities” for The Bahamas to increase stopover visitors if it can execute properly, a senior tourism executive asserted yesterday.
Kerry Fountain, the Bahama Out Island Promotion Board’s executive director, told Tribune
Business that the empty seat capacity did not mean international and domestic airlines are sufering from low passenger load factors otherwise they would have introduced new routes and increased fight frequencies for the upcoming 2025-2026 winter season. Describing the unflled seats on fights into Nassau, in particular, as “200,000 opportunities” for The Bahamas to capitalise on, he added: “There’s something I
DR KENNETH ROMER
KERRY FOUNTAIN
STRATEGIES FOR MAXIMISING PROFITABILITY AT CHRISTMAS
As the holiday season approaches, small businesses across The Bahamas should be preparing for what many expect to be a robust economic boom. With increased visitor arrivals, stronger consumer confdence and festive spending on the horizon, entrepreneurs must take strategic steps to ensure they are ready to meet the surge in demand. This week’s article explores some of the opportunities that can be tapped.
Bahamian retailers and service providers can start by prioritising strategic inventory planning. This includes reviewing past sales data, tracking current trends and identifying
FERGUSON IAN
which products are likely to be in high demand. By placing orders early, businesses can reduce the risk of overstocking or facing shortages
at critical moments. Companies can also take advantage of the season by introducing holiday-specifc products, such as limited-edition items, gift bundles and curated sets designed to attract early shoppers and create urgency. Businesses should also prepare and launch holiday marketing campaigns well in advance. This means scheduling e-mail newsletters, social media content and paid advertisements early to build anticipation. Ofering seasonal discounts, giveaways and special deals can draw in customers, while curated gift guides help shoppers quickly fnd suitable options. Companies can further strengthen customer loyalty by providing
exclusive early access ofers to their most dedicated customers.
Another important step is to optimise digital platforms for holiday trafc. Businesses can update their websites and social media pages with holiday hours, promotional information and clear calls to action. Ensuring that websites are mobile-friendly, and that the checkout process is smooth, will help capture shoppers who rely on their phones. Additionally, businesses can collaborate with other local companies on cross-promotions to boost visibility and encourage community engagement.
Preparing for the holiday rush also involves enhancing customer service
POTTER’S CAY UPGRADE TO BOOST ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter
jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
THE POTTER’S Cay Dock electrifcation project is expected to unlock signifcant economic activity through modernising one of New Providence’s most heavily trafcked waterfront hubs, it was asserted yesterday.
Nandi Maynard, deputy director for policy and research at the Ministry of Energy and Transport, said Potter’s Cay is an unde-exploited economic asset and the new electrifcation and modernisation initiatives can help increase commercial activity, improve vendor operations and strengthen
the area’s long-term tourism appeal. Speaking at the Government’s energy summi, she said the electrifcation project is part of a wider plan to revitalise and modernise the entire Potter’s Cay area which includes installing pedestrian-friendly walkways, improved aesthetics and expanding the site’s commercial footprint.
“There is high economic potential, but it's really under-utilised,” said Ms Maynard.
“This project is just but one part of a wider plan for modernisation of the entire Potter’s Cay area, and it is underway to revitalise the entire dock. It aligns with government's priorities
to enhance public spaces, improve the business environment and strengthen national tourism oferings.”
Ms Maynard said Potter’s Cay is operating with outdated and unsafe infrastructure, noting that there is no formal electrical system, forcing vendors to rely entirely on generators that pose safety risks.
Additionally, many of the stalls are deteriorated and in need of full reconstruction, and the area generally lacks pedestrian-friendly access and has low visual appeal. She said the new electrical infrastructure will signifcantly improve the space and lead to increased commercial activity.
GB POWER GIVES CUSTOMERS BETTER CONTROL VIA TECHNOLOGY
By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
GRAND Bahama Power Company yesterday pledged to leverage technology to give customers greater control and insight into their energy consumption.
Nikita Mullings, the utility’s chief operating ofcer, said the introduction of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) or smart meters has signifcantly enhanced operational efciency. Speaking at the Government’s Energy Forum yesterday, Ms Mullings said the smart meters allow customers to track their usage in real time, giving them transparency and control over their energy consumption while helping the utility manage the grid more efciently.
She said the meters have improved billing accuracy and helped restore trust between the utility and its customers. “It has enhanced our operational efciency. Where we had manual meter readers we have been able to repurpose those team members into other areas of the business,” she added.
“We have also been able to utilise our AMI meters, where customers may have been disconnected for non-payment. We are able to expeditiously reconnect those customers to the grid.
“We have also been able to see better accuracy of the billing system because of AMI meters and so, again, that has strengthened the rebuilding of trust between the utility and the customers, where they're able to see, visualise and understand how we're moving forward to better manage energy.”
Ms Mullings said the introduction of the customer portal, which gives customers the tools to track their energy use in real time, has allowed GB Power to better understand and address customer concerns about billing accuracy
“We’ve seen trust restored, because customers can now see and understand and be empowered to manage their bills and know that, no, the utility is not robbing them, and what they are being billed for is indeed accurate,” Ms Mullings added.
She said that the utility has also implemented distribution automation, including reclosers that can isolate faults on the grid, and a geographic information system (GIS) to manage assets and improve outage response.
“We also have the distribution automation, which allows us to install reclosers on to the grid to be able to sectionaliae faults on the grid. We also have the GIS. This is where we use data to manage our outage management system, and also be able to store all the information as it relates to our assets on the ground,” said Ms Mullings.
She added that GB Power has also introduced digital tools designed to give customers greater insight into their energy use. One such tool is the Smart Home, a model home equipped with standard household appliances that links energy consumption to the cost per kilowatt-hour for each device. This allows customers to identify which appliances are driving their power bills and better understand how their daily habits afect costs.
In addition, the company ofers the Energy Advisor, a digital platform that mimics each customer’s bill and sends e-mail alerts when consumption increases. The system explains what caused the spike and provides practical tips to reduce costs.
““For us in Grand Bahama, innovation is not just a buzzword. It is how we show up and provide power to our customers each day. It's how we serve our customers, and it's how we prepare for the energy of the future,” said Ms Mullings.
readiness. Companies can train staf to handle increased inquiries and transactions, ensuring a seamless and positive experience. For some, this may include hiring temporary employees or outsourcing certain tasks to manage higher customer volumes efciently. Behind the scenes, businesses can strengthen operational management by forecasting expected sales and planning cash fow to handle increased expenses. Automation tools, such as scheduled social media posts and automated e-mail marketing, can help streamline workfows and free up valuable time during the busiest weeks.
“As a result of the electrical infrastructure, there will be enhanced safety due to improved lighting, the sense of community pride and improved vendor working conditions,” said Ms Maynard.
“As it relates to the economic impacts, we anticipate that there will be increased commercial activity, job creation for Bahamians and a stronger tourism footprint. And, lastly, on the environmental side, the reduction of emissions, safe electrical systems and cleaner surroundings.”
Ms Maynard said the electrifcation project will also support broader improvements to Family Island shipping operations. She
explained that the installation of cold-storage facilities will reduce spoilage and improve efciency for vendors and freight users.
“We plan to install cold storage facilities at Potter’s Cay, which means that vendors now have somewhere where they can house their produce, their fsh, as well as users of the dock who may want to ship something to the Family Islands,” said Ms Maynard.
“We fnd that now there's lots of wastage and food spoilage, because there really isn't anywhere that you can house your package while you wait on that freight to be delivered.”
Ms Maynard said improving fre safety at Potter’s Cay is also a major priority within the modernisation plan, noting that the area has experienced multiple
By taking these proactive steps, small businesses across The Bahamas can position themselves to fully capitalise on the upcoming holiday season, combining preparation, innovation and community partnerships to thrive during this expected economic upswing.
• NB: Ian R Ferguson is a talent management and organisational development consultant, having completed graduate studies with regional and international universities. He has served organisations, both locally and globally, providing relevant solutions to their business growth and development issues. He may be contacted at tcconsultants@ coralwave.com.
fres over the years and requires upgraded systems and stronger preventative measures.
She said the Government will introduce several safety upgrades to reduce risk and improve emergency response capabilities.
“We know that there have been fres that caught at Potter’s Cay in the past. We acknowledge that, and so one of our main priorities is to mitigate that,” said Ms Maynard.
“We would be assisting the Port Department by purchasing fre-fghting equipment. There will be CCTV installed, again, a safety measure, fencing and gig installation to limit that vehicular trafc and to just create a safe, secure environment, road repairs, and lastly, digitisation of our port systems.”
DIGITAL FINANCE CAMPAIGN HEADING TO SOUTH ANDROS
SOUTH Andros residents are being encouraged to attend an event that will enable them to learn about digital fnance.
A Town Hall meeting, to be held at the South Andros Gymnasium in The Bluf from 5.30pm to 8pm, will seek to educate the community about how they can use digital and electronic payments solutions to conduct basic fnancial transactions without having to visit a physical bank branch.
Hosted by the Central Bank of The Bahamas in partnership with the Clearing Banks Association and the Andros Chamber of Commerce, the event is the latest Town Hall to be held in the Family Islands by the Live Digital campaign.
It follows a Town Hall meeting last month in Grand Bahama that drew more than 200 residents and businesses. Organisers hailed the success of that event, inviting Andros residents to learn more about the advantages of digital fnance and how it can make a difference to their lives.
Also taking part will be the Bank of The Bahamas, Scotiabank, Fidelity Bank, Commonwealth Bank, SunCash, SandDollar and Kanoo. John Rolle, governor of the Central Bank of The Bahamas, will speak at the event.
During the Grand Bahama event, Mr Rolle emphasised the importance of innovation, fnancial inclusion and the role of digital transformation in strengthening local economies.
The South Andros event will include live demonstrations and presentations from members of the Clearing Banks Association as well as several digital wallet providers.
There will be a question-and-answer giving people the chance to directly engage Live Digital stakeholders and the Governor.
“This event will serve as an important opportunity for the South Andros community, especially as they currently have access to Bank of The Bahamas only one day per week for a few hours. Many residents have expressed the need for a more consistent solution,” said organisers.
JOHN ROLLE, the Central Bank’s governor, will tonight speak at a Town Hall meeting in South Andros that will bring the community together with representatives from several domestic commercial banks and payment solutions providers. The public is invited to attend the free event being held at the South Andros Gymnasium.
GRAND BAHAMA POWER COMPANY
BPL NEGOTIATING NEW FUEL HEDGE, UNVEILS AUDIT UNIT
By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS Power and Light (BPL) has just created an audit department to provide customers with energy consumption assessments as it moves to negotiate a renewed fuel hedge to stabilise costs.
Dr Leo Rolle, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers' Confederation (BCCEC) chief executive, speaking at the Long Island Business Outlook conference said that free energy audits for some businesses were negotiated with energy and transport minister, JoBeth Coleby-Davis, and inquired if they had begun on the Family Islands.
Toni Seymour, BPL’s chief executive, in response revealed that an energy audit department had been formed and is now fully stafed. She explained load readings will be conducted to pinpoint where wastage is occurring, adding that the initiative will be rolled out
either in December or January 2026
“It's a new department in BPL,” she said. “And so we will have auditors free to our customers. If you say, ‘I think my bill is too high’ or ‘My bill is fuctuating’, we can send someone to your home, your business, and do actual load readings when your ACs are on, when your water pumps are running, and stuf like that. And then give you an idea of where the wastage may be. So that department has… been established. It's now fully stafed as of last week. So we should start rolling that out, I would say beginning of December, early January.”
Dr Rolle also questioned what is being done for businesses that have seen their power bills double, adding that he hears “the cry of businesses all across the islands” as higher power bills are taking away from their bottom line.
Ms Seymour said while the base rate remains the same, the cost of fuel does not. She noted that fuel surcharges during the summer
months, May through September, are higher due to more fuel being burnt due to electricity demand increases. She said that, in May, the Government decided to “hold the fuel charge steady from May to October”. She revealed that BPL is now negotiating a fuel hedge which “will bring some stability as well to the rates”.
“That stayed the same the entire summer, which means that we were not charging the actual cost of fuel,” Ms Seymour said. “The Government subsidised that. They said, ‘We're going to bring some relief to the customers this summer. We're going to hold the fuel charge steady. We will subsidise the diference between what we owe our fuel suppliers and what we actually charged our customers.’
That is one measure of relief.
“The zero to 200 kilowatt hour used to be 10.95 cents a kilowatt hour. Now it's zero cents per kilowatt hour. So that also brings some relief. And once we transition to solar batteries
and LNG, the cost of fuel should stabilise, because you're burning less fuel. You're using the solar and the batteries, and I don't necessarily like to say that LNG is cheaper. Sometimes it's not, but it's defnitely cleaner. And then we're also in the process of negotiating a fuel hedge, so that will bring some stability as well to the rates.”
Another attendee, speaking on solar panels, questioned if power could be sent back to BPL’s network and if customers can beneft from it if they are able to supply sufcient energy to meet their needs. Ms Seymour explained that the small-scale renewable generation programme, which is aimed at structures such as homes, and the medium-scale renewable generation programme aimed at structures such as businesses, would allow for a credit to be issued. She added that approval will be needed from the Ministry of Works and Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority (URCA) before
MINISTER: NEW PROVIDENCE ENERGY OUTAGES DOWN 86%
By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter
A CABINET minister yesterday said New Providence has enjoyed an 86 percent reduction in power outages as the island’s grid modernisation eforts accelerate ahead of schedule
a customer applies to BPL for the programme.
“We will come in, do an inspection on your installation,” Ms Seymour said. “We will change out your meter. Right now, your meter reads your consumption from the grid. What this meter will do is it will read your consumption from the grid, and it will also read what you push back into the grid - excess power that you do not use. And you will receive credits at the end of the month that are valued at the fuel charge for that month. So just how the fuel charge fuctuates based on what we pay for fuel, you will be refunded at that rate.
“And then the medium-scale renewable generation programme is for like businesses. If you have a huge warehouse, for example, with a lot of roof space, and you put panels on your roof, then you'd be considered a commercial customer. So you can apply for the medium-scale renewable generation programme, which works exactly the same way. But that is available now.”
storage systems across the islands.
Ms Seymour said the most
“transformative investment” for Long Island is the hybrid microgrid project. She said it is currently being developed through a power purchase agreement (PPA) between the Government, BPL and Renew Gen Pro.
“And this will be a 3.6 mega watt (MW) LNG fuel plant, a 3 MW solar farm and a 5 MW battery energy storage system,” she said. “So the hybrid approach blends reliability, cleaner energy and resilience, and it will also help us as we move into hurricane season. The distributed energy grid provides redundancy. So if something happens at the Millers plant, we'll have a unit in south Long Island, and we'll have the hybrid micro grid plant as well.” BPL has taken a “holistic approach” instead of going fully solar, Ms Seymour said. Noting that BPL is “a cash-strapped organisation” she said the Government has issued tenders and signed “just about all of the
“Bahamas Grid Company has accelerated eforts to modernise and upgrade the transmission and distribution (T&D) network in New Providence, surpassing their initial timeline,” said Mrs Coleby-Davis.
“I am also pleased to share that power outages on New Providence have decreased by 86 percent, and that the project is currently 28 percent ahead of schedule. At this rate,
Speaking at the Government’s Energy Summit yesterday, JoBeth Coleby Davis, minister of energy and transport, said the transformation of New Providence’s transmission and distribution network is progressing faster than anticipated, positioning The Bahamas to soon “boast one of the most advanced electricity grids in the region”. She said the ongoing upgrades are now 28 percent ahead of schedule, refecting rapid progress on critical infrastructure improvements to Nassau’s energy grid.
Baha Mar’s 20-storey resort in Town Planning go-ahead
By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter
jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
THE Town Planning Committee yesterday disclosed that it has given preliminary approval for Baha Mar’s proposed 20-storey resort replacement for the former Melia Nassau Beach hotel, moving the long-awaited project closer to reality.
The approval comes with several conditions aimed at mitigating potential impacts on surrounding residential communities. Among the stipulations are that Baha Mar’s owner, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE), must construct a 285-foot concrete block wall and establish a 15-foot wide vegetative bufer along the western boundary of the service building lot.
The committee also mandated sound-proofng measures to minimise noise from the proposed service building and required Baha Mar to obtain a certifcate of environmental clearance (CEC_ before construction can proceed.
During public consultations on the project, nearby residents raised concerns about the impact of the new service building on adjacent properties. In response, Baha Mar outlined measures to address these concerns, including the wall, bufer and sound-proofing now required by the committee.
The $350m project will feature a mix of 345 hotel rooms and 58 branded residences, along with eight pool villas, multiple dining options and extensive recreational amenities, including adult and family pools, a spa and wellness centre, a ftness centre, conference and event spaces, retail facilities, beachfront access, and a Kids Club.
The development is expected to generate approximately 400 construction jobs during the build-out and 500 permanent positions once operational, according to Baha Mar’s Heads of Agreement.
The mega resort operator, in documents fled with the Department of Physical Planning, requested preliminary site plan approval from the Town Planning Committee for a project that will feature 345 hotel rooms, 58 residences and a range of upscale amenities.
Graeme Davis, president of Baha Mar, in an October 22, 2025, letter to the Department of Physical Planning, detailed the scope of the project: “The Baha Mar parcel west development is a proposed expansion of the Baha Mar resort and is located on the former Melia property situated along West Bay Street on the island of New Providence in The Bahamas,” he said. “It consists of a ground-up, 20-storey luxury hotel and branded residence consisting of a two-storey podium, a west and east tower….
“The programme includes 345 branded hotel and 58 branded residences, eight pool villas, and adult and family pools. Amenities include a spa and wellness centre, ftness centre, conference and event spaces, multiple dining facilities including a pool bar and a signature pool side restaurant, retail spaces, beachfront access and a Kids Club.
“The gross foor area is roughly 680,000 square feet. A single-storey service building is planned north of Scotiabank at the land known commonly referred to as the ‘Melia vacant land site’.”
The Bahamas is on track to boast one of the most advanced electricity grids in the region.”
Mrs Coleby-Davis said Bahamas Grid Company has completed several improvements designed to deliver a more resilient, reliable and sustainable power network - reducing outages, improving service quality and lowering longterm operational costs for Bahamian consumers.
“A snapshot of their progress includes: The replacement of 488 steel poles and the installation of 9,295 feet of underground cable; the integration of 47 intellirupters into the most vulnerable feeders, enabling
automatic reclosing during faults,” she added.
“The intellirupters will signifcantly minimise outages; the repair and installation of 74 street lights; and the installation of 45 trip savers to provide localised protection for lateral distribution lines in neighbourhoods. The trip savers will automatically reclose after a fault, helping to prevent local outages.”
Mrs Coleby-Davis added that the Government’s broader modernisation agenda includes 18 new power stations being built nationwide under independent power producer agreements, introducing solar, liquefed natural gas (LNG) and battery energy
“We are carefully overseeing each development, with most stations expected to be online by the fourth quarter of 2026 - a remarkable accomplishment, as projects of this scale typically take several years,” said Mrs Coleby-Davis.
Prime Minister Philip Davis KC highlighted partnerships as central to the success of The Bahamas’ energy overhaul.
Speaking at the same Energy Forum, he noted that collaborations with international investors, multilateral fnance institutions, local experts and Bahamian professionals expand the country’s capabilities and reduce the cost and risk placed on the Bahamian people.
“Today, we are building a reliable, cleaner, more afordable system that allows our people and our economy to grow with confdence. These actions are not scattered. They are part of a clear and connected plan to secure the future of our country,” said Mr Davis. “As we continue this work, we must also remember that partnerships are key. No single institution can modernise an entire energy system alone. This is why we continue to work with international investors, multilateral fnance institutions, local experts and Bahamian professionals across the sector. Partnerships expand our capabilities and reduce the cost and risk placed on the Bahamian people.”
BPL ‘ rst’ as borrower for $90m IDB lending
By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS Power & Light (BPL) yesterday signed a $90m loan agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to modernise and strengthen the national electricity grid. Prime Minister Philip Davis KC described the agreement as “one of the most signifcant steps forward in our energy reform
agenda”, noting that - for the frst time - BPL has been designated as the direct borrower for a major international loan, backed by a sovereign guarantee.
He said the investment will be directed across three major areas. The largest component, $81.9m, focuses on digitisation and system modernisation, including the installation of new digital meters, enabling faster outage detection and more efcient restoration.
Another $3.7m will strengthen BPL’s
institutional capacity, supporting staf development, advanced data analytics, improved planning and governance, while $4.4m is allocated to ensure robust administration, monitoring and compliance with international standards.
“For the frst time in our history, the Government of The Bahamas has designated Bahamas Power & Light as the direct borrower for a major international loan. The Government stands behind this investment with a sovereign guarantee,” said Mr Davis. “With the IDB as a partner, every requirement is carefully tracked, and every investment is transparent.” He highlighted the broader economic impact, noting that the upgrades will reduce reliance on imported fuel, stabilise energy costs and enhance the country’s competitiveness across tourism, manufacturing, digital services and local entrepreneurship.
LENDING - See Page B6
Customers ‘surprised’ nding rm still open
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Google; refusing to pass on business inquiries from potential and current clients to the defendants; ofering, even though it is an American company, for hire services that constitute businesses reserved for Bahamians; excluding the defendants from access (administrative and user) to online platforms from which the defendants’ historically obtained customers; claiming ownership of the defendants’ business which is reserved for Bahamians.”
They argued that the timing could not be worse, asserting: “Since the high season, busy tourist season, has started for [Conch & Coconut] as of November 1, 2025, Conch & Coconut could be irreparably harmed” by speculation over whether it remains operational and open for business providing services as advertised.
“A customer is reluctant to book and leave a deposit with a company that is embroiled in litigation, and may not exist when it is time for the customer to get the services it paid for,” Mr Gibson and his attorneys alleged of the potential impact.
“Creditors and suppliers are reluctant to extend credit or await payment in the ordinary course of business when the debtor is embroiled in litigation that is requesting the debtor cease operations. Employees may seek jobs with other employers rather than stay on a job with a business that may not exist next month because someone is trying to shut down that business.”
Mr Gibson and Conch & Coconut alleged that they have already lost business through Mr Conde and his US entities “cutting of… access to the websites, e-mails and online service provider portals”. They alleged: “The claimant [Mr Conde] receives customer
requests on the websites, which they have blocked the defendants from using, and then the claimant fails and refuses to answer the requests and fail and refuse to pass the requests on.
“Consequently, those customers get frustrated and go somewhere else for their services, complain to the defendants when they eventually fnd them for the apparent lack of response and professionalism, or develop the view that [Conch & Coconut] is no longer in business.
“The claimant listed the Google listing for Conch & Coconut, which historically was a major source of business for the [company], as ’temporarily closed’. Consequently, potential and repeat customers take their business elsewhere. When the customers arrive to Harbour Island and see that the frst defendant is open for business they express their surprise considering what they read online,” Mr Gibson and his attorneys asserted.
“Customers are historically accustomed to securing the services of the defendants via the online phone numbers, e-mail
Communities of slave descendants in Brazil demand recognition of territories
By TERESA DE MIGUEL Associated Press
ZAQUEU Belém Araújo
and Instagram for Conch
& Coconut and are not yet fully aware of the defendants’ new Conch & Coconut Bahamas website which became efective in summer of this year.
“The claimant has discontinued the toll free phone number, thereby preventing bookings for the frst defendant’s services, and the frst defendant cannot identify/reach out to customers about current or future business. The claimant does not send the Instagram requests to the defendants thereby preventing customers from booking the frst defendant’s services and, accordingly, the customers use other service providers.”
Mr Gibson and his attorneys argued that ], while Mr Conde may justify his actions as protecting Conch & Coconut trademarks, the ownership of which is disputed, as a foreigner he and his US entities “cannot lawfully conduct the business services, so this court should not permit them to continue to act unlawfully by enabling them to protect an interest they cannot lawfully have, or by allowing them to continue
of unpaved streets about 40 minutes away by boat from the sprawling city of Belem, where U.N. climate talks are being held.
ofering services online which they cannot lawfully ofer since those services are businesses reserved for Bahamians”.
Calling on the Supreme Court to stop Mr Conde from referring clients to Conch & Coconut’s competitors, and advertising services they are not permitted to provide in The Bahamas, Mr Gibson and Conch & Coconut asserted: “The defendants would sufer irreparable harm if they were forced out of the business before the resolution of the dispute at trial.”
Mr Gibson and Mr Conde’s increasingly bitter legal battle has generated admissions of ‘fronting’ by a Bahamian on behalf of a foreigner; unpaid VAT and Business Licence fees said to still exceed $800,000; claims of a ‘forged’ Business Licence; and threats of winding-up petitions.
Justice Simone Fitzcharles, on November 14, 2025, granted Conch & Coconut the relief sought by ordering that Mr Conde and his US-domiciled companies be barred from interfering or intervening with Mr Gibson and the latter’s Harbour Island-based
Struggle to keep the forest alive
operations until the full trial.
The Order also prevents Mr Conde from fling a winding-up petition, and/ or seeking to put Conch & Coconut’s Bahamian operations into liquidation, over a demand that he be paid $855,774 representing sums allegedly due under a ‘lease and buyback’ deal where Mr Gibson purportedly agreed to acquire the business and its assets from his US partner via a series of payments to be made over a ten-year period.
Justice Fitzcharles, in her Order, has barred Mr Conde and his companies from making public statements on his $855,774 demand letter; disparaging the “solvency” of Conch & Coconut’s Briland operations; suggesting they have any “entitlement/ownership” in the Bahamian business; and making “any assertions” that the latter is “closed, no longer in business or otherwise not operating in any way”. Mr Conde and his US companies are also barred “from interfering with the business operations of [Conch & Coconut] in any way whatsoever”.
it was for less than half of the territory they claimed, according to local resident Fabio Nogueira.
cuts a leaf from an acai tree and skillfully folds and twists it, tying one end to the other to form a strong ring. He takes of his sandals, puts his bare feet into the palm ring and quickly pulls himself up the tree trunk to reach a branch of the coveted fruit. This is how the acai berry has been harvested for generations in Brazilian quilombos, communities of descendents of runaway slaves. The minimally invasive technique doesn't hurt the trees and helps keep Amazon forests standing.
"We understand that keeping the forest alive also keeps us alive," said Erica Monteiro, one of the about 500 residents of Itacoa Miri, a community
Over the course of the climate conference, which began early this month and is scheduled to end on Friday, both residents of quilombos and Indigenous peoples have been pushing for the government to issue more land titles, which they see as key to defending their rights and protecting the ecosystems where they live.
While her mother grinds the acai berries freshly picked from the palm tree, Monteiro explains that this fruit is key in quilombos. It's an important source of food and, by preserving traditional harvesting and production techniques, they protect the lush forest that surrounds their communities.
"Our life is this struggle to ensure that the forest stays alive. Sometimes the price we pay is very high," she said.
Monteiro, a coordinator at Malungu, an association of quilombos in the state of Para, is one of the most prominent Afro-descendant leaders in the region. Her fght to protect their land from illegal logging and land invasion for cattle ranching and soybean farming has meant threatening phone calls, attempts of extortion and intimidation.
That's why her community fought for years to achieve what few Afro-descendants in Brazil manage to do: obtain a document recognizing their ownership of their land.
There's almost 2,500 quilombos in the Brazilian Amazon, but only 632 have been ofcially mapped by federal government institutes, according to a recent study by the National Coordination of Rural Black Communities, an association of quilombolas communities.
"If you can't prove that the land belongs to the community, agribusiness ends up doing what we call in Brazil 'grilling,' which is forging false documentation in their favor," Monteiro said.
Through Malungu, Monteiro helps other quilombos in the lengthy and costly process to obtain land titles so that others can beneft as they did more than 20 years ago when they got theirs.
Since then, her community received philanthropy funding from the Ford Foundation and the Climate and Land Use Alliance (The Associated Press receives funding for climate journalism from CLUA).
The support is evident in Itacoa Miri: They have a health center and a school. There is electricity and running water.
Fight against a landfll
The situation is very different in the quilombo of Menino Jesus, not far from Itacoa Miri. They only received their land title in November last year and
About 500 meters (550 yards) from his humble brick house, a company called Revita has been trying to set up a landfll that, according to Nogueira, threatens to contaminate the area's aquifers, on which they depend on for fshing and daily life. Revita didn't respond to an email seeking comment and there was no answer at the phone number listed for their headquarters.
"Our fear is that both the springs there (in the area where the landfll is planned) and the water in our wells will be polluted by the leachate produced by the waste," said Nogueira, vice president of the Menino Jesus territory association.
He and his community have been fghting the landfll for years, saying they were never consulted. The Public Defender's Ofce has fled a lawsuit on their behalf in the State Court of Justice, but so far it hasn't been granted.
"We feel powerless," he said. "We are afraid that we will no longer be able to survive here because of the smell and the contamination that will come after."
The Menino Jesus community is demanding title deeds to the entire 2,160 hectares (around 5,340 acres) of land that they claim has belonged to their inhabitants for generations. So far, only 640 hectares (about 1,580 acres) have been recognized as theirs.
"A defnitive title gives us legal assurance that this land belongs to the community and that other people cannot take possession of it," Nogueira said. He believes that if these territories are ofcially recognized, the forests full of chestnut and acai trees will remain standing.
That's why Monteiro, from the community of Itacoa Miri, believes the Brazilian government needs to pay attention to Afro-descendant communities and recognize the ownership of all quilombos in Brazil.
She says communities like hers should also be paid, both by Brazil and other countries, to keep the forest standing. One of the biggest announcements to come out of COP30, set to end this week, has been the establishment of a fund to pay to keep trees standing. Monteiro says she is skeptical, as other funds to preserve forests haven't reached her community.
ALF removes berries of acai outside of his home in Itacoa Miri, Brazil, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Photo:Fernando Llano/AP
Bahamasair in seat doubling from airport improvements
FLIGHTS - from page B1
Board’s Long Island hotel member properties for the frst nine months of 2025, he described it as mixed with room nights sold (heads in beds) down compared to last year but room revenues up by slightly higher single digit percentages. However, when matched against 2019’s pre-COVID outturn, the combined member resort performance was down by more than 20 percent for both benchmarks.
“Before we can begin to talk about sustainable growth for Long Island, we must frst stop the haemorrhaging. It’s not just Long Island tourism but business in general,” Mr Fountain argued. “To help mitigate this, air accessibility from Stella Maris in the north to Deadman’s Cay in the south must be addressed.”
Turning to the year-todate achievements of the Promotion Board’s Long Island members, who include Stella Maris, Cape
Santa Maria and Gems at Paradise Beach Hotel, he added: “In terms of room nights sold for the period January through September, with room nights sold compared to the same period last year we’re down maybe about 5 percent” with 5,447 rooms sold.
“On the positive side, January through September, room revenue was up 7 percent.” However, Mr Fountain argued that comparisons with pre-COVID 2019 were more instructive in terms of showing how “where we’ve been and where we need to go and surpass”.
He added: “January through September, room nights sold 2019 versus 2025, we’re down about 28 percent, and on room revenues we’re down about 22 percent. So that’s what you’re looking at.
“This year has been an up and down year. Yes, you can attribute a lot of the drivers to what happened in the world geo-politically with
the tarifs, but if I was to put my fnger on the button of where we can fx Long Island businesses, and fx it quickest, it would be on air accessibility.”
The Government is seeking to do just that with the transformation of Long Island’s Deadman’s Cay airport into an international gateway, with construction works underway to extend the runway to 6,500 feet and remove the hills that also act as an obstacle to larger passenger loads and fights by the likes of Bahamasair.
Tracy Cooper, the national fag carrier’s managing director, told yesterday’s Outlook conference that regulatory restrictions mean it has to absorb the annual losses associated with 4,200 empty seats on its Long Island fights - spaces it simply cannot fll. As a result, he described Bahamasair’s Long Island route as a “transportation process but not a proft consideration” because the reduced passenger load factors mean it cannot earn a return on investment.
“Presently, when we look at Long Island, capacity for take-of is 38 persons
and that’s if there’s not a lot of bags,” Mr Cooper explained. “The runway for that airport is a 4,000 feet runway, and most airports in The Bahamas have runways of 5,000-6,000 feet, and then you have the massive hills at the back.”
The Bahamasair chief, explaining the “limitation” and restriction this imposes on the national fag carrier, said its planes could “easily take 50 passengers” on outbound fights from Deadman’s Cay with two working engines. However, regulations mandate that airlines such as Bahamasair must be able to still take of safely should one engine fail and “clear all obstacles”, and - given the hill’s presence - a full passenger and bag complement is “not going to have a happy ending” should such a scenario occur.
However, Mr Cooper said that cutting the hills down to size, as well as extending the Deadman’s Cay runway to 6,500 feet, will enable all planes in its feet to now land there. “Presently, on an annual basis we lose around 4,200 seats” that can never be flled on Long Island
fights because of these restrictions,” he explained.
“When we do our analysis, Long Island, for Bahamasair, has been a transportation process but not a proft consideration because we never put enough people on the plane to really come out and have a return on investment,”
Mr Cooper explained. Now, once the Deadman’s Cay upgrades are completed, the national fag carrier will be able to accommodate full passenger loads on not just its 50-seater but 70-seater aircraft.
“What we can do is go from a position of 12,000 seats a year to around 24,000 seats a year. We can actually double the capacity of seats we are bringing into Long Island because they’ve now extended the runway,” Mr Cooper added. He explained that this will be achieved without Bahamasair increasing fight frequency or routes but simply by switching to larger planes and increasing passenger loads if demands warrants it.
Mr Cooper also suggested that Nassau can be eliminated as a gateway to the Family Islands, thereby
reducing ticket prices and costs and making direct travel to and from nations such as the US more convenient. He explained that the national fag carrier is eyeing the possibility of providing service between Long Island and Exuma, so the former’s residents can connect with its fights to Fort Lauderdale from the latter destination.
“Nassau has a lot of fees embedded in the ticket, and if we can get around that it will be a cheaper fare into the islands if you’re coming from Fort Lauderdale to Exuma and then to Long Island,” Mr Cooper said. “It does two things. It provides direct service to Fort Lauderdale and also gives Long Islanders an opportunity to fy to Exuma because of business opportunities there.”
The Bahamasair managing director said its inter-line agreements with other airlines, where it provides “tentacles into The Bahamas” for other carriers that presently do not fy here, is growing with the number of confrmed deals now standing at ten and growing.
“And in those unfortunate circumstances, some visitors are forced into day trips, or some never make it at all because they cannot fnd a bed. And, of course, every guest who cannot stay overnight represents lost economic activity for the restaurants, taxi drivers, tour operators, fshermen... straw vendors, craft producers.”
When accommodations are available for visitors, Long Island businesses see a boost in guest spending, according to Mr Burrows. He said the development of more rooms, cottages, eco lodges, boutique hotels and waterfront bungalows must be encourage, while all vacation rentals must be registered to create a unifed and visible inventory.
“Consider this: With today’s average daily room rate of around $230, adding just 100 more rooms - not building rooms - will generate an additional $4m annually,” Mr Burrows said. He added that airport infrastructure limits carrier interest, fight frequency and the reliability needed to attract visitors and investors. He called for promises made regarding the airports in Long Island to be fulflled, asking that Deadman’s Cay get a new terminal and expanded runway within the next 24 months.
meets expectations and, of course, upgraded airlift supports tourism, business, education, healthcare and investment. So for Long Island to signifcantly improve the economic power of regattas and festivals, it starts with the airport.
“And as a passionate Long Islander, and on behalf of the people of Long Island, including those present today, my ask of the powers that be is to fulfl your commitments, deliver on your promises. I was excited to see Dr [Kenneth] Romer’s presentation earlier - the renderings, the one tractor with some cleared down land. That was exciting.
terminal and expanded runway to Deadman’s Cay within the next 24 months.”
Mr Burrows said Long Island must also build a co-ordinated and unifed festival economic strategy.
“We have to build stronger co-ordination and communication between key players - the Long Islanders Association, Long Islanders Sailing Club, the local Chamber of Commerce, regatta desk, the Ministry of Tourism, Bahamasair, mail boat owners, local businesses and vendors,” Mr Burrows said.
boat building showcases, like sloop sailing lessons.
He added that while regattas, in particular, are cultural celebrations, they are also “economic stimulants” and the “high season” for Long Island. However, he warned that that their cultural calendar is “under-monetised.”
“Let’s take a quick example of the beneft of a regatta week using conservative numbers,” Mr Burrows said. “If you look at one visitor, and we look at some conservative spends - accommodation, $900 for a three to four-day stay.
“And when we are the multiplier efect, where businesses reinvest and income circulates, total activity can comfortably move towards $3m and beyond in just a matter of fve to seven days. This is why regattas and festivals are not just cultural celebrations. They are a major part of the economic framework of Long Island. And this simple example highlights the other obvious spin-of benefts that impact the island. In the construction sector, there’s noticeable uptick in activity months and weeks before the regatta. Fishermen see surging demand. Mutton and sheep farmers see increased demands.” Strategy needed to maximise bene ts
“A modern airport is not optional,” Mr Burrows said. “It is the catalyst for everything else - more fights, increased visitor stays and event attendance. Airlines commit to markets where infrastructure
“However, we’ve heard so many promises before that we have no choice but to be cautiously optimistic. Long Island wants to see success. We don’t want to continue to hear about what’s coming. So please help us bring a new
“We must build a more structured approach to planning and executing these events. We have to build a formal and detailed regatta and festival calendar. I’m not just talking about a calendar that shows events and the dates. I’m talking about one that incorporates schedule activities like heritage tours, like
separate and apart from the $500,000 that the Association [Long Islanders Association] puts into this event, the total economic impact is roughly $2m. And this is conservative.
Food and beverage around $350. Transport around $150, and spending on craft, shopping and festival attendance, $250. We can estimate around $1,600 to $1,650 for one visitor.
“Of course, there are variations, but the average is around that. For 1,200 visitors, this means the total economic impact,
JOB OPPORTUNITY
Long Islanders will ‘believe it when see it’ over airport
AIRLIFT - from page B1
Voicing optimism that “all airside work”, including the runway, taxiways and aprons, will be completed at Deadman’s Cay “by the end of Easter moving into early summer, Dr Romer added that there are hopes the contract for construction of that airport’s terminal building should be signed before month’s end.
Despite the impediments to airlift growth and connectivity, and expanding visitor numbers, Dr Romer said: “I’ve been not just keenly interested but very impressed with Long Island’s tourism performance. When I last checked my fgures, Long Island as a whole, in terms of air arrivals, is showing 26.5 percent growth compared to where were in 2019.”
The latter year was the last full one before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Government’s aviation chief added: “Notwithstanding that Long Island is not attracting your legacy carriers, your international airlift, and notwithstanding that Bahamasair can only operate sometimes with 50-60 percent capacity, and does not operate into the US, Long Island continues to hold its own.
“When it comes to a model for the Family Islands, when we speak to your
foreign air and sea arrivals, when we speak to your infrastructure priorities, and also attracting investment, Long Island continues to rank very high. But your growth is constrained by capacity. So, while on the one hand you are pressing the gas pedal, on the other hand you are still pressing the brakes.
“Because you truly want to accelerate discussions such as increasing airlift and attracting investment but, at the same time you are pressing the brakes because your growth is constrained by capacity. You want to do more. You are doing more in a constrained environment that, quite frankly, retards and limits the level of growth you want to see in Long Island.
Dr Romer afrmed that the Deadman’s Cay airport transformation is part of the Government’s Family Island airport ‘renaissance’ programme, which covers 17 such assets and has been billed as the largest infrastructure investment in The Bahamas’ history. He added that the initiative’s size has expanded in phases, going from three to fve, then eight, 14 and, fnally to 17. The initial collective investment was pegged at north of $260m.
Pledging that progress at Deadman’s Cay is being overseen “by persons who have an interest in your
Airport upgrades not enough without lighting improvement
AIDS - from page B1
want you to equally stress. I don’t want people to believe the load factors coming in are not healthy. The load factors coming in are still relatively healthy; it’s just that the fights are not coming full. The fact they are not coming full with those 200,000 seats means 200,000 opportunities.” Mr Fountain had earlier made the same point at the Long Island Business Outlook conference, where he said: “Even though the major airlines servicing Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) are seeing relatively healthy and fnancially sustainable load factors, in any given year
there are 200,000 empty seats coming into Nassau. I view those as 200,000 opportunities.”
The Promotion Board executive director added that Bahamian-owned domestic carriers, and Family Island tourism in general, have a major role to play in this by better aligning their departure times and fights from Nassau with the arrival of international trafc so that they can provide sameday connectivity to visitors’ fnal destinations. And they would need to do the same, but in reverse, for when visitors are departing the Family Islands.
Meanwhile, both Tracy Cooper, Bahamasair’s managing director, and
NOTICE
GMC Advogados Ltd. Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Registration number 210464 B (In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the above-named Company is in dissolution, commencing on the 20th day of November A.D. 2025.
Articles of Dissolution have been duly registered by the Registrar. The Liquidator is Mr. Gláucia Mara Coelho, whose address is Av Higienopolis 148 181, CEP: 01238-000, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. Any Persons having a Claim against the above-named Company are required on or before the 20th day of December A.D. 2025 to send their names, addresses and particulars of their debts or claims to the Liquidator of the Company, or in default thereof they may be excluded from the beneft of any distribution made before such claim is proved.
Dated this 20th day of November A.D. 2025.
GLÁUCIA MARA COELHO LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE
International Business Companies Act (No. 46 of 2000)
BOKA REAL ESTATE MANAGERS LIMITED
Registration No. 140480 B In Voluntary Liquidation
Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138 of the International Business Companies Act, (No. 46 of 2000), BOKA REAL ESTATE MANAGERS LIMITED was put into voluntary liquidation pursuant to a resolution passed by the Members of the Company. e date of Commencement of dissolution was October 17, 2025 when the Plan and Articles of Dissolution were submitted to the Registrar.
We, Sovereign Directors Limited of Suite 205A – Sa rey Square, Bank Lane & Bay Street, Nassau, Bahamas, are the appointed Liquidators of BOKA REAL ESTATE MANAGERS LIMITED
It is estimated that the winding-up and dissolution of the Company will require approximately thirty (30) days.
erefore, any person having a Claim against BOKA REAL ESTATE MANAGERS LIMITED is required on or before to send their name, address and particulars of the debt or claim to the Liquidator of the Company, or in default thereof they may be excluded from the bene t of any distribution made before such claim is approved.
Sovereign Directors Limited Liquidator
island”, the Government’s aviation chief said the upgraded airport is “under active construction right now. We are already moving aggressively to completion of the air side works”. This, he acknowledged, involves “addressing some of the obstacles” by “cutting down the hills” impairing aircraft size and passenger load factors.
Dr Romer explained that eliminating the hills will end the seemingly-nonsensical situation where Long Islanders are unable to book or obtain seats on Bahamasair fights to Nassau despite planes being far from full.
“Tracy’ [Cooper, Bahamasair managing director] has has fight crew saying they want to bring more than 35 passengers, but because of the obstacle limitations; because of the hills, they can’t bring a full load,” he added.
“Up to yesterday we’ve taken 25 feet of that hill. It’s coming down. We’re dealing with the obstacle limitations by cutting down the hills. ”
Dr Romer said its elimination will enable the national fag carrier to increase seat capacity, and load factors, into Long Island by 100 percent through use of its larger 70-seater turbo props rather than being restricted to partially-full 50-seater ATRs as it is presently (see other article on Page 1B).
“Very soon I can foresee that we’ll be able to land 737s consistently in Deadman’s Cay - not just for regattas but year-round service,” he added, Dr Romer
Bethsheba Gibbs, accounts manager/director with Southern Air, told the Long Island Business Outlook that improved airport infrastructure will not be sufcient by itself to boost air travel and tourism. Both called for the installation of runway and air navigation services lights to aid fying at dusk and into the night.
“I would fx the lighting,” Ms Gibbs argued, noting that doing so would aid same-day air connectivity and prevent tourists from incurring the extra cost and inconvenience of having to overnight in Nassau. She added that this was especially important for Long Island given its popularity with European and Canadian travellers.
“Having an extra hour of operations will help the island tremendously,” the Southern Air executive said. “I can see the money put into developing hotel
said Deadman’s Cay’s run-
ways, taxiways and aprons will have a “two-foot elevation”, while the new terminal will be raised by three feet, to “take care of some of the legacy fooding issues” at Deadman’s Cay. A drainage system will also be installed to provide further protection.
The Government’s aviation chief said the 10,000 square foot terminal building, which will be supported by 76 public, and 24 employee, parking spaces will also serve as a “commercial hub” for the Long Island business community through the spaces provided to retail, restaurant and other tenants. He urged interested entrepreneurs to start preparing their business plans and applications now before space becomes available.
Dr Romer said quarantine rooms, a police holding cell and airline ofces will all be present in the revamped Deadman’s Cay terminal. He added that “at least four airlines” will have space in a facility capable of accommodating 115 persons, and said: “That’s a big deal from where we are now.” The Customs area will also have sufcient space to accommodate 80 passengers at a time. Promising that this was “not just a plan on paper”, Dr Romer said “there’s every intention before the end of the month” to have “a contract signing for the new terminal for the new Deadman’s Cay airport with work starting very soon”. However, the ongoing
infrastructure with local entrepreneurs, but if it could be matched with the ability to get passengers in.
“That’s the frst thing passengers want to know; whether they can get to the Out Islands. If they have to overnight in a hotel in Nassau that adds expense, especially if they have a family with them. They often come in with a family of four or fve. That’s a lot of expense that prevents the growth of passengers into The Bahamas.”
Mr Cooper agreed, adding: “We’re well on the way with infrastructure improvements but don’t put a 6,500 foot runway in Long Island without having lighting so that Long Island can be serviced not just when the sun is up but for an extended time.”
N O T I C E
DUNESBRIDGE LIMITED
N O T I C E IS HEREBY GIVEN as follows:
(a) DUNESBRIDGE LIMITED is in dissolution under the provisions of the International Business Companies Act 2000.
(b) The dissolution of the said Company commenced on the 20th day of November, 2025 when its Articles of Dissolution were submitted to and registered by the Registrar General.
(c) The Liquidator of the said Company is Bennet R. Atkinson of Ronald Atkinson & Co., Chartered Accountants, 24 Marron House, Virginia & Augusta Streets P.O. Box N-8326, Nassau, Bahamas Email: Bennet@ronaldatkinson.com
Dated the 21st day of November, A.D., 2025.
HARRY B. SANDS, LOBOSKY MANAGEMENT CO. LTD.
Registered Agent for the above-named Company
NOTICE
International Business Companies Act (No. 46 of 2000)
CAPITOR III LTD.
Registration No. 200880
In Voluntary Liquidation
Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138 of the International Business Companies Act, (No. 46 of 2000), CAPITOR III LTD. was put into voluntary liquidation pursuant to a resolution passed by the Members of the Company.
e date of Commencement of dissolution was November 6, 2025 when the Plan and Articles of Dissolution were submitted to the Registrar.
We, Redcorn Consultants Limited of Suite 205A – Sa rey Square, Bank Lane & Bay Street, Nassau, Bahamas, are the appointed Liquidators of CAPITOR III LTD.
It is estimated that the winding-up and dissolution of the Company will require approximately thirty (30) days.
erefore, any person having a Claim against CAPITOR III LTD. is required on or before to send their name, address and particulars of the debt or claim to the Liquidator of the Company, or in default thereof they may be excluded from the bene t of any distribution made before such claim is approved.
Redcorn Consultants Limited Liquidator
construction work will require airlines servicing Long Island to temporarily divert their landings to Stella Maris in the north for a temporary period early in the New Year. “You’ll have some issues now because, in January, they’ll be starting to shut down some of the runway. There’s a price for progress. For three months you’ll have some trafc into Stella Maris,” Dr Romer explained. “We’re hopeful that by the end of Easter, moving into summer, all airside works will be completed and you’ll see tangible evidence of the terminal coming out of the ground at Deadman’s Cay.”
Zoe Cartwright, of Long Island Boat Rentals and Tours, later told the Outlook conference that many residents will not believe a new international airport is for real until they can actually touch, feel and see it given multiple prior delays and false dawns. She added that they had “seen something similar to this for many years”, and said: “I think speaking for everyone in the room that they will believe it when they’ve seen it.”
Dr Romer, meanwhile, said the airport redevelopments are designed to meet the travels needs of both a growing Bahamian population and “thriving tourism market”. Noting that tourism is the “lifeblood” of the Bahamian economy, he added that there “cannot be a disconnect” between the sector and aviation because the latter is “the oxygen and enabler of tourism”.
Turning to other airports,
Dr Romer said Mayaguana’s has now been completed with a ground-breaking anticipated before yearend on its 2,500 square foot terminal that can accommodate up to 50 persons. He added that work on Governor’s Harbour’s terminal is now “95 percent complete” and expected to be fnished by year-end December, with work on the runway, taxiways and aprons to start in the 2026 frst quarter.
“The entire Eleuthera is going through a renaissance,” the Government’s aviation chief added. “We are in the fnal phase of approving the plans and going out to contract for a new Rock Sound airport. It’s going to address some of the fooding mitigation concerns, and impact the signifcant level of foreign direct investment taking place in south Eleuthera.”
On Cat Island, the overhauled New Bight airport will generate 40 percent of its energy from solar power, while Arthur’s Town will receive a 7,000 foot runway and 3,000 square foot terminal that can accommodate 50 passengers. Exuma will become the “hub for the central and south Bahamas”. Black Point airport in the Exuma cays will receive a 9,500 square foot terminal and runway over 5,000 feet, with work already having begun. Dr Romer said the runway’s “asphalt paving can attract luxury jets and clients coming into the cays to support investment decisions in Black Point”.
LENDING - from page B3
“The loan refects confdence in the progress being made at BPL, and it reinforces our belief that BPL can and will meet the responsibilities required in this new era of energy,” said Mr Davis. “With this investment, we are building a reliable, cleaner, more afordable system that allows our people and our economy to grow with confdence.”
Shirley Gayle, the IDB’s Bahamas representative, said the loan will be repaid over 25 years, but there is a 5.5-year moratorium, meaning repayments only begin 66 months after signing.
She explained the loan is concessional - meaning it is ofered on very favourable terms - making it far more competitive than a typical international loan, which is why the IDB is a trusted lender for governments in Latin America.
“The loan has an amortisation period of 25 years, with a 5.5-year moratorium on repayment, meaning repayments don’t start until 66 months after the agreement is signed. The interest rate is variable, based on the secured overnight fnancing rate, a benchmark commonly used in international fnancing, plus the bank’s margin,” said Ms Gayle.
“The fnancing provided by the IDB is always concessional, so very, very competitive when compared to a sovereign borrowing on the international capital market. This is why the IDB is a preferred lender to the governments that we serve within the Latin American area” Christina Alston, BPL’s executive chair, said the full roll-out is anticipated to take between 36 and 60 months. The frst step is the request for information (RFI), which will pre-qualify companies and vendors in compliance with IDB requirements, expected to be issued in January.
After the RFI, a request for proposals (RFP) will follow to select partners capable of meeting technical and operational requirements for the Bahamian grid.
“You probably will see the frst set of meters will be towards the end of next year. One of the things that I think is very important in looking at this project is how we are going to streamline the operation in terms of what the meter reading should look like,” said Ms Alston.
“We have a little bit of communication work that has to be sorted out, but I would anticipate that we should be on the ground and start seeing some changes by the end of next year. We’re anticipating anywhere from 36 to 60 months to get it all done.”
NOTICE International Business Companies Act (No. 46 of 2000)
GASPARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED Registration No. 166986 B In Voluntary Liquidation
Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138 of the International Business Companies Act, (No. 46 of 2000), GASPARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED was put into voluntary liquidation pursuant to a resolution passed by the Members of the Company.
e date of Commencement of dissolution was November 19, 2025 when the Plan and Articles of Dissolution were submitted to the Registrar.
We, Sovereign Directors Limited of Suite 205A – Sa rey Square, Bank Lane & Bay Street, Nassau, Bahamas, are the appointed Liquidators of GASPARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED
It is estimated that the winding-up and dissolution of the Company will require approximately thirty (30) days.
erefore, any person having a Claim against GASPARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED is required on or before to send their name, address and particulars of the debt or claim to the Liquidator of the Company, or in default thereof they may be excluded from the bene t of any distribution made before such claim is approved.
Sovereign Directors Limited Liquidator
Energy
PPAs for the solar installations on every island, including Long Island”.
“The capital expenditure for a solar farm is high, and the land that is required is also a lot,” Ms Seymour said. “So you need about two acres of land for 1 MW of solar. But for Long Island, there will be a 3 MW solar farm, as well as LNG generation, which is cleaner. It doesn’t pollute the environment as much as diesel and heavy fuel oil.
“But to say that we’ll ever get away from using some form of fuel power generation is not likely; just for redundancy and stability. And to that point, the batteries that are required to store the power, disposal of those makes quite an environmental impact as well. So you kind of have to balance the two. Disposal of lithium batteries, well, they only have a 10 to 15-year life. So every 10 to 15 years, you have to replace the
cells. And even frst world countries are fnding it challenging to dispose of those batteries after their life cycle is complete.
“But we are moving in that direction. I think land clearing is supposed to start in Long Island very soon for the solar farm, and land clearing is already starting on Abaco and Eleuthera and Exuma as well.”
BPL has also received Board approval for a $1.2m investment for a new generator set be placed south of Scrub Hill, which it expects to be on Long Island early next year. She said they are considering placing it either where the Scrub Hill school used to be or where the Morrisville school used to be. Either way it will be on government-owned land.
Ms Seymour added that the project will “also include signifcant improvements to transformers, feeder protection systems and aging components ensuring that the southern end of the island benefts from the same standard of reliability”.
Trump steps up attacks on ABC and Jimmy Kimmel, says network should 'get the bum o the air'
By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer
PRESIDENT Donald Trump stepped up his attacks against ABC and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday, urging the network to "get the bum of the air" in a social media post sent shortly after the comic's latest episode ended.
The president this week had also expressed anger at the network's chief White House correspondent, Mary Bruce, for questions she asked in an Oval Ofce meeting, which his press staf followed with a 17-point memo listing grievances against ABC News.
Trump's latest attack against Kimmel came two months after ABC temporarily suspended the comic for remarks made following the assassination of GOP activist Charlie Kirk. ABC
Trump administration announces plan for new oil drilling o the coasts of California and Florida
By MATTHEW DALY and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
THE Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling of the California and Florida coasts for the frst time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production.
The oil industry has been seeking access to new ofshore areas, including Southern California and of the coast of Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes ofshore Florida and part of ofshore Alabama, since 1995,
because of concerns about oil spills. California has some ofshore oil rigs, but there has been no new leasing in federal waters since the mid-1980s.
Since taking ofce for a second time in January, Trump has systematically reversed former President Joe Biden's focus on slowing climate change to pursue what the Republican calls U.S. "energy dominance" in the global market. Trump, who recently called climate change "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world," created a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-high U.S. energy production, particularly fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.
Meanwhile, Trump's administration has blocked
renewable energy sources such as ofshore wind and canceled billions of dollars in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects across the country.
The drilling proposal drew bipartisan pushback in Florida, where a spokesperson for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said the Trump administration should reconsider and Republican Sen. Rick Scott said the state's coasts "must remain of the table for oil drilling."
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent Trump critic, called the administration's plan "idiotic."
Tourism and access to clean beaches are key parts of the economy in both states.
Plans to allow drilling of California, Alaska and Florida's coast
lifted the suspension following a public outcry.
Kimmel's show Wednesday night began with a blistering monologue about Trump, the frst 10 minutes concentrated on the late sex ofender Jefrey Epstein and Congress' vote this week to release more material from Epstein's correspondence. He noted the country was carefully following the movements of "Hurricane Epstein."
"We are ever closer to answering the question: What did the president know, and how old were these women when he knew it?" Kimmel said, rifng of a question Sen. Howard Baker Jr. asked about Richard Nixon during the Watergate saga in the 1970s.
Trump struck back in a Truth Social post sent at 12:49 a.m. Eastern. "Why does ABC Fake News keep
Jimmy Kimmel, a man with NO TALENT and VERY POOR TELEVISION RATINGS, on the air? Why do the TV Syndicates put up with it?"
Trump said. The latter was a reference to ABC afliates, some of whom got the movement toward Kimmel's brief suspension started in September by complaining about his Kirk content.
ABC said it would not comment about Trump's statement on Kimmel, whose ratings saw a bump upon his return to the air in September. While Trump associated him with ABC News, Kimmel works for the network's entertainment division.
Kimmel isn't the only late-night comic to draw Trump's ire lately. Over the weekend, he called for the fring of NBC's Seth Meyers.
It also calls for new drilling of the Florida coast in the Gulf of Mexico at least 100 miles from shore. Drilling leases would be sold in the newly designated South-Central Gulf region, adjacent to the central Gulf's thousands of wells and hundreds of drilling platforms.
was aimed at addressing concerns from Florida ofcials who oppose drilling near their tourism-friendly coasts.
The Epstein case was one of three topics that ABC's Bruce asked about in pointed questions during an Oval Ofce news conference Tuesday. The president called Bruce a "terrible reporter" and said he didn't like her attitude. The Epstein story has clearly gotten under Trump's skin. Late last week, Trump referred to a Bloomberg News reporter, Catherine Lucey, as "piggy" during a question-and-answer session on Air Force One.
On Wednesday, the White House press ofce released a letter outlining grievances against ABC News, some dating back to the president's frst term. "ABC 'News' is not journalism," the press ofce said. "It's a Democrat spin operation masquerading as a broadcast network."
Sen. Scott, a Trump ally, helped persuade ofcials in Trump's frst term to drop a similar ofshore plan in 2018 when Scott was governor. Scott and Florida Republican Sen. Ashley Moody introduced legislation this month to maintain the drilling moratorium from Trump's frst term.
Newsom, who often touts the state's status as a global climate leader, said in response to Thursday's announcement that California would "use every tool at our disposal to protect our coastline."
INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL
The Public is hereby advised that I, BERNISE ANTOINE of Murphy Town, Abaco, The Bahamas, Mother of HARMONY CARMEN ANTOINE a minor intend to change my child’s name to HARMONY CARMEN RAPHAEL. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Deputy Chief Passport Offcer, P.O. Box N-742, Nassau, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.
N O T I C E
DUNESBRIDGE LIMITED
Creditors having debts or claims against the abovenamed Company are required to send particulars thereof to the undersigned c/o P. O. Box N8326, Nassau, Bahamas on or before the 5th day of December A.D., 2025. In default thereof they will be excluded from the beneft of any distribution made by the Liquidator.
Dated the 21st day of November, A.D., 2025.
Bennet R. Atkinson Liquidator
Ronald Atkinson & Co. Chartered Accountants 24 Marron House, Virginia & Augusta Street P.O. Box N-8326 Nassau, Bahamas
PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE
INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INVESTMENTS LTD
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the above-named Company is in dissolution, commencing on the 25th of November 2025. Articles of Dissolution have been duly registered by the Registrar. e liquidator is Peter Cartwright, of Nassau, Bahamas.
Dated this 25th day of November 2025.
Peter D. Cartwright LIQUIDATOR
The administration's plan proposes six ofshore lease sales between 2027 and 2030 in areas along the California coast.
The new designation distinguishes the targeted area from the Eastern Gulf where drilling is prohibited under a moratorium Trump signed in his frst term. Industry representatives said the change
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that MAGDALA TILME MARC of Soldier Road, New Providence, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration/ Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 21st day of November 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that KERVENSON LOUIDOR of Keywest Street, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration/ Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 14th day of November 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that CARLOS JEAN of New Providence, The Bahamas applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration/ Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 14th day of November 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
The fve-year plan also would compel more than 20 lease sales of the coast of Alaska, including a newly designated area known as the High Arctic, more than 200 miles ofshore in the Arctic Ocean.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in announcing the sales that it would take years for the oil from new leases to get to market.
"By moving forward with the development of a robust, forward-thinking leasing plan, we are ensuring that America's ofshore industry stays strong, our workers stay employed, and our nation remains energy dominant for decades to come," Burgum said in a statement.
The American Petroleum Institute called the new plan a "historic step" toward unleashing more ofshore resources. Industry groups point to California's history as an oil-producing state and say it already has infrastructure to support more production.
California has been a leader in restricting ofshore drilling since an infamous 1969 Santa Barbara spill helped spark the modern environmental movement. While no new federal leases have been ofered since the mid-1980s, drilling from existing platforms continues. Newsom expressed support for greater ofshore controls after a 2021 spill of Huntington Beach and has backed a congressional efort to ban new ofshore drilling on the West Coast.
A Texas-based company, with support from the Trump administration, is seeking to restart production in waters of Santa Barbara damaged by a 2015 oil spill. The administration has hailed the plan by Houston-based Sable Ofshore Corp. as the kind of project Trump wants to increase U.S. energy production.
Trump signed an executive order on the frst day of his second term to reverse Biden's ban on future ofshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts.
A federal court later struck down Biden's order to withdraw 625 million acres of federal waters from oil development.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that LOUINEL MICHEL of Campbell Avenue, Jerome Avenue, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration/ Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 14th day of November 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that MIDLINE JN NOEL of Guana Cay, Abaco, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration/ Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 14th day of November 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
Opposition from California and Florida
INTERIOR Secretary Doug Burgum speaks during the annual Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference on June 3, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska.
Photo:Jenny Kane/AP
TAKEAWAYS FROM AP REPORT ON HOW BORDER PATROL MONITORS
By BYRON TAU and GARANCE BURKE Associated Press
THE U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain
US DRIVERS FOR ‘SUSPICIOUS’ TRAVEL
people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious, The Associated Press has found.
Here are Takeaways from the AP's investigation: What did the AP investigation fnd?
The Border Patrol's predictive intelligence program has resulted in people being stopped, searched and in some cases arrested. A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm fags vehicles deemed
suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. Federal agents in turn may then fag local law enforcement.
Suddenly, drivers fnd themselves pulled over — often for reasons cited such as speeding, no turn signals or even a dangling air freshener blocking the view. They are then aggressively questioned and searched, with no inkling that the roads they drove put them on law enforcement's radar.
The AP's investigation, the frst to reveal details of how the program on America's roads, is based on interviews with eight former government ofcials with direct knowledge of the program who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media, as well as dozens of federal, state and local ofcials, attorneys and privacy experts. The AP also reviewed thousands of pages of court and government documents, state grant and law enforcement data, and arrest reports.
What does the government say?
Border Patrol's parent agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said they use license plate readers to help identify threats and disrupt criminal networks and are "governed by a stringent, multi-layered policy framework, as well as federal law and constitutional protections, to ensure
the technology is applied responsibly and for clearly defned security purposes."
"For national security reasons, we do not detail the specifc operational applications," the agency said. While the U.S. Border Patrol primarily operates within 100 miles (161 kilometers) of the border, it is legally allowed "to operate anywhere in the United States," the agency added. What is the history of the program?
Once limited to policing the nation's boundaries, the Border Patrol's surveillance system stretches into the country's interior and monitors ordinary Americans' daily actions and connections for anomalies instead of simply targeting wanted suspects. Started about a decade ago to fght illegal border-related activities and the trafcking of both drugs and people, it has expanded over the past fve years.
Border Patrol has for years hidden details of its license plate reader program, trying to keep any mention of the program out of court documents and police reports, according to two people familiar with the program. Readers are often disguised along highways in trafc safety equipment like drums and barrels.
The Border Patrol has defned its own criteria for which drivers' behavior should be deemed suspicious or tied to drug or human trafcking, stopping
people for anything from driving on backcountry roads, being in a rental car or making short trips to the border region. The agency's network of cameras now extends along the southern border in Texas, Arizona and California, and also monitors drivers traveling near the U.S.-Canada border.
The Border Patrol has recently grown even more powerful through collaborations with other agencies, drawing information from license plate readers nationwide run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, private companies and, increasingly, local law enforcement programs funded through federal grants. Texas law enforcement agencies have asked Border Patrol to use facial recognition to identify drivers, documents show.
This active role beyond the borders is part of the quiet transformation of its parent agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, into something more akin to a domestic intelligence operation. Under the Trump administration's heightened immigration enforcement eforts, CBP is now poised to get more than $2.7 billion to build out border surveillance systems such as the license plate reader program by layering in artifcial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
What do critics say?
While collecting license plates from cars on public roads has generally been upheld by courts, some legal scholars see the growth of large digital surveillance networks such as Border Patrol's as raising constitutional questions.
Courts have started to recognize that "large-scale surveillance technology that's capturing everyone and everywhere at every time" might be unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment, said Andrew Ferguson, a law professor at George Washington University.
Nicole Ozer, the executive director of the Center for Constitutional Democracy at UC Law San Francisco, expressed alarm when told of AP's fndings. "They are collecting mass amounts of information about who people are, where they go, what they do, and who they know," she said. "These surveillance systems do not make communities safer."
A LICENSE plate reader used by U.S. Border Patrol is hidden in a traffic cone while capturing passing vehicles on AZ Highway 85, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in Gila Bend, Ariz.
Photo:Ross D. Franklin/AP
BUBBLE FEARS EASE BUT INVESTORS STILL WAITING FOR AI TO LIVE UP TO ITS PROMISE
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer
FEARS about the artifcial intelligence boom turning into an overblown bubble have diminished for now, thanks to a stellar earnings report from Nvidia that illustrated why its indispensable chips transformed it into the world's most valuable company.
But that doesn't mean the specter of an AI bubble won't return in the months and years ahead as Big Tech gears up to spend trillions of dollars more on a technology the industry's leaders believe will determine the winners and losers during the next wave of innovation.
For now, at least, Nvidia has eased worries that the AI craze propelling the stock market and much of
the economy for the past year is on the verge of a massive collapse. If anything, Nvidia's quarterly report indicated that AI spending is picking up even more momentum. The highlights, released late Wednesday, included quarterly revenue of $57 billion, a 62% increase from the same time last year. That sales growth was an acceleration from the 56% increase in year-over-year revenue from the May-July quarter.
What's more, Nvidia forecast revenue of $65 billion for the current quarter covering November-January, which would be a 65% yearover-year increase. Given Nvidia's forecasts, "it is very hard to see how this stock does not keep moving higher from here," according to analysts at
UBS led by Timothy Arcuri. The UBS analyst also said the "AI infrastructure tide is still rising so fast that all boats will be lifted."
Nvidia's numbers are viewed through a window that extends far beyond the Santa Clara, California, company's headquarters because its products are needed by a wide range of companies — including Big Tech peers like Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta Platforms — to build data centers that are becoming known as AI factories.
"AI spending isn't just holding up, it's accelerating. That's exactly what the market needed to see," said Jake Behan, head of capital markets for investment frm Direxion.
The numbers initially lifted Nvidia's stock price
by as much as 5% in Thursday's trading, while other tech stocks tied to the AI spending frenzy also got a boost. But Nvidia's shares and other tech stocks reversed course later in the session as investors found other issues besides AI, such as the government's latest jobs report and the future direction of interest rates.
Even with a 3% drop in its stock price amid the broader market decline, Nvidia remains valued at $4.4 trillion, more than 10 times its valuation three years ago when OpenAI released its ChatGPT chatbot, triggering the biggest technological shift since Apple released the iPhone in 2007.
Nvidia's rapid rise has turned its CEO Jensen Huang into the chief
evangelist for the AI revolution and he sought to use his bully pulpit during a late Wednesday conference call with industry analysts to make a case that the spending to make technology with humanlike intelligence is just beginning.
"There's been a lot of talk about an AI bubble.
From our vantage point, we see something very different," Huang insisted while celebrating "depth and breadth" of Nvidia's growth.
Huang is hardly a lone voice in the wilderness. A recent report from Gartner Inc. estimates that worldwide spending on AI will rise to more than $2 trillion next year, a 37% increase from the nearly $1.5 trillion that the research frm expects to be spent this year. But it remains to be seen if all that money pouring into AI will actually produce all the profts and productivity that proponents have been promising. That leaves the question unanswered if all the real spending that's happening will be worth it.
The most recent survey of global fund managers by Bank of America showed a record percentage of investors saying companies are "overinvesting."
Big Tech is already so proftable that many of the most successful fnance their spending sprees with their ongoing stream of revenue and cash hoards in their bank accounts. But some companies, such as Meta Platforms and Oracle, are relying more heavily on debt to fund their AI ambitions — a strategy that has raised enough alarms among investors that their stock prices have plunged more dramatically than their peers in recent weeks.
Both Meta and Oracle have sufered more than 20% declines in their stock prices since late October. But other Big Tech powerhouses leading the way in AI remain just behind Nvidia and iPhone maker Apple in the rankings of the most valuable companies. Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon boast market values currently ranging from $2.3 trillion to $3.6 trillion.
"It is true that valuations are high and that there is some froth in the market, however, the spending on AI is real," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment ofcer for money manager Northlight Asset Management. "Whether or not the spending turns out to be overdone won't be known for many years."
Fire disrupts UN climate talks just as negotiators reach critical nal days
By SETH BORENSTEIN, MELINA WALLING and ANTON L. DELGADO Associated Press
FIRE disrupted United Nations climate talks in Brazil on Thursday, forcing evacuations of several buildings and delaying already sluggish negotiations by most of a day with no major agreements even close. Ofcials said 13 people were treated for smoke inhalation.
The fre erupted in an area of pavilions where sideline events are held during the annual talks, known this year as COP30. The fre was quickly brought under control, but fre ofcials ordered the
entire site evacuated for safety checks and it wasn't clear when conference business would resume.
The fre could cost signifcant time if the talks don't resume until Friday's scheduled fnal day. The presidency of the talks had planned to have ministers and diplomats work late Thursday.
It was also possible that only top negotiators would be allowed back at night for a slimmed-down session.
Fire at a critical time
The fre came at a critical time. The COP30 presidency had been working on what was hoped to be a next-to-last draft of an agreement on four contentious topics involving money, cutting fossil fuel emissions and trade. Leaders had originally wanted a deal on this tough interconnected package by Wednesday, while Brazil's president and the United Nations secretary-general were on site, but it didn't come together.
"It defnitely puts a hold on negotiations for a period of time," said veteran climate negotiations observer Alden Meyer of the European think-tank E3G. He said they could still get back on track but ending Friday, as scheduled, doesn't look likely.
"It means there is a lot to do with very little time. There were already huge gulfs to bridge and this won't help," said Teresa Anderson, climate justice lead at ActionAid.
Mohamed Adow, another COP veteran and director of PowerShift Africa, chose to see some positive in people helping each other when the fre erupted.
"That spirit is precisely what climate action demands," Adow said.
"If we can respond to the planet's emergencies with the same unity shown in that tense moment, COP30 might yet be remembered not for an incident, but for a turning point."
Meyer wasn't convinced.
''People tend to feel a little closer during an emergency like this," Meyer said.
"But there are pretty deep fundamental interests at play.''
Meyer worried that with limited time and lack of agreement so far, the Brazilian leadership might opt for the lowest common denominator and "you could get something that's so weak that no one wants it.''
UN's secretary-general says compromise is OK
A few hours before the fre, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres urged countries to compromise
and "show willingness and fexibility to deliver results," even if they fall short of the strongest measures some nations want.
"We are down to the wire and the world is watching Belem," Guterres said, asking negotiators to engage in good faith in the last two scheduled days of talks, which already missed a self-imposed deadline Wednesday for progress on a few key issues. The conference, with this year's edition known as COP30, frequently runs longer than its scheduled two weeks.
"Communities on the front lines are watching, too — counting fooded homes, failed harvests, lost livelihoods — and asking, 'how much more must we sufer?'" Guterres said. "They've heard enough excuses and demand results."
On contentious issues involving more detailed plans to phase out fossil fuels and fnancial aid to poorer countries, Guterres said he was "perfectly convinced" that compromise was possible and dismissed the idea that not adopting the strongest measures would be a failure.
Guterres was more forceful in what he wanted rich countries to do for poor countries, especially those in need of tens of billions of dollars to adapt to the foods, droughts, storms and heat waves triggered by worsening climate change. He continued calls to triple adaptation fnance from $40 billion a year to $120 billion a year. Ofcials from nations battered by natural disasters gave emotional testimony earlier this week imploring the world to stop talking and start acting.
Delivering overall fnancial aid — with an agreed goal of $300 billion a year — is one of four interconnected issues that were initially excluded from the ofcial agenda. The other three are: whether countries should be told to toughen their new climate plans; dealing with trade barriers over climate and improving reporting on transparency and climate progress.
More than 80 countries have pushed for a detailed "road map" on how to transition away from fossil fuels, like coal, oil and natural gas, which are the chief cause of warming. That was a general but vague agreement two years ago at the COP in Dubai.
Guterres kept referring to it as already being agreed to in Dubai, but did not commit to a detailed plan, which Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva pushed for earlier in a speech.
ACTIVISTS participate in a demonstration to end the use of fossil fuels at the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, in Belem, Brazil.
Photo:Andre Penner/AP
Big swings keep rocking Wall Street as US stocks drop sharply after erasing a morning surge
By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer
JARRING swings keep rocking Wall Street, and U.S. stocks erased a big morning gain to drop on Thursday as the market remains skittish following weeks of doubts and erratic moves.
After initially soaring toward what seemed like its best day since May, with an early surge of 1.9%, the S&P 500 erased all of it and fell 1.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 386 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 2.2%.
The sharpest losses again hit what used to be the market's biggest winners. Nvidia, cryptocurrencies and other areas that had soared with nearly relentless momentum, as traders feared missing out on more gains, forced the market lower. Bitcoin dropped below $87,000, down from nearly $125,000 last month.
The market had been shaky coming into Thursday, largely because of twin worries: Nvidia and other superstar stocks caught up
in the frenzy around artifcial-intelligence technology may have simply shot too high, and the Federal Reserve may be done delivering the invigorating cuts to interest rates that Wall Street loves.
Nvidia initially appeared to tamp down the worries about a bubble for AI stocks after reporting a big proft for the summer, along with a forecast for coming revenue that easily cleared analysts' expectations. By delivering strong profts and indicating more are coming, Nvidia can justify its stock's price gains and make it look less expensive.
Given Nvidia's forecasts, "it is very hard to see how this stock does not keep moving higher from here," according to analysts at UBS led by Timothy Arcuri. They also said "the AI infrastructure tide is still rising so fast that all boats will be lifted."
Nvidia jumped to an early gain of 5% but then dropped to a loss of 3.2%.
Because it's the biggest company in the U.S. market by value, Nvidia's stock has
more pull on the S&P 500 than any other company's.
Despite Nvidia's big numbers, worries about a potential AI bubble aren't gone. The concern among investors is that all the dollars pouring into AI chips and data centers may not ultimately produce the big profts and productivity for the economy that proponents have been promising. Yes, Nvidia expects to sell another $65 billion of chips in the coming three months, which is more than analysts expected. But will all those
chips actually create much bigger profts for Amazon and other companies using them? That question — whether all the investment in AI will prove to be worth it in the end — is still unanswered.
The most recent survey of global fund managers by Bank of America showed a record percentage of investors saying companies are "overinvesting."
Amazon went from an early gain of 2.1% Thursday to a loss of 2.5%. Palantir Technologies swung from
a jump of 5.5% to a loss of 5.8%.
The last time the overall stock market had swings in one day as wild as Thursday's was in April, when President Donald Trump shocked the world with his stif "Liberation Day" tarifs.
For the second worry that's been dogging Wall Street, interest rates, Thursday's jobs report from the U.S. government came in mixed and ofered some relief. Financial markets initially seemed to pick the data apart for encouraging signals, according to Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.
The report showed hiring by U.S. employers was stronger in September than economists expected, which may suggest the economy remains solid. But it also said the unemployment rate worsened slightly, which could give the Fed reason to cut its main interest
THE WEATHER REPORT
rate at its next meeting in December.
Traders still see a December rate cut as relatively unlikely, giving it a roughly 40% probability, according to data from CME Group. But that's better than the 30% chance they saw a day earlier.
What the Fed does is critical for the stock market because prices ran to records in part because of expectations for continued cuts to rates. The Fed has already cut rates twice this year to shore up the slowing job market. But lower rates can worsen infation, which has stubbornly remained above the Fed's 2% target. On the winning side of Wall Street was Walmart, which rallied 6.5% after the retailer delivered another standout quarter. It reported strong sales and profts that blew past Wall Street expectations as it continues to lure cash-strapped Americans nervous about the economy and prices.
MARINE FORECAST
TRADER VINCENT NAPOLITONO foreground, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Photo:Richard Drew/AP
VERIZON IS CUTTING MORE THAN 13,000 JOBS AS IT WORKS TO ‘REORIENT’ ENTIRE COMPANY
By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP Business Writer
VERIZON is laying of more than 13,000 employees in mass job reductions that arrive as the telecommunications giant says it must “reorient” its entire company.
The job cuts began on Thursday, per to a staf memo from Verizon CEO Dan Schulman. In the letter, which was seen by The Associated Press, Schulman said Verizon’s current cost structure “limits” the company’s ability to invest — pointing particularly to customer experiences.
“We must reorient our entire company around delivering for and delighting our customers,” Schulman wrote. He added that the company needed to simplify its operations
“to address the complexity and friction that slow us down and frustrate our customers.”
Verizon had nearly 100,000 full-time employees as of the end of last year, according to securities flings. A spokesperson confrmed that the layofs announced Thursday account for about 20% of the company’s management workforce, which isn’t unionized.
Verizon has faced rising competition in both the wireless phone and home internet space — particularly from AT&T, T-Mobile and other big market players. New leadership at the company has stressed the need to right the company’s direction.
Schulman became CEO just last month. In the company’s most recent earnings, he stated that Verizon’s
WHITE HOUSE HITS OUT AT SOUTH AFRICAN LEADER FOR ‘RUNNING HIS MOUTH’ OVER US BOYCOTT OF G20
By GERALD IMRAY, MOGOMOTSI MAGOME and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press
THE White House hit out Thursday at South Africa's leader for "running his mouth" over the United States' boycott of this weekend's Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg in another diplomatic rift between the U.S. and a country that has been especially targeted for criticism by President Donald Trump.
South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters in Johannesburg that the U.S. had indicated it was changing its mind over its boycott of the G20 leaders summit at the "11th hour" and wanted to take part.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that was not true and had sharp words for Ramaphosa in response.
"I saw the South African president running his mouth a little bit against the United States and the president of the United States earlier today, and that language is not appreciated by the president or his team," Leavitt said at the White House.
She said the U.S. was sending a diplomatic ofcial to the summit to simply recognize that the U.S. will take over the rotating presidency of the bloc and host near year's G20 summit.
A representative from the U.S. Embassy in South Africa will attend the formal handover ceremony at the end of the two-day summit that opens on Saturday, but Washington still won't take part in any talks, a White House ofcial said.
The ofcial wasn't authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump announced this month that no U.S. government ofcial would attend the meeting of world leaders from rich and developing countries in South Africa's biggest city.
Trump cited his claims that South Africa is violently persecuting the country's white Afrikaner minority farmers as the reason for the U.S. boycott. Those statements by Trump have been widely rejected.
Handover ceremony
A formal handover ceremony is traditional at the end of each G20 summit and Ramaphosa previously expressed disappointment that the U.S. boycott would mean that he hands over to an "empty chair" at the end of the summit.
On Thursday, the South African president said that he welcomed U.S. participation at Africa's frst G20 summit "in one shape or form or another" and viewed the late communication as a "pleasing" change of approach from the world's biggest economy.
trajectory was at a “critical infection point” — and said, rather than incremental changes, Verizon would “aggressively transform” its operations.
For its third quarter of 2025, Verizon posted
"The United States is a member of the G20, they are an original member of the G20, so they have the right to be here," Ramaphosa said. "And all we are seeking to do is looking at the practicalities ... for them to participate."
U.S. boycott Ramaphosa had also addressed the U.S. boycott — which threatens to undermine the summit — earlier Thursday, when he said that the G20 meeting would issue a joint declaration, despite pressure from Washington not to issue one.
A South African G20 ofcial said earlier this week that the U.S. had sent diplomatic communication to South Africa advising that there should be no declaration adopted at the summit, because the U.S. wasn't there and therefore there would be no consensus.
Instead, the U.S. wants a toned-down statement from South Africa only to cap the summit, which is a culmination of more than 120 meetings that Africa's most advanced economy has hosted since it took over the G20's rotating presidency for this year.
'We will not be bullied'
Speaking to reporters after an earlier speech, Ramaphosa said: "We will have a declaration. The talks are going extremely well. I'm confdent we are moving towards a declaration, and they are now just dotting the i's and crossing the t's."
"Without the United States, the whole process of the G20 is moving forward. We will not be bullied. We will not agree to be bullied."
Other leaders have expressed hope that the summit results in a declaration. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Wednesday that he hopes for "joint decisions," but conceded that "that is not entirely certain."
Trump's criticism
Trump has repeatedly targeted South Africa for criticism since he returned to ofce. He held a tense meeting with Ramaphosa at the White House in May, when he confronted South Africa's leader with baseless claims of widespread violence against Afrikaners, who are descendants of Dutch, French and German settlers who frst came to South Africa in the 17th century.
The U.S. president has repeated his claims in the leadup to the G20 that Ramaphosa's Black-led government is pursuing racist anti-white policies against Afrikaners.
G20 agenda
The G20 is a bloc made up of 19 nations, including the richest but also the top developing economies, the European Union and the
earnings of $4.95 billion and $33.82 billion in revenue. The carrier reported continued subscriber growth for its prepaid wireless services, but it lost a net 7,000 postpaid connections.
News of coming layofs at Verizon was reported last week by The Wall Street Journal. The outlet says that the 13,000 job cuts mark the largest-ever round of layofs at the company. Beyond the cuts across Verizon’s workforce, Schulman said that the New York company would also “signifcantly reduce” its outsourced and other outside labor expenses.
It’s a tough time for the job market overall — and Verizon isn’t the only company to announce sizeable workforce reductions recently. More and more layofs have piled up at companies like Amazon, UPS, Nestlé and more. Some companies have pointed to rising
African Union. The bloc is meant to bring developed and developing nations together to fnd solutions to global problems.
South Africa, which is the frst African nation to hold the rotating presidency, is hoping to use its summit to make progress
on issues especially afecting poor countries. That includes mitigating the impact of climate change and weather-related disasters, easing debt burdens for developing countries and confronting global wealth inequality.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa met with Ramaphosa on Thursday in Johannesburg and expressed support for South Africa's agenda.
The U.S. has previously derided South Africa's
Layo s are piling up, raising worker anxiety. Here are some companies that have cut jobs recently
By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP Business Writer
IT'S A tough time to be looking for a job.
Amid wider economic uncertainty, some analysts have said that businesses are at a "no-hire, no fre" standstill. That's caused many to limit new work to only a few specifc roles, if not pause openings entirely. At the same time, sizable layofs have continued to pile up — raising worker anxieties across sectors.
Some companies have pointed to rising operational costs spanning from President Donald Trump's barrage of new tarifs and shifts in consumer spending. Others cite corporate restructuring more broadly — or, as seen with big names like Amazon, are redirecting money to artifcial intelligence.
Federal employees have encountered additional doses of uncertainty, impacting worker sentiment around the job market overall. Shortly after Trump returned to ofce at the start of the year, federal jobs were cut by the thousands. And the record 43-day government shutdown also left many to work without paychecks.
The impasse put key economic data on hold, too. In a delayed report released Thursday, the Labor Department said U.S. employers added a surprising 119,000 jobs in September. But unemployment rose to 4.4% — and other troubling details emerged, including revisions showing the economy actually lost 4,000 jobs in August. There's also growing gender and racial disparities. The National Women's Law Center notes women only accounted for 21,000 of September's added jobs — and that
Black women over the age of 20, in particular, saw unemployment climb to 7.5% for the month.
The shutdown has left holes in more recent hiring numbers. The government says it won't release a full jobs report for October.
Here are some of the largest job cuts announced recently:
Verizon
In November, Verizon began laying of more than 13,000 employees. In a staf memo announcing the cuts, CEO Dan Schulman said that the telecommunications giant needed to simplify operations and "reorient" the entire company.
General Motors
General Motors moved to lay of about 1,700 workers across manufacturing sites in Michigan and Ohio in late October, as the auto giant adjusts to slowing demand for electric vehicles. Hundreds of additional employees are reportedly slated for "temporary layofs" at the start of next year.
Paramount
In long-awaited cuts just months after completing its $8 billion merger with Skydance, Paramount plans to lay of about 2,000 employees — about 10% of its workforce. Paramount initiated roughly 1,000 of those layofs in late October, according to a source familiar with the matter.
In November, Paramount also announced plans to eliminate 1,600 positions as part of divestitures of Televisión Federal in Argentina and Chilevision in Chile. And the company said another 600 employees had chosen voluntary severance packages as part of a coming push to return to the ofce full-time.
operational costs spanning from U.S. President Donald Trump’s barrage of new tarifs and shifts in consumer spending. Others cite corporate restructuring more broadly — or are redirecting money to artifcial intelligence. Regardless, such cuts have raised worker anxieties across sectors.
Schulman on Thursday recognized that “changes in technology and in the economy are impacting the workforce across all industries.” He said that Verizon had established a $20 million “Reskilling and Career Transition Fund” for workers departing the company. Shares of Verizon fell just over 1% by Thursday’s close.
Amazon
Amazon said Tuesday that it will cut about 14,000 corporate jobs, close to 4% of its workforce, as the online retail giant ramps up spending on AI while trimming costs elsewhere.
A letter to employees said most workers would be given 90 days to look for a new position internally.
UPS
United Parcel Service has disclosed about 48,000 job cuts this year as part of turnaround eforts, which arrive amid wider shifts in the company's shipping outputs. UPS also closed daily operations at 93 leased and owned buildings during the frst nine months of this year.
Target
Target in October moved to eliminate about 1,800 corporate positions, or about 8% of its corporate workforce globally. The retailer said the cuts were part of wider streamlining eforts.
Nestlé
In mid-October, Nestlé said it would be cutting 16,000 jobs globally — as part of wider cost cutting aimed at reviving its fnancial performance amid headwinds like rising commodity costs and U.S. imposed tarifs. The Swiss food giant said the layofs would take place over the next two years.
Lufthansa Group
In September, Lufthansa Group said it would shed 4,000 jobs by 2030 — pointing to the adoption of artifcial intelligence, digitalization and consolidating work among member airlines.
Novo Nordisk
priorities for the group, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio skipping a G20 foreign ministers meeting in February and dismissing South Africa's priorities as being about diversity, equity and inclusion and climate change.
Rubio said that he wouldn't waste U.S. taxpayer money on that agenda.
Other leaders are also skipping the G20 summit, including Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Argentine President Javier Milei, but they have sent delegations to represent them in the talks.
Also in September, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk said it would cut 9,000 jobs, about 11% of its workforce. The company — which makes drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy — said the layofs were part of wider restructuring, as it works to sell more obesity and diabetes medications amid rising competition.
ConocoPhillips
Oil giant ConocoPhillips announced plans in September to lay of up to a quarter of its workforce, as part of broader eforts from the company to cut costs. Between 2,600 and 3,250 workers were expected to be impacted, with most layofs set to take place before the end of 2025. Intel
Intel has moved to shed thousands of jobs — with the struggling chipmaker working to revive its business. In July, CEO Lip-Bu Tan said Intel expected to end the year with 75,000 "core" workers, excluding subsidiaries, through layofs and attrition. That's down from 99,500 core employees reported the end of last year. The company previously announced a 15% workforce reduction.
Microsoft
In May, Microsoft began laying of about 6,000 workers across its workforce. And just months later, the tech giant said it would be cutting 9,000 positions — marking its biggest round of layofs seen in more than two years. The company has cited "organizational changes," but the labor reductions also arrive as the company spends heavily on AI.
Procter & Gamble
In June, Procter & Gamble said it would cut up to 7,000 jobs over the next two years, 6% of the company's global workforce. The maker of Tide detergent and Pampers diapers said the cuts were part of a wider restructuring — also arriving amid tarif pressures.
A VERIZON sign is displayed on a store, Sept. 30, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass.
Photo:Charles Krupa/AP
SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa, center, talks with European Council’s President Antonio Costa, left, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen following their media conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.
