05012024 NEWS AND SPORT

‘MP RAPED ME AND SPAT ON ME’

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A WOMAN cried and alleged in court that North Abaco MP Kirk Cornish raped her, spat on her and left her in fear for her life.

The 35-year-old woman’s testimony yesterday depicted Cornish as violent.

She claimed she was with the defendant in his car off Arawak Cay in November 2022 when he put his hands on her and choked her after a conversation did not go his way. She claimed when the defendant released her, she coughed, vomited and tried to catch her breath.

She said she was sitting in a yard in Cornish’s vehicle in Cooper’s Town, Abaco, on January 20, 2023, when another conversation between the two turned sour.

PAGE THREE

MP Kirk Cornish arriving at court on Monday.

Photo: Dante Carrer

By KEILE CAMPBELL kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Works Desmond Bannister said the recently tabled Electricity Bill would empower the government to transfer Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) assets to subsidiary companies.

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

THE Public Hospitals Authority denied that some ambulances are uninsured and unlicenced but did not verify whether only four ambulances in New Providence are operational.

Health Minister Dr Michael Darville confirmed that there is a shortage of ambulances in the country and said 14 new ones will arrive within a few months. A voice note purportedly from a National Emergency Medical Services (NEMS) employee alleged that only four emergency medical vehicles are operational and that they are unlicenced and uninsured. In a statement, the PHA said “all ambulances currently in service with

BUS fares will increase today in New Providence and Grand Bahama, the first adjustment since October 2008. After months of consultation and negotiations, the Ministry of Energy and Transport announced the change yesterday. It said it would introduce new routes and bus stops to facilitate

NORTH Abaco

RBDF welcomes 19 new recruits

THE Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) welcomed 19 recruits to its ranks as reserves during a Passing Out Parade Ceremony held at its Coral Harbour base on Monday.

The group successfully completed eight weeks of arduous basic military training that provided professional disciplines in Navigation, Seamanship, Weapons Handling, Defence Act and Regulations, Military Martial Arts, Survival, Firefighting and Communications.

In his address to the newest squad of Marines, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe reminded the group that they have chosen a life of sacrifice and that the road ahead would be lined with difficult tasks. He also expressed his confidence in them understanding the gravity of their decision in choosing a life dedicated to safeguarding our nation.

NATIONAL Security Ministe Wayne Munroe welcomed 19 recruits to its ranks as reserves during a Passing Out Parade Ceremony held at its Coral Harbour base on Monday. Photos: RBDF

‘MP raped me and spat on me’

from page one

She alleged that when she failed to say what Cornish wanted her to say in a phone conversation with a friend, Cornish flew into a rage and struck her in the eye with his fingers two or three times.

She claimed Cornish then choked her again, adding that when the attack stopped and Cornish dropped her home, he told her: “I should just shoot you.” She said she took photos of herself after that alleged attack.

She said Cornish accompanied her when she saw an eye doctor in New Providence after the January 20 incident.

The complainant said on March 25, 2023, she accompanied the defendant to the swearing-in ceremony for a new commissioner and later went to an Airbnb with him in the Stapledon area.

She claimed the two were sitting on a couch in the living room when Cornish got angry over something

she had said. It was then, she claimed, that Cornish grabbed a knife and launched at her, putting the knife to her throat. She said she held her hands in a defensive position, pleading with him to stop.

She said she saw her life flash before her eyes. She said when the defendant released her, he began to rant throughout the room. She said when she went to her bedroom, the defendant later came in.

She calmly told the court how the defendant allegedly took off her underwear and had sex with her against her will and spat in her face before she went to the bathroom.

Vashti Bridgewater and Basil Cumberthatch are the prosecutors. When Mr Cumberthatch asked the complainant why she stayed with Cornish until their return flight to Abaco the following morning, she said she had nowhere else to go.

She said she didn’t go to the police until April 7, 2023

–– after the second alleged sexual assault –– because the two were in a relationship and she did not want to embarrass him.

She said that on April 4, 2023, she was on a phone call with a foreign-based friend at her Cooper’s Town, Abaco, residence when Cornish tried to call her, but she ignored him.

She said she began to panic when she heard him knock on the door shortly after.

She said after letting Cornish inside, he locked the door behind him and started to talk while walking towards her as she backed away. Through tears, she alleged that Cornish said: “Why are you stenching? If I wanted to do something to you I would have done it.”

After composing herself in court, she alleged Cornish forced her into her bedroom and pinned her to the bed as he took off her clothes.

She claimed that when she tried to resist him and keep her legs clamped, he threatened to break her legs

UNPROVEN CLAIM BY ONLINE NEWS STORY CAUSES GRIEF TO FAMILY OF MISSING MAN

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE family of Kyle Carey, a 20-year-old man reported missing last year, was left distraught and angry after Bahamaspress published an unproven claim that the remains of the young man were found in a cemetery.

Mr Carey’s mother, Tracey Carey, said she became dismayed after seeing the report. Her family immediately went to the Central Detective Unit for answers, but learned no DNA tests had been performed.

Police reported two separate cases of finding skeletal remains last week, one at a Fox Hill cemetery and the other at the Old Trail Public Cemetery.

The grim discoveries disturbed Mrs Carey’s family, prompting relatives to contact the police.

However, Mrs Carey said officers said it was too early to confirm the identities of the deceased.

She said Bahamapress’ post caused the family tremendous grief and left her questioning the motive.

“I don’t know why they would do something like that,” she said.

“It’s causing my family tremendous pain. My phone and my husband’s phone has not stopped ringing from last night with people sending condolences and this is just, you know, it’s a tremendous strain on the family right now with what they’ve done and I don’t understand where they would have gotten something like that from to confirm and to post that up.”

“My son who lives in the States, he called me five o’clock in the morning because someone messaged him over there saying condolences on your brother, and you know my daughter is getting calls. My other son, who is the twin of Kyle, couldn’t even go to work. I had to call his boss and speak with him yesterday so he’s home now.”’

She said police promised to contact the site to have the post removed, but it was still there as of press time yesterday.

“That’s very reckless on their behalf,” Mrs Carey said.

Mr Carey was reported missing on May 11, 2023. Nearly a year later, the family still hopes for his return.

“We’re still keeping an open mind that my son is still alive,” Mrs Carey said. “And so I tried not to let it, you know, get to me without having any concrete evidence that that is the case.”

before forcing himself inside her.

She said Cornish said: “This is what you want? You want the monster, you got it.”

She said Cornish cleaned himself up after the alleged rape.

She said before he left her house, he allegedly told her: “This isn’t going to get any better, cheapest you just leave the island.”

She said after the assault, she called back the foreignbased friend to whom she was initially talking.

She will continue her testimony today before Justice Renae McKay. Cornish faces two counts of rape, two counts of assault and one count of threats of death.

During her opening remarks, Ms Bridgewater told the nine-person jury they are the sole judge of facts. She encouraged them to make a just decision after hearing all of the evidence against the accused.

Tai Pinder-Mackey and Monique Murphy Grant represent Cornish.

Bannister: no safeguards in tabled Electricity bill

from page one

Elected officials are expected to debate the Electricity Bill today in Parliament.

Bannister said: “This is an example that I’ve been running through my mind: BPL forms a subsidiary company in which they own 50 per cent of the shares and they bring in someone who they call a strategic partner or manager or whatever, and those persons are allocated 50 per cent of the shares; then BPL takes $100m, which these generators are worth, and transfers it into this joint venture. Well, the value of BPL’s assets have just depreciated by 50 per cent.”

He questioned whether the partnering company in such a scenario would make tangible investments. He said a challenge is that while BPL would partner with a private entity to reduce electricity costs for Bahamians, the

private company will seek profits.

“Suppose, for example, $100m worth of generators are put into a company that’s gonna generate electricity,” he said. “The other person comes in and says, well I bring 30 years experience in operating this kind of company, so that’s worth $50m, so they may bring in intangibles rather than tangibles. They may bring in some tangibles, but what they bring in doesn’t necessarily increase the value of the asset.”

Mr Bannister said the bill “doesn’t provide safeguards for the process”, adding: “It has no procurement guidelines, it has no provisions for employees, and it has no provisions for transfer of liabilities.”

He said his legal background makes him concerned about what the bill could cause for BPL workers.

“The bill says you can transfer the functions, and

GBPA awards road contracts to Waugh Construction and Bahamas Hot Mix

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

ROAD works contracts

totalling $1.4M will begin next month in Grand Bahama at 18 roadways, including three major highways in the Freeport area.

The Grand Bahama Port Authority awarded contracts to Waugh Construction Bahamas Ltd, Bahamas Hot Mix, and Freeport Construction Company Ltd yesterday for the works.

Troy McIntosh, deputy director and city manager for the GBPA, said the road works are part of a five-year infrastructural improvement programme that the GBPA implemented two years ago. Several areas have been designated for road works, including Westminster Drive in Windsor Park, a one-mile section of Grand Bahama Highway, West Sunrise Highway from the entrance of Regency Park to the Hawksbill roundabout, Silk Cotton Drive in the civic industrial area, Oleander Street, a portion of Warren J Levarity Highway just on the hill west of Bahama Rock,

Green Turtle Street, Halibut, and Dog Fish Street in Caravel Beach, South Shipton Drive in the Back of Town, Pioneers Way from Frobisher to Columbus Drive, Keats Street, and all junctions, as well as some turning lanes off East Sunrise Highway, including Somerville and Waterfall Drives.

Mr McIntosh said residents in subdivisions where road works will take place can expect notices and scheduled detours.

Godfrey Waugh, president of Waugh Construction, will be responsible for five road sections.

Scott Weavin, BHM’s island representative, is pleased to work with the GBPA again this year.

“We are mobilizing materials and will be ready to go in May,” he said. Bruce Silvera, president of Freeport Construction, said: “We are very grateful for the opportunity to receive the awards for six roads, including the Grand Bahama Highway and West Sunrise Highway.

Mr McIntosh was asked about installing streetlights on the Grand Bahama Highway, which is dark at

night.

He said officials are working with the Grand Bahama Power Company on a pilot project to use solar lights on the GB Highway. If the project is successful, he said they will work with the power company to install more solar lights in the Freeport area.

People are urged to contact the GBPA hotline at 352-2000 to report out-oforder streetlights and dead animals on Freeport roads.

Mr McIntosh reported that officials have made significant progress removing derelict vehicles from verges in areas of Freeport.

“We are working with Police/Urban Renewal to tag the vehicles and remove them,” he said. “For the year, we completed two or three cycles of removals of a little under 100 vehicles, and we have another 40 tagged and are waiting to issue those with vendors.”

He encouraged people to contact scrap yards to remove derelict vehicles from their yards. He noted verges are not an extension of people’s property but rather private property managed and regulated by the GBPA.

you can transfer the assets of BPL, but it doesn’t say you can transfer the employees; it provides no safeguard for them,” he said.

Bahamas Electrical Managers Union (BEMU) secretary general Graham McKinney said his union was not informed about the bill.

“We thought that we were at a place where it wouldn’t have been such a surprise to have heard it come across the airwaves and all the changes that were mentioned,” he told The Tribune, adding the union is engaging the minister responsible for BPL to understand the legislation because members are “very concerned”.

He said members are concerned about job security since the Electricity Bill facilitates the establishment of new subsidiaries under BPL, which would split the management of generation, transmission, and distribution.

NORTH Abaco MP Kirk Cornish outside court on Monday.

Photo: Dante Carrer

KYLE CAREY

THE GRAND Bahama Port Authority signed contracts for major road works in Freeport totalling $1.4m. From left are Bruce Silvera of Freeport Construction Company Ltd; Scott Weavin, island representative of Bahamas Hot Mix Co. Ltd; Troy McIntosh, deputy director and city manager for GBPA; and Godfrey Waugh of Waugh Construction Company Ltd.

Only four ambulances on road?

PHA won’t say - but 14 on way

NEMS are licenced and insured as required by law”.

“PHA acknowledges the concerns of staff and the public regarding emergency vehicles that are currently out of service. We want to assure the public and our dedicated staff that we are actively working to address these concerns and mitigate any impact on service delivery.

“Ambulances currently out of service have been placed at the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre campus for a comprehensive assessment by mechanics before necessary repairs are made to return them to operational condition.”

The PHA said NEMS services will not be interrupted in New Providence.

Dr Darville acknowledged the shortage of ambulances after an unrelated event yesterday, saying it was difficult to procure emergency medical vehicles after the COVID19 pandemic.

“These, like vehicles that are used by the Royal Bahamas Police Force, are constantly on the road and something that has a five-year span usually sometimes only lasts for a year, year and a half,” he said.

“So the Bahamian people can rest assured that we are on top of it. Now that the market is flexible, we are now able to procure ambulances and I am pleased to report through our IDB loan facility the procurement process of 14 ambulances is now completed and should be in the country within a few months.”

He said the “wear and tear” on the vehicles contribute significantly to their reduced life span, noting that the government is continuously procuring additional vehicles to ensure the service provided remains at an appropriate standard.

Dr Darville said the 14 ambulances the government will acquire will be distributed throughout New Providence, Grand Bahama, and selected Family Islands.

Darville: Bills to legalise and decriminalise marijuana will be passed by end of year

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff

Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

BILLS legalising medical marijuana use and decriminalising recreational marijuana use will be passed before the end of this year, Heatlh Minister Dr Michael Darville said yesterday.

He could not definitely say when the legislation will be tabled in the House of Assembly, but said it will be completed

before the budget debate in June.

“Me and the Attorney General are wrapping up all of the parameters in order for them to be laid,” he said.

“I believe that we have something that is very palatable. It is good, and it is unique for The Bahamas.

“I believe it will prove to be very beneficial for patients who are seeking medical cannabis for serious medical illness and do not have to cross borders

with certain derivatives of cannabis that is currently breaking the law.”

In April, the Rastafarian community expressed a desire to meet government officials before the legislation is tabled to ensure the government amended the original draft, which had elements they opposed.

Dr Darville said the meeting has not happened and could not say if it ever will.

“I can tell you that our bill, we did have serious

consultation with various diffident subsets of the Rastafarian group and we are very concerned that we do it right,” he said.

“No one in any bill gets everything what they want, but I believe that through the mitigation and through the discussions, I think we have something that is workable, something that is safe, something that the Bahamian people could be proud of, and something that the community can benefit economically from

the industry once it is put in place.”

Dr Darville declined to comment on the Rastafarian community’s desire for free cannabis cultivation licenses as reparations for years of being criminalised for marijuana possession, saying the decision is up to Cabinet.

The administration’s timeline for tabling and passing cannabis legislation has shifted repeatedly.

Several licences could be obtained under the original

draft: a cultivation licence to permit the growing, harvesting and packaging of cannabis; a retail licence to sell cannabis and cannabis accessories for medical, scientific research and religious purposes; an analytical testing licence; a manufacturing licence for the manufacturing and packaging of cannabis and cannabis accessories; a research licence; a transport licence to deliver cannabis within the country and a religious use licence.

HEATLH Minister Dr Michael Darville speaks to the media while attending

Photo: Dante Carrer

Department of Labour launches a safety awareness campaign

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter

MORE than 100 people reported safety concerns on construction sites, restaurants, and other businesses last year, according to a representative of the Department of Labour’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration Unit (OSHA).

The Department of Labour launched an awareness campaign yesterday to mark World Day Safety and Health at Work.

Sharan Moss, senior safety officer of OSHA, encouraged the public to contact the unit if they encounter infractions against health standards. People can call OSHA at 302-2550 or 302-2562

She said some infractions people reported included workers not having protective gear on construction sites, air conditioning not working in buildings, or inadequate bathroom facilities.

She said once complaints are made, a team from OSHA will address the issues with management of a business. She said the OSHA usually allows staff to work on rotation until the problems are fixed.

The department does not fine businesses that do not comply with safety standards. However, over a dozen businesses since last year were forced to close until they complied.

Labour Director Howard Thompson said after OSHA conducts inspections, findings are reported to the entities or ministries

responsible for oversight.

“For instance, if we make a report, or we submit a report to immigration, they would go and do what they need to do within the bounds of the law,” he said. “If we submit a report to environmental health, they have the power to close an establishment down, so we moreso do the inspection investigation.”

OSHA Day will be celebrated between April 29 and May 3 to spread awareness of work safety. This week, OSHA members will visit different establishments to ensure businesses comply with the Department of Labour’s standards for health and safety.

This year’s awareness campaign focuses on the impacts of climate change on occupational safety and health. Officials said they want businesses to ensure that air conditioning systems are working properly, there is enough ventilation in a building, and mould is nonexistent.

Regarding the lack of protection gear on construction sites, Donavan Colebrook, OSHA inspector and a former worker in the construction industry, said there is a culture on small sites that fails to prioritize safety gear for employees.

“At times you go on the site, people have their scaffolding system, but they don’t tie it into the building,” he said. “They may have it there; they may have some bricks around it or whatever to try to keep it stable. But they don’t have it tied into the building. These are things that we also are looking for.”

Overseas training exercises for BDOCS officers announced.

THE Government of the Republic of Indonesia extended a grant for two Bahamas Departments of Corrections Officers to participate in the Coconut Product Training Course for five weeks.

Additionally, the Italian government will be training some correction officers who are expected to leave the country next week for two weeks.

Another 25 officers will attend training for one month, at the expense of the Italian government. These training exercises serve as an opportunity to provide officers with international exposure.

Training exercises are also underway with France, Canada, and Belgium.

New bus fares to begin today in NP and GB

from page one

“a more accessible and safe public transportation system.”

Last November, Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis said a 25-cent bus fare increase would be rolled out in the first quarter of this year. This would increase bus fares to $1.50.

Harrison Moxey, the United Public Transportation Company’s (UPTC) president, later told Tribune Business his members wanted the new increase implemented before Christmas.

According to the list of fares released yesterday, New Providence costs range from 50 cents for primary school children in uniform to $2.50 for people travelling from downtown to any area beyond Compass Point or from downtown to any area beyond Compass Adelaide Village. Grand Bahama costs range from $1 between Free Town and Bevans Town to $10.25 from downtown to McCleans Town.

OFFICERS at a press conference at Bahamas Department of Corrections on Monday.

Photo: Eric Rose/BIS

MINISTER of Labour and Public Service Pia Glover-Rolle speaks during The Department of Labour’s

Human Resources Forum at Baha Mar on April 30, 2024.

Photos: Dante Carrer

DEPARTMENT of Labour Director Howard Thompson.

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Decaying El Niño’s impact on US’ violent weather

DOZENS of tornadoes hit the central US April 26-28, 2024, tearing through suburbs and small towns and damaging hundreds of homes from Oklahoma to Nebraska and Iowa.

Spring is tornado season in the US, but the tornadoes in Nebraska and Iowa were quite a bit farther north and east of what would be typical for tornadoes in late April, when tornado activity is more common in Oklahoma and Texas.

The outbreak did fit another pattern for severe weather events, however, that occur as the atmosphere transitions out of El Niño. And this is exactly what was happening in late April.

I study tornadoes and the conditions under which they form. Here’s how these storm systems develop and what El Niño has to do with it.

The right conditions for a tornado

Two basic conditions are required to produce the rotating supercell thunderstorms that are capable of generating tornadoes:

Warm moist surface conditions and cold air above.

Winds that change in both speed and direction as you move up in the atmosphere, known as vertical wind shear.

Picture a kid who has a helium balloon at a party and releases it – the balloon floats upward. Like that helium balloon, the warm moist air is less dense than the surrounding colder air, so it rises, accelerating upward. This upward motion releases heat, moisture and energy, and causes thunderstorms to develop.

As with many severe weather outbreaks that occur in the US, the atmosphere became primed for storms as warm moist air at the surface was being transported northward from the Gulf of Mexico by a series of surface low-pressure systems.

Higher up, about halfway between the ground and where airplanes fly, atmospheric waves within and below the jet stream were transporting cold air through the middle part of the atmosphere. These waves, formally called Rossby waves and commonly referred to as troughs and ridges, also enhanced vertical wind shear.

A small atmospheric wave that moved through the Central Plains and Midwest on April 26, helped trigger the tornadoes in Nebraska and Iowa, including a large, destructive tornado in the suburbs of Omaha, Nebraska, and in the town of Minden, Iowa, about 30 miles away.

The following day, a bigger wave moved through Oklahoma, where tornadoes damaged several small towns that evening.

What was especially important was how close these parameters were to the center of the surface low-pressure system and a warm front that extended just to the east of it. The tornado-producing storms were able to tap into that instability and draw on the strong vertical wind shear generated in the vicinity of the warm front.

In addition to the tornadoes, the warm moist storms brought heavy rain, flash flooding and large hail across parts of the central US

What El Niño has to do with tornado weather

In late 2023 and early 2024, much of the world experienced above-average temperatures, likely linked to global climate change and exacerbated by El Niño. El Niño is a naturally occurring cyclical climate phenomenon that affects both the oceans and the atmosphere.

When El Niño decays, the atmospheric waves change and can become wavier, so they have a greater amplitude. That tends to enhance conditions needed for tornadoes.

The US often sees more frequent tornadoes when the climate is transitioning out of El Niño. The strong El Niño of 2023-24 was decaying in April 2024, and forecasters expect it to be gone by summer.

Forecasts can save lives

The tornadoes caused severe damage in several communities as they tore apart homes and buildings. At least five people died in the storms. But early communications that warned the public of the threat for severe weather days before the storms likely saved more lives.

Weather experts are getting better at predicting tornado conditions. It is not uncommon now to know days in advance of the actual event that an elevated threat exists. Forecasters have high-resolution weather models that can anticipate storms at an appropriate spatial scale to provide a sense of the likely organization of the storms and come close to the location.

The better we understand these storms’ attributes, the better those forecasts and warnings can become.

Jana Lesak Houser Ohio State University

EDITOR, The Tribune. THE lead story on the front page of The Tribune on April 29 featured former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and his former Deputy Prime Minister Desmond Bannister - with the latter labelling the planned one day Free National Movement convention a farce.

I was thinking that FNM Leader Michael Pintard would’ve called for a convention at the tail end of 2024. The June 1 date comes as a surprise. I think it caught Dr Minnis and his camp completely off guard. It completely upended the narrative that Pintard is afraid to go to FNM delegates for a fresh mandate. It is no secret who Bannister supports, as he would reiterate loud and clear in The Tribune article referenced above.

Bannister’s reaction to news of the FNM convention is a bit surprising to this writer. I would’ve thought that he would be ecstatic, considering that he was in the dailies in early December of last year urging Pintard to call a convention at “the earliest possible” date. Bannister had even stated that to “delay calling a convention would diminish confidence in Pintard’s leadership.” The Pintard camp might want to hold Bannister to his word, seeing that he wrote in a

letter to the FNM leader that the “losing candidates will be bound by the party’s mandate to coalesce with and support the elected party leadership team.”

Also worth mentioning is that in the letter to Pintard, he wrote that the “FNM will then have more than two years to earn the confidence of the Bahamian people once again...” Judging by that last statement, it would seem that Bannister supports the current position of Pintard in not holding another leadership election within the FNM before the next general election. Again, Bannister wanted an early convention. Pintard acquiesced to his wish for an early convention, as candidly expressed in the Bannister letter.

An early convention is a testament of Pintard’s confidence in retaining his current post. The issue now is, in the event Pintard wins, will Bannister and other Minnis supporters help the FNM leadership team, or will they continue to cause disruption within the party? I have a gut feeling that certain operatives within that camp would prefer the Progressive

Liberal Party being reelected to office in 2026, than seeing the FNM win under Pintard. Their opposition to Pintard seems to be stronger than their opposition to the PLP. Since Pintard’s ascension to the top post in the FNM, I cannot point to anything that would remotely suggest that the Minnis camp supports him. The first time I had heard from Bannister since September 2021 was when portions of his convention request letter were printed in the dailies. How it got in the hands of the press is anyone’s guess. My guess is that a Minnis supporter forwarded it to the media in another subtle move to embarrass Pintard. In any case, I maintain my original position that calls for a convention are really calls for Minnis to be returned as FNM Leader. I don’t think Bannister and other Minnis supporters appreciate how unpopular the former prime minister is, nearly three years after he was removed from office.

In the final analysis, Pintard has given to Bannister what he wanted, yet now he seems to be annoyed. So which is it, Mr Bannister, do you want a convention or not?

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama April 29, 2024.

EDITOR, The Tribune. WATCHED the mega Track event - Penn Relays and it hit me…if the Penns can’t attract spectators hmm well what can the IAAF Bahamas/World relays do? Since conception this lAAF event has not been honestly too much of a success in attracting spectators...those people who pay to attend and sit in the bleachers which so far for IAAF Relays have been sparce...Nassau

- Japan- Poland no difference. The IAAF should confirm if any were a financial success? Lord Coe. Do track performers drink? Do they stay up late? Do they gamble? Do they eat at gourmet restaurants, might but strict diets. These events get heavily discounted room rates from the host hotel. To put things in perspective should Sports and Youth publish the accounts of the two past IAAF Relays events.

Truth Thomas Robinson has never been full to capacity - 15,000… Andre Rodgers also never and we invested millions on millions on these facilities… so bad is our focus to get the Tommy Robinson ready for the relays we had to pay $15m but thanks to the China Embassy nothing (remember the basic stadium was their gift - not the infrastructure).

T HIGGINS Nassau, April 28, 2024.

EDITOR, The Tribune. WELL in early June we will have some great TV for an evening the FNM Party General Convention…all the time knew Michael Pintard would get this together - get the funds and do as all good leaders have a convention.

Nominations? I hope Hubert Minnis nominates because there is little doubt the rank and file have not forgotten

his whopping mistakes… Remember the Oil refinery fiasco? Remember the lock downs, the PLP will never let him forget them. Remember those who had politically related contracts employment found themselves out of a job eight-months early - their bank accounts certainly felt that. Then the whopping defeat and bulla simple try again he, Minnis, will have the same outcome. Contrasting Michael

Pintard does not have that baggage and if the Davis-Cooper team continue their politics there is no doubt a further and another one term Government. FNM rally around Pintard and his team…A far far better chance to win and in politics coming second is a loss! J L MURRAY Nassau, April

AN AIRCRAFT airdrops humanitarian aid over the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from central Gaza, yesterday.

Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana

Sips for smiles

TO celebrate its third anniversary, Sugar Factory Bahamas has announced Sips for Smiles, a community outreach initiative to support the Ranfurly Homes for Children.

From May 1 to May 31, Sugar Factory, through its recently opened coffee shop, will feature three 12-ounce beverages, the French Vanilla Latte, Caramel Macchiato, and Mini Milkshake, each

available for $7, with $2 from every drink sold donated to the Ranfurly Homes for Children.

“As we celebrate our third year, we are committed to spreading the joy synonymous with Sugar Factory to those in our community who need it most,” stated Elizabeth Cates, Sugar Factory sales and marketing manager. “Sips for Smiles is our way of making a tangible impact in

MAN ACCUSED OF UNLAWFUL SEXUAL INTERCOURSE WITH PRE-TEEN GIRL

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A 24-YEAR-OLD man was imprisoned after being accused of molesting a 12-year-old girl four times last year.

Chief Magistrate Roberto Reckley charged Antorn Johnson with four counts of

the lives of the children at Ranfurly, and we cannot do it alone –– we’re inviting everyone to join us in this celebration of compassion and community.”

The campaign has set a goal of raising $12,000 to aid Ranfurly Homes.

“We are deeply touched by the generosity and support from Sugar Factory Bahamas and encourage everyone to support the Sips for Smiles campaign,” said Ingrid Deveaux, Ranfurly Homes for Children administrator. “Having the funds to pay for all the necessities required to properly nurture the children in our care is a constant challenge. With the public’s support we are very hopeful to reach the $12,000 donation goal. I encourage corporate Bahamas and individuals to support this initiative in a big way.”

Johnson’s VBI is due for service on June 27.

Alphonso Lewis represented the defendant.

Inspector Deon Barr served as prosecutor.

unlawful sexual intercourse. Johnson is accused of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 12-yearold girl four times in New Providence between June 1, 2023, and October 31, 2023. The accused was told that his matter would proceed to the Supreme Court through a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI). He will be sent to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until the higher court grants him bail.

MAN TOLD TO BE OF GOOD BEHAVIOUR FOR ONE YEAR OR FACE TWO MONTHS JAIL TIME

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was ordered to be of good behaviour for one year after admitting to assaulting a man with a wooden cigar box on Prince George Wharf earlier this month.

Magistrate Raquel Whyms charged Christian Miller, 28, with assault with a deadly weapon and throwing missiles.

Miller is accused of assaulting Leonardo Brown with a wooden cigar box and throwing missiles at him to his annoyance at around

11.30am on April 19.

After pleading guilty to the charge, the accused was told that he must be of good behaviour for one year or risk two months in prison.

Miller must return to court on May 2 to present a sick slip for missing an earlier court date.

TEEN ON BAIL AFTER ACCUSED OF BREAKING INTO A CULBERT’S HILL HOME LAST WEEK

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

An 18-YEAR-OLD youth was granted $5,000 bail after he was accused of breaking into a Culbert’s Hill home last week.

Chief Magistrate Roberto Reckley charged Javonne Fernander with housebreaking yesterday. Fernander and accomplices are accused of breaking into the residence of Kristone Rodgers on April 25.

After he pleaded not guilty, he was informed that under his bail, he would be fitted with a monitoring device and must sign in at the East Street Police Station every Friday by 6pm. Fernander’s trial begins on August 5.

OFFICIALS at the launch of the Sips for Smiles campaign, a month-long initiative in collaboration with Sugar Factory Bahamas and Ranfurly Homes for Children, aimed at raising $12,000 for the Mackey Street-based organisation. Pictured left to right: Braniska Bullard, Ranfurly Homes for Children Brand Ambassador; Arin Thompson, Sugar Factory Associate; Ingrid Deveaux, Ranfurly Homes for Children Administrator.

Photo: FusionIMC.

Government’s indifference over inequality and rights

THE latest ridiculous statement by the prime minister quickly made the rounds at the end of last week, drawing responses indicative of disbelief, annoyance, and confusion.

Gender inequality widely recognised as an issue affecting women and girls all over the world. The conversation about the need for gender equality and the actions required to achieve it are not only taking place in The Bahamas. They are happening across the Caribbean region, and they are happening in every region. No country has achieved gender equality, and every country is aware that it is a goal we all need to work toward.

The Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in September 2015 by all United Nations Member States. The 17 goals include ending poverty, ending hunger, achieving gender equality, access to clean water and sanitation for all, reduced inequalities, responsible consumption and production, and climate action.

Goal 5 is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Goal 5 on gender equality has five targets:

5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.

5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.

5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

5.4 Recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.

5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.

5.6 Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International

By Alicia Wallace

Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.

5.a Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws.

5.b Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women.

5.c Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.

Targets 5.1 and 5.2 have featured prominently in the news for decades. In particular, since the constitutional referendum was announced in 2014, there has been attention to gender inequality in nationality law in addition to sex-and gender-based discrimination. Marital rape has come up, again and again, since the bill to criminalise it in 2009. We are not unaware of these issues. Some of us are, however, unaware of the far reaching affects of these and other forms of discrimination and the obligation of the government to eliminate them. Successive administrations have failed to educate the public on human rights, women’s rights, gender equality, commitments

made in international spaces, the connection between systemic issues and lived realities, and the work that needs to be done to uphold human rights and, at the very least, move toward gender equality. That alone is a clear sign that they were not committed to undertaking the work required.

Violence against women has been just as prominent in the news, from domestic violence which often extends into public spaces to sexual violence occurring all over New Providence at all times of day. Target 5.2 specifically includes both the public and private spheres, making the important point that there is no excuse for violence against women and girls, failure to prevent violence against women and girls, or absence of legal recourse for women and girls who have experienced violence, regardless of where it takes place or who is involved.

At the current rate, it will take 286 years to remove discriminatory laws and close gaps in legal protection all over the world. The Bahamas does not have to be a country that takes 286, 250, 175, 50, or 15 years to make the necessary constitutional and legislative changes. The issues have already been identified. Research has been conducted, necessary actions have been named, and examples have been set. The follow-through on commitments has been non-existent.

Every now and then, we get a glimpse into the minds of elected representatives. They make statements that

let us know, much more clearly than they ever do when asked directly, exactly what they think of us and how unmotivated they are to do what they are being paid to do. In response to the human rights report on The Bahamas by the US, which referenced discrimination against women, the prime minister indicated his complete indifference to the plight of Bahamian women. He laid bare his refusal to acknowledge gender inequality in The Bahamas or the importance of achieving gender equality.

“You have to look through the perspective of our eyes.” By this, the prime minister likely meant that we need to consider the opinions of men on gender inequality and its affect on women. Why? Why should we ever prioritise the opinions of the people who benefit from the oppression and discrimination that we, women, experience? Why would any entity engaged in monitoring and assessing issues of gender prioritise the way men think about the injustice? There is certainly a place for those opinions — in research on the perception of people of different genders on gender (in)equality and research that uses these perceptions to make determinations about gender ideology, human rights literacy, and the pervasiveness of oppressive systems.

“Bahamian women being unfairly treated in The Bahamas? Y’all ruling us, man.” In this part of the statement, the prime minister panders to the men he referenced, who do not believe, or want us to think they do not believe, that gender inequality exists. The men decide to focus one area, separate from any connected areas or rationales. They look at women’s and girls’ levels of education and use them as the sole basis of a flawed argument that women and girls are equal or, as is more commonly suggested, women and girls are doing better than men and boys. They then try to convince us that men and boys are “in trouble” and this means that women and girls and the discrimination we face should not be where we put our attention.

They do not consider that women and girls have been taught and pushed to excel in school and keep reaching higher and higher, depending on degrees to elevate us by proving to people, especially men, that we are capable and, importantly, deserving of jobs. Women and girls are pushed to achieve as much as we can academically because the assumption has long been that we are not “suited” to other kinds of work, particularly in the science, technology, engineering,

mathematics (STEM) fields. It was a way to steer us away from trades. It was a part of the “do twice as much to get half as much” idea that marginalised people are often subjected to and made to live by. Educational attainment at high levels does not translate to higher levels of income.

The gender pay gap is still above 30%. Equal pay for work of equal value is not a reality for women, yet men continue to argue that we finish high school and we get degrees, so that must mean we are equal. There are far too many holes in this argument for this limited space.

“If you look at the hierarchy of the public service, more than 80 per cent are dominated by females. Look in the industry,” the prime minister said. For some reason, he did not talk about the experiences of the women in those jobs. He did not talk about the inner workings of the public service. He did not talk about the representation of women in parliament. He did not talk about the ministerial positions that women get. He did not talk about the under-resourcing of the Department of Gender and Family Affairs. He did not talk about the recommendations that have been made by international mechanisms to move toward equal participation of women and men in frontline politics. None of that was convenient to talk about. It would not have helped his flimsy argument, so he did not say any of it. As politicians make more and more comments, with confidence, that are completely erroneous, we have to be more critical. We have to not only be attentive to what is said, but note what is not said. We have to pay attention to who is making statements, and who is silent. We have to ask ourselves why they are making certain comments. Even further, we have to look for the evidence. Reporters do not always do it, so we have to look for the evidence. In this case, it is quite simple. Look for the Blueprint for Change, read it, and pay particular attention to the sections that reference international mechanisms like the Sustainable Development Goals. Note the commitments that have been made. Put them next to the nonsense that is being spewed by politicians on a daily basis. See the difference. Make it a part of the conversation. It is up to us to ensure that everyone does not repeat the same nonsense, convinced that it is true because it came from someone in a position of power. Power is not intelligence. Power is not honesty. Power is not integrity.

THE PLP’s Blueprint for Change highlights their plans for women’s equality.

Deepfake of principal’s voice is the latest case of AI being used for harm

By BEN FINLEY Associated Press

THE most recent criminal case involving artificial intelligence emerged last week from a Maryland high school, where police say a principal was framed as racist by a fake recording of his voice.

The case is yet another reason why everyone — not just politicians and celebrities — should be concerned about this increasingly powerful deep-fake technology, experts say.

“Everybody is vulnerable to attack, and anyone can do the attacking,” said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who focuses on digital forensics and misinformation.

Here’s what to know about some of the latest uses of AI to cause harm:

AI HAS BECOME VERY ACCESSIBLE

Manipulating recorded sounds and images isn’t new. But the ease with which someone can alter information is a recent phenomenon. So is the ability for it to spread quickly on social media.

The fake audio clip that impersonated the principal is an example of a subset of artificial intelligence known as generative AI. It can create hyper-realistic new images, videos and audio clips. It’s cheaper and easier to use in recent years, lowering the barrier to anyone with an internet connection.

“Particularly over the last year, anybody — and I really mean anybody — can go to an online service,” said Farid, the Berkeley professor. “And either for free or for a few bucks a month, they can upload 30 seconds of someone’s voice.”

Those seconds can come from a voicemail, social media post or surreptitious recording, Farid said. Machine learning algorithms capture what a person sounds like. And the cloned speech is then generated from words typed on a keyboard.

The technology will only get more powerful and easier to use, including for video manipulation, he said.

WHAT HAPPENED IN MARYLAND?

Authorities in Baltimore County said Dazhon Darien, the athletic director at Pikesville High, cloned Principal Eric Eiswert’s voice.

The fake recording contained racist and antisemitic comments, police said. The sound file appeared in an email in some teachers’ inboxes before spreading on social media.

The recording surfaced after Eiswert raised concerns about Darien’s work performance and alleged misuse of school funds, police said.

The bogus audio forced Eiswert to go on leave, while police guarded his house, authorities said. Angry phone calls inundated the school, while hate-filled messages

CAMPAIGN SEEKS

By JANIE HAR Associated Press

A WEALTHY Silicon Valley-backed campaign to build a green city for up to 400,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area has submitted what it says are enough signatures to qualify the initiative for the November election.

The campaign submitted more than 20,000 signatures but would need only about 13,000 valid ones to qualify for the ballot. If verified by Solano County’s elections office, voters will decide in the fall whether to

accumulated on social media.

Detectives asked outside experts to analyse the recording. One said it “contained traces of AI-generated content with human editing after the fact,” court records stated.

A second opinion from Farid, the Berkeley professor, found that “multiple recordings were spliced together,” according to the records.

Farid told The Associated Press that questions remain about exactly how that recording was created, and he has not confirmed that it was fully AI-generated.

But given AI’s growing capabilities, Farid said the Maryland case still serves as a “canary in the coal mine,” about the need to better regulate this technology.

WHY IS AUDIO SO CONCERNING?

Many cases of AI-generated disinformation have been audio.

That’s partly because the technology has improved so quickly. Human ears also can’t always identify telltale signs of manipulation, while discrepancies in videos and images are easier to spot.

Some people have cloned the voices of purportedly kidnapped children over the phone to get ransom money from parents, experts say. Another pretended to be the chief executive of a company who urgently needed funds.

During this year’s New Hampshire primary, AI-generated robocalls impersonated President Joe Biden’s voice and tried to dissuade Democratic voters from voting. Experts warn of a surge in AI-generated disinformation targeting elections this year.

But disturbing trends go beyond audio, such as programmes that create fake nude images of clothed people without their consent, including minors, experts warn. Singer Taylor Swift was recently targeted.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Most providers of AI voice-generating

technology say they prohibit harmful usage of their tools. But self enforcement varies.

Some vendors require a kind of voice signature, or they ask users to recite a unique set of sentences before a voice can be cloned.

Bigger tech companies, such as Facebook parent Meta and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, only allow a small group of trusted users to experiment with the technology because of the risks of abuse.

Farid said more needs to be done. For instance, all companies should require users to submit phone numbers and credit cards so they can trace back files to those who misuse the technology.

Another idea is requiring recordings and images to carry a digital watermark.

“You modify the audio in ways that are imperceptible to the human auditory system, but in a way that can be identified by a piece of software downstream,” Farid said.

Alexandra Reeve Givens, CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, said the most effective intervention is law enforcement action against criminal use of AI. More consumer education also is needed.

Another focus should be urging responsible conduct among AI companies and social media platforms. But it’s not as simple as banning Generative AI.

“It can be complicated to add legal liability because, in so many instances, there might be positive or affirming uses of the technology,” Givens said, citing translation and book-reading programs.

Yet another challenge is finding international agreement on ethics and guidelines, said Christian Mattmann, director of the Information Retrieval & Data Science group at the University of Southern California.

“People use AI differently depending on what country they’re in,” Mattmann said. “And it’s not just the governments, it’s the people. So culture matters.”

TO BUILD GREEN CITY IN CALIFORNIA

allow urban development on land currently zoned for agriculture. The land-use change would be necessary for the development to be built.

Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader who heads the company behind the campaign, California Forever, said at a news conference on Tuesday that he heard from thousands of people who want careers and homes in the county where they grew up but can no longer afford because of high housing costs and a lack of nearby work.

The yet-unnamed development would mix homes, green space, a walkable downtown

and jobs between Travis Air Force Base and the Sacramento River Delta city of Rio Vista. Sramek said he expects to start with 50,000 residents within the next decade, with homes starting at $400,000. The median sale price of a home in March was closer to $600,000, according to Redfin.

The controversial project has wealthy and powerful backers, including philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. The campaign declined to disclose how much money they spent to collect the signatures, saying that information would be available eventually.

META UNDER FIRE FROM EU FOR NOT DOING ENOUGH ABOUT ELECTION DISINFORMATION

THE European Union said on Tuesday that it’s investigating Facebook and Instagram for suspected violations of the bloc’s digital rulebook, including not doing enough to protect users from foreign disinformation ahead of EUwide elections.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said it’s opening formal proceedings into whether parent company Meta Platforms breached the Digital Services Act, a sweeping set of regulations designed to protect internet users and clean up social media platforms under threat of hefty fines worth up to six percent of annual revenue.

European authorities are scrambling to safeguard elections amid official warnings that Russia is seeking to meddle with the vote in June, when citizens of the bloc’s 27 nations pick lawmakers for the European Parliament.

The investigation includes an urgent request for Meta to provide information about its move to discontinue a key tool for monitoring elections.

“We have a well established process for identifying and mitigating risks on our platforms,” Meta said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing our cooperation with the European Commission and providing them with further details of this work.”

Meta is being scrutinised “for suspected breach of DSA obligations to protect integrity of elections,” European Commissioner Thierry Breton said in a social media post.

The Commission said it’s looking into whether Meta is doing enough to curb the spread of “deceptive advertisements, disinformation campaigns and coordinated inauthentic behaviour” that could pose a risk to “electoral processes” and consumer protection.

Officials said they suspected Meta’s content moderation system for advertisements was inadequate, allowing ads made with generative AI including deepfakes to exploited by malicious foreign actors seeking to meddle in elections even as the company makes money from them.

Experts worry that new generative AI systems could be used to disrupt the many elections being held around the world this year, by supercharging the ability to spread disinformation at scale.

The EU also suspects that Facebook and Instagram might be reducing the visibility in recommendation feeds of political content from accounts that pump out a lot of it - a practice known as shadowbanning - and not being transparent about it with users, which would violate the DSA.

A third concern is Meta’s decision to phase out Crowdtangle, a tool used by researchers, journalists and civil society groups for real-time monitoring of trending social media posts including during elections. The Commission is giving Meta five days to respond with information on how it will remedy the lack of such a tool.

The Commission is also investigating whether Meta’s mechanism for users to flag illegal content is good enough under the DSA, because it suspects it’s neither easy to access nor user-friendly. Brussels has been cracking down on tech companies since the DSA took effect last year.

BALTIMORE County Police Chief Robert McCullough and other officials at a news conference in Towson, Md, on April 25.

Photo: Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun via AP

Lucaya Solar Power - first solar farm in Bahamas - completes construction

BY DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

LUCAYA Solar Power Ltd has completed the construction of the first solar farm in Grand Bahama, making it the first of its kind in the Bahamas.

The Fairfield plant will produce 9.5 MW of clean energy as part of a $15m solar power deal with Grand Bahama Power Company.

The Inter-Development Bank provided funding for the groundbreaking project. Owen Bethel’s INTI Corporation is the solar designer and project contractor.

Jorge Martinez, president and CEO of LSP, said the commissioning of the

Fairfield plant will provide significant support for many major investments on the island.

“We think that this is a cornerstone to more projects to come. We know for a fact that other projects are going to come here to Freeport, he said.

“Also, we know the government is encouraging to do the same thing in the Family Islands, and I think it is the right direction the country must pursue.”

Mr Martinez and Dave McGregor, of Grand Bahama Power Company, signed a power purchase agreement on March 16, 2023, to construct the first solar plant. The second plant in Devon is also expected to open soon.

Dave McGregor, CEO of

GBPC, said six years of discussions and planning have finally come to fruition.

“It is the first step towards integrating renewable energy onto our grid. For me, it is especially rewarding,” he said.

“We have another plant just up the road that we should be opening soon also.

“At GBPC, we firmly believe that the benefits of renewable energy should be accessible to all, not just to a privileged few. Our commitment to sustainability stems beyond pure rhetoric. It is a core principle that guides our action every day,” he stated.

Mr McGregor indicated that renewable energy’s significance goes beyond environmental concerns

and serves as a practical solution to providing a physical hedge against the volatile fossil fuel market.

He noted that solar plants offer stability and resilience against the unpredictable price fluctuation in fossil fuels.

“Our journey toward significant renewable integration has been fraught with challenges and setbacks beyond anyone’s control, yet through unwavering determination and collaboration, we overcome every obstacle,” said the GBPC executive.

Mr McGregor thanked LSP, IDB Invest, INTI Corporation, and its regulators, the GB Port Authority, for their contributions to such a “momentous achievement.”

“Together, we have laid the groundwork for a cleaner, more sustainable future for generations to come,” he said.

Ian Rolle, president of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, said the solar plant is a historic achievement for the nation.

“This facility not only represents a commitment toward sustainable development, but it has also established Grand Bahama as a frontrunner of renewable energy across this nation. Further, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge chairman Sarah St George and our Regulatory Team, who were instrumental in introducing the regulatory framework and operation protocol for

power regulation in the City of Freeport in 2012.”

Mr Rolle said the groundbreaking framework sets the stage by ensuring a consistent regulatory environment that supports sustainable development.

He noted that it provides for independent power agreements to facilitate solar developments and to meet IDB financing criteria.

President Rolle said the solar plant is “the dawn of a new era in energy production”.

“It is about setting precedence not just for the Bahamas but for the world on how small island developing states can be active participants in the fight against climate change, he said.

MEN’S MOBILIZATION MARCH HELD IN GRAND BAHAMA ON SUNDAY

MEN and boys as members of civil society came together to take part in the Men’s Mobilization March in Grand Bahama, which began at the CA Smith Complex and ended at Independence Park on Coral Road. The event included an island-wide march, unity rally and a candle light ceremony.

Photos: Vandyke Hepburn

HER EXCELLENCY, Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt, Governor General, toured the Regatta Village in George Town, Exuma, April 24, 2024 where she met with stall owners and guests of the past week’s 68th Annual National Family Island Regatta.

Photos: Letisha Henderson/BIS

Haiti’s transitional council names new prime minister hoping to bring stability

PORT-AU-PRINCE

Associated Press

HAITI’S newly installed transitional council chose a little known former sports minister as the Caribbean country’s prime minister Tuesday as part of its monumental task of trying to establish a stable new government amid stifling violence.

Fritz Bélizaire was chosen in a surprise move to replace current interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, gaining the support of four of the seven voting members on the nine-member panel but with other panel members saying they were unfamiliar with Bélizaire.

The council also planned to choose a Cabinet as it seeks to quell gang violence that is choking the capital, Port-au-Prince, and beyond. Heavy gunfire was reported in several of the capital’s neighbourhoods during the council’s meeting.

More than 90,000 people have fled the capital in the span of one month, and overall, more than 360,000 people have been left homeless in recent years as gunmen raze communities in rival territories.

Earlier on Tuesday, the council chose former presidential candidate Edgard Leblanc Fils as the president of the panel.

“This is a very good choice for prime minister,” Fils said of Bélizaire during a brief speech to nearly two dozen attendees. “The important thing for us is this will, this determination to go beyond divisions, to overcome conflicts and to reach a consensus.”

name sounded familiar.

Gilles represents the Dec. 21 agreement, which is associated with former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who resigned weeks after the gang attacks began. Meanwhile, Vertilaire is linked to the Pitit Desalin party, which is led by powerful politician Jean-Charles Moïse, who celebrated Tuesday’s announcement.

“He is someone very important in the country,” Moïse said of Bélizaire. “He knows the state pretty well — he knows how to govern.”

The transitional council will act as the country’s presidency until it can arrange a presidential election some time before it disbands, which must be by February 2026.

Haitians remain divided over whether they believe a transitional government can help calm a troubled country whose capital has been under siege since gangs launched coordinated attacks on Feb. 29.

A murmur rose through the attendees as officials announced that four council members with voting powers had selected Bélizaire as prime minister. Leslie Voltaire, one of the voting council members, told The Associated Press, “I don’t know him,” when asked whether he supported Bélizaire.

Bélizaire served as Haiti’s sports minister during the second presidency of René Préval from 2006 to 2011. “He’s kind of an unknown figure,” said Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia. “He doesn’t seem to have his own constituency. Maybe that made him the

He said the council met Monday with army and police officials to talk about Haiti’s security crisis and how best to resolve it. “We are publicly recognizing the suffering,” he said of the population. The announcement of Bélizaire was unexpected.

likely prime minister so different parties can accept him as prime minister.”

Council member Louis Gérald Gilles, who supported Bélizaire, told The Associated Press that the council wanted to act quickly in choosing a prime minister. “The Haitian population can no longer wait,” he said. “The security issue is essential for societal calm.”

Hours later, many ordinary Haitians remained in the dark.

“They chose a new prime minister?” Jean-Paul Eliason said as he shuffled through the streets of Portau-Prince ringing a bell to advertise his shoe-shining business.

When told of Bélizaire, 70-year-old Eliason said his

“It’s good news because maybe the country can embark on the right path,” he said. “Security, that’s priority. People are fleeing and gangs are burning their homes.”

Sony Duvert, who leaned against his motorcycle parked near a makeshift barrier aimed at protecting his neighbourhood from gangs, said he had never heard of the new prime minister and that he hoped he would make Haiti safer.

“Every day, we post here like soldiers,” he said. “I would love to see a big change for Haiti.”

After the brief announcement, which was made nearly two hours after the event was supposed to start, the council went behind

closed doors again to talk about their choices for Cabinet. Voltaire, however, said he didn’t expect the council to announce Cabinet selections on Tuesday.

The majority supporting Bélizaire included Fils, the council’s new president, Smith Augustin, Gilles and Emmanuel Vertilaire.

Fatton called them an “unlikely” alliance: “We’ll see if it can last.”

Fils represents the January 30 political group, which is made up of parties including PHTK, whose members include former President Michel Martelly and slain President Jovenel Moïse. Meanwhile, Augustin represents the EDE/RED political party, founded by former Prime Minister Claude Joseph.

Gang members have burned police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that remains closed since early March and broke into Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates. The country’s biggest seaport also remains largely paralysed by gang violence.

But one thing is certain: Haitians want security.

“Haitians are very impatient now. They want to see results,” Fatton said.

The council is expected to support the UN-backed deployment of a Kenyan police force to help fight gangs, although it’s unclear when that might happen.

Henry, the former prime minister, was on an official trip to the East African country when the coordinated gang attacks began, and he remains locked out of Haiti. He submitted his resignation last week.

Netanyahu vows to invade Rafah ‘with or without a deal’

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to launch an incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering from the almost 7-month-long war, just as cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas appear to be gaining steam.

Netanyahu’s comments came hours before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to arrive in Israel to advance the truce talks — which appear to be one of the most serious rounds of negotiations between Israel and Hamas since the war began. The deal is meant to free hostages, bring some relief to the population and avert an Israeli offensive into Rafah and the potential harm to civilians there.

Netanyahu said Israel would enter Rafah, which Israel says is Hamas’ last stronghold, regardless of whether a truce-forhostages deal is struck. His comments appeared to be meant to appease his nationalist governing partners but it was not clear whether they would have any bearing on any emerging deal with Hamas.

“The idea that we will stop the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate Hamas’ battalions there — with or without a deal, to achieve the total victory.”

The US has repeatedly said it opposes the Rafah operation until Israel

presents a credible plan for evacuating and protecting the estimated 1.5 million people seeking shelter there.

Blinken, speaking in Jordan before flying to Israel, said the “focus” right now is on improving the humanitarian situation and reaching a cease-fire deal that brings Israeli hostages home.

He said Israel has offered a “strong proposal” and called on Hamas to respond.

“No more delays. No more excuses. The time to act is now,” he said. “We want to see in the coming days this agreement coming together.”

Netanyahu has faced pressure from his governing partners not to proceed with a deal that might prevent Israel from invading Rafah. His government could be threatened if he agrees to a deal because hardline Cabinet members have demanded an attack on Rafah.

Netanyahu met on Tuesday with one of those partners, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, according to the minister’s office, who said Netanyahu promised him that “Israel will enter Rafah, promised that we are not stopping the war and promised that there won’t be a reckless deal.”

With more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people sheltering in Rafah, the international community, including Israel’s top ally, the United States, has warned Israel against any offensive that puts civilians at risk.

Netanyahu on Tuesday was addressing the Tikva Forum, a small group of families of hostages that’s distinct from the main group representing

the families of captive

Israelis. The forum has indicated that it prefers to see Hamas crushed over the freedom of their loved ones. Most families and their supporters have demonstrated in the thousands every week for a deal that would bring the hostages home, saying it should take precedence over military action.

Netanyahu’s coalition is made up of ultranationalist and conservative religious parties, and critics of the Israeli leader say his decision-making during the war has been driven by political considerations rather than national interests, a charge Netanyahu denies. His government could collapse if one of the parties opposed to a deal pulls out, a scenario Netanyahu would try to avoid considering his support has plummeted in opinion polls since the war began, although it has seen a slight gradual uptick.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads the ultranationalist Religious Zionist party, said Monday that he was seeking “total annihilation” of Israel’s enemies, appearing to refer to Hamas, in a recorded portion of his remarks at an event marking the end of the Passover holiday which were aired in Israeli media.

“You can’t do half a job,” he said. The current deal being discussed, brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar, would see the release of dozens of hostages in exchange for a six-week halt in fighting as part of an initial phase, according to an Egyptian official and Israeli media. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held

attends a press conference

Netanyahu pledged Tuesday, April 30 to launch an incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering from the almost 7-month-long war, just as cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas appear to be gaining steam.

by Israel would also be released, including some serving long sentences. Blinken, who was meeting with regional leaders in Saudi Arabia and Jordan before landing in Tel Aviv later Tuesday, urged Hamas on Monday to accept the latest proposal, calling it “extraordinarily generous” on Israel’s part. But a sticking point remains over what happens next. Hamas has demanded assurances that an eventual release of all hostages will bring

a complete end to Israel’s nearly seven-month assault in Gaza and a withdrawal of its troops from the devastated territory. Israel has offered only an extended pause, vowing to resume its offensive once the first phase of the deal is over. The issue has repeatedly obstructed efforts by the mediators during months of talks.

The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people,

mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. The war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes, caused vast destruction in several towns and cities and pushed northern Gaza to the brink of famine.

TRANSITIONAL Council members pose for a group photo after a ceremony to name its president and a prime minister in Port-auPrince, Haiti yesterday. The transitional council will act as the country’s presidency until it can arrange presidential elections sometime before it disbands, which must be by February 2026.

Photo: Odelyn Joseph/AP

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct. 28, 2023.

Photo: Abir Sultan/AP

Crooked Island native Denzel Daxon signs with Dallas Cowboys as undrafted free agent

FROM PAGE 16

once I did, I just ran with it,” he said. He recorded 27 tackles on the season and had three or more tackles in seven games. While at Illinois in his final year of eligibility, he more than doubled his career numbers.

Although he made great strides on the football field, the journey was not always easy for Daxon.

“The journey definitely hasn’t been an easy one, there has always been trials and tribulations but I just thank God that he stood with me,” he said. The announcement made over the weekend led to an outpouring of support from Bahamians via social media which Daxon was very grateful for.

“It is definitely a lot of love. It is something that is amazing to see. Just being a young island boy growing up with dreams of becoming an NFL player and now I am here in this position to actually become it. The love

“It was definitely a difficult journey. I have been through a lot family wise with the passing of my parents and then also dealing with actually getting the opportunity to play football. It has been a long and rough journey, like I said I am just grateful to be here in this position.

I am receiving is very good and I just want to thank all of them for supporting and being with me as I continue this journey. I want to let

them know that there is more to come,” the 25-yearold stated. Players that are not selected during the NFL

Draft become eligible to join a NFL team as a UDFA.

The latter has the opportunity to partake in rookie mini-camps as a last-chance effort to make the team’s final cut before the regular season starts. If a player is unsuccessful, they are allowed to join a team’s practice squad which allows them to train with the team and remain eligible to be signed to the actual roster during the regular season.

The Crooked Island native is hoping that his journey can inspire those that have a dream similiar to his on the Family Islands.

RINGSIDE: A group of amateur and professional boxers put on a series of exhibition matches on Saturday night to help celebrate the one year anniversary death of legendary boxer/coach Ray Minus Jr. It was April 27, 2023, when Minus Jr died from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ASL), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, at the age of 58, and his daughter Rayshell Minus-Rolle said they were pleased with the support they got from the boxers and the general public at the National Boxing Gymnasium.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) —

Mike Tyson’s fight against Jake Paul in Texas this summer has been sanctioned as a competitive boxing match rather than an exhibition, and the rounds will be shorter and the gloves will be heavier.

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation this week approved terms for the July 20 fight at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Netflix will provide live coverage of the bout between the 27-year-old

Paul, a social media star-turned-boxer, and 57-year-old Tyson, who hasn’t fought since an exhibition against Roy Jones Jr. in November 2020.

A Department of licensing and Regulation spokesperson said in an email to The Associated Press yesterday that “this will be a professional bout with a referee and judges and the results will count as part of the fighters’ professional records. So — it’s an actual competitive fight.”

The fight is scheduled for eight two-minute rounds; most men’s pro fights have three-minute rounds. The boxer’s gloves will weigh 14 ounces instead of the standard pro weight of 10 ounces; heavier gloves reduce the power of punches.

In approving terms for fights, the department’s combative sports staff considers, among other factors, each contestant’s age, medical tests, winloss record and losses by knockout or technical knockout.

“If people say you cannot do it because of what is around or no resources, do not listen to it. If you have a passion and love for it just keep working towards it and keep God first and you will succeed,” Daxon explained.

The NFL announced the expansion of the practice squad for 32 teams to include at least one international player in 2024 in efforts to incorporate the talents of athletes from around the world.

“My advice is just to keep pushing. If you have a dream and vision of what you want to do and you have a passion for it, just keep pushing towards it no matter what you have around you.

AMATEUR, PRO BOXERS PUT ON SERIES OF EXHIBITION MATCHES

CHARLTON HURDLES

CLINIC

The first segment of the clinic is all set to take place on Monday, May 6 from 4-7pm at the original Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium. Then on Tuesday, May 7, she will stage the second segment at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex at the same time. Gifts will be presented to the first 50 competitors to register from 4-4:30 pm at both stadiums or contact her father and coach David Charlton at 357-7829..

BASKETBALL

NPWBA POSTSEASON

by JR Basketball Academy, is all set for June 24 to July 13 from 9am to noon at the Telios Indoor Gymnasium on Carmichael Road. The camp, powered by Frazier’s Roofing, will provide training for game situations, shooting, passibng, ball handling, defense and footwork for boys and girls between the ages of 8-19 years. Registration is now open. Interested persons can contact Cadot at 535-9354, email jrcbasketballacademy.com or go online to www.jrcbasketballacademy. com

announced

tional will

place over the weekend of May 10 and May 11 at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex. The entry fee will be $10 for adults and $5 for children. For more information, persons are asked to contact 242-727-6826 or fasttrackmanagamentoo@ gmail.com

Paul built a significant fan following as a YouTube influencer before he embarked on a professional boxing career four years ago. He has won nine of 10 fights with six knockouts against mostly undistinguished opponents, including several mixed martial artists and a fellow YouTuber.

THE New Providence Women’s Basketball Association postseason began on Tuesday at the DW Davis Gymnasium. Here’s a look at the matchups for the playoffs: Saturday 7pm - Foxxy Defenders vs Sand Dollar Lady Flyers. 8pm - Elite Ballers vs Shift Lady Eagles. If necessary, the third and deciding games will be played on Monday. The best-of-five championship series will begin on Tuesday, May 7 at the DW Davis Gymnasium at 7:30pm.

Tyson was the undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987-90. He retired in 2005 after winning 50 fights, 44 by knockout.

BASKETBALL NEX-GEN

THE third annual Nex-Gen Elite Training Basketball Camp, hosted

Photos by Dante Carrer

MIKE TYSON JAKE PAUL

PLAY ACTION: Crooked Island native Denzel Daxon (centre) has been signed by the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL.

Maxey saves 76ers from elimination with huge finish in overtime victory

By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer

NEW YORK (AP) —

Tyrese Maxey made his Madison Square Garden memory, engineering a sea son-saving comeback with a rapid-fire flurry that evoked memories of Reggie Miller. Not that he was think ing about his own legacy as those 3-pointers fell through the net.

“Going through my mind right there was just, find a way to survive,” Maxey said.

The 76ers did. Now they’re thinking about advancing.

Maxey saved Philadel phia from elimination with seven points in the final 25 seconds of regulation, fin ished with 46 and led the 76ers to a 112-106 overtime

“And he certainly did it and got in a rhythm and made a whole bunch of

Maxey had the most points by a Sixers player in a win to stave off elimination, surpassing Hall of Famer Allen Iverson’s 44 in a Game 7 win against Milwaukee in the 2001 Eastern Conference final.

Maxey’s last 3-pointer got the 76ers on the board in overtime after Brunson scored the first five points. That triggered a 9-0 run that Embiid capped with a three-point play with 1:40 remaining for a 106-102

And after Brunson’s 3 tied it at 106, Kelly Oubre Jr. made the tiebreaking basket with 1:02 to go and Tobias Harris followed with two free throws.

CAVALIERS HOLD OFF BANCHERO, MAGIC 104-103 IN GAME 5

By TOM WITHERS AP Sports Writer

CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 28 points, Evan Mobley blocked Franz Wagner’s layup in the final seconds and the Cleveland Cavaliers survived a scare from Orlando, holding off Paolo Banchero and the Magic 104-103 in Game 5 last night to take a 3-2 lead in their Eastern Conference series.

The Cavaliers, who were embarrassed by the Magic while dropping two games in Orlando last week, regrouped inside roaring Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. It took everything they had.

After Mitchell missed a jumper with 15.7 seconds left, Wagner drove the left side for a potential game-tying layup but was denied at the rim with 6 seconds left by Mobley, who smacked the ball off the backboard.

Mitchell was fouled and made two free throws with 3.2 seconds remaining to make 104-100.

There wasn’t enough time for the Magic, who got a 3-pointer in the final second

from Banchero, giving him 39 points. Playing in just his fifth postseason game, the 21-year-old Banchero looked like a savvy veteran. He scored 16 points in the fourth and finished 14 of 24 from the field (4 of 7 on 3s) and added eight rebounds. Missing starting centre Jarrett Allen with a bruised rib, Cleveland got a big lift from Max Strus, who scored 16 in his best game in the back-and-forth series. Mobley added 14 points and 13 rebounds and reserve Marcus Morris Sr. gave Cleveland toughness and 12 points.

The Cavs, who spent the season trying put last year’s first-round flameout against New York behind them, can advance with a win in Game 6 on Friday in Orlando. The Magic need a win to salvage their breakthrough season and force a Game 7 in Cleveland on Sunday. Orlando went 29-12 in the regular season at home and are coming off decisive wins at Kia Center.

Mitchell, who has been slowed by a left knee injury, scored 14 in the fourth — going 9 of 10 at the line.

With Banchero leading the way, the Magic,

who trailed 2-0 before twice winning big at home, stared down the Cavs and a hostile, towel-waving Cleveland crowd and were poised to pull off their first

playoff road win since 2019 at Toronto.

But Mitchell, Garland and Mobley wouldn’t be denied and the Cavs, who are 16-0 when leading 2-0 in

a series, took care of business at home for the third time. The Cavaliers were shorthanded as Allen, who has arguably been their best

player in this back-andforth series, sat out with what the team said was a bruised rib. Allen, who is averaging 17.0 points and 13.8 rebounds, took an elbow to the ribs in the second half of Game 4 on Saturday. He practiced Monday but was added to the injury report before being ruled out.

With Allen out, coach J.B. Bickerstaff went with a smaller first five and started Isaac Okoro. Bickerstaff has been criticised for a lack of adjustments. But he also went deeper into his bench right away, bringing in guard Sam Merrill and both Tristan Thompson and Morris, who had only played garbage time in the Orlando blowouts. Garland played with more aggression and erupted for 17 points in the first quarter — more than he scored in any game in the series. He made two 3-pointers and Caris LeVert added another as the Cavs scored nine points in the final 1:04 to take a 10-point lead after one. But the Magic outscored the Cavs 24-15 in the second quarter to pull within one at half.

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Freshly cooked bread, select cheeses and a broad veggie offer will be among the meals to be offered to athletes and visitors during the 2024 Paris Olympics — including, of course, gourmet dishes created by renowned French chefs.

About 40,000 meals are expected to be served each day during the Games to the more than 15,000 athletes from 200 different countries housed at the Olympic village.

Visitors, too, will be able to enjoy some specially created snacks at the different venues. French food services company Sodexo Live!, which was selected to oversee the catering at the athletes’ village and 14 venues of the Paris Games, said it has created a total of 500 recipes, which will notably be offered at a sit-down eatery for up to 3,500 athletes at the village, meant to be the “world’s largest restaurant.”

“Of course, there will be some classics for athletes, like pasta,” said Nathalie Bellon-Szabo, global CEO of Sodexo Live! But the food will have a “very French touch.” Athletes will also have access to “grab and go” food stands, including one

dedicated exclusively to French cuisine cooked up by chefs.

Renowned French chef Amandine Chaignot, who runs a restaurant and a café-bistro in Paris, yesterday unveiled one of her recipes based on the iconic croissant.

“I wanted the recipe I suggested to be representative of the French terroir, but I wanted athletes to enjoy it at the same time,” she told the Associated Press.

“It was quite obvious for me to make a croissant that I could twist. So, you have a bit of artichoke puree, a poached egg, a bit of truffle and a bit of cheese. It’s both vegetarian and still mouthwatering.”

Every day, during the July 26 to August 11 Games, a top chef — including some awarded with Michelin stars — will cook in front of the athletes at the Olympic Village.

“So they’ll be able to chat and better understand what French cuisine is about — and to understand a bit of our culture as well,” Chaignot said.

Daily specials will be accompanied by a wide range of salads, pastas, grilled meat and soups. Cheeses will include top quality camembert, brie and sheep’s milk-based Ossau-Iraty from southwestern France.

The Olympic Village will also feature a boulangerie producing fresh baguettes and a variety of other breads.

to reduce the use of plastic. To this effect, the main restaurant at the village will use only reusable dishes. Additionally, organisers say all meals will be based on seasonal products and 80% will come from France.

Plant-based food will represent 60% of the offer for visitors at the venues, including a “vegetarian hotdog,” said Philipp Würz, head of Food and Beverage for the Paris 2024 Committee. There’s “a huge amount of plant-based recipes that will be available for the general public to try, to experience and, hopefully, they will love it,” said Würz.

Athletes interested in other than sports, will even be able to participate in daily bakery trainings, and learn to make their own French baguette, said Doré.

In an effort to provide as many options as possible,

“The idea is to offer athletes the chance to grab a piping hot baguette for breakfast,” said baker Tony Doré, who will be working at the Olympic Village’s main restaurant.

meals offered will revolve around four cuisines: French, Asian, African and the Caribbean and international food.

Paris 2024 organisers have promised to make the Games more sustainable and environment-friendly — and that includes efforts

The urban park at the Place de la Concorde, in central Paris, will offer visitors 100% vegetarian food — a first in the Games’ history.

The place will be the stage for Paris 2024’s most contemporary sporting disciplines: BMX freestyle, 3x3 basketball, skateboarding and breakdancing.

CLEVELAND Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) shoots against Orlando Magic guard Markelle Fultz (20) during the first half of Game 5 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series last night in Cleveland.

Photo/Ron Schwane)

WELCOME TO PARADISE: A number of the volunteers on hand to greet the visiting athletes and delegates at Breezes SuperClubs Baahamas.

TEAM KOREA SETTLING IN AT BREEZES RESORT

FROM PAGE 16

The countries are here to participate in the World Athletics’ meet set for Saturday and Sunday. Those who are not at Breezes will occupy rooms at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island.

Smith, who has overseen a number of events at Breezes SuperClubs over the past few years, said they have opened up their entire resort from today to Monday to accommodate the visiting athletes and delegates. “We had some early arrivals, some teams came in from as early as the weekend, but the bulk of the teams are coming in on Wednesday and Thursday,” Smith said.

Hungary, Korea, Japan, Trinidad & Tobago, Qatar, Portugal are just some of the early arrivals.

But Smith said they are waiting on the arrivals of

teams from Barbados, Bahrain, Chile, China, Ecuador, Mexico, Philippines, Venezuela, Turkey and Jamaica, just to name a few.

“The athletes are focused. They are here to train. That’s why we had a number of countries that came in early,” Smith said. “We will have a medical facility here where they can have ice baths and physical and massage therapies, so I don’t anticipate that they will have any time to do too many extracurricular activities. “But our staff is ready. This is not our first rodeo.

We’ve done this many times before so our staff understands what the needs are and so our staff is ready to accommodate them when they arrive.”

Smith just wishes the athletes, as they come to the Bahamas, leave feeling good, whether they win or lose.

secure their

Leonardo Burrows, who is working along with his brother Lavaughn Burrows, in accommodations for the Local Organising Committee, said once the athletes leave the airport and they reach the hotel, a team of volunteers will be on hand to greet them.

“For many of them, this will be their first time coming here and so we want to make sure that they don’t have any stress,” Leonardo Burrows said. “The volunteers will assist them in their check-in and ensure that they have a smooth process on their arrival.”

While all of the athletes are focused on the competition, Leonardo Burrows said their team of volunteers will also make sure that they enjoy their time away from home here in the Bahamas.

in

“I know they are excited because they are in the Bahamas and they should be because this is Paradise and we do it at a different level because we are a group of hospitable people,” he pointed out.

“We want them to remember this visit so that when they have an opportunity outside of competing,

for

that this is the place that they need to come back to and enjoy their vacation.”

Senguk Park, who spoke on behalf of the five Korean men competing in the 4 x 100m relay, said while this is their first time here, they truly believe that it is “Paradise.”

As for their performances here, Park said they are here for one thing and that is to ensure that they “qualify for the Olympics. We feel like we can do it with the team that we have here.”

Park said they can’t wait to get into the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium on Saturday to start competing in the relays. In the meantime, he said they are enjoying the fantastic hospitality being offered at Breezes SuperClubs.

ALONZO RUSSELL 2ND IN 400 METRES, KAIWAN CULMER 5TH IN TRIPLE JUMP

FROM PAGE 16

off the final bend down the home stretch, Russell mounted his comeback. Beating off the strong breeze, Russell ended up in second in 47.05, but it wasn’t enough to catch Grenada’s hughly decorated Olympic and world champion Kirani James, who had already surged out front for the win in 46.00. In a strong international field of competitors from within the region, Jamaican Demish Gaye trailed Russell in 47.15 for third. American Elija Godwin got fourth in 47.37. Trinidad & Tobago’s Asa Guevara was fifth in 47.50 and American Daeqwan Butler completed the field in 51.88 for sixth.

Culmer, competing in the men’s triple jump, had to settle for fifth place with his best leap of 54-feet. 1 3/4-inches or 16.50m on his second attempt. He scratched his first try and came back and followed up with leaps of 52-10 3/4 (16.12m), 53-11 (16.43m) and 53-5 3/4 (16.30m).

Jamaica’s Jayden Hibbert took the title after he soared 56-10 1/4 (17.33m) on his first attempt. He only had one other jump of 55-9 3/4 (17.01m) on his third try, which would have kept him in medal contention.

Hometown boy JahNhai Perinchief got second with 56-2 1/2 (17.13m) on his fourth try. Jamaican

ALONZO RUSSELL KAIWAN CULMER

Jordan Scott was third with 55-11 1/4 (17.05m) on his fourth as well and American Donald Scott was fifth with 54-10 1/4 (16.72m) on his fifth. American Chris Benard was sixth with 53-2 1/4 (16.21m) on his third. The 32-year-old Russell is scheduled to head home to join Steven Gardiner, Wendell Miller, Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Anthonique Strachan and Lacarthea Cooper in the pool for the mixed relays this weekend at the World Relays. Russell, Gardiner and Miller are also entered in the men’s 4 x 400m pool that includes Deedro Clarke, Shakeem Hall-Smith, Lhevinne Joseph, Zion Miller and Zion Shepherd.

The Bahamas will also field a men’s 4 x 100m team from the pool that consists of Jeremiah Adderley, Blake Bartlett Jr, Carlos

Brown Jr, Deedro Clarke, Samson Colebrooke, Samalie Farrington and Warren Fraser. There will also be a women’s 4 x 100m relay team that will come from the combo of Devynne Charlton, Shayann Demeritte, Printassia Johnson, Jamiah Nabbie, Nia Richards, Camille Rutherford, Pedrya Seymour and Charisma Taylor.

The World Relays will serve as a qualifier for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, July 27 to August 11. The competition is slated to begin at 7pm on Saturday and Sunday. However, there will be a pre-game show starting at 4pm each day, which will feature the top junior athletes from the Bahamas against some of the athletes coming from some of the other countries.

THE KOREAN delegation at Breezes SuperClubs Bahamas. HAVING settled into their accommodations at the Breezes SuperClub Bahamas, the Korean men’s 4 x 100 metre relay team is confident that they will

berth

the 2024 Olympic Games. The Koreans are one of the first group of countries to arrive in town for the BTC World Relays 2024 Bahamas, scheduled

this weekend at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.

Athletes of the Month

CARIFTA medallists Taysha Stubbs, Brenden Vanderpool prevail in April

With the lights shining the brightest, CARIFTA gold medallists Brenden Vanderpool and Taysha Stubbs stepped up when it mattered most to prevail as April’s Tribune Athletes of the Month.

The Tribune Sports section will recognise the efforts of athletes across all sporting disciplines and award a male and female candidate at the end of each respective month, culminating with the athlete of the year.

April marked the first month of the year that both Tribune awardees are junior athletes. Additionally, Stubbs is just the second female candidate to receive the distinction this year as Devynne Charlton has won the January, February and March monthly honours.

Brenden VanderpoolMale Winner Vanderpool was a prolific performer at the 51st CARIFTA Games hosted at the Kirani James Athletic Stadium in St George’s, Grenada.

The Samford University freshman was determined to cap off his CARIFTA experience in a remarkable way. He won the boys’ pole vault (open) event with a CARIFTA record-setting distance of 5.30m. In his last hurrah at the junior regional meet, he managed to not only set a CARIFTA record but also take down his previous national record of 5.06m.

It was his third time finishing with the pole vault crown and his performance earned

The Bahamas’ first gold medal of the event. He placed fourth earlier in April at the Crimson Tide Invitational in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with 5.15m.

Taysha StubbsFemale Winner

Stubbs had a phenomenal stretch in April which started with her gold-medal performance at the CARIFTA Games and concluded with a first-place finish at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The transition from the under-17 to under-20 division has proved to be great for Stubbs. In just her first year competing in the division, she recorded a personal best toss of 50.94m in the javelin throw event at the CARIFTA Games. However, she was not close to done yet. She was once

again victorious this time at the National High School Track and Field Championships. The top field event performer ended in first with a heave of 43.20m.

The 16-year-old got the job done at the 128th edition of the Penn Relays. She turned in a throw of 47.17m to win the event on her final attempt. The performance made her the first Bahamian to win the high school girls’ javelin event at the renowned Penn Relays. She is also ranked third in the under-18 world rankings with regards to the javelin event.

Stubbs will be one to watch as she gears up for the World Athletics Under-20 Championships slated for August 27-31 in Lima, Peru.

Stay tuned for an exciting May edition of the Tribune Athletes of the Month.

FROM PAGE 16

including world indoor record holder Devynne

Charlton. She finished second to Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn with a time of 12.64 seconds in the women’s 100m hurdles at the Wanda Diamond League meet in China.

Also competing was sprinter Anthonique Strachan who wrapped up sixth in 23.35 seconds for the women’s 200m finals. Camille Rutherford, a member of the women’s 4x100m relay team, clocked 11.22 seconds at the women’s 100m invitational.

The LOC CEO said based on the recent performances of the Bahamian athletes, he is expecting some good results. “Devynne had an Olympic-class field and it almost felt like an Olympic final and to see her running so incredibly well early in the season is promising. She is a part of the women’s 4x100m team and I cannot wait to see what that looks like. I am happy about the performances of our athletes. I always say that this is a global event but once again we will be punching above our weight class and we are looking forward to good results,” he said.

The World Athletics Relays will start with the pre-game show “Showdown in Paradise” at 4pm. The main event will begin at 6pm this Saturday and Sunday.

The top 14 teams at the event will automatically secure a spot in Paris, France, for the 2024 Olympic Games. Teams will have two chances - day one and two - to book their tickets to Paris.

The Bahamas is hosting the Olympic qualifying event for the fourth time. The host nation was the home of the World Relays in 2014, 2015 and 2017 before it moved to Yokohama, Japan in 2019 and Chorzòw, Poland, in 2021.

After this year’s event, the renowned relays will make a stop in Guangzhou, China, in 2025.

TAYSHA STUBBS

VANDERPOOL

SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2024

Cowboys sign Denzel Daxon

By TENAJH SWEETING Tribune Sports Reporter

Cfor a major comeback.

The defensive lineman will now have the opportunity to make the cut for the Dallas Cowboys’ 53-man roster after being picked up as an undrafted free agent (UDFA).

The 6-foot-2, 320-pound football player knows that he has his work cut out in order to officially make the Cowboys’ roster.

“It feels pretty good. It feels a little unreal but, at the same time, I know it is another stepping stone of

Crooked Island native undrafted free agent

another journey for me. I am feeling like the job isn’t done yet.

“I have this opportunity with the Dallas Cowboys to prove that I can be a good part of the organisation and help them to win games and to potentially make the 53-man roster. This is a good opportunity for me so I feel pretty blessed about it, but this is just the beginning,” Daxon said.

The 25-year-old was a late bloomer to the game of football. He attended the Crooked Island All Age School and got his start in the sport at the Miami Carol City Senior High School in Florida at 17-years-old.

After completing high school, the former threestar prospect committed to Ohio University but transferred to the University of Illinois for the spring

semester of 2023 to play for the Illinois Fighting Illini at defensive tackle.

“It has always been a dream of mine, ever since I was younger, just being able to play football. I know in The Bahamas there is not really opportunities to do so but I always dreamed of doing it growing up and I just focused on getting to that point and

PAGE 12

Honouring legendary boxer Ray Minus Jr

THE SPORTS CALENDAR

JACK KNOWLES’

May, 2024

FUNERAL FUNERAL services for the late Jack Knowles, a long time physical education teacher and former women’s softball coach/manager, is scheduled to be held at 11am on Sunday at the Maranatha Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Prince Charles Drive. Knowles, who turned 72 on February 27, died on April 14. He last served as a physical education teacher and coach of various teams at CH Reeves Junior High School. He also coached the Appleton Stars in the New Providence Softball Association, which produced some of the top female players in the country. TRACK HURDLES CLINIC WORLD indoor 60m hurdles record holder Devynne Charlton is scheduled to host a free hurdles clinic for female 100m hurdlers immediately following the completion of the World Athletics’ sixth World Relays. Charlton, who will be representing the Bahamas on the women’s 4x100m relay team at the World Relays this weekend at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, is slated conduct the clinic in New Providence and Grand Bahama.

PAGE 12

IN three days the World Athletics Relays will return to paradise at a newly renovated Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

Following a seven-year hiatus, the Olympic qualifying event will be back at its original home in The Bahamas and is set to host 893 of the world’s top athletes from 54 countries May 4-5.

A major aspect of the World Relays’ preparations have been the ongoing repairs at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

According to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) Drumeco Archer, the national stadium is ready for the grand showcase scheduled for this weekend.

“We have all of the lighting in place. There is a bit

of balancing that is going on with the uprights. In the canopy, we have a whole light show. We are ready for a wonderful showcase.

“I know that there is currently installation of the stage on the infield, which is a unique feature of these events. Essentially, what you are seeing now is a lot of cleanup and it will happen over the next few days. I am happy with where we are and we are almost at the finish line,” Archer said.

HAVING settled into their accommodations at the Breezes SuperClub Bahamas, the Korean men’s 4 x 100

The world’s top performers will have a chance to advance from “Paradise to Paris” at the facility which was upgraded at a cost of $36 million, thanks to the People’s Republic of China, confirmed by Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg earlier in April. A new Mondo track surface was laid down and repairs were conducted to the Eastern and Western Grandstands to revamp the facility and facilitate the global event.

Athletes will be in action on the new track in five relay events, including the 4x100m relay (men and women), 4x400m relay (men and women) and mixed 4x400m relay.

The Bahamas’ World Relay team members were in action over the weekend

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Photo: Dante Carrer

rooked Island native Denzel

JACK KNOWLES

DREAM COME TRUE: Crooked Island native Denzel Daxon has been signed by the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL.