12012022 NEWS AND SPORT

‘I DID NOT TRY TO COMMIT FTX FRAUD’

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FNM VICE-CHAIRMAN SUES PARTY LEADERS

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Move ment vice-chairman

Richard Johnson has taken legal action against party leaders Michael Pintard and Dr Duane Sands after being banned from attend ing future council meetings, which he claimed violated the party’s constitution.

According to a writ

of summons filed on November 28, Mr John son, represented by attorney Gregory Moss, is seeking some $500,000 in compensation for gen eral or exemplary damages concerning the suspen sion which stems from allegations that he “acted contrary to the interests of the party, its platform, poli cies” etc.

BOY, 9, DIES AFTER COLLISION WHILE OUT RIDING HIS BIKE

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

THE family of a nineyear-old boy who was killed in a tragic traffic accident on Tuesday are devastated and struggling to come to terms with his untimely death.

The victim was identi fied by his mother as Kevin Lowe, Jr, affectionately known as “KJ”.

According to a report from police, around 6pm a flatbed truck was towing a trailer west on Quakoo

Street, while the victim was riding his bicycle west along the road when the two collided.

The boy was taken to hospital by a private vehicle

where he later died. He suffered massive internal bleeding, according to close relatives.

The victim’s mother, who did not want her name printed, told The Tribune yesterday that her son was “smart”, as he was an hon our-roll fifth grade student of Albury Sayle’s Primary School.

Kevin was killed only moments away from his residence on Laird Street, in the presence of his father, according to his mother.

MYSTERY OVER FREEPORT SHOOTING

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport

GRAND

Shortly before 11pm on Tuesday, police responded to a call about a man being shot in the Frobisher Drive area.

said when officers arrived at the scene, they saw a man on the ground suffer ing from apparent gunshot wounds to the body.

He said that prelimi nary reports revealed that the victim was outside his residence, along with other persons, when he was approached by a gunman.

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

Bahama police are investigating a shooting incident that left a Freeport man dead, with investiga tors searching for a motive.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Stephen Rolle

Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FORMER FTX CEO

Sam Bankman-Fried said he did not try to commit fraud and unknowingly commingled funds of his company’s customers with his hedge fund Alameda Research.

Mr Bankman-Fried gave a nearly hour long interview with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin yes terday at the DealBook Summit in New York City. Live from The Bahamas, he opened up about the crypto giant’s downfall and his transgressions that led to it.

This conversation is the

highest profile sit down the embattled former bil lionaire has given publicly since the collapse of the crypto exchange.

FTX, Alameda Research, and “dozens other affiliated companies” filed a bankruptcy petition in Delaware last month.

CIBC FirstCaribbean last night justified its decision to halt physical in-branch transactions from January 3 - a move that will impact thousands of Bahamiansby asserting that 85 percent of clients are already using digital banking channels.

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried

THE DAMAGED bike of Kevin Lowe Jr. Photo: Moise Amisial

Boy, 9, dies after collision while out riding his bike

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Recalling what she remembers of the traffic accident, she said: “He was at our family’s house where the incident took place (Quakoo Street). He was riding his bike, but vehicles were coming, so he was on the side, you know, talking to the other kids because we have a very large family.

“So, it’s a lot of little cousins around his age, so it was him and four of his other boy cousins. And they were just on the side of the road. This trailer that was towing some kind of load on the back and he just hit my baby and he killed my son.”

As the only son, the mother of three said Kevin will be dearly missed, how ever she is hopeful that justice will be served.

“Everybody for the most part right now is still in disbelief, everybody’s still going to be in disbelief. You know? It’s, I mean, it’s no way to get adjusted. It’s no way to get used to it, but you just got to take it for what it is,” she said.

Meanwhile, family mem bers are threatening to take legal action, as they are questioning the circum stances surrounding the death of the nine-year-old.

The grandmother of the deceased, who also requested to be anony mous, said she is seeking answers for the death of her “only grandson”.

Pointing to the bike that sustained minimal damage, the grandmother said: “My grandson doesn’t even have

a mark on him so how it could be a head-on colli sion? That’s all I want to know. I don’t know the company, but please step forward and work with us.”

Angered at the thought of her grandson suffering, she urged the company responsible to “come clean”, noting that his life was cut short as a result of the tragic accident.

With tears in her eyes, the grandmother dis played Kevin’s school work that reflected the results of an “honour-roll student”.

“He just brought me his test papers the other day with 100 percent, he wanted a PlayStation 4. I said you got to bring grandma some more A’s, you got to work. He then came yesterday and showed me his A’s. I said don’t bring me no more because I got to buy you the world,” she said.

A day before he was injured, police also reported a traffic acci dent that claimed the life of a 48-year-old male in Eleuthera.

According to police, this brings the country’s uncon firmed traffic fatality rate to 52, noting that the rate has surpassed the traffic fatality count of last year, which is 46.

Police are appealing to members of the public to drive with due care and attention as the holidays are approaching, noting that members of the public ought to know where their children are at all times and to educate them on the dan gers of riding their bicycles competitively against road users.

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press official.

ASP Rolle said that a motive behind the shooting is unknown.

He said police are urging anyone with informa tion concerning this latest murder to call them at 919 or 911, or CID at 242-350-3106.

MAN ACCUSED OF GUN THREAT

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was remanded to prison yesterday after allegedly threatening some one with a handgun.

Ashton Robeldo, 22, faced Magistrate Shaka Ser ville on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

On November 26 in New Providence, it is alleged that Robeldo assaulted Tasmin Astwood with a handgun.

Robeldo pleaded not guilty to the offence in court. The accused was sent to the Bahamas Department of Correc tional Services until a bail decision is made on his case on December 2.

THE BENT and buckled wheel of Kevin Lowe Jr’s bike.

Photo: Moise Amisial

‘I did not try to commit FTX fraud’

During the interview, Mr Bankman-Fried was remorseful about the turn of events.

“At the end of the day, I was CEO of FTX and that means whatever happened, why ever it happened - I had a duty. I had a duty to all of our stakeholders, to our customers, our credi tors. I had a duty to our employees, to our investors, and to the regulators of the world to do right by them,” he said.

“To make sure the right things happened at the company and clearly I didn’t do a good job at that.

“Clearly I made a lot of mistakes, things I’d give anything I would do over again. I didn’t ever try to commit fraud on anyone. I was excited about pros pects. I was excited about the prospects of FTX a month ago. I saw it as a thriving growing business. I was shocked by what hap pened this month and you know, reconstructing it.”

FTX’s swift demise came after CoinDesk, a publi cation which reports on cryptocurrency, broke the news in early November about a leaked document that appeared to show that Alameda Research, Mr Bankman-Fried’s crypto currency trading firm, held an unusually large amount of FTT tokens.

FTT tokens were created by FTX.

It is believed that the US Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission and Com modity Futures Trading Commission are probing the handling of FTX cus tomers’ funds.

Pressed on the issue of mixing funds, the 30-year-old answered: “I unknowingly commingled funds. And again you have the margin trading you have, you know, customers borrowing from each other - Alameda is one of those.

“I was frankly surprised by how big Alameda’s posi tion was which points to another failure of oversight on my part and failure to appoint someone to be chiefly in charge of that but I wasn’t trying to co-mingle funds.”

Mr Sorkin expressed the opinion that Alameda and FTX appeared to have a connection from the begin ning and never stopped. While addressing the journalist’s comments, he admitted to an oversight he made.

Mr Bankman-Fried stated: “Well, I think it had been, in some ways, reduc ing. I mean, when you throw back to 2019, Alameda and FTX were very connected in a number of ways. You know, one of these it was that Alameda was the pri mary liquidity provider on FTX. It was, you know, 40 something percent of volume, it was the back stop liquidity provider. And you scroll forward to 2022, it was down to 2 per cent of volume, we had a lot of backstop liquidity providers.

“But it still had a big margin position on and I was failing to pay nearly enough attention to posi tions and positional risks on the exchange, and to Alameda’s in particular.

And I also, frankly, made a mistake that I feel pretty embarrassed to have made. And a lot of things are, but I substantially underesti mated what the scale of a market crash could look like and what the speed of it could look like.”

However, he attempted to distance himself from Alameda.

“I wasn’t running Alam eda. I didn’t know exactly what’s going on. I didn’t know the size of their posi tion. A lot of these are things I’ve learned over the last month that I learned as I was sort of frantically dig ging into this on November 6, November 7, November 8. And, obviously, that’s a pretty big mistake I made. That’s a pretty big oversight that I wasn’t more aware, I think I was, you know, I was nervous because of the con flict of interest about being too involved, and obvi ously, that shouldn’t have meant that I didn’t have real oversight, or that really shouldn’t have meant that I failed to point anyone to be in charge of that over sight, that relationship,” Mr Bankman-Fried explained.

Another concern he was pushed to answer was the New York Times’ report of $515m suspicious trans fers from FTX after the

company’s bankruptcy filing.

He indicated there may have been some improper access of assets.

“I will caveat this by saying at that point, I was being cut off from systems. And so I’ll give you the answer to the extent that I know it, which is that I believe that a few differ ent things happened within a short period there,” Mr Bankman-Fried told the audience.

“I think that the US team took action to seize some of the assets and put it in custody for the exchange. I believe it’s been announced that the Bahamian regula tors took some of the assets into safekeeping as well around that same time.

“…In addition to both of those also there was some actually improper access of assets on the exchange. And I don’t know the details of that. I don’t have the resources to trace through exactly what hap pened there. And I don’t know who is behind that third part.”

Last month, the Baha mas Securities Commission took action to freeze the assets of FTX Digital Mar kets and related parties. It was further stated the com mission also suspended the

registration and applied for the appointment of a pro visional liquidator of FTX Digital Markets Ltd.

Mr Bankman-Fried spoke about the commis sion but did not give any details.

“So I can’t discuss spe cifics, but I will note that prior to Chapter 11 having been filed the Bahamian authorities had placed FTX Digital Markets, the Baha mian entity which is the primary operating entity of FTX International, under supervision of a JPL system in The Bahamas with over sight from the Securities Commission of the Baha mas, and, you know, or more to my knowledge, taking actions to protect FTX’s clients and customers there.”

FTX injected millions of dollars into The Bahamas and one way the crypto currency exchange did so was through real estate. In fact, a Bahamian real tor estimated $250m and “probably more” was spent on the company acquiring New Providence real estate.

Much has been discussed in the media about this and Mr Bankman-Fried clari fied the purchase of the properties. Particularly reports that his parents apparently had been pro vided with a luxury vacation home.

He said: “So I don’t know the details of the house for my parents, but I knew that it was not intended to be their long term property - it was intended to be the company’s property. I don’t know how that was papered in and I think that was where it was and will end up. I think they may have stayed there while working with the company some time over the last year.

“When you look at the rest of it, there were a lot of property purchases in The Bahamas. You know, the reason for that is we had basically a hundred Sili con Valley, you know, top

TWO NEW CRUISE SHIPS SAIL TO GRAND BAHAMA

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

TWO new cruise ships are expected to make inaugural voyages to Grand Bahama, with one arriving this week.

Holland America Line’s Nieuw Sta tendam will call at Freeport Harbour on Friday. The second vessel, Wind star Cruise Line’s Star Legend will call on Friday, December 16.

Grand Bahama Minister Ginger Moxey and Ministry of

Tourism officials will be in attendance at Friday’s official plaque exchange ceremony at 9.30am on board the Statendam.

The Nieuw Statendam is the second in the line of Pinnacle-class cruise ships. It was named best new cruise ship and best mid-size cruise ship due to its inspired design and entertain ment options.

The 2,666-passenger vessel is about 975 ft in length and 114.8ft in width.

Holland has a fleet of 11 modern classic ships and offers more than 500

sailings a year visiting all seven con tinents. Cruises include both popular and less-travelled ports in the Carib bean, Alaska, Europe, Mexico, South America, the Panama Canal, Aus tralia, New Zealand and Asia — as well as unique voyages to the Amazon and Antarctica.

The Windstar Cruise Line has six ships in its fleet. The Star Legend has a capacity of 312 guests.

Ms Moxey also expected to attend the ship’s inaugural visit on December 16.

Silicon Valley employees come down here to work for FTX.

“We were trying to incen tivise that and to, you know, make sure that they had an easy way to find a comfort able life so they’d be willing to move and help build out the product. And so I, you know, those 100 people put together here did end up buying a substantial amount of property. And you feel kind of, I feel bad about some of how those investments turned out for them.”

Asked why he was in The Bahamas, Mr Bank man-Fried has been in the country for the last year running FTX.

“You know, I’ve been running FTX Digital

Markets, our primary oper ating entity down here with Bahamian regulators and, you know, and others in contact, and right now I’m looking to be helpful any where I can with any of the global entities that would want my help.”

He did not rule out the possibility of going to the United States to answer questions.

“I’ve thought about it and I’ve seen a lot of the obviously of the hearings that have been happen ing. I you know, would not be surprised if you know, some time I am, you know, up there talking about what happened to our rep resentatives or, you know, wherever else is most appropriate.”

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and Sam Bankman-Fried at the ribbon cutting for FTX.

SAM Bankman-Fried gives Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis a tour of the FTX facilities at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

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‘Stop union-busting’

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

UNION leaders yester day called on the Davis administration to stop its “union busting tactics” call ing the government’s recent announcement about forth coming salary increases for public servants that were reportedly made without consultation “a blatant dis regard for unions”.

During a press confer ence at the Bahamas Public Service Union office on East Street and Soldier Road yesterday, union leaders responded to the government’s announce ment in a memorandum and proposal document last Friday with proposed salary increases for public servants.

The proposal included changes to initial increases proposed by the Baha mas Public Service Union (BPSU). Then on Tuesday, Bernard Evans, the chief labour consultant in charge of the negotiations between BPSU and the government said these negotiations should be satisfied by the end of this week, point ing to a rise in minimum wage for the recent revi sion of the proposed wage increases to public servants.

In response to this, BPSU president Kimsley Fergu son said yesterday that the recently changed proposed

salary increases and pro posed increase allowances for various categories of public servants that were sent out to governing offi cials for “implementation” was done so without the voice of his union.

“We are confirming to date that we have not met with the government to sign off on any particular item in the industrial agree ment. And these increases regarding the responsibility allowance is not something

that the Bahamas Public Service Union will be sign ing off on,” he said.

“We do wish that public servants receive their fund ing, so that they can indeed have a happy yuletide season and the union will do nothing to hamper that. But we do wish to go to the table and we will not be signing a piece of paper. We are going to sign a complete industrial agreement nego tiated by us,” Mr Ferguson said.

He also said that annual increases that are being put in place for perma nent secretaries, directors and department heads, exceed the salaries of mini mum wage public servants and this shows that the government is in posses sion of funding to allow public servants adequate increases.

“I want to emphatically state today that there are some increases that perma nent secretaries, directors, secretaries, directors and heads of department have been instructed to imple ment, which enhances the salaries of directors and permanent secretaries by way of responsibility allow ance,” he said.

“Please note that in the union’s counterproposal to the government, we had asked that the finance and accounting officers receive a responsibility allowance of $3,600. A counterpro posal was sent back to the union dismissing and not even giving consideration to it,” Mr Ferguson said.

“The annual increase, it almost exceeds the sala ries of persons at minimum wage, and if the govern ment is in possession of this type of funding, and refuses to bring the individuals at the lower end of the scale to a point that they can be competitive for the cost of living, we are indeed con cerned,” he said.

Mr Ferguson added, “I have received nothing in the form of a counterproposal. I’m advised that some thing will be forwarded before the day’s end, but I would like to note that it appears as if there’s some scrambling taking place for persons to try to save face.

“While the agreement was presented in 2018, there was some non-financial aspects of the agreement that we had signed off on and there were a number of other financial issues that needed to be discussed and agreed upon. We have yet been given the opportunity to do so,” he said.

Belinda Wilson, president of the Bahamas National Alliance Trade Union Con gress (BNATUC), and the Bahamas Union of Teach ers (BUT), was also at the press conference yesterday.

Mrs Wilson said that all the unions that fall within the BNATUC umbrella organisation will stand with the BPSU to ensure that they are treated fairly, call ing on the government to follow its labour laws.

“I want to say that the Bahamas National Alliance Trade Union Congress has a zero tolerance when the employer and, more specifi cally, the government does not follow the labour laws,” she said

“While the congress will not stand in the way of the employer paying funds to

its employees. On the other hand, we will not ignore the blatant disregard for unions and in this instance, the Public Service Union, the government is aware of the right to collective bar gain and the BPSU is the sole bargaining agent for the public service workers throughout The Bahamas,” Mrs Wilson said.

“We call upon the min ister of labour to tell his colleagues to cease and desist from these breaches and get to the negotiating table with the BPSU forth with. We will stand with the BPSU,” Mrs Wilson said.

Theresa Mortimer, secre tary general of the Bahamas National Alliance Trade Union Congress, added, “It’s sad, because the gov ernment of The Bahamas is union busting.

“And when you have the government union bust ing, you expect nothing less from the private sector, because they would say to you straight and clean the government today, they got away with it. So we’re gonna do it,” she said.

The BNATUC is com posed of six unions and two associations. Present along with Mrs Wilson, Mr Fer guson and Mrs Mortimer at yesterday’s press confer ence were representatives for the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union (BTCU) and the Airport Airline and Allied Workers (AAAWU).

TAXI UNION SAYS MINISTER IS MISSING IN ACTION

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

WESLEY Ferguson, president of the Baha mas Taxi Cab Union, said yesterday that union members are still await ing correspondence from the Ministry of Transport and Housing on the issue of the regulation of taxi plates.

After several months of seeking to meet with Minister of Transport and

Housing Jobeth ColebyDavis on the issue of increased taxi drivers in an oversaturated market, Mr Ferguson said all he has now is a lot of complaints, but no response from the ministry.

“So far, the taxi union has not heard from the minister in spite of our numerous attempts to meet with her. Emails, telephone calls went to the office and there’s no meeting. So the minister basically has just

gone quiet,” Mr Ferguson said.

“We are basically in the same position we were in when we began, nowhere. The minister is now MIA, missing in action, can’t see her anywhere other than on TV, giving out keys for new houses,” he said.

“We are waiting on an opportune time and I will bring every taxi driver downtown who got those taxi plates to present them back to Parliament, because

they have no use for them,” Mr Ferguson said.

“She (Mrs ColebyDavis), like I guess the rest of the MPs, believe that if you ignore a situation it will go away. Because everyone is getting their payments right now so we don’t want to come in the midst of that,” he said.

Mr Ferguson added, “All we have now is a bunch of complaints from taxi driv ers now that they are now making no money because the parade that they would have indicated that we would have had for Thanks giving, it never happened.

“Thanksgiving was a fizzle event. Nothing hap pened and Christmas promises to be the same, because there are too many taxi plates out there and the taxi drivers are not making a fair share to take home to their families, because of the massive or reckless increase in taxi plates that was given out by this gov ernment,” Mr Ferguson said.

In August, Mr Ferguson, told Tribune Business that the government gave out too many taxi plates in its latest exercise and drivers are now suffering because

the market is now satu rated with additional taxi drivers.

“We only asked for 200 plates but the Ministry (of Transport and Housing) gave out 600,” Mr Ferguson said at the time.

Between June and July, the Ministry of Transport and Housing gave out 580 taxi plates, reports indicate, well above the 200 Mr Fer guson had initially asked and negotiated for. Despite 90 of the inactive taxi plates being revoked, he said this is still too high a number of taxi plates issued for drivers.

BPSU president Kimsley Ferguson.

FNM vice-chairman sues party leaders

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FNM leader Mr Pintard and FNM chairman Dr Sands are named as the defendants in this action.

The writ notes that Dr Sands, in a memorandum dated October 30, informed Mr Johnson that he was suspending his membership rights and reassigning his duties as vice chairman in a move that was claimed to have been supported by Mr Pintard.

However, according to the writ, neither man had the authority to do so under the FNM’s constitution.

“No charge was laid against the plaintiff before the purported general suspension was imposed against the plaintiff, nor was the plaintiff afforded any opportunity to be heard and to respond to

any allegations against him which gave rise to the pur ported general suspension,” the writ added.

“In alternative, the pur ported general suspension of the plaintiff was imposed by the second defendant without any meeting of the executive committee having been called to consider and authorise the issuance of the charge - together with the particulars of the allega tion upon which the charge is based.

“In any event, the second defendant had no author ity to relieve the plaintiff of ‘any duties previously assigned to [him] as vice chairman’ nor to deprive the plaintiff of his ‘respon sibility for any of the constituency associations’ as such duties of the plain tiff were assigned to him by the executive committee and, therefore, could only

have been revoked by the executive committee.”

The writ further contends that Mr Johnson, to this day, is not allowed to sit in on any meetings of the par ty’s executive committee or Central Council.

The action taken against Mr Johnson came after several meetings were held last month to allow commit tee members to vote on the matter.

“No vote of the execu tive committee meeting was taken to effect or ratify the purported general sus pension or otherwise to suspend the plaintiff’s mem bership in the FNM or to suspend or otherwise reas sign the plaintiff’s duties as vice chairman,” the writ continued.

“In any event, at all mate rial times the executive committee did not have any authority under the FNM’s

constitution or otherwise to cause the purported general suspension to be imposed against the plaintiff.

“Accordingly, the pur ported general suspension of the plaintiff by the second defendant and/or by the executive commit tee was and is ultra vires the constitution of the Free National Movement and is accordingly null and void and of no effect.”

In one meeting, Mr John son claimed to have asked Dr Sands for a written statement on the allegations made against him, but said he received no response The writ said after the executive meeting was adjourned, another meet ing was called, but this time with the Central Council, where a motion was held to suspend Mr Johnson from future meetings of the council.

According to the writ, “no quorum of the Central Council was present at the purported meeting”.

Court documents also allege that those who voted in favour of the suspensions had displayed bias against Mr Johnson.

The writ then points to the FNM’s mandatory disciplinary procedure, suggesting that procedures were not followed when Mr Johnson was banned.

“The plaintiff was at that date deprived of the enjoy ment of his membership rights and privileges under the mandatory discipli nary procedure inclusive of, but not limited to, ser vice upon of a statement of charge as to the manner in which he is alleged to have ‘acted contrary to the interests of the party, its platform, programmes, policies or principles the

executive committee,’ service upon him of par ticulars of allegation with respect thereto, the refer ral of the same to the tribunal for determina tion of the same, and the opportunity to appear and be heard before the tribu nal with respect thereto and be represented before the tribunal by a member of the FNM.”

As a result, the writ notes that Mr Johnson is seeking for his rights to be rein stated, $250,000 in damages for “loss of and unlawful interference” of his mem bership, another $250,000 for “mental distress” con cerning the matter and interest on the aforesaid damages, among other things.

When contacted by this newspaper yesterday, Dr Sands said he had no com ment on the matter.

12TH GRADER RECEIVES $30,000 EMPOWERMENT SCHOLARSHIP

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

KIERIA Woodside, the recipient of the $30,000 Golden Gates Female Empowerment Scholarship, thanked her family for the motivation to excel despite the odds.

In recognition of the 60th anniversary of the Women’s Suffrage Move ment, the scholarship was targeted towards young women to support female empowerment.

Ms Woodside was pre sented the scholarship at the Ruby Ann Cooper-Dar ling Gala last weekend in partnership with Star Apple.

As a 12th grader of CV Bethel Senior High School, Keira intends to advance her educational studies in the area of culinary arts with a minor in business studies.

“Receiving this award feels unreal, but I am for ever grateful to (Golden Gates MP) Pia GloverRolle and Star Apple for giving me this opportunity to advance my educational studies in the area of culi nary arts with a minor in business studies,” the stu dent said yesterday.

She said that being selected as the recipient out of many applicants felt “unreal”.

Undecided on her univer sity plans, she said that her number one choice is John sons and Wales University.

The 16-year-old said despite the odds, she never gave up on her dreams. She expressed gratitude to her older siblings for being her biggest support system after losing her mother at the age of 12 years old.

“I found motivation in my older sister Kadesha and

brother Terran watching them work hard to continuously provide for me and in return only asking of me to excel in ways I can’t imagine,” said the Golden Gates resident.

She also thanked her Youth Empowerment Pro gramme (YEP) advisor Mr Clarke for encouraging her to apply for the scholarship.

The 12th grader urged her peers to be resilient and encouraged on the journey of life.

For her part, Mrs GloverRolle said she believes in the power of education and the access it provides as her campaign platform was geared around empow erment, education and

enterprise.

She encouraged Kiera to “capture this opportunity at its maximum”.

“She is able to engage what she calls a once in a lifetime opportunity and because it’s that, I encour age her to take full and complete advantage of this opportunity to make her dreams a reality,” she said yesterday.

“I encourage her to embrace it at its fullness. Apply herself fully, give it all that she has to pursu ing and completing this goal and ensuring that she uses it as a springboard for even greater things,” she continued.

KIERIA Woodside

alongside Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis as she receives her $30,000 scholarship in this photograph posted to social media by Pia Glover-Rolle MP.

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FTX founder’s long list of unknowns

FOR someone in charge of a multibillion operation, Sam Bankman-Fried seems to not know a lot of things.

The founder of FTX has been talking again about the implosion of the crypto company – after a series of public com ments that have left very little doubt about where the blame lies.

Mr Bankman-Fried himself has very publicly said that the situation was his fault, and yesterday he was speaking again about the collapse of the business and the reasons why during an interview at the DealBook Summit in New York City – with him joining in from here in The Bahamas.

He reiterated his responsibility in the matter, saying: “At the end of the day, I was CEO of FTX and that means what ever happened, why ever it happened – I had a duty to make sure the right things happened at the company and clearly I didn’t do a good job at that.”

He said he went from being “excited about the prospects of FTX a month ago” to being “shocked by what happened”.

He said that he “unknowingly comingled funds” and that he was “frankly surprised by how big Alam eda’s position [Mr Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research] was which points to another failure of oversight on my part and fail ure to appoint someone to be chiefly in charge of that, but I wasn’t trying to co-mingle funds”.

So he didn’t know he was mixing funds, he didn’t know the financial posi tion and he didn’t make sure the right things were happening.

What else? Well, he says of Alam eda: “I wasn’t running Alameda. I didn’t know exactly what’s going on. I didn’t know the size of their position. A lot of these are things I’ve learned over the last month as I was sort of frantically digging into this on November 6, November 7, November 8. And, obviously, that’s a pretty big mistake I made.”

Another item on the list of things he doesn’t know is whether there

was improper access of assets on the exchange.

Then there’s the house reportedly bought for his parents as a luxury vaca tion home – to that he says “I don’t know the details of the house for my parents, but I knew that it was not intended to be their long-term property – it was intended to be the company’s property.”

That’s a lot of things he doesn’t know – and that’s from his own mouth.

Well, in a series of messages via Twitter with a reporter from Vox, he criticised regulators while also saying “it looks like people wired $8b to Alameda and, oh, god, we basically forgot about the stub account that corresponded to that and so it was never delivered to FTX”.

Then in an interview with a YouTuber he said he reopened withdrawals despite the presence of a court order from the Supreme Court of The Bahamas. He reportedly said in the interview: “I gave a one-day heads up that we were going to do it. They [the Securities Commis sion of The Bahamas] didn’t say, yes or no. They didn’t respond and then we did it.”

He added: “You do not want to be in a country with a lot of angry people in it and you do not want your company to be incorporated in a country with a lot of angry people in it.”

How breaking a court order without approval was supposed to make anyone less angry, it is hard to tell.

From his own words, it appears Mr Bankman-Fried was clueless with regard to a number of the aspects of his business.

This is already playing out in the courts, although Mr Bankman-Fried has not been arrested as yet despite his ongoing comments.

For those watching, however, it is remarkable to see such explanations playing out over video interviews to international conferences or calls to citi zen journalists on YouTube rather than in court of law.

How long that continues to be the case, we can only wait and see.

Solomon’s cannot revive GB

EDITOR, The Tribune

GRAND Bahama Minister Ginger Moxey recently told attendees at The Winn ceremony that the revitalisation of down town Freeport is finally here. Detractors might be tempted to point to the shuttered Savoy Plaza on Pioneer’s Way and the two rundown apartment build ings on East Mall Drive across from the Harold Randolph DeGregory Building as evidence that revitalisation is yet to be accomplished.

Grand Bahamians old enough could even point to the abandoned space next door to the new Solomons, which was once occupied by John S George. As a Grand Bahamian, Moxey is intimately familiar with the dire situation in the downtown area of Freeport subsequent to the closure of City Market in the old Winn Dixie building.

Since its closure, that area was teetering on the brink of becoming another ghost town like the Inter national Bazaar, with many businesses closing their doors due to the lack of traffic. It is for this reason that Grand Bahamians are

elated that Milo B Butler & Sons Investment Company Ltd has decided to open another Solomon’s Food Store location in downtown Freeport. Solomon’s will woo thousands of shoppers to that area on a weekly basis.

As a resident of the island, I am hoping that Solomon’s presence in that area will not harm Sawyer’s Fresh Market on Oak Street and Logwood Road. I suspect that many of the shoppers from the Back-of-Town, Hudson Estate, Cavalier Beach, North and South Bahamia and Mayfield Park com munities who patronise Sawyer’s might defect to Solomon’s. One of the less talked about ramifications of Freeport’s protracted recession has been the mass relocation of possibly thousands of Grand Baha mians to New Providence and other financially robust Family Islands.

While I am elated about what Solomon’s presence means for downtown Free port, it shouldn’t take a

Hoover Institute Fellow to figure out the potential ramifications to other com peting grocers on Grand Bahama.

With a population of approximately 51,000, the other large grocers will now have to compete with another large grocer. Another grocer means less shoppers for these rivals. Moreover, Solomon’s will not necessarily mean new revenue flowing in from abroad, with the excep tion of tourists shopping there. In the final analy sis, while Moxey has every right to be excited, Grand Bahama really needs two billion dollars plus investments in the tour ism sector on the scale of Atlantis Paradise Island, in addition to a new inter national airport in order to return to its glory days when it was dubbed the Magic City.

While I am cautiously optimistic about Solo mon’s impact on downtown Freeport, I am under no delusion that it will revive Grand Bahama’s economy.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama November

30, 2022.

Te causes of crime

EDITOR, The Tribune.

EDITOR, The Tribune.

SHOULD those who really have a lot go online when there is ‘free food’ being distributed and partake? Surely their con science pricks them?

News video around Thanksgiving very clearly shocked my eyes people in fancy cars lined up receiv ing food packages.

Bodies donating to causes it annoys me much as I know and the groups

doing it also do the dona tion of goods say as in food products have been “donated” by a food whole sale or retailer, but then the donating group does not recognise the real donorshame on you if the shoe fits.

Government agencies please stop this practice.

Social Services urgently needs to create a digit ised registration system for those who are in ‘real need’ - give them an ID

Card and all charitiesfood kitchens will ask for ID and recognise if that person qualifies or not this is not unchari table, but, in my opinion there is massive abuse in the thousands of dollars.

I don’t think we have 50,000 needy - I cer tainly hope not.

AS A trained lawyer, albeit a defrocked one, I had extensive prac tice before the Criminal Defence Bar during my hey days. In fact, at any given time, I commanded 80 per cent or more of the most heinous cases before all courts, the Supreme and Magistrates included. The other lawyers were obliged to literally, in some case, fight for the crumbs. As such, I came to under stand the economic and psychology of crime and the causation.

I hate to say it but the politicians, across the gambit of political parties and the police do not have a single clue as to the causa tion of crime and the mental process therein involved. It would appear that their collective reaction is to expand the police force; throw additional finan cial and other resources to them; build bigger jail facili ties; set up more courts, while recruiting ‘mediocre’ junior lawyers with little or no real-life experiences and simply to assume that crimi nal perpetrators should simply be locked up and throw away the keys.

They also love to announce crime suppres sion programmes but few of them ever address the root causes of crime, in my view. A large number of our criminally charged Bahamians are, basically, youthful or young adults with next to no formal and

extensive education. Many are raised in what is called single parent homes led by equally youthful or young female ‘adults’, who them selves are products of these type environment.

As a direct result, the bulk of them, in my view have no marketable skills and lack the stabilising presence of an on-site father or other male figure. The moth ers are so busy trying to eke out a living so many of them have no time to ‘love’ and nurture these alleged criminals based on Chris tian principles. Many of these misguided people find ‘acceptance’ and ‘love’ in all the wrong places which could lead to a life of crime; inclusive of serial homi cides; rape; sexual abuse and human exploitation.

We all need secure sources of income. If you have no marketable skills or knowledge of how to legally earn a living what do you think that they will do?

Rob; thief; kill and destroy all and sundry. These are the stark economic and psy chological facts that have often been ignored by the powers that be at any given time. These data and facts are simple but they have all ignored and/or marginal ised them, to our collective societal detriment, big time.

It has now been reported that the level of alleged homicides, the worst pos sible crime, in my view, is above 122 and counting. Perhaps, even as you are reading this missive, yet another alleged homicide

would have occurred. We have another month in this year of Our Lord 2022. How many more will be wiped out while the politi cians continue to ignore the necessity of a National Youth Scheme, by what ever name you wish to call it.

That scheme should be mandatory from the high school level until aged 18 or 21 as the case may be.

Of course, there would be exemptions but by and large, such a scheme must be mandatory. Rehabilita tion has been ignored by all administrations, so far. The ones that have been advanced makes absolutely no sense, at least to me and are designed for mere political posturing and preening no more no less. Look at some of the cel ebrated crime consultants, with all due respect.

Do the majority of them inculcate and bring any new and effective proposals to the table or is it more of the same? The economics and psychology of crime must be addressed before any thing else. Once we would have done this, we are then able to conceptualise real solutions. This administra tion has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get this crime plague out of the way, but it will need political will power and focus. Anything less will not, in my view.

ORTLAND H BODIE, Jr

STEPHEN MOSS Nassau, November 29, 2022.

THE WHITE House is illuminated after President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden lit the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse in Washington, yesterday. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP

Goodman’s Bay Park ‘an eyesore’

GOODMAN’S Bay Park has become an eyesore as some residents have com plained about the distressed state the park’s playground is in.

Yesterday, The Tribune canvassed the park where there were visible signs of an unkept playground.

Broken seats dangled from the frame of a swing set while pieces of the play ground’s slide were ripped apart. Most of the equip ment on the playground either was covered in rust or had chipped pieces of paint peeling off.

One resident who exer cises at the park regularly, raised concern about children’s safety on the playground equipment.

“It is a concern with the slide for safety purposes for the kids and then you also have the swings. Kids could get hurt on that. I think this is something that needs to be addressed immediately.

“Residents and nonresidents come out here to use the park for the kids or to relax and even exercise. So, if we can address this

immediately, I’d be very happy and grateful,” the resident said.

Bottles, cups, and other debris were strewn about the park, including rotten coconuts that had fallen on the ground.

Another resident told this newspaper that the playground was an eyesore and looked “crappy’.

“The government can do better because it is a gov ernment park. It can look better even with the cutting of the lawn and upkeep of the walkway. Especially the little kids, (with this) jumble area for them to play in.”

The resident said the gov ernment has to decide if it will repair the playground equipment or simply just “get rid of it”.

“They don’t need to do a little better, I think they can. They spend the money every place else except for the little things that keep our kids entertained.”

Some residents also pointed out that tourists visit the park regularly which is another reason why it should be better maintained.

When contacted for

comment on the com plaints of the playground, the Bahamas Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority responded that officials are conducting an overall redevelopment project on Goodman’s Bay Park.

“The Parks and Beaches Authority is conducting an overall redevelopment pro ject to not only restore the playground, but the entire Goodman’s Park.

“We are proud to collab orate with Baha Mar and Goldwyn, two major corpo rate partners that are ready to transform the entire space. We have conducted meetings with our partners with a view to transform ing Goodman’s Bay Park,” the authority said in a statement.

In terms of the timeline for the redevelopment pro ject, BPPPBA said it would soon address the “longstanding issues.”

The statement contin ued: “We will in short order address the long-standing issues which predate us coming to office.

“The authority intends to replace the entire play ground and add additional

THREE YEARS IN JAIL OVER ASSAULT RIFLE

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was sentenced to three years in prison in Magistrate’s Court yes terday after admitting to having a banned assault rifle last week.

Raheem Walkes, 26,

appeared before Magistrate Kendra Kelly on a charge of possession of a prohib ited weapon.

Officers on mobile patrol, acting on informa tion, stopped Walkes in his vehicle on November 27 in New Providence. He was arrested by the authorities after he was

found with a banned black AR-15 rifle, serial number 2-002273.

In court, Walkes pleaded guilty to the offence and was sentenced to three years at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. He was further ordered to pay a fine of $10,000 or risk an additional year in prison.

MAN ACCUSED OF HITTING POLICEMAN WITH CAR

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was granted $5,000 bail in a Magistrate’s Court yesterday after being accused of hitting a police officer with his car and resisting arrest.

Cyril Gaitor, 56, faced

Magistrate Shaka Serville on charges of causing griev ous harm, assault with a dangerous instrument and resisting arrest.

It is alleged that the accused assaulted Police Constable 4384 Antonio Bethel with his silver col oured 2001 Honda Accord, on November 29 resulting

in the officer being injured. On the same day at around 12.30am, it is reported that Gaitor resisted arrest by PC Bethel.

In court, Gaitor pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was granted $5,000 bail with one or two sureties.

His trial is set for April 11, 2023.

SUSPECT FACES COURT OVER RAPE ACCUSATION

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was yesterday accused of raping a woman in the nation’s capital late last month.

Patrick Lewis, 26, faced Magistrate Samuel McKin ney on a charge of rape.

On November 25 in

New Providence, Lewis is alleged to have had sexual intercourse with a 31-yearold woman without her consent.

Due to the nature of the offence, Lewis was not required to enter a plea at this time. His case will go to the Supreme Court through a voluntary bill of indict ment (VBI).

The accused was told that as the magistrate did not have the jurisdic tion to grant him bail, he could apply for it in the Supreme Court. Until then, he will be sent to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

Lewis’ VBI will be served on February 12, 2023.

features.

“Additionally, the authority will improve lighting, add security cameras and security per sonnel, park wardens, and lifeguards.

“The playground is of the utmost importance to the Authority and, therefore, we will provide modern and safe facilities for children to play.”

SWINGS left hanging and unusable at Goodman’s Bay park.

Photo: Moise Amisial

WE often cook up public policy in The Bahamas in a similar manner to which an unsatisfying and innu tritious meal is slapped together. There is little fore thought, no clear recipe, with all kinds of slam bam ingredients hurriedly mixed together.

Then the cook hypes the meal with clichés and gob bledygook suggesting how good it is though it obvi ously looks and tastes bad, inducing heart burn and indigestion.

Most, though not all, of those who run for political office here at home are bereft of ideas and policy prescriptions for the chal lenges they will confront if elected. Most of them do not read books or cur rent affairs magazines or listen to informative podcasts.

Their depth of under standing or knowledge of world events is derived mostly from the shallow set-pieces and shows of the US cable news enter tainment industry, with predictable regurgitations of similar talking points on issues ranging from Xi Jin ping and China to Donald Trump.

While some election manifestos have been care fully prepared over the years, others were adorn ments similar to t-shirts and campaign paraphernalia, with gauzy ideas on glossy pages never seriously pur sued or realized.

During his time in office, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham regularly called cabinet ministers, pressing them as to why various manifesto commit ments were not fulfilled.

What are among the indispensable prerequisites for good policy creation?

Creative, intelligent and tal ented practitioners are key.

Another key: structures for policy planning, implemen tation and oversight.

The late Lee Kwan Yew insisted that central to his success in transforming a small, insular Singapore, dan gling from the tip of the Malay Peninsula, into a modern metropolis and gleaming citystate, was his access to smart people.

Intellect alone does not ensure good policy out comes. Smart people often engage in group think.

Intellectual pride can be blinding, often servicing narrow selfinterests. But what assures poor outcomes is poor and limited talent.

DOOM AND GLOOM

A cabinet disabled with poor intellectual qual ity is destined to lead to policy doom and gloom. It is an open wound that the quality of cabinet minis ters continues to decline. Where is the intellectual quality of individuals like Carlton Francis, AD Hanna, Dame Janet

Bostwick, Sean McWeeney and others?

Last week’s column on Barbados Prime Minis ter Mia Mottley resulted in a number of responses. Bahamians, like people everywhere, are hungry for leaders who can lift them up and speak convincingly to shared aspi rations for a better country.

A Bahamian who has seen Ms Mottley at various inter national events noted how she is able to speak fluidly, cogently and extempo raneously on an impressive range of briefs such as interna tional finance and politics, sometimes spiced with ref erences to Bob Marley, Carib bean writers and lyrics from calypso cum soca.

The best intellects are integrative, with all that an individual learns, help ing one to imagine and craft innovative policy ideas. When political, business, religious, media and other leaders do not expose themselves to the current of world and cul tural affairs, they remain one-dimensional, insular, boring.

There are a number of character traits seen in those who are adept at thinking through often

Making good public policy is hard work

fundamentalisms of all stripes.

Collectively, here at home, we are often con sumed by a wasteland of incuriosity, an indifference and sometimes hostility to knowledge and facts, often little regard for greater insight and understanding, disinterest in an encyclope dia of whys about our world and universe.

A profile in Politico this year on Dr Susan Rice, President Biden’s Domestic Policy Advisor, showcased some of the background and characteristics of those who enjoy extraordinary policy and political chops in government.

She was able to pivot from foreign to domes tic policy because of her tremendous intellect, curiosity and knowledge of the DC bureaucracy and how to push through policy from conception to implementation.

President Biden has advisors like Mr Sulli van and Dr Rice. One of Prime Minister Mottley’s key advisors is Barbadian Avinash Persaud, a spe cial envoy, who has helped her to think through and draft key documents on a range of economic policy matters.

complex policy choices. In an interview on the David Rubenstein Show, the 46-year-old US National Security Advisor, Jake Sul livan, offered his views on policy planning.

As head of the National Security Council, Sullivan, who has been close to the 80-year-old President Biden for many years, explained that his job was to run an open and vigorous process, with competing views fully aired.

Only the most diffi cult decisions land on the President’s desk, he noted. And, he indicated that the choices were rarely zero on one side and 100 on the other. What does he believe is an absolutely necessary trait for good policy plan ners? Humility!

Sullivan, who has a masters in philosophy from Oxford and is a Yale Law graduate, declared that in a Washington, DC, where few ever admit that they are wrong, he found that admission of error was a demonstration of intellectual honesty and acuity.

How often have we been in chat groups or book clubs in person or online, where participants have declared an opinion or position on a given issue, ranging from the rise and collapse of FTX to strate gies to combat COVID-19? But when an opinion is proven weak or wrong, how often does someone admit error? Another attribute found in superior policy thinkers is curiosity and the ability to question one’s assumptions.

CURIOSITY

Curiosity is insatiable, lasting a lifetime if we are fortunate. Alas, the older some grow, the more rigid they often become, afraid to grow, clinging desperately to their shib boleths, certainties and

Dr Rice has played a pivotal role in many of President Biden’s myriad and impressive domes tic policy successes.

The White House web site noted: “As Director of the Domestic Policy Council, she drives the formulation and imple mentation of President Biden’s domestic policy agenda, from economic mobility and racial equity to health care and immigration.

In the Politico profile Ron Klain, Biden’s Chief of Staff, enthused about Dr. Rice: “‘There is a reason that she is the only person in American history to have led both the White House’s National Security Coun cil and its Domestic Policy Council,” Klain said. “She has unique talents, intellect, and determination to get results.”

KNOWHOW

The article noted: “The scope of her fiefdom is as remarkable as how she managed to secure it. Having eschewed a pub lic-facing role, Rice has relied on a combination of internal maneuvering and bureaucratic knowhow to place herself at the nerve centre of some of the fiercest debates roiling Washington.”

Dr Rice served as Presi dent Obama’s National Security Advisor from 2009-2017 and as US Per manent Representative to the United Nations. Obama reportedly wanted to name her as Secretary of State, but she did not get the post because of the political fire storm over the killing of two US diplomats in Beng hazi, Libya.

Dr Rice has a BA with honors in History from Stanford University and a master’s degree and PhD in international relations from Oxford. She was a Rhodes Scholar at the University.

Dr Persaud’s “career spans finance, public policy and academia. He is Emer itus Professor of Gresham College … and a former senior executive at GAM London, State Street, JP Morgan and UBS.” Mr Persaud has served on a variety of international economic and financial commissions.

Every head of govern ment requires expert advisors in various areas. In The Bahamas, we have repeatedly mistakenly misunderstood various roles. Because an indi vidual was a television presenter does not mean they can adeptly serve as a press secretary, a role requiring certain talents and experience.

Many people in The Bahamas believe that they understand communica tions. Few of them are correct and they confuse PR with government public communications. With notable exceptions, many of those who have served in government communica tions have not understood their roles nor have the ability to perform well.

Some believe that they are policy experts despite limited understanding of the complexity of policy formation and how the government bureaucracy works, or more often, des perately fails to work.

Since Ms Teresa Butler first served as a policy advi sor for Hubert Ingraham, the role has been reduced to mostly an advisor on investments. An invest ments advisor is one thing. But a policy advisor occu pies a larger role covering all of government. In the weeks ahead more on the kinds of structures needed to craft and imple ment public policy. A place to begin is for us to ensure that our prime ministers have the quality and depth of intellectual talent and special advisors found in countries where policy planning is taken more seriously.

‘Many people in The Bahamas believe that they understand communications. Few of them are correct and they confuse PR with government public communications. With notable exceptions, many of those who have served in government communications have not understood their roles nor have the ability to perform well.’

The Bahamas makes front page news after FTX collapse

A FRIEND and Bahamaphile was unhappy on Monday morning. “Did you see the headline on the front page of the Washington Post?” she exclaimed. “The Bahamas was mentioned in a near-banner headline, front page, top of the fold, the first thing a reader saw that day. And guess why? The Post sent a reporter down to Nassau to inves tigate the collapse of this now-bankrupt cryptocur rency firm FTX that had set up its headquarters out west in Albany.

“When are we going to see headlines mentioning The Bahamas that don’t involve Peter Nygard or Anna Nicole Smith or even Adam Clayton Powell? And now we have Sam Bankman-Fried and this FTX scandal that puts The Bahamas in a bad light again. I’m sick of it!” she declared.

The widening scandal has obviously generated a lot of interest in Nassau too, and controversy. Some of the tumult involves a public exchange this week between the new CEO of FTX, John Ray III, and Bahamian Attorney General Ryan Pinder.

“Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of cor porate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information,” said Ray, who also once oversaw the liquidation of Enron, the Houston energy hold ing company that has been described as “one of America’s most infa mous corporate frauds.” Ray was reportedly hired to “clean up the mess at FTX.”

Ray described Bank man-Fried and his executive team as a “very small group of

inexperienced, unsophis ticated and potentially compromised individuals in The Bahamas who had spent lavishly on them selves while failing to

“The widening scandal has obviously generated a lot of interest in Nassau too, and controversy. Some of the tumult involves a public exchange this week between the new CEO of FTX, John Ray III, and Bahamian Attorney General Ryan Pinder.”

track where billions of cli ents’ dollars were sent or stored.”

In US court filings last week, Ray said there was “credible evidence that the Bahamian government is responsible for directing unauthorized access to the debtors’ systems for the purpose of obtaining digi tal assets of the debtors – that took place after the commencement of these (legal bankruptcy) cases.”

Ray’s remarks elicited a robust response from the AG. “We have been able to assert our leadership in this new field because in the digital assets arena, what matters is not the size of your land mass, or the size of your GDP, but the ingenuity and rigor of your people and jurisdic tion,” Pinder said in the Tribune.

“Those entrepreneurs who are ready to create new financial products that serve a broader range of consumers, remain welcome to come to The Bahamas. They can be certain that we have in

place a principled, fair, comprehensive and ethical regulatory regime. They can also be certain we will act quickly and decisively to enforce it, if and when our laws and regulations are breached. They will see that The Bahamas is a place of laws.”

In its front-page story, the Post reported that “in the Bahamas, many are anxiously waiting to see how the fallout from this corporate collapse will shape their lives.

At a gate that workers use to enter Albany, the closely guarded enclave where Bankman-Fried and his top deputies shared a $40 million waterfront penthouse, one construction worker told a reporter on a recent morning that, if BankmanFried were still inside, ‘we would grab him and bring him out.’”

The Post glibly described The Bahamas as “a former British colony comprising hundreds of islands 45 minutes from the Florida coast that for decades has been a dar ling of American tourists for its scenic beaches — and of offshore financial engineers and money launderers for its minimal taxes and corporate dis closure rules.”

No wonder my friend was upset. “At least they mentioned the beaches,” she sighed.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THIRTY women from East Grand Bahama were flown to Nassau to receive free mammogram screen ings at Doctors Hospital on Friday.

The group left around 7am on Western Air and returned to Freeport later in the evening with their results.

This was made possi ble thanks to an initiative launched over a week ago by the Free National Move ment East Grand Bahama

Constituency Association, in partnership with Doctors Hospital and Mammogram Access Programme (MAP).

Kwasi Thompson, MP for East Grand Bahama, was at the airport to see the group off.

The second and third groups travelled to Nassau on Saturday and Sunday. More than 100 women in the East Grand Bahama constituency signed up for the free screening.

Bahamian entertainer Jeranique Forbes recently discovered a lump in her breast and was excited about getting screened.

AWARDS CELEBRATE NURSES

THE Bahamas National Breast feeding Association (BNBA) held an inaugural award ceremony celebrating nurses who have suc cessfully assisted in delivering a significant number of babies in a ‘Skin-to-Skin 100-Day Challenge’.

The awards were presented at Princess Margaret Hospital on Thursday.

The Carlotta Klass Award, an award named after the founder of the BNBA, was designed to celebrate nurses who have, in the period of 100 days, delivered the most babies while using “skin-toskin” interaction.

“Skin-to-skin,” the act by which a newborn is placed directly onto the mother’s bare chest immedi ately after birth, is an important interaction to implement as both mother and baby benefit, accord ing to Minister of Health and Wellness Michael Darville.

“It’s a win-win situation and Bahamian women throughout the

“It is very timely since I just recently found a lump,” she said. “So, I am grateful to the persons that initiated this, and the persons responsible for us being able to do it.”

Jeranique, who sings the song, ‘Who Mad Stay Mad,’ said having a mammogram was not an annual thing for her.

“To be honest, I am not one that do it every year; I would do it every other year. But I feel once you get it done, if there is something going on, you have a chance to catch it early and be able to deal with it right away.”

Shavonne AdderleyForbes, along with her two sisters, also got their mam mograms done.

“I am very appreciative of this opportunity to check my health. I think it is very important because it could save a lot of lives,” she said.

Nikita Adderley said: “I feel great, and I really wanted to do this because I felt something and wanted to get it checked. I appreci ate everything that they are doing for us.”

Dennis Deveaux, chief financial officer at Doc tors Hospital, was also in attendance and said they

are committed to standing in the gap.

“We recognise the importance of diagnostics, particularly, for women who are worried about the risk of breast cancer, and we sought to provide access to mammography service, which is a critical diagnostic tool in the detection for the risk of breast cancer, and we sought to do that at no cost to more than 100 residents of Grand Bahama,” he said.

“Although we are going to start a full hospital here in the Fall of next year, until we do that those services are not readily available on

the island.”

In addition to transport ing the large contingent over to Nassau, Doctors Hospital has also arranged for transport from the air port to the hospital so the women could have their mammograms done, and then be brought back home before the day ends.

Mr Thompson thanked the hospital for coming onboard as the major spon sor for the initiative, and Nikeia Watson, of MAP in Grand Bahama.

“We hope in some small way this will save lives,” Mr Thompson said.

Commonwealth of The Bahamas who are planning to have children need to understand the impor tance of this great initiative,” he said.

The goal and the future of the BNBA is to, according to Ms Klass,

make the hospitals and eventually the country “baby-friendly.”

The winner of the award, Nurse Evelyn Cartwright, a reg istered midwife, successfully delivered 19 babies and the run ner-up, Nurse Rhonda Kemp,

a registered midwife lactation counselor, successfully delivered 16 babies.

According to Dr Darville, the continuation of initiatives like the ‘Skin-to-Skin 100-Day Chal lenge’ is important to society’s

development.

“I support everything that you’re doing. It is the right thing to do, it is evidence-based, it’s sci entifically-proven and it gives the child the head start that he or she truly deserves,” he said.

Trump tax returns are made available to House committee

Associated Press

The Treasury Department said Wednesday it has com plied with a court order to make former President Donald Trump’s tax returns available to a congressional committee.

The Supreme Court last week rejected Trump’s request for an order that would have prevented the Treasury Department from giving six years of tax returns for Trump and some of his businesses to the Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee.

The court, without dissent, cleared the legal obstacle to disclosure of Trump’s tax returns.

A department spokesperson said “Treasury has complied with last week’s court deci sion” but declined to say whether the committee had accessed the documents. The spokesperson declined to be identified by name because of privacy constraints.

Trump refused to release his tax returns during his 2016 presidential campaign or his four years in the White House.

After the Supreme Court action, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rich ard Neal, D-Mass., said in

a statement that “since the Magna Carta, the principle of oversight has been upheld, and today is no different. This rises above politics, and the Com mittee will now conduct the oversight that we’ve sought for the last three and a half years.”

Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the dispute over his tax returns, the Treasury Depart ment had refused to provide the records during Trump’s presidency. But the Biden administration said federal law is clear that the committee has the right to examine any tax payer’s return, including the president’s.

Lower courts agreed that the committee has broad authority to obtain tax returns and rejected Trump’s claims that it was overstep ping and only wanted the documents so they could be made public.

Chief Justice John Rob erts imposed a temporary freeze on Nov. 1 to allow the court to weigh the legal issues raised by Trump’s lawyers and the counter-arguments of the administration and the House of Representatives.

Just over three weeks later, the court lifted Roberts’ order without comment.

FLEETWOOD MAC’S CHRISTINE MCVIE DIES

CHRISTINE McVie, the British-born Fleetwood Mac vocalist, songwriter and keyboard player whose cool, soulful con tralto helped define such classics as “You Make Loving Fun,” “Everywhere” and “Don’t Stop,” died yesterday aged 79.

Her death was announced on the band’s social media accounts. No cause of death or other details were immedi ately provided, but a family statement said she “passed away peacefully at hos pital this morning” with family around her after a “short illness”.

“A few hours ago I was told that my best friend in the whole world since the first day of 1975, had passed away,” bandmate Stevie Nicks said in a hand written note posted to Instagram.

McVie was a steady presence and per sonality in a band known for its frequent lineup changes and volatile personali ties — notably fellow singer-songwriters Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

Her death is the first among Fleet wood Mac’s most famous incarnation of McVie, Nicks, Buckingham, drum mer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, Christine’s ex-husband. In recent years, the band had toured with out Buckingham, who was kicked out in 2018 and replaced on stage by

THE WINNER of the Carlotta Klass Award for the most babies delivered using “skin-to-skin” contact is Nurse Evelyn Cartwright, pictured left with, from left Am pusam Symonette, vice-president of BNBA; Michael Darville, Minister of Health and Wellness; and Carlotta Klass, founder of BNBA. Runner-up Rhonda Kemp is pictured right.

WASHINGTON

Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.

CHRISTINE McVie at the 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction cer emony in New York.

Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

World Relays returns to Bahamas in 2024

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas’ bid was suc cessful and the World Athletics’ World Relays will make its much anticipated return to Nassau in 2024.

World Athletics Presi dent Sebastian Coe made the official announcement yesterday at the World Athletics Council Meeting in Rome, Italy.

“The 2024 World Relays was in essence awarded to and recommendation was approved to go to The Bahamas and Nassau par ticularly,” Coe said.

“This is an important Olympic games qualifier. We sort of added the jeop ardy of making sure this event had the added

component of qualification and it was considered that The Bahamas had the best conditions for the athletes and the atmosphere engen dered for the relays event ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Congrat ulations to The Bahamas.”

The Bahamas previously hosted the event in 2014, 2015 and 2017.

Bahamas lost out in host ing the fourth edition in 2019 to Yokohama, Japan and the fifth edition that took place in Chorzow, Poland.

The World Athletics Council postponed the most recent edition of the World Athletics Relays which was originally set to be hosted in Guangzhou, China.

Following the postpone ment, a committee which included BAAA President

Drumeco Archer, World Athletics’ councilwoman Pauline Davis, National Sports Authority’s acting manager Grafton Ifill Jr, Dr Daniel Johnson, Herbert Cash, Lateria Duncombe and Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper spearheaded the logistics to launch the bid.

World Athletics and the local organising committee are both committed to the responsible planning and

AYTON HAS 30 POINTS AND 16 REBOUNDS AS SUNS ROUT BULLS

By DAVID BRANDT AP Sports Writer

PHOENIX (AP) — Devin

Booker scored a season-high 51 points in just three quarters, Deandre Ayton had 30 points and 16 rebounds and the Phoe nix Suns stretched their winning streak to six games with a 132113 victory over the Chicago Bulls last night.

Booker scored 25 points in the first half and had 26 more in a sublime third quarter. After a contested 3-pointer splashed through the net, “MVP! MVP!” chants broke out across Foot print Arena, and the 26-year-old is certainly making an early season case. The two-time AllStar had a steal late in the third before sprinting downcourt and flushing home a dunk for his 50th and 51st points. He added six assists and four rebounds. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter

with the Suns holding a healthy lead.

Even more remarkable than Booker’s point total was his efficiency. He shot 20 of 25 from the field, going 6 of 7 from 3-point range. He is the second player over the last 25 years with 50 points and 80% shooting through the first three quarters of a game, joining James Harden in 2017, according to ESPN Stats and Info. It was Booker’s second straight 40-point game. He had 44 in a victory at Sacramento on Monday night. The Suns have the best record in the Western Conference at 15-6 and have won 12 out of 13 home games.

The Bulls struggled on defence the entire night, particu larly against Booker and Ayton.

Chicago coach Billy Donovan was particularly irritated in the third quarter, angrily calling a time out after Phoenix scored a couple easy buckets.

Kenya avoids track doping ban, Russia gets mixed news

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer

RUSSIA and Kenya, two of the most troubled coun tries on the international doping front, received encouraging news from track and field’s ruling body yesterday, though any pos sible reprieve for Russia was tempered by the sport’s intent to keep the country’s athletes out of interna tional meets until the war in Ukraine is over.

Kenya came into this week’s World Athletics meetings in Rome under scrutiny due to a protracted doping crisis that has landed more than four dozen ath letes on suspension.

But World Athletics Pres ident Sebastian Coe said reports about a possible full-scale ban for the coun try were misguided, and that increased funding and vigilance from the Kenyan government persuaded authorities to stop short of the most radical sanctions.

Russia, meanwhile, received an encouraging report from the task force monitoring the country’s road back to compliance in the wake of a doping scandal that stretches back to before the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Task force chair Rune Andersen said that if pro gress continues, the task force could recommend reinstatement of Russia’s athletics federation next March.

That would not, however, automatically open the door for Russians to com pete at events such as next year’s world championships or the 2024 Paris Olympics.

While much of the Olym pic world has been seeking a way to bring that country’s athletes back into the fold, Coe has been less willing.

He stuck with the longheld policy of the Russian ban because of the war being valid “until further notice.” When asked what it would take to lift it, he

SEBASTIAN COE

responded: “I think it’s fairly simple. Get out of Ukraine.”

Moments later, Coe pre sented the WA President’s Award to Ukraine’s athlet ics association.

Yevhen Pronin, the acting president of the federation, said the country is setting up training camps across the globe to prepare for 2023, “but about 90 percent of our athletes are still in

delivery of the World Ath letics Relays,” Coe said.

“Which includes ensur ing that athletes from all international federations are able to participate in and enjoy an experi ence in a safe and healthy environment.”

The World Athletics Competition Commission revised the qualification system to include the top eight teams from the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 and the top eight teams from the perfor mance lists.

With the 2023 edition of the World Relays being postponed, the 2024 World Relays will serve as the only event for relay teams to officially qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.

After hosting the first three editions of the event,

the previous administra tion opted out of the event in 2018, citing a lack of funding to continue facili tating hosting duties.

In November 2021, Min ister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg first addressed the issue in his administration’s “Blueprint For Change.” Minister Bowleg announced the inten tion for The Bahamas to aggressively secure a bid and return one of the land marks of the “Sports in Paradise” initiative.

The Bahamas has won three medals at the event –one gold and two silvers.

The 4 x 400m mixed relay team of Shaunae MillerUibo, Michael Mathieu, Anthonique Strachan and Steven Gardiner captured gold in 2017 in a time of 3:14.42 seconds.

MATCHUP SET FOR HOMETOWN LENDERS BAHAMAS BOWL

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE matchup is set for the 2022 HomeTown Lend ers Bahamas Bowl and the NCAA Division I Bowl season is set to begin in The Bahamas.

The University of Ala bama-Birmingham Blazers of Conference-USA will make their second appear ance at the event when they take on the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks of the Mid-American Conference at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium on December 16.

Kickoff is set for 11:30am in the first ever meeting between the two programmes and the game will be broadcast live by ESPN.

UAB finished 6-6 and became bowl eligible with their 37-27 win over Loui siana Tech in the regular season finale.

Yesterday, the Blaz ers Athletic Department announced 14-year NFL veteran quarterback and Super Bowl XXXV Cham pion Trent Dilfer as its seventh head coach in pro gramme history.

Dilfer will officially begin his tenure as the UAB Football head coach on Friday, December 2.

The UAB offence has averaged over 243 yards per game led by running back DeWayne McBride. McBride set UAB’s single season school records for rushing yards (1,713), rush ing yards per game (155.7), rushing touchdowns (19) and yards per carry (7.4), while also establishing the single game rushing record with 272 yards in the afore mentioned finale against Louisiana Tech.

In the 2017 Bahamas Bowl, the Blazers suffered a 41-6 loss to the Ohio Bob cats. This year will mark the seventh consecutive bowl game appearance for the Blazers.

The Redhawks also fin ished the season 6-6. The HomeTown Lenders Baha mas Bowl is Miami’s 14th bowl appearance in pro gramme history and they

Changes let high school athletes bank big endorsement bucks

By BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO (AP) —

Jada Williams was a social media star and a talented point guard when she moved with her mother from a Kansas City suburb to San Diego, looking to play basketball for a high school powerhouse and parlay her online prowess into endorsement deals.

She found it all in Cali fornia, which has become the trendsetter among the 19 states that allow high school athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness without affecting their eligibility to play in college.

The 17-year-old Wil liams is now pulling in six figures a year from six major endorsement deals.

The senior at La Jolla Country Day School has signed to play at the Uni versity of Arizona. “It’s definitely a big change

for me, but it was good in every single direction,” Williams said during a break from her exhaustive practice routine, which she often documents with videos and photos posted online.

It was the right decision for school and basketball, “and on top of that I was able to start capitalising off NIL,” shorthand for name, image and likeness.

The effort that began when former UCLA bas ketball star Ed O’Bannon took on the college sports establishment over NIL rules is quickly reshaping high school sports.

Elite prep athletes are banking six and even seven figures before head ing to college. The buzz extends to social media, where the top stars have millions of followers on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, which in turn helps boost their NIL valuation.

“It’s getting bigger by the day,” said Michael Caspino, a Newport Beach attorney who became NIL savvy while reviewing deals for his son’s high school friends and pushing back against the ones that tried to take advantage of the athletes.

Three high school stars are at the top of On3. com’s NIL valuations, which include both col lege and high school players. They are Bronny James, the son of Lakers star LeBron James, Arch Manning, the third gener ation of the first family of quarterbacks, and Mikey Williams, a basketball star at San Ysidro High in San Diego.

James tops the list with a valuation of $7.5 mil lion. He attends Sierra Canyon High in the Los Angeles area and recently signed a deal with Nike.

SUNS centre Deandre Ayton (22) shoots over Bulls centre Nikola Vucevic (9) in the first half last night. Ayton had 16 points and nine rebounds at halftime. (AP Photo/Ross D Franklin)

Messi and Argentina advance at World Cup, beat Poland 2-0

By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Rest easy, soccer fans. Lionel Messi will grace the World Cup stage at least one more time.

The Argentina great had a penalty saved but his team still beat Poland 2-0 yesterday after secondhalf goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez and advanced to the last 16.

After opening the World Cup with a shocking 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in one of biggest upsets in the tournament’s history, Argentina wound up finish ing in first place in Group C and will next play Aus tralia — a surprise qualifier for the knockout stage.

Messi rolls into Satur day’s game suddenly in a strong position in likely his final World Cup.

“Now another World Cup begins.” Messi said, “and hopefully we can con tinue to do what we did today.”

As for Poland, it was ultimately a happy night, too, because the team went through as the group’s second-place team — on goal difference ahead of Mexico — and will next play defending champion France.

Messi ended up relieved after failing to score a pen alty for the second straight World Cup.

It was awarded after he was hit in the face by the flailing hand of Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szcz esny, who made amends by

diving to his left to block Messi’s kick in the 39th minute.

“I’m upset that I missed the penalty, but the team came back stronger after my error,” he said.

A largely pro-Argen tina crowd, waving flags and scarfs and beating drums behind both goals, had been sweeping Messi and his team along at the 44,000-seat Stadium 974 and they didn’t stop after the penalty. Within sec onds, a chant of “MESSI! MESSI!” immediately reverberated around the venue in a bid to keep their idol’s head high.

And the roars were even louder at the start of the second half, first after Mac Allister’s goal — a scruffy finish from Nahuel Molina’s cut-back from the right — in the first minute and soon after as news fil tered through that Mexico had taken the lead against Saudi Arabia, which started the day in third place.

Playing an Argentinerecord 22nd World Cup game, Messi never stopped surging forward and he was a menace all game to Poland with his dribbling ability and vision. One 40-metre solo run saw him weave past three oppo nents, drift past another only to miskick as he took aim.

The match was billed as a head-to-head between Messi and Poland striker Robert Lewandowski, perhaps the best centre forward in the world, but it proved to be a mismatch.

“If Messi played with us and Robert played for Argentina, Robert would have scored five goals,” Poland coach Czeslaw Michniewicz said. “Robert needs to be helped and the match was only played in our half.”

Messi wasn’t involved in either goal, though. For the second, Enzo Fernandez scooped a pass to Alvarez — starting ahead of regular striker Lautaro Martinez — and he took one touch before curling his shot into the top corner in the 67th minute.

Things couldn’t have gone better for Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni, who

made more bold changes in bringing in Alvarez, Fer nandez and Molina and seeing them play a part in the goals. Mac Allister, meanwhile, didn’t start against Saudi Arabia and has added energy in mid field in the two games since.

Suddenly, Argen tina looks more like the team which entered the World Cup on a 36-match unbeaten run and as one of the tournament favourites, a year after winning the Copa America. “We wanted to make amends for that Saudi Arabia game because we knew we could play

better,” Mac Allister said. “We’ve managed to find that calm we needed ... we played well collectively and it fills us with confidence.”

The final whistle blew with Poland players still unsure if they were advancing, given the Mex ico-Saudi Arabia game was ongoing.

At one stage, Poland and Mexico were only sepa rated by the number of yellow cards they had col lected in the group stage — Poland had five com pared to Mexico’s seven — and Michniewicz was desperately urging his team to not give away fouls in the final minutes.

France loses to Tunisia 1-0 but still wins group

By JEROME PUGMIRE AP Sports Writer

AL RAYYAN, Qatar

(AP) — As France searched for a late equal iser, the players on Tunisia’s bench were watching another World Cup match on TV hoping for a goal.

Neither of them came, giving Tunisia a momen tous 1-0 win over defending champion France that still wasn’t enough to prevent the north African team from being eliminated.

Wahbi Khazri scored in the 58th minute yesterday to lead Tunisia to only its third victory at a World Cup tournament.

But in stoppage time, the Tunisians on the sidelines were more interested in the other Group D game, crowding around a TV screen on the bench hoping Denmark would be able to score against Australia — a circumstance that would have lifted Tunisia into second place and also into the round of 16 in Qatar.

“We were praying for a Denmark goal but it never game,” Khazri said. “But that’s the thing with soccer, you should only count on yourself. We didn’t do enough in the first two

games, otherwise we’d be through.”

France ended up winning the group with six points, ahead of Australia on goal difference. Tunisia finished with four points in third place. Denmark, which lost to Australia 1-0, ended up in last place with one point.

It was France’s first loss at the World Cup since the 2014 quarterfinals, when Germany beat the team 1-0.

Khazri broke the dead lock early in the second half, running at the heart of the French defence and beating two players before poking the ball into the bottom corner.

He fell to his knees in celebration and was mobbed by teammates. When he got back up, he made a heart shape to the Tunisian fans behind the goal and then limped off, appearing to hurt himself as he fell when scoring his 25th international goal and his third at World Cups.

France forward Antoine Griezmann thought he had evened the score in the eighth minute of stop page time but he was ruled offside following a video review.

A few minutes after Khazri’s goal, a man ran

onto the field at Education City Stadium with what appeared to be a Pales tinian flag. He did some acrobatic jumps before six security officials dragged him off.

With France already qualified for the knockout stage, coach Didier Des champs rested Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé and most of his regular starters. Only four of the team lining up at the beginning had even started a World Cup match before.

“It will be a good lesson for them. Now they know what the highest level is all about, against a

Tunisia team that was supercharged,” Deschamps said. “But we were too timid, late in the tackle and made technical errors.”

Deschamps defended his decision further, saying his team’s sizeable goal differ ence over Australia was enough of a safety net.

“We didn’t need one point,” he said. “Unless something catastrophic happened (in the other game).”

Khazri said he didn’t believe France was disre specting Tunisia by fielding such a weakened team.

“A lack of respect? No. (Aurelien) Tchouameni

plays for Real Madrid and so does (Eduardo) Cama vinga,” Khazri said. “It’s an honour to play against them. I grew up in a little corner of Corsica that nobody’s ever heard of, so it’s amazing for me to play at the World Cup.”

Khazri’s goal, however, prompted Deschamps to bring on Mbappé and Griezmann and the increased urgency almost led to an equaliser.

“I wanted to give Kylian 30 minutes, which is what I’d planned to do,” Des champs said.

Deschamps had selected more of a “C” team than a “B” team. Randal Kolo Muani struggled to make an impact at centre for ward and Kingsley Coman — who scored Bayern Munich’s winner in the 2020 Champions League final — was isolated.

France central defender Raphael Varane, however, mopped up on the occa sions Tunisia got close to the penalty area in the first half.

WHAT’S NEXT?

France will face Poland in the last 16. The Poles finished second in Group C behind Argentina but advanced on goal differ ence ahead of Mexico.

AUSTRALIA MAY HAVE NEW GOLDEN GENERATION

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer

AL WAKRAH, Qatar (AP) — Australian soccer may have a new golden generation.

Mathew Leckie scored and the Socceroos beat Denmark 1-0 yesterday to advance to the round of 16 at the World Cup for only the second time.

“I’m just so proud we’ve been able to put smiles on people’s faces,” coach Graham Arnold said, noting this is the first Aus tralian team to win two straight games at a World Cup. “Maybe we’re talk ing about a new golden generation.”

The last Socceroos team to earn that honour got Australia into the knock out stage in 2006. This team did it again, and Arnold believes the achievement is worthy of a national holiday.

“Give the people a day off,” he said. “I think there will be some hangovers and some joy.”

The leader of the new generation could be Leckie, who took a pass near the centre circle from Riley McGree in the 60th minute and moved around a defender before hitting a left-footed shot past Den mark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

“I went left and swang the left foot,” Leckie said, who was then mobbed by his teammates on the field and off the bench. “I think I got slapped in the head about 100 times.”

Now Leckie wants more.

“We want to dream big,” he said. “I think the key was when we came to this tournament we always said we wanted to get out of the group. And now we’ve done that. Now the most important thing is to get ourselves ready because we worked super hard tonight. I think most of the boys are exhausted. That’s exactly what we needed to do to get a result today.”

Australia finished with six points in Group D. Defend ing champion France won the group on goal difference despite losing to Tunisia 1-0 in the other group match.

The World Cup proved to be a major disappointment for Denmark after reaching the semifinals at last year’s 2020 European Champion ship. They slogged through a 0-0 draw in their open ing match with Tunisia and then recovered in a 2-1 loss to France.

Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand was unable to say why one of the world’s top-ranked teams played so poorly.

“No explanation,” he said. “Questions will be asked. But I think it’s important just to get a bit of distance to it so I can think rationally. I can’t do that right now. The emotions are too big. The frustrations are too big.”

Denmark dominated possession through much of the game but couldn’t generate enough chances against Australia’s tena cious defence.

Mexico beats Saudi Arabia 2-1 but falls short

By ANNE M PETERSON AP Sports Writer

LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) —

For a long time after the final whistle, Luis Chavez crouched on the field in anguish.

He had just scored in Mexico’s furious attempt to stay alive at the World Cup, but the 2-1 victory yes terday over Saudi Arabia wasn’t enough. Because of Argentina’s 2-0 victory over Poland in a simultane ous match, Mexico failed to advance out of its group for the first time since 1978.

“We had a chance to qualify,” Chavez said glumly. “We didn’t achieve it.”

Mexico had reached the knockout round at the last seven World Cups, second only to Brazil, which has gone through to the round of 16 since 1986.

El Tri went into the match at Lusail Stadium needing both a victory and help from Poland playing across town against Argen tina to advance in Group C. Argentina’s victory meant goal difference came into play — and Mexico didn’t have enough of them.

Henry Martin scored in the 48th minute to give El Tri hope, and the team’s chances got even better with Chavez’s goal on a free kick four minutes later. Mexico tried desperately in the final

20 minutes to get another goal — including an effort by Uriel Antuna in the 87th minute that was ruled off side — but came up short.

“We needed one more goal.

I didn’t know exactly what happened at the end,” said veteran Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who was playing in his fifth World Cup. “For us, the object was to score three or four goals. It’s a shame.”

Salem Aldawsari scored in second-half stoppage time for Saudi Arabia, which was eliminated along with Mexico despite beat ing Argentina in its opening match. Martin’s goal ended Mexico’s 431-minute scor ing drought at the World

Cup, dating back to their second group match at the 2018 tournament in Russia. It was the team’s longest ever stretch without a goal at the tournament.

Mexico opened the tour nament in Qatar with a 0-0 draw against Poland and but fell 2-0 to Lionel Messi and Argentina.

Mexico hadn’t been eliminated from the group stage since the World Cup in Argentina 44 years ago. El Tri didn’t qualify for the 1982 World Cup in Spain, and was banned from the 1990 event in Italy for using overage players at an under-20 tournament.

“I must say that I assume all the responsibility for this

massive failure,” Mexico coach Garardo “Tata” Mar tino said.

Mexico advanced to the round of 16 in its last seven appearances — but no fur ther. El Tri came to Qatar looking to play in an elusive “quinto partido” — a fifth game — for the first time since Mexico hosted the tournament in 1986.

Saudi Arabia had one of the tournament’s biggest ever upsets ever when it beat Argentina 2-1. But the Green Falcons couldn’t pull off another surprise in its second match, a 2-0 loss to Poland. The Saudis reached the round of 16 back in 1994, the team’s World Cup debut, but haven’t made it

past the group stage since. “Tonight it was difficult to breathe with the intensity Mexico put into the match,” Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard said.

Many on the Saudi team were also part of the squad that went to the 2018 World Cup. But none play out side of their home country. Twelve players on the roster are with Al Hilal, which has won a record 18 Saudi league championships.

Mexico dominated the first half. Orbelin Pineda had one of the best of three good chances for El Tri, but it was easily grabbed by Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Mohammed Alowais in the 25th minute.

FRANCE’s Kylian Mbappe runs with the ball during the World Cup group D soccer match against Tunisia at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan , Qatar, yesterday.

(AP Photo/ Christophe Ena)

ARGENTINA’s Lionel Messi takes a shot during the World Cup group C soccer match against Poland at the Stadium 974 in Doha, Qatar, yesterday.

(AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Bills-Patriots kick off week filled with playoff-type games

By ROB MAADDI AP Pro Football Writer

JOSH Allen and the Buffalo Bills head to New England looking for their first division win of the season.

Week 13 is loaded with several playoff-type match ups, starting with the Bills (8-3) visiting the Patriots (6-5) tonight.

Five other games on Sunday also feature win ning teams playing against each other.

The Bills already lost to Miami and the New York Jets and will face all three of their division rivals over the next three weeks as the jumbled AFC East has a chance to send four teams to the playoffs.

Buffalo has won two straight on the road against the Patriots. Extending that streak won’t be easy. The Bills are dealing with ill ness that has forced several players to miss practice and won’t have edge rusher Von Miller because of a knee injury.

“It’s a really good foot ball team,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “They do pretty much everything well. Good on offence, good on defence, good on special teams.”

Both teams are coming off games on Thanksgiving. Buffalo earned a last-sec ond win in Detroit while the Patriots lost a tight game in Minnesota.

Mac Jones threw for 382 yards and two touch downs in a 33-26 loss to the Vikings.

The Patriots are 4-point home underdogs, per Fan Duel Sportsbook.

Pro Picks expects a close one.

BILLS, 23-20 Kansas City (minus 2 1/2) at Cincinnati

Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs (9-2) aim to avenge their loss to the Bengals (7-4) in the AFC champion ship game.

BEST BET: CHIEFS, 30-23 Washington (minus 1 1/2) at New York Giants

The Giants (7-4) try to snap a two-game losing streak and prevent Taylor

ATHLETES

FROM PAGE 11

Mikey Williams, who has committed to Memphis and has a multiyear deal with Puma, has a valuation of $3.6 million. Manning, who attends Isidore Newman High in New Orleans and has committed to Texas, is at $3.4 million.

The On3 NIL valuation, considered the industry standard, uses performance, influence and exposure data. While the algorithm includes data from deals, it does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals.

Jada Williams has a halfdozen deals, including with Spalding; Move Insoles, which was co-founded by NBA star Damian Lillard; Lemon Perfect, a bottled water company in which Beyonce is a major inves tor; and Gym Shark.

“My social media was already kind of big so I was just doing basically NIL without getting paid because it was illegal,” she said.

After being approached by a few large companies with NIL offers, the family discovered that the deals weren’t permitted in Mis souri and that California was the only state that allowed it at the time.

“I realised wow, this is insane,” said Williams’ mother, Jill McIntyre. Jada Williams moved to San Diego with her mother and an older sister ahead of her junior year.

“She had to take advan tage of the opportunity where she can literally invest in her future at 17,” said McIntyre, a regional sales manager for a tech company who helps her daughter manage her busi ness affairs.

“We’re still young, but at the same time we’re learn ing about how to manage

Heinicke from buying another pair of Air Jordans.

UPSET SPECIAL: GIANTS, 20-17 Cleveland (minus 7) at Houston

Deshaun Watson’s return to the NFL should feature plenty of handoffs to Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.

BROWNS, 26-16 Pittsburgh (minus 1 1/2) at Atlanta

Somehow the Falcons (5-7) are just a half-game behind the Buccaneers in the NFC South.

FALCONS, 20-16 Denver (plus 8 1/2) at Baltimore Russell Wilson has been a disaster in Denver. The Ravens (7-4) can’t hold big leads.

RAVENS, 23-16 Green Bay (minus 2 1/2) at Chicago

Two losing teams with banged-up QBs takes the sizzle out of this rivalry.

PACKERS, 24-17 Jacksonville (minus 1 1/2) at Detroit

money and just learn a lot of life skills that are way bigger than just NIL,” said Williams, a two-time gold medallist with the US junior national team who has incorporated as Jada Williams Inc. and plans to start a foundation.

Malachi Nelson, a senior quarterback at Los Alamitos High who has committed to USC, landed big deals even before sign ing with Klutch Sports, the agency that represents LeBron James.

He’s 42nd on the top 100 with a valuation of $794,000, 10 spots ahead of UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

Jada Williams is at No. 71, with a valuation of $550,000.

California was the first state to allow high school athletes to sign NIL deals.

Southern California has always been a hotbed of prep talent.

Athletes from other regions, like Williams, are moving to the Golden State to take advantage of NIL. Some transfer for just their senior season.

NIL has become such a big deal that a Los Alami tos High coach who helps

Trevor Lawrence played his best NFL game in an impressive comeback win for the Jaguars over the Ravens. The Lions are much improved since a 1-6 start.

LIONS, 23-22 New York Jets (plus 3) at Minnesota

If Mike White beats the Vikings (9-2) on the road, he should get a statue at a rest stop on the New Jersey turnpike.

VIKINGS, 26-20 Tennessee (plus 5 1/2) at Philadelphia

The Eagles (10-1) had 363 yards rushing vs. Green Bay. They need to figure out how to stop Derrick Henry.

EAGLES, 23-20 Seattle (minus 7 1/2) at Los Angeles Rams Geno Smith has to get the Seahawks (6-5) back on track after consecutive losses. The Rams (3-8) are one of the worst defending Super Bowl champions in NFL history.

players with recruiting also guides them through the new frontier.

“We’ve got guys on our team making a heck of a lot more money than I am this year,” Los Alamitos head coach Ray Fenton said.

“All across the country, kids are getting paid a lot of money for deals they sign.”

Peter Schoenthal, an NIL expert who is CEO of Ath liance in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, predicts that every state will allow high school athletes to take advantage of NIL within a year or so.

“We have eight-yearolds in this country and all over the world that have YouTube channels where they’re making millions of dollars reviewing toys,” Schoenthal said.

“There’s no way to really stop an individual who has marketing ability to stop them from their right to publicity, whether or not they’re high school athletes, whether or not they’re bigtime recruits.”

Schoenthal and Caspino help athletes avoid the downside of NIL, such as one-sided deals, and they offer assistance with under standing taxes and handling money.

SEAHAWKS, 24-16

Miami (plus 3 1/2) at San Francisco

Tua Tagovailoa faces his toughest challenge against the 49ers defence. San Francisco may have to rely on Jimmy Garoppolo a little more because of inju ries at running back.

49ERS, 23-22

Los Angeles Chargers (minus 1 1/2) at Las Vegas Derek Carr, Josh Jacobs and Davante Adams have led the Raiders to consecu tive overtime wins. The Chargers barely escaped a third straight loss when Justin Herbert connected with Gerald Everett on a 2-point conversion in Arizona.

RAIDERS, 24-23 Indianapolis (plus 10 1/2) at Dallas Dak Prescott and the Cowboys (8-3) will be well-rested after a Thanks giving win while the Colts are coming off a short week.

COWBOYS, 27-13

New Orleans (plus 3 1/2) at Tampa Bay Tom Brady is struggling to overcome Todd Bowles’ conservative coaching.

BUCCANEERS, 20-17 2022 RECORD

Last Week: Straight up: 10-6. Against spread: 5-11.

Season: Straight up: 10674. Against spread: 90-86-4.

Thursday: Straight up: 9-5. Against spread: 6-8.

Monday: Straight up: 6-7. Against spread: 5-8.

Best Bet: Straight up: 7-5. Against spread: 7-5. Upset Special: Straight up: 4-8. Against spread: 5-6-1.

TUESDAY BASKETBALL RESULTS

- Games played at The Hope Center located on University Commons.

Mini Division

Jordan Prince Williams 10 def Kingsway Acad emy 7

Andrew Adderley no. 8 led Falcons with seven points in the win. Blake Marshall no. 7 led Kingsway with six points in the loss.

Primary Boys Genesis Academy 20 def Kingsway Academy 8 Heyden Seymour no. 23 led Genesis with 13 points in the win.

Kamdynn Miller no. 2 led Kingsway with seven points in the loss.

Freedom Baptist Acad emy 10 def Jordan Prince William 6

Javon Johnson no. 6 led Freedom with eight points in the win.

Junior Boys Freedom Baptist Acad emy A 34 def Greenville Prep. Academy 9

Gerard Rolle no. 7 led Freedom with 17 points in the win.

Trevon Edgecombe no. 12 led Greenville with nine points in the loss.

Senior Boys New Horizon Christian Academy 35 def Genesis Academy 33 Marco Duncombe no. 30 led New Horizon with 10 points in the win. Nathan Wallace no. 9 led Genesis with 19 points in the loss.

FROM PAGE 11

have been bowl eligible six of the past seven sea sons. The Miami offence is led by dual threat quar terback Aveon Smith who threw for 1,137 yards with nine touchdowns and also ran for 503 yards and six touchdowns.

Defensively, linebackers Ryan McWood and Mat thew Salopek anchor the defence and was ranked among the top against the run in the MAC. “We are thrilled to be the opening game of Bowl Season and to showcase the beauti ful islands of the Bahamas through this event, which has been a fixture on the sporting calendar since 2014,” said Bahamas Bowl executive director Lea Miller-Tooley in a press release. “The Bahamas Bowl has provided tremen dous competition for our participating teams from Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference, while offering a one-of-akind experience for student athletes, coaches and fami lies to travel to a foreign country and be rewarded for a successful season. We know that the 2022 bowl will remind everyone why ‘Bowl Games are Better in The Bahamas’.”

The 2022 HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl is one of 17 college bowl games owned and operated by ESPN.

For more information on the 2022 HomeTown Lend ers Bahamas Bowl, visit BahamasBowl.com

Ukraine because it’s dif ficult to get a permit to cross the border for boys, and for girls, they do not want to leave their family in Ukraine.”

In discussing Kenya, Coe referenced a commitment from the Kenyan govern ment to add $25 million over five years to help fund increased testing and inves tigations for a country that has won the second-most medals (66), behind the U.S., in Olympic track since 2000 but has long had diffi culty policing its athletes.

Kenya has been named a “highest risk” country for doping, and its athletes are subject to increased testing in the 10 months leading up to a major event to be eligible.

“I know the Kenyan gov ernment feels this has been a disfiguring period in what should have been a Her culean period for Kenyan athletics,” Coe said. “But I’m really delighted, because actually, all the stakeholders that matter, both domestically and inter nationally, are now aligned in coming together to really do everything we can to resolve this situation.”

By stopping short of a full ban of the country, World Athletics would allow ath letes such as world-record holder Eliud Kipchoge to go for an unprecedented third straight Olympic mar athon title in Paris in 2024.

Kipchoge has never been charged with doping.

Others, including 2021 Boston Marathon winner Diana Kipyokei, have been suspended. In announc ing Kipyokei’s suspension, the Athletics Integrity Unit, which is in charge of doping cases in track, said Kipyokei’s was among a growing list of cases involving the performance

enhancer triamcinolone acetonide.

That trend, however, does not appear to be play ing out the way Russia’s doping scandal did; in that case, the government was found to have designed a programme to dope ath letes and ensure they got away with it.

World Athletics levied the harshest sanctions of any sport — the suspension of Russia’s track federation (RusAF) and the strict limi tation of Russian athletes who can compete at major events. Even with the pos sibility of those sanctions expiring, the Russians’ swift

return to the track is not guaranteed.

“RusAF’s progress on its reinstatement plan will have no bearing on any council decision on RusAF’s status arising from the war in Ukraine,” Coe said.

MAX HOMA PART OF AN ELITE FIELD AND HE’S GETTING USED TO IT

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Max Homa arrived long before his plane touched down in the Baha mas to face an elite field of 20 players, all of them the core of the PGA Tour and European tour after defec tions to Saudi-funded LIV Golf.

This is a charity event Tiger Woods has hosted for 24 years to benefit educa tion and youth, not counted as an official win except that it gets official world ranking points. And the $1 million going to the winner spends just the same.

But it’s effectively an All-Star Game in golf. That includes Homa, and rightly so. He has four wins over the last two years. He played in the Presidents Cup and won all four of his matches. His profile is such that he shared a tee time with Woods at St. Andrews for two days.

“I don’t feel like this is the thing that’s making me feel like I belong,” Homa said. “I felt like that for quite a while. But it is very cool to be here.”

The leisure week took on a business tone ever so briefly with a players meet ing on Tuesday to discuss

a PGA Tour schedule that remains a work in progress in response to LIV Golf. The next time most of these players are together will be at Kapalua on Maui, the first of 16 “elevated events” that average $20 million in prize money. Next year is really a bridge to 2024 when the schedule and criteria to play will look nothing like it ever has.

LIV Golf wrapped up its eight-event inaugural season a month ago and is staying in the news.

Woods added to previous comments by Rory McIl roy that LIV leader Greg Norman needs to be out of the picture before anyone can sit down and talk.

LIV Golf, meanwhile, began releasing bits of its 2023 tournaments — Mayakoba in Mexico, Valderrama in Spain, Sen tosa Golf Club in Singapore — with the full schedule expected to be announced next week. Through all this chaos, the focus is increas ingly on the needle movers, and that’s particularly true at a tournament hosted by the ultimate needle in golf.

All but Sepp Straka — who replaced Woods when the host had to withdraw with a foot injury — have played in a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. Fifteen of

the 20 players are among the top 20 in the world, and Corey Conners (filling in for Hideki Matsuyama) is the highest-ranked player at No. 33. And now there’s another ranking — the Player Impact Program, which doles out $100 mil lion in bonus money to the leading players who are deemed to have brought attention to the sport

through their performance or popularity. Homa always had the right touch on Twit ter. He got more traction when he began analysing swings of recreational golf ers. And then when his own golf began to soar, so did his profile. He finished at No. 14 on the PIP, worth $3 mil lion. What’s funny to Homa — he finds humour in eve rything — is that he is No.

16 in the world ranking. “I always thought I was signifi cantly more popular than I was good at golf,” Homa said. “So it feels nice that those things are aligning, so that’s a little mini-bonus. But at the end of the day, 14th is pretty good.”

The real measure of moving the needle might be to be included in the rumour mill of who’s going

to jump over to LIV Golf. Homa has made it clear where he wants to be, and his name is not part of the gossip. “I guess it would have been cool to be a part of that so I could live the life of ... it felt like a reality TV series for a bit,” he said.

Brooks Koepka changed his Twitter profile to elimi nate “PGA Tour/Nike athlete” right before he signed with LIV. As a joke, Homa decided to change his. “Didn’t realise that my Twitter bio doesn’t get a ton of traction,” he said.

There’s plenty to talk about his game these days — the win at Riviera last year and the Wells Fargo Invitational this year, backto-back wins in Napa, California, most recently with an insane chip-in for birdie on the final hole.

He also is a new father, and while it will be years before young Cameron can understand what his dad does for a living, Homa wants to pass along the example his parents pro vided him. “I would like to show my kid what hard work is and show him what success looks like,” Homa said.

One measure of that is being in the Bahamas with the rest of a world-class field.

MAX HOMA, of the US, right, consults with his caddie on a tee shot during a practice round of the Hero World Challenge PGA Tour at Albany Golf Club yesterday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

LIGHTBOURNE AND DAMES LEAD BLUE DEVILS TO WIN OVER RANKED TEAM

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

BRADLEY Light bourne, Joshua Dames and their Kansas City Kansas Community College Blue Devils continue to play one of the most difficult sched ules in JuCo basketball and defeated their second ranked team of the young season.

Lightbourne scored 24 and Dames scored 21 in the Blue Devils’ 93-88 win over no.4 Ellsworth Community College Tuesday night in Kansas City, Kansas.

KCKCC improved to 5-5 and handed Ellsworth their first loss of the season at 10-1.

Lightbourne also added six points and a team high seven assists while Dames grabbed eight rebounds and shot 5-8 from threepoint range.

Ellsworth opened the game on a 7-0 run before the Blue Devils rallied to tie the game at 11 and eventually take a 43-35 lead into the half.

They would open the second half on a run of their own, highlighted by a Dames three that made the score 70-49 with just under 12 minutes left to play. Ellsworth responded with a 29-12 and came within a single point (85-84) with 1:54 left to play.

The Blue Devils’ 80 per cent shooting from the free throw line came in clutch down the stretch to seal the upset.

Just over a week ago, Lightbourne scored 24 and Dames scored 23 to lead the Blue Devils to an 87-83 win over the no.19 ranked North Central Missouri

College Pirates in the KCKCC Classic.

Lightbourne shot 9-15 from the field, 2-3 from three-point range, and made an impact on both ends of the floor with six rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocked shots.

The sharpshooting Dames made 5-7 from three-point range en route to his 23 points. He also added five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

The Blue Devils were selected to finish third in the KJCCC DII Men’s Bas ketball Coaches’ Poll. They are currently 2-2 against ranked teams this season.

Last season, both players received conference wide recognition for standout freshman seasons.

Lightbourne was named to the All-Second Team and Dames to the AllThird Team respectively.

Lightbourne averaged 12 points and five rebounds per game on the season. He shot 46 percent from the field. Dames earned Third Team honours after he averaged 9.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 41.3 percent from the field.

This season, Lightbourne is averaging a team high 17.7 points per game on 49 percent shooting from the field and 37 percent from three-point range.

He is also averaging 5.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. Dames is averag ing 15 points per game and shooting 47 percent from three-point range.

He is also averaging 5.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 77 percent from the free throw line.

BRADLEY LIGHT BOURNE, left, scored 24 points and Joshua Dames scored 21 in the Blue Devils’ 93-88 win over no.4 Ellsworth Community College on Tuesday night in Kansas City, Kansas.