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VOLUME:116 No.108, MAY 29TH, 2019

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ALICIA WALLACE: PRISON ISN’T JUST ABOUT PUNISHMENT

Hotels and unions told - Calm Down

Ministers warn strike action is ‘nuclear option’

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net TOURISM Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar urged the hotel union and industry officials to allow “calmer heads to prevail”, insisting that a strike at this time would have a devastating impact on soaring tourism numbers.

“Get into a room and ensure they come to an amicable solution,” the minister said yesterday in his appeal to all involved.

On Monday, The Tribune reported that the Bahamas Hotel, Catering & Allied Workers Union was

slated to hold a strike vote tomorrow after rejecting the industry’s proposal to eliminate the automatic 15 percent gratuity and other worker benefits as “a slap in the face”.

Also addressing the issue, Labour Minister Dion Foulkes said the government was very concerned, but while workers may want a resolution now, there seemed to be issues in arranging a time for negotiations.

Mr Foulkes said he understood the union’s position and the matter was considered a top priority for the government.

WITH the government’s 2019/2020 budget communication set for today, Finance Minister K Peter Turnquest moved to allay one fear, saying value added tax is not increasing.

The deputy prime minister blamed the opposition Progressive Liberal Party for what he called “scare

A 27-YEAR-OLD police constable was arraigned in a Magistrate’s Court yesterday over allegations of unlawful sex with a minor.

Patrick Taylor, of Godet Avenue off Carmichael Road, appeared before Magistrate Samuel McKinney, facing one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.

It is alleged that between February 1 and March 21 Taylor had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl. He was not required to enter a plea to the charge and the matter was adjourned to July 12 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment.

SEE PAGE THREE

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

SEE PAGE TWO

mongering”, telling reporters the PLP should know better.

He spoke to the matter yesterday outside Cabinet as rumours swirled that the government was expected to announce a VAT hike in the budget communication.

“So, the government of The Bahamas has issued a three-year mid-term consolidation budget last year which outlines the plan SEE PAGE FIVE

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS IN TOP TEN ‘TOXIC’ TAX HAVEN LIST

NO VAT RISE IN TODAY’S BUDGET

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

COP FACES COURT ON ‘RAPE’ OF GIRL, 15

BLUE BELLE

ELVA COLLIE pictured at the 18th annual Ball of the Cancer Society of The Bahamas at Atlantis last weekend. See Friday’s Weekend for full coverage. Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

BRITON’S DEATH ‘NOT A HOMICIDE’

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are not investigating the mysterious death of a British national as a homicide, according to Assistant Superintendent of Police Shanta Knowles.

The lifeless body of Dannie Lea was found on a lawn of a Port New Providence home on May 19 but the cause of his death has been a mystery. Although ASP Knowles said the Royal

DANNIE LEA Bahamas Police Force has received the results of an autopsy performed on the

body, she did not divulge details except to say the matter is not being treated as a homicide.

Lea was found sometime before 5pm by a security guard who had called the relatives of the homeowner to notify them the front door was ajar. The owners were reportedly out of town.

When the relative came to check the home, along with the guard, Lea was discovered barefoot wearing only blue pants.

SEE PAGE THREE

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

THE Bahamas yesterday received no credit for laws said to have raised compliance costs by 75-80 percent after its corporate tax policies were rated as the world’s most “corrosive”.

This nation was ranked ninth in the newly-published Corporate Tax Haven Index 2019 and grouped among countries said to have “dealt the global corporate tax system a devastating double blow”.

The Index is published by the Tax Justice Network, a long-standing opponent of international financial centres such as The Bahamas and the tax competition they represent.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

TECHNOLOGY

ORIGAMI MAY HELP LAND A SPACE CRAFT SEE PAGE NINE

PAGE 2, Wednesday, May 29, 2019 from page one For his part, Mr D’Aguilar told reporters outside Cabinet: “The union has expressed that there are four items that have really caused them enormous concern. Obviously the elimination of the automatic 15 percent gratuity, the elimination of the ham and turkey, the payment of the Christmas bonus in January as opposed to December and the Christmas bonus being based on the profitability of the hotel as opposed to just a multiple of your weekly wage.

“This is a negotiation process and I implore both parties not to get the workers prematurely upset.

The employers have come out with their ask and the response by the union has been quite clear.

“I consider a strike the nuclear option and we are a long way from that so I would implore both the union and the employers to get into a room and ensure that they come to an amicable solution. A strike at this time in the hotel industry would be devastating.”

The tourism minister said 55 percent of the Bahamas’ economy is based

THE TRIBUNE

D’Aguilar urges hotels and unions to calm down on tourism and thousands depend on it to live.

“Taxi drivers, straw vendors, hotel workers, restaurant workers, tens of thousands of workers depend on the tourism industry for their livelihood with the coming on stream of Baha Mar and with the growth in the other hotels 5,000 to 6,000 additional workers have entered into the tourism market and are benefiting directly from the tourism market.

“So we have to be very very careful and implore both parties to get into a room (and) let calmer heads prevail and ensure that we don’t get to where I think we are headed and to ensure that whatever we come up with is good for both parties.”

He continued: “No one will be happy 100 percent but always keep in the back of your head 55 percent of our gross domestic product

TOURISM Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar is derived from tourism.

So if these negotiations go awry this will affect the entire country, so let calmer heads prevail.”

Sheila Burrows, the Bahamas Hotel, Catering & Allied Workers Union’s (BHCAWU) general secretary, told Tribune Business recently that the recent offer by resort employers threatened to take the

union’s 4,000-5,000 membership “back 60 years”.

She spoke after union members burnt copies of the industry’s proposal during a heated meeting at Workers House on Thursday night.

“They want to take away the 15 percent gratuity.

They want to change the terms and conditions of an employee,” she said. “If

Newlywed’s maximum eight-year sentence for killing wife on honeymoon

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net A BRITISH man whose wife vanished at sea in waters near Cay Sal two years ago was yesterday given a maximum sentence of eight years by a Miami federal judge after previously pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Lewis Bennett, 41, was also ordered to pay about $23,000 in restitution to the couple’s twoyear-old daughter and to give up any claim to their $160,000 Florida home.

At the conclusion of his prison term, Bennett will spend three

years on supervised release. He has already been serving a sevenmonth prison sentence after pleading guilty to transporting stolen silver and gold coins worth thousands of dollars.

According to the Miami Herald, Bennett wanted seven years in prison, but US District Judge Federico Moreno said “he could not legally go lower under the circumstances of Isabella Hellmann’s death”.

Bennet, a mining engineer with British and Australian dual citizenship, had only been married to Hellman, 42, a South Florida real estate agent, for three months at the time of the May 2017 incident.

For their honeymoon, the couple were sailing on a 37-foot catamaran throughout the Caribbean.

Bennett had claimed the ship struck an unknown object while he was asleep, adding that he awoke to discover his wife missing and the catamaran taking on water.

When rescued by the United States Coast Guard on May 15, 2017, authorities noticed that Bennett loaded a suitcase and two backpacks on to his raft but had taken only one backpack with him when he was pulled from the raft by the Coast Guard swimmer.

The Coast Guard later

you had a matter in court years ago they want to have the right to dig that up and decide if they are going to terminate you.

“The Christmas bonus issue is a very contentious one. We know that the people in the hotel get their bonuses for Christmas; the second payday in December. What they propose is that they want the Christmas bonuses to be given the second pay week in January. The proposal doesn’t say that you shall receive it; it says you may receive it if the resort meets its quota.

“They are being blatantly disrespectful. Regarding the ham and turkey, they say they may give a $50 voucher.

They are trying to take away all the benefits the hotel union has negotiated. What are they trying to do to the people? They are trying to do all sorts of things to stop us from sitting down at the negotiating table.

We want to sit down at the table and negotiate for our members and we also want a registered agreement,” Ms Burrows added.

“We had a meeting with our membership and they told us to burn the proposal. The proposal was a slap in the face. They don’t want to give a one percent pay increase but they want to take away the 15 percent gratuity from the workers.

Hotel workers haven’t had a pay increase since 2012.

“The workers are the ones who make the senior management at these resorts look good; they make the hotel look good, they take care of the guests.

We are at the point where the membership is fed up. The union is going to ensure that their rights are not infringed upon. The proposal by the BHREA leaves a lot to be desired,” she said.

Editorial View - Page 4

LEWIS Bennett pleaded guilty in November 2018 to involuntary manslaughter for the death of his wife, Isabella Hellman. recovered the life raft and took it to Key West.

Reports of the incident noted that Bennett was recovered with a suitcase, a backpack, unexpended parachute flares, buoys, 14 gallons of water, a second emergency position indicating radio beacon homing device, and nine plastic tubes which were found to contain some 225 of the stolen coins.

A four-day search to locate Hellman was called off on May 18, 2017. Her body was never recovered.

According to international reports, a sworn document signed by Bennett and filed in court says that he could not

recall whether he called out for his wife. He did not deploy any flares and did not search for her in the water with either the catamaran or an attached dinghy.

An FBI inspection later revealed the boat had been deliberately scuttled — holes had been made from the inside of both hulls.

Bennett was originally charged with second-degree murder but made a deal with prosecutors for the lesser manslaughter charge.

At the hearing, Moreno said murder would have been difficult to prove, with no body and no witnesses.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, May 29, 2019, PAGE 3

Death of 29-year-old British man ‘not being treated as homicide’

DANNIE LEA from Stokeon-Trent in England was said to be a father-of-one, a personal trainer and an oil remediation engineer.

from page one The 29-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent was said to be a father-of-one, a personal trainer and an oil remediation engineer.

Mr Lea’s death was widely reported by the British media as a murder with many newspapers claiming he had been “beaten to death”.

Early reports on social media in The Bahamas had claimed he suffered head injuries but from the outset the police refused to say what the cause of death was until an autopsy had been

COP FACES COURT ON ‘RAPE’ OF GIRL, 15

carried out. The length of time it took for this to be completed before yesterday’s statement was issued allowed the ‘beaten to death’ theory to spread.

As news of Lea’s death spread, tributes poured in online. One person wrote on Facebook: “RIP Dannie I still don’t believe (you’re) gone, my thoughts are (with) your family and your lil’ lad taken too soon.”

Another person wrote: “RIP Danny heartbroken seen you grow from the cheeky lad (you) were to the good man you became.

All our love Dan, in our hearts forever.”

Photo: Vandyke Hepburn

GRAND BAHAMA MAN ON ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGE A GRAND Bahama man was arraigned in court yesterday, charged with attempted murder.

Marco Smith, 32, of Hanna Hill, Eight Mile Rock was arraigned before Magistrate Gwendolyn Claude in the Eight Mile Rock Magistrate’s Court in connection with an incident that was reported to

from page one However, he has the right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail in the interim. As Taylor is a police officer, his attorney Ian Cargill requested he not be placed in general population at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. Magistrate McKinney said this request will be forwarded to the commissioner of BCDS.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

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police on May 23. He was not required to enter a plea and a preliminary enquiry will commence on September 7.

This matter is expected to proceed by voluntary bill of indictment. He was denied bail and was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services in New Providence until trial.

PAGE 4, Wednesday, May 29, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

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Don’t strike when there’s still time to talk WE SHOULD listen to Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar.

As much as some resent the tourism industry for its position at the heart of our economy, it’s in all our interests for this particular boat not to be rocked unnecessarily.

This week, we have seen the Bahamas Hotel, Catering & Allied Workers Union and employers come toe to toe with one another. The union is due to hold a strike vote tomorrow. The hotels, unsurprisingly, don’t want any disruption to affect customers.

But Mr D’Aguilar is right when he urges people to “get into a room and ensure they come to an amicable solution”.

The workers are concerned about proposals to eliminate automatic gratuities – a significant part of their take-home pay – plus a suggestion of delaying the Christmas bonus and eliminating the traditional ham and turkey gift.

Those are valid concerns – that extra money from gratuitites can be the difference between being able to pay a bill or not for workers, while the timing of the

Christmas bonus can pay for their own Christmas gifts and celebration. But this strike vote feels like it is too soon.

Union leaders seem to have a clear response from their members to the initial proposal, so can’t that “No” be delivered while sitting across a table from employers rather than starting a ticking clock until strike action is held?

Even if a strike is held – the best it can achieve is to force employers back to the table to talk anyway.

“This is a negotiation process,” says Mr D’Aguilar – and he is right.

This is the time to do just that – negotiate.

Our tourism sector has been growing handsomely – and workers deserve recognition for their part in that, for sure – so why risk stifling that growth until all other options are exhausted.

The hotels too will be aware that in any negotiation, there needs to be give on both sides. We do hope cooler heads can prevail and come to the best solution for all – rather than hotter heads rushing us towards a strike that will do no one any good.

Gaze into our crystal ball TODAY is Budget day – so what will Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest – wearing his Finance Minister hat – have in store for us?

He’s already put a spike in fears that value added tax would be increasing, despite what the whispers on social media had been saying. Indeed, he pointed a finger at the PLP for “scare mongering” over that – and if the PLP are so against a rise in VAT, I’m sure we’ll all be delighted for party leader Philip ‘Brave’ Davis to promise not to raise the tax should they win the next election.

But peering into The Tribune’s crystal ball, what can we see? Airbnb looks likely to attract some kind of taxation – to stop leeching money away from the hotels and to ensure some money goes into government coffers from the growing market.

Yacht charter fees also look likely to

be a target, possibly bringing the government as much as $50m a year. The trick with this fee? It’s not new. It’s sitting there just waiting to be collected already. All it takes is improved collection methods.

Our crystal ball tells us that will be a theme – and there are more such fees and taxes out there that might be the focus of this budget. Property taxes, for one.

So looking further ahead, what can we see coming in the future?

After all, there’s an election coming, so next year we’ll be unlikely to see lots of extra taxes. Hurting the pocket is seldom a good election tactic.

Indeed, peer a little closer and… could we see a tax cut? Could we even see VAT cut to 10%?

Now that indeed is a future worth seeing.

Look after labour EDITOR, The Tribune

The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanise production. The Second used electric power to create mass production.

The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a fusion of technologies that are blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

This change is happening at an exponential rate while the others pace was linear. Artificial intelligence, self driving cars, 3D printing and advance

communication has made many workers obsolete.

During the second Industrial revolution, in October 1884, a convention held by the Federation of Organised Trades and Labour Unions unanimously set May 1,1886, as the date by which the eight-hour work day would become standard. In the United States 350 000 workers carried out a strike to get the demand.

It led to the death of eight people on May 4, 1886 during a riot in Chicago.

The point is labour conditions did not match the technological error, but the labour union demanded the necessary change. I

believe another shortening of the work day and week is needed because the available technology can increase productivity or else millions will be unemployed (globally) in the near future. In the Bahamas many jobs such as call centre workers, fast food workers, receptionists will become obsolete.

I believe in preventing a problem instead of expensive remedies. If the effects of the fourth industrial revolution on labour (workers) is not assessed, the results will be unpredictable.

BRIAN E PLUMMER Nassau May 28, 2019

Prices never go down EDITOR, The Tribune PRIME Minister’s address with reference to solar reusable energy.

Well when it comes to a change of energy from or how it will be generated it seems the government is in step with URCA’s Regulations except and continually out of step when it came to the purchase of the Wartsila three-fuel generators and the admitted end choice fuel that of LNG. URCA rules require as writers like myself have argued the approval of URCA if BP&L are changing the fuel for

generation….the intent is LNG I couldn’t care when the intent of purchasing is to use LNG. BP&L are required by Law and Regulation like Solar to argue the case… is this the best choice?

The effects to the Environment? The financial aspect? LNG cannot slip under the hurdle of the Law by saying conveniently that the generators will begin by using as they have for years Bunker C…true but if LNG was available is LNG! The Board of BP&L wants and is denying the public their right of correct

process - why should we rely on LNG, a fuel which the oil industry is creating a monopoly of alike the OPEC monopoly and with monopolies what comes?

Demand over production, remember oil, higher and higher costs…what has the Iranian crisis done to BP&L’s bunker C prices in the last two weeks? I am sure they have gone up so this mumbo-jumbo of their new PR guy is just that…

Oil crisis BP&L prices never go down…

ABRAHAM MOSS Nassau May 21, 2019

So how many places are allowed to sell alcohol?

EDITOR, The Tribune FOR sometime now, I have attempted to inquire into some of what I have deduced is a contributing factor to some of the ills plaguing many of our communities…needless to say, that the exact figures for what was said to be public information…I was denied access…perhaps, editor, you may be able to acquire this information.

From what a well placed source at the time indicated when asked how many establishments were operating legally on New Providence and the country generally…to wit, have a licence to sell under the Liquor Licence Act, the number given was around three thousand…this was 15 years ago. Based on what I now see, it appears to be three times that number… there is always the question of the “30 days (people engaged in the sales of these products without the requisite government permit or licences)…referred to as “30 days” a convicted person found guilty by the courts of the land for selling without a licence were sentenced to “thirty days imprisonment”…

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net is the explanation. And how many of these ones are there operating illegally? This is the question of the century?

This number is a problem, because the island is only 21 miles long by seven miles wide…and to have this density of intoxicants readily available, sends the wrong message in my view. If at every turn people were/are able find a seller… does little to deter the unsuspecting young person/non drinker- who now possibly could stop in and try the drink, even for the first time…the less likely you’re able to find the seller, is the less likely one would go out of their way seeking to acquire one.

It appears to me that too many young people are under some kind of high… not the natural, but induced by material means…these products available at tourist areas ought not be.

Arawak Cay and Potter’s Cay Dock ought not to be selling these intoxicants…

these are places outdoors… and not belonging to confined anterior spaces… businesses engaged in delicacies of the Bahamas… need to stand alone…that way you attract the righttrouble-free-clientele. The sale of the leaded liquids creates the environment for the trouble makers… inclusive of and by its very nature these products cause a noticeable shift from the calm to the-delirious and in their actions, to the extent of “causing public terror.” So liquor licensing authority, there is something to be said about how you go about assigning licences.

And I ask what is the level of responsibility given the store-operator/licence holders over the behaviour of the customer/client? In other words, they ought to know when a client/customer has had enough… then what?

These are important checks and balances needed in this whole question of competent and responsibleproprietorship, if that is a word.

FRANK GILBERT Nassau May 15, 2019

We need the taxes EDITOR, The Tribune COCO Cay RCL’S resort island ain’t cheap any more you gotta pay for everything…you think the Most Hon Dr Hubert Minnis knows?

For a full day fee ranges between $44 and $99 per adult per day…half a day $39-$74…every major feature has a separate fee and they range from lows of $70 and up.

So did the Minnis

Government exempt RCL totally from all tax liabilities if you had a resort anywhere in The Bahamas?

It is not like before where the visit was included in the cruise there was no tax liability, but now everything costs and costs and costs - surely the Treasury planners should have insisted you are not exempt and you have to get a Business Licence and pay it…you are liable to VAT and you have to pay it…Resort Tax for

promotion/Out Island Promotion Board fees you are liable you have to pay it.

If we don’t require taxes and fees to be paid what is the use of having RCL Carnival - MSC - Disney - Virgin Cruises being given these cays and little or no revenue is coming to the Treasury?

Are we this stupid?

W THOMPSON Nassau May 25, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, May 29, 2019, PAGE 5

TURNQUEST: NO VAT INCREASE IN TODAY’S BUDGET

from page one

generally speaking for the three year period up to 2021,” Mr Turnquest said yesterday. “In that budget document there is no indication that there would be an increase in value added tax.

“We explained to the Bahamian people very clearly that the plan that we put forth would be sufficient and would manage our situation through the end of that plan. We are very proud to say that we have been faithful to that plan.”

He added: “I take note of the unfortunate scaremongering that is being put out by the opposition, which I think is very irresponsible quite frankly and particularly from the sources that its coming from who know better or should know better.

“But be that as it may, I guess they do what they do because they have nothing else to talk about, but at the end of the day it is not anticipated to be any value added tax increase.

“I would only say to the Bahamian people to listen to reliable

sources. The budget will be presented tomorrow (today) and I think that generally speaking we’ll be pleased with the report and what is being anticipated for the coming year.”

Following last year’s VAT hike, the government was forced to defend the move. It led 2,000 people to sign an online petition in opposition and some organisations planned to mark their anger during the approaching 2018 Labour Day marches.

At the time Mr Turnquest said: “We did not settle on that

FINANCE Minister K Peter Turnquest

I think there are less than 20 stateless people living here in The Bahamas, says Symonette

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net THE number of stateless people living in the country is likely less than 20, according to Immigration Minister Brent Symonette, who noted international agencies based in the country have not identified such an individual since he took up the post.

Mr Symonette underscored the narrative spun by local activists and picked up by international human rights organisations was overblown as he pointed to a much larger group of people who refused to access citizenship at birth.

Among those are students who make fervent appeals for expedited citizenship due to their participation in international sporting events, he said.

“I think stateless people in this country probably add up to my fingers and toes,” he said.

“I’ll say it again, if people think they’re stateless call me on my cellphone and tell me who they are. The office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has a local representative here, since I met with her I have gotten not one referral so that to me answers the question.”

He continued: “Now if you haven’t gone and got your Haitian passport or your Jamaican passport because you sat back to use The Bahamas system, I can’t help you. Don’t come and claim stateless with me because your mother and your grandmother had the right to that passport, which meant you had the right to that passport.

“When I swear these guys in every Thursday,” he said, “they have to give up their passport. The majority of them have never had a passport because they don’t want to have a passport, because that will associate

them with a country that they’ve never known.

“It doesn’t make it right, doesn’t make it wrong but at birth they are entitled to that passport.”

The issue of statelessness was brought to the fore earlier this month during a hearing before the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Jamaica.

The IACHR commissioners raised concerns over the lack of data on the number of stateless people living in the country due to the lack of documentation and the country’s citizenship laws.

Retired Justice Rubie Nottage, former co-chair of the Constitutional Commission, also linked excessive processing delays at the Immigration Department to potential statelessness during a panel discussion at the University of The Bahamas.

She said the delays exacerbated inherent risks for statelessness due to

(12 percent) rate arbitrarily.

We fought about this. We ran models, looking at what would happen if we took the rate to nine percent or ten percent and ultimately we decided on the 12 percent rate because it gave us the best opportunity to get through this period of consolidation as quickly as possible and begin to reduce the pain on the Bahamian people.”

He also said the tax increase was needed to pay off arrears as part of the government’s three year fiscal consolidation plan.

IMMIGRATION Minister Brent Symonette talking to The Tribune earlier this week.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

gendered provisions of the constitution, which impacted how the children of Bahamians born abroad, out of wedlock, or to foreign nationals, could access citizenship.

The IACHR has accepted an invitation from the government for a site visit to investigate claims made by activists over the impact of government policy on migrants and their descendants, and conditions at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.

Yesterday, Mr Symonette acknowledged the challenges posed by gaps between the constitution and the Bahamas Nationality Act but insisted the Department of Immigration was steadily making progress. He said he was not concerned by the upcoming visit, and made clear the country would not be dictated to.

“The narrative is out there, I think it’s unfair. The other day I swore in three

people and all of them were under 25, and they could only qualify at 18 so by math that’s seven years (waiting).

“But a lot of it is (incomplete applications) that haven’t got documents.

What’s annoying is way back then the delivery was by general post and a lot of people don’t check back and if they check back they get the runaround at immigration, whatever that story is.

“So now hopefully what we have up there is a dedicated person takes your details, and you get a file and so we then go in the system and find out where they are.”

“The system doesn’t work but we’re making progress,” Mr Symonette said, “and the new naturalisation bill (draft Nationality, Immigration, and Asylum Bill) is a step in that direction, and it’s the gaps that are the problem.”

He continued: “I get a

person who wants to go to a running race, never had a passport, wants to be made a citizen right away, that ain’t my fault. They could have gotten a passport from birth and then got a visa for their Jamaican passport or Dominican passport…and that unfortunately does happen quite a bit.

“But we have a UNHCR rep here and we meet regularly, if there are any concerns she’s here.

“I have nothing to worry about, I have nothing to hide (from IACHR). We’re also not going to be dictated to either. We have rules and a constitution.

“We also have which I think people have to accept,” he added, “we geographically are in a different position than most other countries. These people are coming this way (to The Bahamas to go onward to North America), they ain’t going that way (into the Caribbean).”

‘GOVT HAS NOT PAID OUT A DOLLAR IN DAMAGES’

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

RIGHTS Bahamas yesterday claimed the government has not paid out a dollar in damages for years despite several court victories for the victims of human rights abuses.

The human rights group noted the only cost to the government so far has been political capital, and called Immigration Minister Brent Symonette’s argument for an end to litigation over matters of citizenship misleading.

The human rights group said it has long sought to cooperate with the government not only on clearing the backlog of citizenship applications but other human rights challenges facing The Bahamas, and thanked Mr Symonette for extending an invitation.

“Nevertheless,” read its statement, “we must take issue with Mr Symonette’s suggestion that our legal director, Fred Smith, QC,

should stop suing the government and collaborate with the Attorney General’s Office to avoid the Public Treasury losing large sums of money in the form of damage awards to victims.

“First of all, contrary to the minister’s suggestion, Smith has no ‘point’ to prove; he is merely defending clients whose rights have been abused and who are entitled to redress.

Rights Bahamas will not participate in any effort to rob these victims of their legitimate claim to justice.

“The call for an end to legal action on our part is also curious in light of the fact that the Attorney General’s Office insists on fighting each and every one of these cases, tooth and nail, even when they know they are wrong.

“A great deal of time and energy could be saved if the government’s lawyers would just admit when they are on the wrong side of a case and work on a sensible settlement agreement with the victims.”

In an interview with The Tribune on Tuesday, Mr Symonette called for collaboration between attorneys representing clients on immigration matters and the Department of Immigration, to resolve issues without saddling the public purse with hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs.

Mr Symonette suggested the money awarded to successful cases amounted to less resources for healthcare and infrastructure upgrades, adding the only people who stood to profit were lawyers.

Rights Bahamas’ statement read: “Our suggestion would be that if government officials do not want to see more lawsuits, they should concentrate on ensuring that public servants stop abusing people’s rights. End the beatings, arbitrary detentions, sexual assaults, unlawful deportations, etc, and the lawsuits will end immediately.

“Regardless of these few points of disagreement,

Rights Bahamas stands ready to work with government, wherever possible, to resolve human rights issues.

“As Smith said during

the recent IACHR hearings in Jamaica, the current FNM administration is far more enlightened than its predecessor on questions

of human rights and we welcome any opportunity to help make progressive change during their tenure in office.”

POWER PUSH

PAGE 6, Wednesday, May 29, 2019

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Power & Light (BPL) intends to phase its way out of power generation, shifting its focus primarily to transmission, distribution and customer service initiatives, according to its chairman Donovan Moxey.

His comments came during a press conference to mark the utility provider’s official receipt of its seven new Wartsila multifuel engines.

Mr Moxey said the acquisition represented the first step in BPL’s new strategy and strategic outlook, which he said centres on the refocusing of the entity.

He said a component of this new direction is BPL’s relationship with Shell North America, citing its arrangement to construct a 220-megawatt gas power plant in the coming years.

BPL’s new Wartsila engines, which will be installed at Clifton Pier as a part of a $95 million, 132-megawatt power station this summer, are equipped to run on LNG once the fuel source becomes available in The Bahamas within the next two years.

Mr Moxey said the company also intends to embrace renewable forms of energy moving forward, specifically with small scale renewable energy programmes being introduced to Family Island communities first.

“We believe that with the combination of renewables, as well as our gas to power plant, that we will have much more stable generation of electricity in The Bahamas, as well as be able to have cleaner and more reliable energy within The Bahamas,” he noted.

Mr Moxey added: “I would like to thank the Bahamian people for their level of patience and

THE TRIBUNE

FROM the left: Patrick Rollins, executive director; Viana Gardiner; Desmond Bannister, Minister of Public Works; Dr Donovan Moxey, Chairman; Debra Wood; Robyn Lee Ogilvie; Stephen Holowesko, deputy chairman.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff understanding with BPL given the challenges that we’ve recently faced with load shedding. We are doing everything that we can, within our power, in order to get stable generation to our customers.

“We believe that with what we are doing strategically in the organisation, this is the first step in allowing us to achieve stable power at the lowest possible energy cost for all of our consumers.

“And so we at BPL are excited about the possibilities, we are excited about the next step and we are excited about bringing high quality electricity to the Bahamian people,” he said.

Meanwhile, Works Minister Desmond Bannister cheered the acquisition as “a major leap forward” for electricity generation, insisting that the move signals the first step in BPL’s new strategic direction.

He said once the engines are installed and commissioned, BPL would finally be in a position to offer reliable, stable power generation to New Providence, and will be able to free up resources to address ongoing issues on the Family Islands.

He also contended the installation of the new engines should curb the “millions of dollars” spent by the government on

rental generation on an annual basis, and “end the current ongoing need to load shed — all of us will appreciate that.”

Mr Bannister said the government has steadily worked to bring about the reform needed at BPL in as short a period of time as possible.

“You can all see from our actions, that energy sector reform is a critical part of this administration’s agenda: BPL is at the heart of that reform agenda,” he said. “That agenda centres on energy conservation, increasing the use of the country’s renewable resources to reduce our carbon footprint and the

provision of more affordable energy to residents, small businesses and larger commercial enterprises.”

He closed with a call back to two pronouncements made to him by Bahamas Electrical Workers Union President Paul Maynard following his appointment as minister of works: “(He) told me two things: If BPL does not cause me to go grey by the time I leave office, it means that I’m dyeing my hair; and I am not dyeing my hair so I am going grey. The second thing he said is, whatever my worst nightmare is, times it by 10 and that’s BPL. Well, I am going to tell you today, even though

I am getting more greyer every day, he was right about that, I am changing his second pronouncement to whatever my sweetest dream is, that will be BPL by the time I leave office.”

Representatives from BPL yesterday also announced plans to order 25 megawatts of rental generation to assist with summer generation.

BPL’s “summer readiness programme,” as it is being referred to by company executives, will also be aided with the return of three of the company’s standard generators - DA9, DA10 and DA13 - all of which were down for repairs in recent weeks.

POWER RESTORED AFTER HUGE FIRE RIPS THROUGH BPL FACILITY

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net AN assessment is underway at Bahamas Power

& Lights’ Bimini power station after a fire ripped through the facility late Monday evening, plunging the entire island into darkness for the night.

As of 7pm yesterday, reports from BPL suggested that power was restored across the entire island, with the only exception being Bimini Bay where

State Recognize Funeral Service For Former Senator and Stalwart Councillor

CALVIN WILFRED NEILLY MBE, 90 of Eneas Avenue, Stapledon Gardens and formerly of Lower Bogue, Eleuthera, will be held on Friday, May 31st, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. at Grants Town Wesley Methodist Church, Baillou Hill Road. Officiating will be Rev’d Lester Ferguson, assisted by other ministers of the Clergy. Interment will follow in Lakeview Memorial Gardens, John F. Kennedy Drive.

LEFT TO CHERISH HIS FOND MEMORIES ARE HIS CHILDREN: Gloria (Basil) Sears, Valerie (Arthur) Smith, Anthony (Debbie) Neilly, Carlton (Ruth) Neilly, Lynette (Robert) Barry, Lionel and Calvin Jr. (Macenth) Neilly; GRANDCHILDREN: Denise Sears, Lorraine Bowleg, Basil Sears Jr., Shenek Taylor, Sharise Monroe (deceased), Shavanda Levers, Travis Smith, Anthony Jr., Anwar, Akeem and Antonique Neilly, Robert Jr., Omar, Ramon and Rhyna Barry, Francisco, Carlon and April Neilly; GREAT GRANDCHILDREN: Cyrono Saunders, Latonia Bowleg McPhee, Maverick and Anthony Jr. Bowleg, Basil Brent Sears, Ravon and Alexis, Khadero and Khajzan Taylor, Shakira Monroe, Omari and Shauna Levers, R’hmere Barry, Draya Williams, Kymara Barry, Andrico Richardson; GREAT GREAT GRANDCHILDREN: Chrisanae Miller, Shamar Monroe; BROTHER: Clinton Neilly; SISTERS: Helena Neilly, Sharon Neilly Lyles; BROTHER-IN-LAW: Warren Lockhart, Nolon Lyles; SISTERS-IN-LAW: Winifred Lockhart, Avis, Evelyn, Diana and Rene Neilly; NIECES: Ruby, Virginia, Cheryl,Thugelyn, Rowena, Robin Neilly, Helen Hall, Cynthia Neilly Thompson, Aletha Cooper, Janet Pratt, Evangeline Saunders, Marilyn Rolle, Beverley Sobeich, Ruby Curtis, Florinda Lightbourne, Yelena Revere, Deneen Neilly Johnson, Sabrina Roberts, Shavette Seymour; NEPHEWS: Maxwell and Kendal Albury, Gregory Cash, Theordore Terril, Wensil, Rodvil Jr., Dale, Philip, Clinton Jr. Neilly, Dwayne Woodside and Dwight Lyles; Numerous Grand Nieces and Nephews, cousins and a host of other relatives and friends including Hasting (Miriam) Charlow, Sammy Romer, Maxwell Moss, Arthur Albury, the entire Community of Lower Bogue. The Neilly family Bahamas & United States of America, Sir Arthur and Lady Joan Foulkes, The family of Kermit Williams(deceased), Judith Theophilus and family, Wesley Methodist Church Family and (the Men’s Fellowship Group),The Percentie family, The Blatch family, The Cash family, The Mason Addition Family, The Stapledon Gardens family (Adderley’s, Butler’s Albury’s, Bethel‘s). Neighbour Donna and family; The Lockhart’s family; The Ward family of New York; Special mention to Caregiver Ms. Sharmaine Charlow others too numerous to mention. Calvin loved them all.

The Body of the late Former Senator and Stalwart Councillor Calvin Neilly will lie in State in the Foyer of the Senate, Parliament Square, Bay Street on Thursday May 30th, 2019 from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. There will be no viewing at the Church.

THERE WILL BE NO VIEWING AT THE CHURCH.

technicians were said to be still at work on restoring power “piece, piece.”

BPL yesterday confirmed that both CEO Whitney Heastie and acting COO Ian Pratt led a team to the island with a view to assess the site.

Preliminary inspections at Station B in Bimini suggest that the two primary generating units on the island of Bimini, each rated at 4.4 MW, have been irreparably damaged. In addition to the engines and generators themselves, auxiliary equipment such as pumps, filters and electrical switchgear have also been destroyed by the blaze. These units represented the base load machines on the island.

The cause of the fire itself has not been ascertained.

This will be the subject of an internal BPL investigation as well as reviewed by the relevant agencies and local and international insurance adjusters.

At present in Bimini BPL has approximately 8.5 MW of generation available.

Assesments are being made to determine the short and long term plans and steps necessary to ensure the reliability of the supply.

Meanwhile, Works Minister Desmond Bannister, speaking at the New Providence Container Port yesterday to mark BPL’s official receipt of seven new Wartsilia tri-fuel generators, issued an apology to Bimini residents for the inconvenience caused by the outage.

“Today ought to have been a day of uncompromised celebration,” he said. “We are doing something historic that will be celebrated in The Bahamas for many decades. However, last night’s fire in Bimini has put somewhat of a damper on events this morning, and accordingly I have a responsibility to address that first.

“I apologise to the people of Bimini for the inconveniences suffered during the night. That is our responsibility, and will assume responsibility for it. The fire will be investigated thoroughly and independently.

“While two generators were damaged, we still have five operational generators in Bimini. Power has been restored fully to Bailey Town this morning. We expect power to be restored to Alice Town by 1pm today,” he said

A VIDEO grab of the BPL fire in Bimini on Tuesday night. yesterday. “I wish to commend BPL’s hard working staff, who have worked through the night to make this possible.”

He added: “For your information, BPL had four to five staff members working the plant in Bimini who each have at least 30 years experience, each of them and we are forever grateful to them.”

BPL confirmed a fire at the facility shortly after 9.30pm Monday.

In the short statement, BPL said the fire department on the island was on site, and attempting to extinguish the blaze.

Cell phone videos of the huge blaze circulated on social media last night, showing large flames and plumes of thick smoke emanating from the building as bystanders looked on in the dark.

One resident lamented that the fire meant islanders would have to rely on generators for power supply.

However, residents interviewed by The Tribune yesterday applauded BPL for its quick action and efforts to restore power.

Sherry Roberts, a worker at N&N Market Centre, said: “I live in Alice Town.

The electricity there was off all night. When I came to work 7.30 this morning the electricity on the hill at Bailey Town was on. Our electricity went on downtown at shortly after 9 or 10am, someone told me. We appreciate and are grateful that it came on so fast because most of us thought that we weren’t going to have electricity for the next

six months or so. I thought that all the engines were damaged but all weren’t in the same building. I really was surprised and happy it came on.”

Ms Roberts said BPL officials on the island did suggest that load shedding could be implemented moving forward.

Outside Cabinet yesterday, Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar raised concerns with what the problem could mean for Bimini’s tourism product.

He said while he was certain many of the major hotels on Bimini could sustain themselves through outages, his concern was with smaller luxury properties and second home owners.

“I was there two weekends ago and there was a power failure and the generators kicked in, but Bimini is also a large vacation home rental market and that is where it’s going to have the most devastating affect,” he said. “When I was there and I was staying in the home of a friend of mine and the power went out there was no power, so, yes, this is very concerning and I am sure that BPL is working as hard as they can to restore the power, but we all know it has been a problem down there for a while and BPL is facing some enormous challenges with that.”

Up to press time yesterday, there was no suggestion from BPL on whether or not temporary generation units would be transported to the island to offset the lost generation due to the fire.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, May 29, 2019, PAGE 7

By RIEL MAJOR Tribune Staff Reporter rmajor@tribunemedia.net TRANSPORT and Local Government Minister Renward Wells said the prime minister has formed a cabinet sub-committee of six ministers to tackle all issues surrounding the taxi industry.

Mr Wells staved off a strike threat as he addressed taxi drivers yesterday outside of the House of Assembly.

“One is a former road traffic controller as you all would know, one is the former minister, Mr Frankie Campbell, the other is the Minister of Tourism, (Dionisio D’Aguilar), myself, one is former Minister of Transport, Dion Foulkes and obviously the Attorney General, (Carl Bethel) so we will be coming together so we can bring the requisite solution to the situation,” he said.

“We are going to look at the franchise business in a very holistic way so at the end of the day we come back with best solutions. We are going to be doing that very soon. We understand your frustrations in regards about delivery and the taxis. We are engaged right now, and you would rightfully know very much so in the budget debate but I’m looking by July for us to be able to come back two taxis to the taxi industry and to the franchise industry.”

When confronted by a taxi driver of only “providing promises on top of promises”, Mr Wells said he’s been the minister for 10 months and the problems surrounding the taxi industry is a “20-year standing issue”.

He said: “I have been the minister for 10 months and in that 10 months I have had a town

PM puts together group of six to tackle taxi issues

hall for all taxi drivers. In ten months, I’ve also allowed certain things to take place in the industry that really the government should have pulled back on because we chose not to disturb the industry. “. . .We have also said those owners who are leasing to not disturb the industry until the government is able to come back.

And for you to say we are not answering, or we are not giving answers, that’s not a representation of what is taking place.

“All I’m saying to you now is to give us an opportunity to bring further solutions to this industry because I don’t want to do anything that is going to be a stop gap measure and we be back here again in 10 months trying to figure out what we are going to do.”

Wesley Ferguson, The Bahamas Taxi Cab Union (BTU) president, said taxi drivers have been frustrated and despite their best efforts to meet with the government their issues still exist.

Mr Ferguson said: “We

TRANSPORT and Local Government Minister Renward Wells decided to have a protest but the minister called yesterday and asked us for some leeway to give him an opportunity to deal with some of the pressing issues... Basically what we came here to do this morning was to meet the minister and get him to tell these people first-hand what

his plans are for the taxi drivers moving ahead.”

The BTU president outlined some of the issues that haven’t been resolved, which include a set date for when the moratorium on taxi plates will be lifted, when the colour of taxi licence plates will change and

problems dealing with the Road Traffic Department.

When asked if he was satisfied with Mr Wells’ comments, Mr Ferguson said they will never be satisfied because “we have nothing in hand.”

“We still have some more promises, so satisfaction is when you see something being done,” Mr Ferguson said. “When you have something tangible. It’s only reasonable to give the minister more time. Because we have been in this time waiting period for some time and because the government don’t seem to be forthcoming with time, so we just have to keep pressing them until we get some resolution,” he said.

Mr Ferguson noted the union will give the government until the end of July to start addressing their issues.

He said: “July 1 is a little over a month and a week so we will give him until the end of July. We aren’t barbaric, we’re not unreasonable people the end of July and after that we will be back in his space again.”

I kept pushing him off, woman tells rape jury

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net A JAMAICAN woman broke down in tears yesterday as she recounted how a senior immigration officer forced her to have sex with him against her wishes five years ago.

Claudia Edwards Bethel sobbed audibly after telling the court how Norman Bastian groped her before forcing himself on her and defiling her in his bedroom on December 15, 2014.

All the while, Ms Bethel said she kept pushing him off and telling him she wanted to go home to her children, but she said Mr Bastian refused to oblige her and told her she would have to stay the night.

After the first incident, she said she sat up in bed, crying and afraid, and unsure of what would happen next.

“The door was locked, I didn’t know what to do,” she said.

The next morning, she said, Mr Bastian raped her again while wearing a condom. Ms Bethel said he subsequently told her to brush her teeth and “tidy up” herself. After she did as instructed, she said he forced her to perform oral sex on him.

Ms Bethel said she took the condom and hid it in her bosom, and said when she finally went home, she placed it in her refrigerator. She said she ultimately handed it over to police officers when she reported the incident.

She also said she gave the police the number of the camera she saw in Mr Bastian’s room, which she said she wrote down.

“I give it to them so they could believe me and see that what I talking is the truth,” she said.

The evidence suggests she performed the sexual act twice. The testimony comes in Ms Bethel’s civil suit against the government over the alleged incident, years after the rape case against Bastian was tossed out of the Magistrate’s Court. Mr Bastian has denied the rape and maintains the sex was consensual.

Mr Bastian’s attorney Wayne Munroe, QC, sought to poke holes in certain aspects of Ms Bethel’s

story, as he asserted that her whole narrative stems from her fear of her immigration status in the country.

Mr Munroe specifically attacked Ms Bethel’s evidence concerning the date she said she first arrived in The Bahamas, as well as where she said she lived at the time she got married to her Bahamian husband.

According to Ms Bethel, she first arrived in the Bahamas in 2010. In February of that year, she said she got married to Mario Bethel, a manager at Charms Club whom she met while working there as a waitress.

However, when she was profiled by police officers after being arrested at the Twilight Bar following a late night/early morning raid, she said she arrived into the country in 2011.

Mr Munroe said she signed a document confirming her telling the authorities that she entered the country on the latter date.

Mr Munroe also argued that if she told the authorities she entered the country in 2011, that wouldn’t be consistent with the information contained on her spousal permit.

According to Mr Munroe, she first applied for her spousal permit on October 5, 2010. She was interviewed in February the following year, and the permit was granted on May 3, 2011. That permit was valid until February 2015.

Ms Bethel has said she has since been granted a new spousal permit.

Concerning the addresses, Mr Munroe suggested that at the time of her marriage in February 2010, her address was listed as Malcolm Allotment, not Sunshine Park, where he suggested she told officers she lived when she was arrested.

In response, Ms Bethel said: “My husband keep moving.”

To that end, Ms Bethel said her husband cheated on her and had two children with two different women, and subsequently walked out on her shortly after she got her spousal permit.

Afterwards, she said she moved to Oakes Field.

She said she has since started a new relationship.

Meanwhile, Patrick Hanlan, former honorary consul for Jamaica in The Bahamas, testified how Mr Bastian refused to release Ms Bethel and eight other Jamaicans from immigration custody despite word from police that they weren’t planning to charge them.

Mr Hanlan said around 9pm on December 14, 2014, he got a call from the Central Detective Unit (CDU) in reference to them having some 10 foreign nationals—nine Jamaicans in their custody.

Mr Hanlan said when he arrived at the Thompson Boulevard office, he spoke with each of the Jamaicans separately.

According to Mr Hanlan, the Jamaicans, minus Ms Bethel, were either legally landed by immigration officials, or were granted stay extensions.

None of them appeared to have overstayed, he said.

Mr Hanlan said he also had the opportunity to speak with Ms Bethel, who gave him her name and status in the Bahamas—that she was married and had children and had a spousal permit. He said she also told him when and where she was apprehended.

Mr Hanlan said he also spoke with Mr Bastian, as well as a senior officer at CDU, and told the former the substance of his interview with Ms Bethel.

At some point, Mr Hanlan said he was advised that police had no interest in charging the Jamaicans, inclusive of Ms Bethel.

Thus, he asked Mr Bastian if Ms Bethel could be released.

However, Mr Hanlan said Mr Bastian denied his request, as he was instructed not to release them.

As a result of Mr Bastian’s refusal to let his fellow Jamaicans go, and because he was consequently “concerned”, Mr Hanlan said he advised the immigration officer to seek directions from Immigration Director William Pratt.

Given Mr Bastian’s “hesitation”, Mr Hanlan said, he further suggested that Ms Bethel be released into his custody and he would ensure that she appear before the Department of Immigration that Monday.

Mr Hanlan said given his

experience as honorary consul, such a request was not farfetched.

However, he said, Mr Bastian maintained his reluctance to release the Jamaicans.

Meanwhile, Mr Hanlan said he had managed to get Ms Bethel’s husband’s number and spoke with him. Mr Hanlan said Mr Bethel confirmed their marriage, and that he had a marriage certificate. Mr Hanlan said Mr Bethel subsequently went to the Central Police Station with his marriage certificate in a bid to have his wife released. However, Mr Bethel had said he did not like the way he was treated by the officers there.

As a result, Mr Hanlan said he told Mr Bethel

to get in touch with Mr Bastian.

Mr Hanlan said he ended up leaving CDU in the early hours of December 15. He said his concerns were heightened by that time, which caused him to try to reach out to Mr Pratt, but to no avail.

Mr Hanlan said later that day he was able to get all of the Jamaicans, except Ms Bethel, out of the country.

He said he was given no copies of any deportation orders.

That Monday, he said, he called the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, and was told that Ms Bethel was still being detained. Mr Hanlan said he subsequently called Mr Pratt and another man, Mr Beneby, but could not reach them. He said he reached out to Mr Bastian,

who assured him he would arrange Ms Bethel’s release.

However, Mr Hanlan could not say why Mr Bastian gave such an assurance.

Mr Hanlan said that Wednesday, he was summoned to CDU. He said he went there and ended up waiting 40 minutes only for officers to not reveal what it was about. He said the officers told him if they needed him they would give him a call.

However, he said, he later learned what the situation was.

Afterwards, Mr Hanlan said, he wrote to the then minister of immigration, Fred Mitchell, outlining everything he had observed since December 14, 2014.

The matter continues today.

PAGE 8, Wednesday, May 29, 2019

M

INISTER of National Security Marvin Dames said improvements are on the way for the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. No timeline has been shared, but the prison is in desperate need of upgrade.

The unsanitary conditions are no secret. We know of the overcrowding, use of slop buckets for human waste, lack of beds, and poor ventilation.

These conditions not only affect imprisoned people, but those who work there.

In its current physical state, it is not fit to house human beings.

We rarely talk about the conditions at the prison because many believe the people in there do not deserve any better. It is generally assumed people in prison are guilty of a crime and deserve to be there and every aspect of their experience should be punishment.

Any recommendations that conditions need to improve is sure to receive a response that suggests anything that is not inhumane is too good for the inmates. It is not

THE TRIBUNE

Prison shouldn’t just be about punishment The

Alicia Wallace

column

supposed to be a hotel, but it should not be disaster zone either.

There are major issues with prisons and many of them have been researched in the US where mass incarceration is a primary area of concern, particularly for black people. One of the issues we talk about most in The Bahamas is that people are put in prison for

relatively small crimes (like possession of marijuana), and the prison serves as a college for criminals. It is said people train under hardened criminals while in prison. Some are forced to pick up new skills for survival while there. In a recent report, it was said some prisoners choose not to go outside for the allotted 30 minutes of daily

exercise because it is safer that way. This is no small hint at the life they have there.

Another issue is the difficulty of life after being imprisoned. Do they have a place to live? Who will hire them? Was their education interrupted? What resources do they have to build or rebuild their lives?

While it may be tempting to say this is their problem to deal with and they brought it on themselves, our entire society feels the effects of these issues and the ways they find to remedy them. If they turn (back) to a life of crime, what does that mean for everyone else?

Prison will not work for us until we create better living and working conditions for the people in them

MARVIN DAMES and put greater emphasis on rehabilitation. The 2002 Reducing Re-offending

by Ex-prisoners report by Britain’s Social Exclusion Unit found prisons aggravate rather than address the causes of crime. They, instead, lead prisoners back to prison by stripping them of all of their connections, making it difficult to

become functioning members of society.

What does the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services do to prepare imprisoned people for their release?

What support do formerly imprisoned people receive when they are released and expected to stay out of prison? There are systems and structures that need to be addressed in a holistic approach to ending crime — from the failing education system to distribution of resources — as well as a need to recognize imprisoned people as human beings rather than treating them like animals and expecting them to act otherwise upon release. The seeds we plant determine what we will reap.

I’m glad to be home - and there’s so much for me to do Funeral Service For

HESTER LENORA ROLLE, 77

of Johnson Road, will be held on Thursday, May 30th, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Anne’s Anglican Church, Fox Hill. Officiating will be Rev. Fr. Hugh Bartlett Jr., assisted by Rev. Willish Johnson. Interment will follow in St. Anne’s Anglican Church Cemetery, Fox Hill.

Left to cherish her memories are her 2 sons: Berkley (Meltoria) and Rendol (Chevette) Rolle; 1 daughter: Ericka (Stacy) Hayes; 1 Adopted son: Philip (Tanya) Newbold; 1 Adopted daughter: Angela Perry; 5 Sisters: Daisymae Bain, Genesta Adderley, Agnes Bonaby, Maryann (Fredrick) Newchurch, and Chrisla Humes; Four Step Sisters: Valerie Rolle, Lyn Bobb, Polly and Eyvonne Ellington; 6 grandsons: Rendol (Phelicia), Alphonso (Renel), Arin, Dunte, Asriel and Michael; 4 Granddaughters: Shontivia, Alexa, Rendesha and Urica; 3 Adopted granddaughters: Donecia, Shanti and Amari; 1 Great granddaughter: Renahja; 1 God daughter: Brenda (Philip) Smith; 1 Aunt: Maggie Harrison and Family; Nephews: David Storr, Dudley, Gregory, Micheal Samuel, Whitney, Dwight, Audric, Shane, Jevon, Ashton, Antonio, Ken, Markiss, Memphis, Steven, Bernard, Huey Edgecombe; Nieces: Harolene, Fredricka, Darnel, Barbara, Doreen, Brenda Adderley, Debra, Daffla, Sheridan Wilson, Marsha Richardson, Marva Storr, Cassia, Candance, Shenique & Monique Storr, Ebony, Natasha, Ashley, DaNiel, Jody, Melanie, Sian, Heslyn, Anjil, Alys, Raquel, Crystal, Myra & Marva Humes, Louisa, Stephanie, Meghan, Dudleyann, Nicolette, Nolly; Relatives and Friends: Eugenia Thurston, Katie Collie, John Adderly, Helen Harris & Family, Hazel Shea and Patricia Burrows, Marilyn Beaubien, Bryan and Monique Bethel, Tyrone and Deidre Morris, Thelma Strachan, Sandra Rolle, Helena Mackey, Nurse Kemp, Jeraldine Black, The Burns Family, The Gaitor Family, Shervin and Dorothy Smith, Debbie Bain, The Neely’s, Jocelyn, Blanche, Paula, Genevieve and Marcia, Sharon and Dorothea, The Johnson Road Family. Special Thanks to: Dr. Indira Grimes, Caregivers Fifi, Maline and Rose. The Staff of Female Medical Staff I PMH many others too numerous to mention.

Viewing will be held in the Serenity Suite at Restview Memorial Mortuary and Crematorium Ltd., Robinson and Soldier Roads on Wednesday (TODAY) from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and at the church on Thursday from 8:30 a.m. until service time.

THERE is nothing quite like the view from an airplane window descending to Nassau. It is always refreshing and energising for me when I see the familiar turquoise ocean, both because I try to go to the beach every day and I have yet to see another landing come close. I had been on a beach just days before in another country, but it was no contest. There was a sargassum issue, the water was rough and the view just did not match up.

There is something about returning after an extended period away that changes perspective.

There is also something about being away that makes the memory of a place more rosy. I know I am having a honeymoon with Nassau right now, but it is nice to do the things that will soon be the norm again.

There is quite a bit that I have missed.

After time away, one of the first things I do is make my way to Arawak Cay for conch salad. There is a stall my

family always goes to, but the person moved to another location. I called a few people to find out exactly where he works from now, and someone kindly met me on the strip to take me to the right place. This is how serious I am about my conch salad. I need to go to the person who knows exactly how I like it. A few days in, I still have a few things on my list of “firsts” to do.

They include a beach day, cracked conch, a visit to the National Art Gallery and a live music event.

I am also looking forward to seeing Odd Couple at The Dundas this week.

In a few weeks, I may slip up and say there is nothing to do, but it is not likely to be true. Getting conch salad is like a show, the beach is an outdoor recreational centre with a spa and gym, eating is akin to a national sport, and there are exhibition openings every week. We only have to pay attention.

WARNING OVER CONTAMINATED BEEF

By FARRAH JOHNSON

THE Bahamas Agricultural Health and Food Safety Authority has advised the public of a recall of raw beef packaged at the Aurora Packing Company, Inc that may be contaminated with e-coli.

According to BAHFSA’s advisory, on May 22 the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a recall for over 62,000 pounds of raw beef due to a “potential e-coli contamination after random sampling”.

The packaged meat has “the establishment number, “EST 788”, inside the USDA mark of inspection, and the recall includes over 40 products, mostly steak (rib-eyes, ribs and brisket cuts),” the statement read.

BAHFSA urged local

retailers and wholesalers to remove the product from their freezers and also asked customers to discard the raw beef products if they are found within their possession.

BAHFSA also encouraged consumers to be vigilant when preparing and consuming meat products. It recommended using running water to rinse fresh fruits, vegetables and conch; using ice to keep selected items cold (40℉ or below); ensuring food is not kept out of the refrigerator for more than two hours after preparation; washing hands under warm running water for 20 seconds whenever exposed to possible contamination; and keeping raw foods separate from fresh, ready to eat foods to avoid cross contamination.

The authority also recommended and using

a food thermometer to ensure meats are cooked to the correct internal temperature at home and at outdoor events.

Sick, elderly or pregnant women, including children under five should not consume food that may be at risk. Persons are asked to contact a health professional if they believe anyone may have consumed contaminated food and further, retain such food to be sampled by the health official.

BAHFSA noted that the Ministry of Health’s Surveillance Unit has not received any reports of illness related to this recall and added that none have been confirmed by the USDA. Consumers with questions and concerns are encouraged to contact BAHFSA at bahfsa@bahamas.gov.bs.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, May 29, 2019, PAGE 9

Origami-inspired materials could soften the blow for reusable spacecraft

S

PACE vehicles like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 are designed to be reusable. But this means that, like Olympic gymnasts hoping for a gold medal, they have to stick their landings.

Landing is stressful on a rocket’s legs because they must handle the force from the impact with the landing pad. One way to combat this is to build legs out of materials that absorb some of the force and soften the blow.

University of Washington researchers have developed a novel solution to help reduce impact forces — for potential applications in spacecraft, cars and beyond. Inspired by the paper folding art of origami, the team created a paper model of a metamaterial that uses “folding creases” to soften impact forces and instead promote forces that relax stresses in the chain.

The team published its results May 24 in Science Advances.

“If you were wearing a football helmet made of this material and something hit the helmet, you’d never feel that hit on your head.

By the time the energy reaches you, it’s no longer pushing. It’s pulling,” said corresponding author Jinkyu Yang, a UW associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics.

MANY fish, marine mammals and seabirds that inhabit the world’s oceans are critically endangered, but few are as close to the brink as the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). Only about 411 of these whales exist today, and at their current rate of decline, they could become extinct within our lifetimes.

From 1980 through about 2010, conservation efforts focused mainly on protecting whales from being struck by ships. Federal regulations helped reduce vessel collisions and supported a slight rebound in right whale numbers.

But at the same time, growing numbers of right whales died after becoming entangled in lobster and crab fishing gear. This may have happened because fishing ropes became stronger, and both whales and fishermen shifted their ranges so that areas of overlap increased. Entanglement has caused 80% of diagnosed mortalities since 2010, and the population has taken a significant downward turn.

This comes after a millennium of whaling that decimated the right whale population, reducing it from perhaps between 10,000 to 20,000 to a few hundred animals today.

And entanglement deaths are much more inhumane than harpoons. A whaler’s explosive harpoon kills quickly, compared to months of drawn-out pain

“Metamaterials are like Legos. You can make all types of structures by repeating a single type of building block, or unit cell as we call it,” he said.

“Depending on how you design your unit cell, you can create a material with unique mechanical

properties that are unprecedented in nature.”

The researchers turned to the art of origami to create this particular unit cell.

Previously the team created a variety of origami unit cells that had different folding patterns and stiffness.

“Origami is great for realising the unit cell,” said co-author Yasuhiro Miyazawa, a UW aeronautics and astronautics doctoral student.

“By changing where we introduce creases into flat materials, we can design materials that exhibit different degrees of stiffness when they fold and unfold.

Here we’ve created a unit cell that softens the force it feels when someone pushes on it, and it accentuates the tension that follows as the cell returns to its normal shape.”

Just like origami, these unit cell prototypes are made out of paper. The researchers used a laser cutter to cut dotted lines into paper to designate where to fold. The team folded the paper along the lines to form a cylindrical structure, and then glued acrylic caps on either end to connect the cells into a long chain.

The researchers lined up 20 cells and connected one end to a device that pushed and set off a reaction throughout the chain.

Using six GoPro cameras, the team tracked the initial compression wave and the following tension wave as the unit cells returned to normal.

The chain composed of the origami cells showed the counterintuitive wave motion: Even though the

HIGH-TECH FISHING GEAR COULD HELP SAVE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED RIGHT WHALES

down in zones along the US Atlantic coast where they were highly likely to encounter whales, reducing boat strikes. But this victory has been offset by rising numbers of entanglements.

Adult right whales can produce up to an estimated 8,000 pounds of force with a single stroke of their flukes.

When they become tangled in fishing gear, they often break it and swim off trailing ropes and sometimes crab or lobster traps.

Lines and gear can wrap around a whale’s body, flukes, flippers and mouth.

They impede swimming and feeding, and cause chronic infection, emaciation and damage to blubber, muscle and bone. Ultimately these injuries weaken the animal until it dies, which can take months to years.

One of us, Michael Moore, is trained as a veterinarian and has examined many entangled dead whales. Moore has seen fishing rope embedded inches deep into a whale’s lip, and a juvenile whale whose spine had been deformed by the strain of dragging fishing gear.

Other animals had flippers nearly severed by swimming wrapped in inexorably constricting ropes. Entanglement injuries to right whales are the worst animal trauma Moore has seen in his career.

Even if whales are able to wriggle free and live, the extreme stress and energy demands of entanglement,

along with inadequate nutrition, are thought to be preventing females from getting pregnant and contributing to record low calving rates in recent years.

Solutions for whales and fishermen The greatest entanglement risk is from ropes that lobster and crab fishermen use to attach buoys to traps they set on the ocean floor. Humpback and minke whales and leatherback sea turtles, all of which are federally protected, also become entangled.

Conservationists are looking for ways to modify or eliminate these ropes.

Rock lobster fishermen in Australia already use pop-up buoys that ascend when they receive sound signals from fishing boats.

The buoys trail out ropes as they rise, which fishermen retrieve and use to pull up their traps.

Other technologies are in development, including systems that acoustically identify traps on the seafloor and mark them with “virtual buoys” on fishermen’s chart plotters, eliminating the need for surface buoys. Fishermen also routinely use a customised hook on the end of a rope to catch the line between traps and haul them to the surface when the buoy line goes missing.

Transitioning to ropeless technology will require a sea change in some of North America’s most valuable fisheries. The 2016 US

INSPIRED by the paper folding art of origami, a University of Washington team created a paper model of a metamaterial that uses “folding creases” to soften impact forces for potential applications in spacecraft, cars and beyond Photos: Kiyomi Taguchi/University of Washington

and debilitation caused by seemingly harmless fishing lines. We believe these deaths can be prevented by working with the trap fishing industries to adopt ropeless fishing gear – but North Atlantic right whales are running out of time.

Deadly encounters Whalers pursued right whales for centuries because this species swam relatively slowly and floated when dead, so it was easier to kill and retrieve than other whales. By the mid20th century, scientists assumed they had been hunted to extinction. But in 1980, researchers from the New England Aquarium who were studying marine mammal distribution in the Bay of Fundy off eastern Canada were stunned when they sighted 26 right whales.

Conservation efforts led to the enactment of regulations that required commercial ships to slow

compressive pushing force from the device started the whole reaction, that force never made it to the other end of the chain. Instead, it was replaced by the tension force that started as the first unit cells returned to normal and propagated faster and faster down the chain. So the unit cells at the end of the chain only felt the tension force pulling them back.

“Impact is a problem we encounter on a daily basis, and our system provides a completely new approach to reducing its effects. For example, we’d like to use it to help both people and cars fare better in car accidents,” Yang said. “Right now it’s made out of paper, but we plan to make it out of a composite material. Ideally, we could optimise the material for each specific application.”

Additional co-authors are Hiromi Yasuda, a postdoc at the University of Pennsylvania who completed this research as a UW aeronautics and astronautics doctoral student; Efstathios Charalampidis and Panayotis Kevrekidis at the University of Massachusetts; and Christopher Chong at Bowdoin College.

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research and the Washington Research Foundation. lobster catch was worth US$670m. Canadian fishermen landed CA$1.3bn worth of lobster and CA$590m worth of snow crab.

Just as no fisherman wants to catch a whale, researchers and conservationists don’t want to put fishermen out of business.

In our view, ropeless technologies offer a genuine opportunity for whales and the fishing industry to coexist if they can be made functional, affordable and safe to use.

Switching to ropeless gear is unlikely to be cheap.

But as systems evolve and simplify, and production scales up, they will become more affordable. And government support could help fishermen make the shift.

In Canada, the federal and New Brunswick provincial governments recently awarded CA$2m to Canadian snow crab fishermen to test two ropeless trap designs.

Converting could save fishermen money in the long run. For example, California Dungeness crab fishermen closed their 2019 season three months ahead of schedule on April 15 to settle a lawsuit over whale entanglements, leaving crab they could have caught still in the water. Under the agreement, fishermen using ropeless gear will be exempt from future early closures.

COLORADO STUDENTS PHOTOGRAPHED FOR FACIAL RECOGNITION STUDY DENVER (AP) — More than 1,700 people walking on a University of Colorado campus were unknowingly photographed as part of a facial recognition research project funded by US intelligence and military agencies, a newspaper reported.

Professor Terrance Boult set up a long-range surveillance camera in an office window at the Colorado Springs campus.

It captured more than 16,000 images of passers-by during the spring semesters of 2012 and 2013, The Denver Post reported on Monday.

The research project, which was first reported by the Colorado Springs Independent, received funding from US intelligence and military agencies, including the Office of Naval Research and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Boult’s research examined whether facial recognition algorithms could meet standards for use by the US Navy. The research then aimed to improve the technology after Boult’s team found it wasn’t up to par.

“The study is trying to make facial recognition better, especially at long range or surveillance applications,” Boult said. “We wanted to collect a dataset of people acting naturally in public because that’s the way people are trying to use facial recognition.”

The camera recorded people who were walking on the west lawn of the campus from about 490 feet away. The images resulted in 1,732 unique identities. The dataset was made publicly available online in 2016 and was taken down last April.

Boult said he waited five years to release the dataset online to protect student privacy.

The university’s Institutional Review Board also examined the research protocol for the project, university spokesman Jared Verner said in a statement.

“No personal information was collected or distributed in this specific study,” Verner said. “The photographs were collected in public areas and made available to researchers after five years when most students would have graduated.”

The project raises questions about whether technological advancement is crossing ethical boundaries, said Bernard Chao, a University of Denver law professor, who teaches the intersection of law and technology.

“It’s yet another area where we’re seeing privacy intrusions that disturb us,” Chao said.

PAGE 10, Wednesday, May 29, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

TRIBUNE photographer Terrel W Carey Sr popped into St Cecilia Primary School yesterday

Full Military Funeral Service CONSTABLE 625 SEAN BENJAMIN SR., 47 of Pinewood Garden, will be held on Thursday, 30th May, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. at Cousin McPhee A.M.E. Church. Officiating will be Howard F. Williamson. Interment will follow in Lakeview Memorial Garden, J. F. Kennedy Drive.

He is survived by his Wife: Darlene Rolle Benjamin; Children: Dereck Sr., Shane Sr., Sean Jr., Marine Seaman Sherwin, Tonya, Jamika, Shaniqua; Grandchildren: Jadon, Jada, Prescott Jr., Dereck Jr., Toryia, Shane Jr., Javeon, Shanae and Derrin; Daughterin-Law: Monica; Sons-In-Law: Corey & Lynardo; Brothers and Spouses: Neil (Judy), Craig (Kelsey), Eric, Ricardo (Antionette), William (Ayesha), Edward (Gemma); Sisters and Spouses: Lisl (Michael), Sylvia (Anthony), Valene(Sean), Christine (Larry), Edith, Alvira and Vanessa; In-laws and Spouses: Esther (Phillip), Corene (Donnie), Marion (Sands), Lillian (Whitney), Marjorie, Tyrone (Denise), David, Nicole, Ricardo and Anthony; Grand Father: Astoud Benjamin; Uncles: Basil Connolly, Wiljean and Dieune Benjamin; Aunts: Eulah Sawyer, Luczalie and Etionna Benjamin, Mary (Luther) Ferguson, Angela Renkin, Iva Culmer. Numerous Nieces and Nephews including: Deandrea, Dennis, Storm, Remon, Tempestt, Angel, DeontÊ, Shania, Brooklyn, Neil Jr., Deborah, Monica, Michael Jr., Joshua, Jonathan, Daniel, Deborah, Jeremiah, Mckail, Serenity, Jonathan Jr., Devaughyna, Davia, Allanique (Johnson), Denico, Dajanique, Lazario, Dennis, Denneisha, Denyshio, Antanice, Andrea, Anthony Jr., Keshlon, Alona, Nathan, Nathaniel, Adrian, Vaughn, Shantel, Vancino, Apryl, Krystell, Kelson Samaniquo, Shonique, Nicole, Kara (Khyle), Eric Jr., Euric, Eurice, Emmanuel, Eunah, Rashard, Edward, Eddeisha, Jermaine, Justin, Gilbert, Ethan, Ricardo Jr., Ricara, Shavonte, Shorn Smith, Sheena, Shacara, Shamar, Shanario, Lakeisha, Phillip Jr., Lex (Remelda), Jermaine (Zephramae), Nathalia (Tanneil), Latoya (Brian), Ian (Tonya), Anthonique (Odell), Donnie Jr.,Yonnie, Craig, Brittany, Jerry Jr., Zenovia, Lathecia, Tyronike, Tyrosha, Tyrone Jr., Tryshawn, Tyrese, Tyler, Daveniqie, David Jr.; Cousins: Morrison, Mirlande, Suzie, Erick, Diane, Marieta Wiljohn, Jacques, Rita, Lucianne, Winnie; Godson, Peterson, Guito, Anthony, Aneilia, Jayda, Annesha, Keniah, Kenard, Daniel, Geno, Ashley, Gladys, Dianne, Anthon, Anasis.Numerous other Family and Friends including: Howard F. Williamson & Family, His God Children, Former Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade, Anthony Smith, Tracy Phillips & Family, Julian Mullings, Mr & Mrs. Jones & Family, Tyrone Gray, Timothy Saunders & Family, Kenneth Major, Sherwin & Family, Terrance Smith Sr., Sherell Rolle, Terrance Smith Jr., Arlington Forde, Partick Smith, Wendell Culmer, Paul Taylor, Walter Farrington, Ellis & Family, Jarette Stubbs, George Armbrister & Family, Inez Rolle & Family, Wendy Rolle & Family, Indira & Charlene Culmer & Family, Chris Minus & Family, Corey & Ellie Bastian & Family, Romeo Smith & Family, Harriett Roberts & Family, Perry McKenzie, Ms. Hepburn & Family, Daron’s Barber Shop & Crew, Tameko Culmer, Michael Hepburn & Family, Brent Curry, Blane Symonette, Brendall Bethel & Family, Mr & Mrs Jeremy Barton & Family, Melony, Keva, Phillipia Major & Family, Quincy, Marcus, Lamont, Loretta Ferguson & Family, Nadine Whylly, Evatley Fowler & Family, Anwon Arnette & Family, Kenny & Family, Daniel, Steve, Mr. Miscalin & Family, Mr Bain & Family, Boo, The Robinson Morris Chapel Family, The General Post Office, Epic Battery, Jmel Enterprises, DaySpring Academy, The Learning Tree, Tomico (Fadda Fats) & Power House Family,The entire Royal Bahamas Police Force, Saxons, Masons Addition Community, Fort Hill Community, Pinewood Gardens Community. The Entire Bahamas 700 Islands and Cays. If you did not see your name, please forgive us.

Relatives and friends may their last respect at The Paul Farquharson Center, East Street on Wednesday from 10:00a.m.-6:00p.m. and again at the church on Thursday from 10:00a.m. until service time.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, May 29, 2019, PAGE 11

SAVE THE CHILDREN: KIDS IN 173 COUNTRIES NOW BETTER OFF Associated Press

A CHILDREN’S advocacy group says youngsters in all but three of the 176 countries it evaluated have a better chance of growing up healthy, educated and protected from harmful practices like child labor and child marriage than at any time in the past two decades.

Save the Children said in a report released yesterday saying that UN statistics show at least 280 million children are better off today. But it said a quarter of the world’s children are still denied the right to a safe and healthy

childhood, with youngsters fleeing or caught in conflict the most disadvantaged.

Singapore tops the rankings as the country that best protects and provides for its children, followed

by Sweden, Finland, Norway, Slovenia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, South Korea and Belgium. At the bottom were Central African Republic, Niger despite recent progress, Chad, Mali and South Sudan.

The Global Childhood Report 2019 said the most dramatic progress since 2000 was among some of the world’s poorest countries. Sierra Leone made the biggest improvements, followed

by Rwanda, Ethiopia and Niger.

The United States ranks 36th in the 2019 report, tied with China.

It ranks just above Bahrain, Belarus and Kuwait and ahead of Bosnia and Russia, tied at 38.

Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children, said the report looked at eight indicators of a good childhood including child survival, education, child labor and early marriage and compared the year 2000 with 2018.

“There has been remarkable progress if you look across the world,” she said at a recent briefing on the report’s finding. “It’s an amazing statistic” that the

indicators overall got better in 173 of 176 countries.

Compared with 2000, Miles said there was a 49% drop in deaths of children under age 5, a 40% drop in child labor, a 33% drop in chronic malnutrition and stunting, and a 25% drop in child marriage.

She said only one of the indicators rose — the number of children living in conflict or affected by violence — and it increased “very significantly.”

There was an 80% rise in children living in or fleeing conflict zones in the 2000-2018 period, Miles said, “and today’s conflicts last much, much longer.”

According to the report, an estimated 420 million children are living in conflict zones, more than double the number in 1995, and nearly 31 million children today have been forcibly displaced from their homes.

Launched ahead of International Children’s Day on June 1, the report said that in 2000, an estimated 970 million children were robbed of their childhood by events such as exclusion from education, malnutrition, sickness, violent death, child marriage and early pregnancy. That number today has been reduced to 690 million, it said.

EU DIVIDED ON TOP JOBS AFTER POLLS REDRAW POLITICAL MAP

THRONES STAR BOOKS INTO REHAB

GAME of Thrones star Kir Harington has checked into a rehab facility in the US to be treated for stress and alcohol use as the last season of the hit show was airing.

The 32-year-old British actor arrived at the luxury Privé-Swiss wellness retreat in Connecticut a month ago, sources told the New York Post.

His publicist confirmed Harrington had checked into the facility. “Kit has decided to utilize this break in his schedule as an opportunity to spend some time at a wellness retreat to work on some personal issues,” his publicist said.

The facility, which costs more than $120,000 a month, teaches its clients how to deal with stress and negative emotions.

BRUSSELS Associated Press

THE 32-year-old British actor has checked into the luxury Privé-Swiss wellness retreat in Connecticut

Tornadoes erupt across US with more to come INDIANAPOLIS Associated Press

TORNADOES have erupted in the United States as a volatile mix of warm, moist air from the Southeast and persistent cold from the Rockies clashed and stalled over the Midwest.

On Monday, the US tied its current record of 11 consecutive days with at least eight tornadoes on each of those days, said Patrick Marsh, warning coordination meteorologist for the federal Storm Prediction Center. The previous 11-day stretch of at least eight tornadoes per day ended on June 7, 1980.

“We’re getting big counts on a lot of these days and that is certainly unusual,” Marsh said.

The National Weather Service had already received more than a dozen reports of tornadoes yesterday evening, suggesting that the record for consecutive days would

be broken once the official totals are in.

The US has experienced a lull in the number of tornadoes since 2012, with tornado counts tracking at or below average each year and meteorologists still working to figure out why.

“A lot of people are trying to answer that, but there’s no definitive answer,” Marsh said.

The recent surge in tornado activity over the past two weeks was driven by high pressure over the Southeast and an unusually cold trough over the Rockies that forced warm, moist air into the central US, sparking repeated severe thunderstorms and periodic tornadoes.

Scientists also say climate change is responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme weather such as storms, droughts, floods and fires, but without extensive study they cannot directly link a single weather event to the changing climate.

“Neither one of these large systems —the high over the Southeast or the trough over the Rockies— are showing signs of moving,” Marsh said. “It’s a little unusual for them to be so entrenched this late in the season.”

Those conditions are ripe for the kind of tornadoes that have swept across the Midwest in the last two weeks, said Cathy Zapotocny, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Valley, Nebraska. Zapotocny said the unstable atmosphere helped fuel many of the severe winter storms and subsequent flooding that ravaged Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri earlier this year.

“We’ve been stuck in this pattern since February,” she said.

Zapotocny said the number of tornadoes this year was “basically normal” until the surge this week.

May is typically the month with the highest incidence of tornadoes, usually in the Plains and Midwestern

states collectively known as Tornado Alley, where most of this year’s twisters have hit.

The National Weather Service has received 934 tornado reports so far this year, up from the yearly average of 743 observed tornadoes.

More than 500 of those reports came in the last 30 days. The actual number is likely lower, however, because some of the reports probably come from different witnesses who spot the same twister.

Most of the confirmed tornadoes were rated as less-intense EF0, EF1 and EF2s on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. But 23 were classified as EF3 tornadoes, with wind speeds of 136-165 mph. The strongest confirmed tornado this year was the EF4 tornado that killed 23 people in Alabama in March.

So far this year, 38 people have died in 10 tornadoes in the United States, including a combined seven within the last week in Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma and Ohio.

EUROPEAN Union leaders stood divided Tuesday over who to name to the bloc’s top jobs, after elections shredded comfortable old political alliances and raised troubling questions about the future of the European project.

At a summit in Brussels, major powers France, Germany and Spain all differed over who is best suited to lead the EU’s powerful executive arm, the European Commission, for the next five years. Former Luxembourg Premier Jean-Claude heads the commission, which proposes EU laws and ensures they are respected, until Oct. 31.

After voters turned out for last week’s European Parliament elections in numbers not seen in 20 years, the leaders want to show they can respond quickly to people’s concerns. The aim is to name all four top jobs — the commission chief, a replacement for Donald Tusk as European Council president, a new foreign policy chief and head of the European Central Bank — at a summit June 21-22.

Avoiding any mention of the differences or candidate names, Tusk said the leaders hope “we can provide clarity on all these posts already in June,” but he said that “this depends not only my good will but also on the good will of everyone involved.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, whose party is joining forces with a new pro-business liberal group in the EU parliament for the first time, insisted the choices should represent the new political project that European voters are demanding.

“The new order means one thing: It’s that we cannot just repeat the old habits,” Macron told reporters. “It is important to me that these nominations have parity, that we have two men and two women.”

DEATHS RISE AS NEPAL ISSUES MORE INFLUENTIAL FORMER JAMAICAN PM PERMITS TO CLIMB MOUNT EVEREST EDWARD SEAGA DIES AT AGE OF 89 Associated Press

NEPAL Associated Press

SCALING Mount Everest was a dream few realised before Nepal opened its side of the mountain to commercial climbing a halfcentury ago. This year the government issued a record number of permits, leading to jams on the world’s highest peak that likely contributed to the greatest death toll in four years.

As the allure of Everest grows, so have the crowds, with inexperienced climbers faltering on the narrow passageway to the peak and causing deadly delays, veteran climbers said.

After 11 people died this year, Nepal tourism officials have no intention of restricting the number of permits issued, instead encouraging even more tourists and climbers to come “for both pleasure and fame,” said Mohan Krishna Sapkota, secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation.

Nepal, one of the world’s poorest countries, relies on the

MOUNTAIN climbers line a path on Mount Everest climbing industry to bring in $300 million each year.

It doesn’t cap the number of permits it issues or control the pace or timing of the expeditions, leaving that to tour operators and guides who take advantage of brief clear weather conditions whenever they come, leading to pileups near the peak.

On May 22, a climber snapped a photo from a line with dozens of hikers in colorful winter gear that snaked into the sky.

Climbers were crammed along a sharp-edged ridge

above South Col, with a 7,000-foot drop on either side, all clipped onto a single line of rope, trudging toward the top of the world and risking death as each minute ticked by.

“There were more people on Everest than there should be,” said Kul Bahadur Gurung, general secretary of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, an umbrella group of all expedition operators in Nepal. “We lack the rules and regulations that say how many people can actually go up and when.”

EDWARD Seaga, a former Jamaican prime minister who shaped the island’s post-independence politics and cultural life, died yesterday aged 89.

Seaga, Jamaica’s prime minister from 1980 until 1989, was the only remaining member of the generation of leaders who drafted the constitution when the Caribbean island gained independence from Britain in 1962.

His political career began in the late 1950s and he won a parliamentary seat in 1962. He was West Kingston’s representative for 40 consecutive years and held a parliamentary seat longer than anyone in Jamaica’s history.

Born May 28, 1930, in Massachusetts to LebaneseJamaican parents, Seaga renounced his U.S. citizenship at a young age to show his loyalty to Jamaica. He studied anthropology at Harvard University and published several papers on Afro-Jamaican folklore and Obeah, a religion

FORMER Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga in 2002 combining Christian and African rituals.

Prior to entering politics, Seaga was a major record producer who operated the West Indies Record Ltd. distribution company and played a role in introducing ska to the world.

At 29, he was appointed to Jamaica’s upper legislative house by Labor Party founder and Jamaica’s first prime minister, Alexander Bustamante.

As opposition leader in the 1970s, Seaga railed against the socialist agenda of then-Prime Minister Michael Manley, saying it crippled the island’s fragile

economy. When Seaga’s Labor Party ousted the incumbent Manley and the People’s National Party’s “democratic socialist” administration in 1980, Seaga described the landslide victory as a “declaration against communism in Jamaica.”

As Jamaica’s leader, Seaga instituted a proAmerican, free-market economy, ushering in what many consider the island’s most prosperous era. He was U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s closest Caribbean ally and was able to boost a struggling economy that was hit hard by soaring inflation and widespread joblessness. But national debt soared.

The run-up to the 1980 elections that vaulted him to power was extraordinarily bloody. Clashes between rival partisans killed nearly 800 people. For some older Jamaicans, Seaga is forever linked with the state-sponsored political violence of the 1970s, when Jamaica’s two major political factions used gun-toting gangsters to sway voters.