05172023 NEWS AND SPORT

‘Just one officer shot Az Ario de Ad’

...but ballistics expert does not explain bullet casings found at scene

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A FIREARMS and ballistics expert said yesterday that video footage suggests only one officer fired shots when Azario Major was killed on December 26, 2021.

Dr Richard Pumerantz, of the US-based Guns & Ammo Witness Consulting, testified

as the closely-watched Coroner’s Court inquest into Azario’s killing continued.

He showed surveillance footage he obtained from Azario’s family over the objections of Calvin Maynard, the lawyer representing the officers in the case. Mr Maynard argued the video had not been checked to see if it was contaminated.

PM leans towards Paternity testing for citizenshiP Proof

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune News Editor rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis suggested his administration is leaning toward requiring genetic test results as proof of paternity for people expecting Bahamian citizenship after the Privy Council affirmed that children born to Bahamian men are citizens regardless of their

mother’s nationality.

“We need to ensure that the daddy is the daddy and that the daddy knows,” Mr Davis said yesterday.

“The only way we’d know that is if we have some kind of a test.”

The Privy Council did not address how to determine paternity in its landmark; neither did Chief Justice Ian Winder when he ruled

Ground broken on $200m GB hospital

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Staff Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GOVERnMEnT officials broke ground for a new $200m hospital in Grand Bahama yesterday.

Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis said the

groundbreaking for an outpatient and urgent care facility was delayed by over a decade,

PI grouP seeks to ban Wendy’s and Marco’s

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

ATlAnTIS has joined forces with other resorts and developers in a bid to bar the Wendy’s and Marco’s Pizza owner from converting Paradise Island’s former Scotiabank branch into a fast-food restaurant destination.

Tribune Business can reveal the mega resort has teamed with fellow Paradise Island hotels,

the Ocean Club and Comfort Suites, plus Hurricane Hole’s developer in an appeal that seeks to overturn the preliminary

“change of use” permission granted to Aetos Holdings, the franchise holder for both brands, by the Town Planning Committee.

All parties were yesterday said to be “waiting with bated breath” for the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board to render its verdict with Atlantis warning that permitting the former bank location to be converted into fastfood restaurants will create

Ground broken on $200m GB hospital

that will provide excellent care the residents of Grand Bahama deserve,”

Mr Davis said.

Hurricane Dorian, which damaged the Rand Memorial Hospital, highlighted the need to improve medical facilities in Grand Bahama.

“Today, as a bright future dawns, we pay tribute to the loss, pain, and struggle of the past to give thanks to the community champions and healthcare heroes who helped this island and community overcome the many challenges to bring this island and the Rand Memorial Hospital and various community clinics back to where we are today,” Mr Davis said.

“At this new healthcare centre, wounds will be healed and medical research will be advanced. Grand Bahama Health Services would be in a position to provide the highest standards of care now into the future as a long-awaited vision is now, at last, coming to a reality.”

Health and Wellness

Minister Dr Michael Darville said the World Bank is funding the $210m facility. The contractor is ABC Contractors.

The facility’s amenities

will include an oncology centre allowing Grand Bahama residents to remain on the island for cancer treatment like

chemotherapy rather than travel to New Providence.

“Y’all know the challenges we currently face with the Rand Memorial

Hospital and the services provided,” Dr Darville said. “And from government to government, we have been tagging along

Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis along with Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville where present for the ground breaking ceremony for the $210m Wolrd Bank funded Grand Bahama Hospital yesterday. Photos: vandyke Hepburn

trying to do our best and the time has finally come.”

Dr Darville said drawings had been made

for nine new clinics throughout the Family Islands. He said 41 clinics in the country are being renovated.

BUT cloT hes drive helping women in need

of professional aTT ire

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

IN an effort to give back to the community, The Bahamas Union of Teachers hosted a clothing drive in Stapeldon Gardens yesterday help women in need of professional attire.

Aniska Gibson, the clothing drive’s coordinator, said: “After reaching out to various NGOs and charities, we identified the

need that there are women that interview for jobs and women that even have jobs; however, the clothing attire doesn’t fit the position.

“So we identified the need and decided to target corporate Bahamas and ask them for the perfect tent - that’s a head to toe look, including shoes and accessories, clothing and everything so we can have our women prepared and ready for worship and ready for the job.”

Halneka Bodie-Bain, president of the union’s status of women’s committee, added: “You know like it says in our motto - we are our sister’s keeper so we thought that we would partner with corporate sponsors who actually assisted with the drive.”

Among the organisations selected by BUT to distribute the clothing items was Families of All Murder Victims (FOAM).

Above: Khandi Gibson of FOAM assists in the presentation of clothes donation. below: Belinda Wilson, president of the Bahamas Union of Teachers speakers to reporters about the clothes drive to provide women with professional attire for their jobs.

Photos: Austin Fernander

‘Just one officer shot Azario dead’

from page one

Dr Pumerantz slowed the video to a playback speed of 0.33 to capture each muzzle flash. h e said there were only nine flashes, each from the gun of an officer wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey.

h e did not explain the numerous bullet casings recovered from the scene where Azario was killed: the inquest was adjourned, and he is expected to continue his testimony today.

Dr Pumerantz said he performed a ballistic analysis on Azario’s white h yundai e lantra to determine the number of shooters, the trajectory of bullets and the calibre of ammunition used.

h is testimony came after jurors visited the killing scene outside Woody’s Bar on Fire trail Road.

Yesterday’s video showed officers approaching Azario’s car as it drove

slowly into the parking lot. Before the car comes to a stop, muzzle flashes emit from an officer’s

firearm, with one final flash coming as the vehicle completely stops.

“From this video

evidence, there only appears to be nine muzzle flashes,” Dr Pumerantz said.

FREdERIck MajoR, father of Azario Major makes his way to the croner’s inquest on Monday. A firearms and ballistics expert said yesterday that video footage suggests only one officer fired shots when Azario Major was killed on December 26, 2021.

Sergeant Rolle, Inspector Saunders, Sergeant Sweeting and Sergeant Johnson are the four

officers involved in the inquest. t he four officers allegedly fired their weapons.

PM leans towards Paternity testing for citizenshiP Proof

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis suggested his administration is leaning toward requiring genetic test results as proof of paternity for people expecting Bahamian citizenship after the Privy Council affirmed that children born to Bahamian men are citizens regardless of their mother’s nationality. “We need to ensure that the daddy is the daddy and that the daddy knows,” Mr Davis said yesterday. “The only way we’d know that is if we have some kind of a test.”

from page one

on the matter in 2020.

the Status of Children Act outlines how one can prove paternity. Still, according to national Security Minister Wayne Munroe, KC,

the law specifies that it can’t be used to establish citizenship.

Government officials are uneasy about permitting traditional ways of establishing paternity suffice to obtain citizenship, such as using an affidavit signed

by the purported father.

Yesterday, Mr Davis suggested his administration is also questioning if birth certificates could suffice as proof of paternity.

“there’s some presumptions that we need to discuss, some presumption

that if there’s a birth certificate and it has the father’s name on it, there’s the assumption that he is the father,” he said. “But there are a lot of issues that have to be worked out.”

Mr Davis said resolving the issue is not atop the

government’s legislative agenda.

“I’m awaiting my advice from the attorney general’s office on where we are going and I know his office is looking at what steps would be taken going forward,” he said.

“But that’s not a priority

at this time because of the court ruling. the court ruling right now says what the law is. the question is how it is to be enforced and affected. that is something that the AG’s office and his team are looking at right now as we speak.”

Baha Mian and Us sPecial forces share Best Practices in Joint Military t raining

US Seventh Special Forces Group (Airborne), the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF), and the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) recently conducted a fiveweek, joint combined exchange training (JCet) to enhance cooperation between the two countries’ armed forces.

With transnational criminal organizations relying on existing pathways for their illicit smuggling operations, helping the Bahamas strengthen its security forces is one of the US embassy’s top priorities.

“It takes robust, bilateral law enforcement cooperation to help ensure the safety of our borders. Joint training exercises help us become cohesive and enhance our capabilities and performance as a team,” said Captain Gregg Gellman, the US embassy’s Senior Defense Official.

Beyond the personal connections made between members of these armed services, the annual engagement promotes sustainable and productive military relationships.

During training, a Special Forces cadre led dozens of armed Bahamian marines and police officers in close quarter combat drills. the exercise involved clearing rooms and stairwells from a hypothetical threat.

US Special Forces and their RBDF counterparts

a MEMbER of 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) demonstrates combat marksmanship techniques at a live fire range with the Royal Bahamas Defence Force during a Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) exercise. Qualifying on assigned weapons helps RBDF marines stay ready to defend The Bahamas’ borders.

also engaged in combat marksmanship, medical training, including CPR, and communications training. Other exercises included mission planning,

leadership skills development, troop leading procedures and techniques to improve critical thinking in emergency and crisis situations. A dive component

centered around search and recovery. the training culminated with a simulated raid on an abandoned hotel. “the value of this training is incredible, we have

the tools and procedures to enhance our capabilities,” said RBDF Lieutenant Commander edward Fritz, the Commanding Officer of Commando Squadron.

“It is a great example of the strong and enduring security partnership between the Bahamas and the United States.”

Photo: austin Fernander

MEMbERs of 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) conduct medical training with the Royal Bahamas Defence Force during a Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) exercise. Service members refreshed their skills in multiple areas of

treating a victim, including CPR.

Equinor could pay ‘severe penalty’ if they failed to properly cleanup oil spill post Hurricane Dorian

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Staff Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

ENVIRONMENT Min-

ister Vaughn Miller said energy company Equinor would face severe penalties if officials find that the company failed to properly clean up its 2019 oil spill in East Grand Bahama.

He said the Department of Environmental Protection had received many complaints about oil

north of the Equinor South Riding Point plant.

“A team will be dispatched to do follow-up,” he told reporters on Tuesday ahead of a Cabinet meeting in Grand Bahama.

He said he would meet Grand Bahama residents to give an update when his team finishes its investigation.

The Tribune recently visited the site and observed residual oil on the ground,

on trees, and on the aggregate mound in the area.

Asked about this, Mr Miller said: “If they are not in compliance, I would personally advocate for the strictest, severe penalties.”

“We take this seriously,” he added. “We have one Bahamas, and this land is our land. It is our country.”

“We are the stewards of the environment, and we want to leave it as good as we met it, if not better for

Police arrest a man susPected in a sPate of recent sexual assaults in Bacardi road area

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

POLICE arrested a 27-year-old man yesterday concerning several recent sexual assault cases in the Bacardi Road area of New Providence.

The suspect was identified as a resident of Lincoln Boulevard on bail for armed robbery and murder. Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested him without incident around 2.30pm yesterday at his residence, police said in a statement.

Authorities said officers also recovered the vehicle allegedly used in the crimes and a loaded

pistol.

The suspect’s arrest follows several reported sexual assaults, which prompted police to warn the public about an uptick in incidents in southwestern New Providence, particularly in the Bacardi Road area.

On March 20, police reported an alleged sexual assault of a woman. According to initial reports, sometime around 9am, the victim was walking in the area of Bacardi Road and accepted a ride from an unknown man driving a burgundy-coloured vehicle with the registration LP# AH 9084.

The man drove the victim to a residence in Coral Harbour. Upon arriving at the home, the

man parked and left the victim inside. Moments later, he returned to the vehicle, allegedly produced a handgun and sexually assaulted the woman. The woman escaped and reported the matter to the police.

On May 13, an alleged sexual assault of a 38-year-old female occurred. Police said the woman was walking in the area of Bacardi Road when a man allegedly approached her, forced her into his vehicle, and robbed her of cash. After this, the suspect drove to nearby bushes, where he sexually assaulted her before leaving her and escaping.

those who would inherit it from us.

“And so, if there are violations, I will personally see to it the most stringent, strictest, and most severe penalty be levied.” Grand Bahama residents told The Tribune about the emergence of a fence east of Equinor’s plant that prevents East End boaters from accessing the channel. Mr Miller said he is looking into the matter.

“Actually, I went there yesterday and saw it for myself and I was amazed,” he said, adding that Equinor has “taken a lot of acres of land.”

“I was surprised at it, and while I am here, we will be getting to the bottom of this situation and inform the residents of Grand Bahama,” he said.

In September 2019, about 55,000 barrels of crude oil spilt at the Equinor terminal

during Hurricane Dorian. The storm tore off dome caps from two of the four storage tanks containing oil. The spill impacted a large area of the nearby forest and the surrounding area. Equinor has conducted remediation work to clean up oil from the affected area and dug 24 to 27 wells to test for groundwater contamination. The company said tests showed no contamination.

c ariBBean Wines and sPirits sPonsors euPhoria m adness c arnival GrouP

CARIBBEAN Wines and Spirits (CWS), local distributors of The House of Angostura Rums, has sponsored the Euphoria Madness Carnival Group. The sponsorship includes promotional items for giveaways to the participants during the upcoming road march, monetary support for assisting the group with cost associated with the march and Angostura White Oak Rum flavors and mixers for the bar.

“We felt that the Angostura White Oak brand was a perfect fit for Euphoria Madness and the Carnival season,” said CWS marketing director Jonathan Thronebury, “it helps to bring that distinct energy to life that we associate with Carnival and we look forward to sharing the trusted quality and taste that we expect from The House of Angostura”.

The House of Angostura, established in 1824, is one of the leading

manufacturers of Rum in the Caribbean. “We’re always excited to give back to the community, and we’re happy to have the opportunity to partner with Euphoria Madness to bring the Angostura Brand on the road for this year’s Carnival Road March,” added Mr Thronebury. “We look forward to everyone enjoying the cultural celebrations and remind all participants to drink responsibly.”

In September 2019, about 55,000 barrels of crude oil spilt at the Equinor terminal during Hurricane Dorian. The storm tore off dome caps from two of the four storage tanks containing oil. The spill impacted a large area of the nearby forest and the surrounding area in Grabnd Bahama.

Committee putting together a ‘comprehensive plan’ to deal with shanty towns, says Sears

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

WORKS and Utilities

Minister Alfred Sears said the government’s plan to remove shanty town communities would be costly and that a comprehensive plan to demolish structures would be unveiled soon.

His comment came after a recent ruling from Chief Justice Ian Winder set back the government’s plans to begin demolishing structures.

“The committee has been putting together a comprehensive plan not just for New Providence and Abaco, which relate to the action, but throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas,” said Mr Sears, head of the Unregulated Communities Action Task Force.

“On a number of our islands, there are unregulated communities so we will be unveiling shortly

a comprehensive national plan and because of the implications in terms of the international obligations of the country, we’re also communicating with some of the multilateral agencies because it will involve a major undertaking of expenses.”

“We are also trying to see how we can get the maximum support and multilateral partners so that we can address this situation in a comprehensive way.”

His comment to reporters came after recent aerial surveillance showed the expansion of a shanty town community off SC Bootle Highway on Abaco.

Abaconians sent footage of the expansion to The Tribune yesterday.

Roscoe Thompson, head of the Marsh Harbour/ Spring City Township, said the government has allowed the shanty town situation to get out of hand.

“The problem,” he said,

“that we’re finding here in Abaco, as Bahamians, is how can the government allow people to build without a permit, without town planning approval, without the Ministry of Works stamp, without the Department of Environmental Health inspection and have a certificate of occupancy.”

Mr Thompson said the shanty town expansion is causing tension on the island.

He said some Bahamians suggest they should clear land and build shacks to test the government.

Last year, a special committee was formed under the auspices of the Ministry of Works to examine these unregulated communities.

According to Mr Sears, a budget has been created for the committee to work, though he declined to give details.

“We’re speaking with the Ministry of Finance and also seeking the Cabinet’s approval,” he said.

Public access for freedom of information act may be accessed by later this year

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE public may be able to request information under the Freedom of Information Act by September or October of this year, according to Information Commissioner Keith Thompson.

The retired Supreme Court judge said a system is being created to facilitate requests.

“We anticipate having that technology in place by September or October,” he said yesterday.

He spoke to reporters at the National Training Agency, where more than a dozen government workers gathered to be trained as information managers.

Allowing people to request government information is an objective long in the making. Successive administrations had promised to implement a system but failed to do so by the time they left office.

Mr Thompson could not give a timeline for the FOIA’s full implementation.

“The full rollout cannot take place until we have trained every single ministry and or agency,” he said. “That would have to be completed before you have what you refer to as full rollout, but suffice it to say that the training will be continuous.”

“We do not anticipate any breaks. Once we finish one set, we will move on to the next and we are creating the unit that will oversee the

training. Fortunately, we do have a Bahamian who specialises in record management who will also be taking part in this training process and the ongoing training.”

Mr Thompson said sessions with prospective information managers would be ongoing because many people must be trained.

“Because there are so many agencies, we have to phase them in and what’s taking place will be repeated for an additional ten ministries or agencies and then we do another ten or fifteen,” he said.

“Presently, the training that starts today and runs for three days is the first step. The second phase of that would be training on the actual system that the public will use to make the requests to the various ministries and or agencies for information that those ministries or agencies hold.”

Ten pilot government agencies were selected for the first phase of the programme’s rollout, including the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of the Public Service, the Ministry of Works and Utilities, the Department of Immigration, the Bahamas Investment Authority and Bahamas Power and Light.

“As I would’ve said earlier, records keeping, records management and this information manager position creates a new

career path in the civil service so young people may want to look into it further as a career because this is a first for The Bahamas,” Mr Thompson said.

The last Ingraham administration passed a FOIA shortly before the 2012 general election but gave no date for enactment.

The last Christie administration overhauled that legislation but never implemented its provisions.

In May 2021, the Minnis administration made Mr Thompson the first Freedom of Information Commissioner. Shane Miller, a retired assistant director of legal affairs (ADLA), was appointed deputy.

Due to a production error, an incorrect headline appeared on our Education page yesterday. The correct headline, on the article

The BTVI Story, should have read “Sibling and student - Sasha’s a shining star”. An amended version appears on our website, www. tribune242.com. We apologise for the error.

InformatIon Commissioner Keith Thompson spoke to a group at BTVI about the upcoming Freedom of Information system being created to facilitate requests.

Photo: moise amisial

Screen capture from video provided by Roscoe Thompson of shanty communities buidling in the farm area just south of SC Bootle Highway in Central Abaco.Thompson, chairman of the Marsh Harbour /Spring City Town Committee, said the shanty town expansion is causing tension in Abaco.

The Tribune Limited

Biden plan to sell land leases for conservation gets pushback

Biden administration officials on Monday sought to dispel worries they want to exclude oil drilling, livestock grazing and other activities from vast government-owned lands, as they faced pushback from Republicans and ranchers and over a contentious proposal to put conservation on equal footing with industry.

The proposal would allow conservationists and others to lease federally owned land to restore it, much the same way oil companies buy leases to drill and ranchers pay to graze cattle. Leases also could be bought on behalf of companies such as oil drillers who want to offset damage to public land by restoring acreage elsewhere.

But more than a century after the US started selling grazing permits and oil and gas leases, the proposal is stirring debate over the best use of public land, primarily in the West. Opponents including Republican lawmakers and agriculture industry representatives are blasting it as a backdoor way to exclude mining, energy development and agriculture.

Tracy Stone-Manning, director of the Bureau of Land Management, told The Associated the proposed changes address rising pressure from climate change and development. She said it would make conservation an “equal” to grazing, drilling and other uses while not interfering with them.

The bureau has a history of industryfriendly policies for the 380,000 square miles it oversees, an area more than twice the size of California. It also regulates publicly owned underground minerals, including oil, coal and lithium for renewable energy across more than 1 million square miles (2.5 million square kilometers).

Those holdings put the agency at the centre of arguments over how much development should be allowed.

Senior bureau officials on Monday night hosted the first virtual public meeting about the conservation proposal. There was no opportunity for public comment, and questions for officials were screened by the agency. But officials acknowledged receiving numerous queries about grazing and drilling potentially being excluded.

Brian St. George, acting assistant director for the bureau, said the conservation leases would not “lock up land in perpetuity.”

“It would have a term, and when that restoration goal is met, the term would lapse,” he said.

US Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican who tried to block StoneManning’s 2021 Senate confirmation, says the proposed rule is illegal.

Earlier this month he berated Interior Secretary Deb Haaland over it during an Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, saying she was “giving radicals a new tool to shut out the public.”

“The secretary wants to make nonuse a use,” said Barrasso, the ranking Republican on the committee. “She is ... turning federal law on its head.”

Stone-Manning told the AP that critics were misreading the rule, and that conservation leases would not usurp existing ones. If grazing is now permitted on a parcel, it could continue. And people could still hunt on the leased property or use it for recreation, she said.

“It makes conservation an equal among the multiple uses that we manage for,” Stone-Manning said. “There are rules around how we do solar development. There are rules around how we do oil and gas. There have not been rules around how we deliver on the portions of (federal law) that say, ‘Manage for fish and wildlife habitat, manage for clean water.’”

Democratic US Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada — where the federal land bureau controls about two thirds of the land — urged the administration to work with ranchers and farmers before finalizing the proposal, which the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said would “upend” land management in the West.

While the bureau previously issued leases for conservation in limited cases, it has never had a dedicated program for it.

Former President Donald Trump tried to ramp up fossil fuel development on bureau lands, but President Joe Biden suspended new oil and gas leasing when he entered office. Biden later revived the deals to win West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s support for last year’s climate law.

Biden remains under intense pressure from Manchin and many Republicans to allow more drilling. Such companies currently hold leases across some 37,500 square miles (97,000 square kilometers) of bureau land.

The pending rule also would promote establishing more areas of “critical environmental concern” due to their historic or cultural significance, or their importance for wildlife conservation. More than 1,000 such sites covering about 33,000 square miles have been designated previously. By comparison, about 242,000 square miles of bureau land are open to grazing livestock.

Environmentalists have largely embraced the changes, characterizing the proposal as long overdue.

Joel Webster with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a coalition of conservation groups and hunting and fishing organizations, said the administration’s plan would set up a process to ensure landscapes are considered for conservation without forcing restrictions.

He cautioned, however, that administration officials must ensure a final rule doesn’t have unintended consequences.

Another virtual event is slated for June 5 and public meetings are planned for May 25 in Denver; May 30 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and June 1 in Reno, Nevada.

Goodman’s Bay parking taken by workers

Nassau’s housing crisis looms

EDITOR, The Tribune.

About four years ago a young Dutchman told me that he, along with the majority of Dutchmen in his age group, cannot afford to buy a house or a plot of land in The Netherlands. His only option is to rent, which in itself is also extremely costly. If my memory serves me correctly, he said that the average cost of homes in his European country is in the half a million dollar range.

A foreign news publication named The Guardian recently published an article regarding the housing crisis in The Netherlands, which corroborates what the Dutchman told me. According to The Guardian, the “average home costs €424,681, more than 10 times the modal income.” The €424,681 figure is equivalent to $466,928.27 USD.

From 2015 to 2021, when the average disposable household income was increased by 25 percent, the prices for homes increased by a whopping 63 percent, owing to low interest rates and “a national shortage of 390,000 homes” in The Netherlands. In certain upscale areas, housing inflation shot up to 130 percent. Government policies have effectively elbowed the average Dutchman out of the housing market.

I see a similar looming housing crisis down the

road for the island of New Providence, with its population of 305,000, which represents 70 percent of the entire Bahamian population. Nassau’s economic boom entails foreign and domestic investors buying up huge chunks of land on an island that is only seven miles at its widest and 21 miles long.

An investment proposal was recently announced for the western end of New Providence. Both bookends of New Providence are where those in the upper echelons reside, while the masses of medium to low income Bahamian and Haitian families are boxed in the centre of the island.

What the looming housing crisis means for the overwhelming majority of the island’s population is that many of them will never own a piece of property or a house. The term “affordable housing” in Nassau is a misnomer, as a small three bedroom house in Bain and Grants Town or near Kemp Road could easily cost as much as $160,000.

The days of $75,000 low cost homes are gone, at least in Nassau. Land is becoming scarce, as more and more wealthy foreign

investors continue to buy up massive chunks of real estate, which in turn is driving up the cost of property prices.

The average Bahamian in New Providence cannot afford to buy a home. These people, like the Dutchman I spoke to, are doomed to be renters for the rest of their lives. Like The Netherlands, government policies in Nassau have elbowed the average Bahamian out of the housing market. While the government continues to boast about the significant amount of foreign investments, wealthy foreigners are buying lands right from under the Bahamian people. We are prisoners of the moment with a myopic vision. Fifty years down the road there will be nothing left for future generations of Bahamians in New Providence, as it will be foreign owned. God willing, in 2073 Bahamians will rightly condemn the governments of this era for creating the housing crisis they will be saddled with.

Without land ownership, you’re a landless individual with less rights than the foreign investors whose loyalty lies with their respective countries.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama, April 16, 2023.

Govt travel assessment required

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Yes, Ministers have to travel especially the Foreign Minister, his/her title is obvious ‘Foreign Minister’, but every trip needs to be evaluated as to its success and re-appraisement as to future travel to a similar event must be taken. How large was the delegation going to the Coronation and other meets in London recently?

Any subscriber to Facebook and now linked in

sees the constant flow of official releases — photos, etc, but interesting is looking at the number of views … or even reading … regret Ministers don’t seem too many are interested.

Conclusion — what is actually being achieved from this costly travel?

How much has been spent?

In Budget there was an horrific allocation and we still have seasonal to NY/UN and IMF then in November another six-nine days in expensive Dubai for

COP28 (soap box event).

Achievements Ministers none certainly suggest cut back. Is there a linked in account in the name of the Prime Minister? A friend thought this might be a good access point to get a hearing has not received a single response to a series of suggestions...not even his handlers respond.

JEROME WILSON Nassau, May 11, 2023

AC MilAn’s Olivier Giroud, left, jumps for the ball with Inter Milan’s Francesco Acerbi during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Inter Milan and AC Milan at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, yesterday.

Photo: luca Bruno/AP

Meteorology Department working to improve storm surge forecasting

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

ACTING Director of Meteorology Jeffrey Simmons said officials are working to improve storm surge forecasting. His department started a regional storm surge workshop yesterday with 20 people from 10 countries, including meteorologists, oceanographers, geographic information systems specialists (GIS) and other experts.

“The idea is to be able to create better forecasting when it comes to storm surge,” Mr Simmons said, “so that we can have our residents from around the region better prepared. We can say to them listen: this area is going to have inundation at a certain level. It also assists with the evacuation part of it.”

“In The Bahamas, we really are a coastal region and just about all of our

residents live around the coasts. It’s important that people know what’s going on.”

Mr Simmons said experts want to develop a storm surge atlas to help predict upcoming storms.

For her part, GIS specialist Suzanne Russell–Dorsett said the organisation plans to use the data from the workshop to help people more efficiently.

“Hopefully, we’re able to see from the data that’s going to be presented to The Bahamas, more areas of vulnerability so that we know how to plan effectively for evacuations and mitigations for property, government critical assets,” she said. “We are hoping from this workshop to learn how we can plan better in the preparedness stage of disaster management.”

She also advised the public to start preparing for hurricane season which runs from June 1 through November 30.

Bahamas Branch of

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Branch of the British Legion is experiencing financial difficulties as it tries to cover its June distribution of money and goods.

Chairwoman Adina Munroe-Charlow said the organisation typically has at least $9,000 on hand but is experiencing a shortfall after a veteran died in January, a few weeks after the organisation threw him a party for his 100th birthday.

“He lived in Gregory Town, Eleuthera, and so, therefore, we had two events for him,” she said. “The first one is his 100th birthday party we had for him in Gregory Town. So we went to celebrate that with him and then a few days later he passed away. Then we had to go back to Gregory Town, Eleuthera, for his funeral.”

“The totality of that trip, that’s what took most of our funding. You know it’s very expensive to stay a few days in the islands

Westminster coLL ege ordered to pay $20k to niB in unpaid fees

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

WESTMINSTER College was told to pay $20k to the National Insurance Board yesterday after admitting to owing NIB $49,798.27 in unpaid dues.

The school’s principal, Ervin Dixon, and staff member, Freka Taylor, appeared before Magistrate Shaka Serville to face claims of unpaid NIB fees.

They agreed the school owed NIB money. However, they said the school’s current administration had an issue with the payment plan established by the previous administration, which required them to pay $59,000 by November of this year.

The school was ordered to pay $20,000 to NIB yesterday and make another $4,000 payment by May 31.

The school is mandated to make monthly payments of $4,149.85 to NIB from June 27 onward.

NIB takes dozens of businesses to court yearly for failing to pay NIB contributions.

A NIB source told The Tribune yesterday the amount Westminster College was taken to court for is larger than usual.

British Legion experiencing financia L difficuLties

and you have to rent a car and all of that.”

The branch has only two living veterans, one in Grand Bahama and one in New Providence. They are 96 and 98years old.

The organisation also supports 18 widows.

Mrs Munroe-Charlow said the branch is trying to raise $3,700 to cover June distributions.

“One thing with us, we don’t appeal for what we want. We appeal to what we need,” she said.

The British Legion ensures that registered ex-servicemen, ex-servicewomen, and widows receive monthly small war grants.

“We also increase their pension –– their local pension,” Mrs MunroeCharlow said. “We did that in February and then we did it again this month. And then so that is the reason why we just have the shortfall.”

She said the organisation receives funding from the government in January and July. In addition, money from the annual poppy sales also supports the organisation’s work.

The community of Long Island honored the memory of nation builder, community leader, and war hero Joseph Benjamin Carroll – by officially naming a road in his honor.

King’s Highway (from Scrubb Hill to Pinders) has been officially renamed Joseph B Carroll Highway.

The family of Mr Carroll, students, teachers, representatives of government departments and a large cross-section of the community attended the ceremony held outdoors at NGM Major High School on Friday.

Also in attendance were Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, Chester Cooper; Alfred Sears, Minister of Works and Utilities; Adrian Gibson, MP for Long Island; Bacchus Rolle, Parliamentary Secretary; Earl Campbell, Director of Local Government; Tyrell Young, executive chairman, BAMSI; Jandilee Archer, Administrator for Long Island; and Local Government representatives.

Participants included: Sharon Cartwright, deputy chief councillor; Fr Berkley Smith, priest in charge of St Paul’s Long Island; Administrator Archer; Mr Gibson; and Justice Norris Carroll, former Senator and son of Mr Carroll. The NGM Major Vocal Ensemble performed during the event.

Mr Cooper described Mr. Carroll as a “remarkable” man who is remembered for his commitment to family, his business acumen, and for his service to the nation.

He said: “From his pioneering of the Community Food Store to his advocacy on financial inclusion, which led to the first banking institution – the Royal Bank of Canada -establishing a permanent branch on Long Island, Mr. Carroll’s legacy is certainly an impressive one.

“By renaming this road in central Long Island, we do more than honour his memory. We make the much bolder decision to recognize our own. To commemorate the builders of this nation, who were born in this nation.

“As we approach our Golden Jubilee, a truly momentous moment in the history of this country, we must strive do even more to celebrate our own. Today, we rename a road but tomorrow, we have endless opportunities to shape the nation we want to call home.”

Reflecting on the contributions of Mr Carroll, Mr Sears cited a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson entitled ‘What is success?’

He said: “He appreciated beauty; found the best in others. He gave generously of himself and he left this world better by his witness, by his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. That

actiNg Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation Chester Cooper along with some of the children of Joseph B. Carroll cut the ribbon to signify the official renaming of Joseph B. Carroll Highway. Also shown (4th from left) is Adrian Gibson, MP for Long Island. Pictured from right is Luther Smith, permanent secretary; Tyrell Young, executive chairman, BAMSI; Neil Campbell, acting director, Local Government (back); Bacchus Rolle, Parliamentary Secretary and the Alfred Sears, Minister of Works and Utilities.

is the legacy that we celebrate today. Therefore, it is within this context that we are here to honor a Bahamian hero, son of the soil and legend of our time who epitomised the definition of success.

“For a life such as his, where in all things Joseph Benjamin Carroll found it more blessed to give than to receive, more honorable to build than destroy, it is therefore fitting that this portion of the road from Scrubb Hill to Pinders be named in honor of this Bahamian patriot.”

Ms Cartwright said, “Here we are today, some 18 years later, witnessing a

dream come true.

“Today is by all means a defining moment in the history of Long Island. Soon and very soon we will be walking, driving or riding down J B Carroll’s highway instead of the King’s Highway.”

Mr Carroll’s accomplishments include:

-Served as an elder in Cartwright’s Gospel Chapel beginning in 1958 until the time of his death in 2010;

-Honoured by Queen Elizabeth II (received the British Empire Medal) for meritorious civil/military service; - Member of the local

School Board and the Parent Teachers’ Association of NGM Major High School;

-A member of the local Board of Works for over 30 years; -Led fundraising efforts to construct a Science Building at NGM Major High School;

-Helped raise funds for the Deadman’s Cay Health Centre and led the effort to raise funds for the Medical Clinic and Nurse’s residence. A ribbon cutting, blessing of the road and benediction followed the ceremony.

NatioNal Hurricane Center Storm Surge Specialist Cody Fritz speaks at a a Department of Meteorology workshop focused on rcreating better forecasting for storm surge so the public can be better informed on what to expect and whether there is a need to evacuate or not.

Photo: austin Fernander

Photo: BiS

r oad re-named for Long i s L and community

L eader and War hero, Joseph B c arro LL

Government’s duty is to protect and promote human rights; it’s not a gift

WHILE it is not news to me that there is a fundamental lack of understanding of human rights, particularly the human rights of people in situations of vulnerability, it continues to be both frustrating and offensive when it is made obvious by people in positions of power and people who claim to be supporters of human rights. This happens far more frequently than one might imagine, and for many reasons. One of them is that many people are not in community with those who are the most impacted by inequality and injustice, and another is that some people are only concerned with their own rights and the rights of the people who are most like them. Some people simply do not have complete information and do not regularly engage with people who are experts, practitioners, or dedicate time and energy to learning.

Recently, a former senator, commenting on the lack of action by the government to make legislative amendments for gender equality, said that the government should pass the gender-based violence bill and amend the Sexual Offences Act to criminalize marital rape “as a gift to the women of The Bahamas.”

This framing is not just problematic; it is a problem. Rights are not a gift. Safety is not a gift. They are not earned, and there is nothing we need to do to deserve them. We have human rights because we are human beings. Human rights are universal and inherent to every single person. There is no identity marker that should prevent or limit any person’s access to their human rights. Even when rights are not accessible, they exist. They do not need to be acknowledged to

By Alicia Wallace

exist, but they do need to be acknowledge to be accessed and enjoyed.

I know that I have stated this numerous times in this space. I am repeating it here both because it is important as a counter to what the senator said and because it is obvious that the repetition of these facts is necessary. Rights are not a gift. Women are not asking for a present. We have rights. One of the main functions of the government is to protect, promote, and uphold human rights. It is responsible for ensuring that people have access to their rights, and not just people in the most general sense, but people as in individuals with different identities, experiences, and needs. A gift can be compared to a favour, a kind gesture, a symbolic act, and a deliberate extension of something for the enjoyment of another person. Rights, as should be apparent, are none of these. Rights are a requirement. Rights are necessary. Rights belong to us. Our demand is not for the government to be kind to us, to humour us, or to perform a grand gesture. We are demanding that government do its job, that it meets its obligations, that it follows through on its commitment to us. We cannot, must not, and will not have the government obligation to facilitate access to human rights for women or any other group of people reduced to a

kindness, a whim, or a benevolent act.

In reporting on the (then pending} session of The Bahamas before the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a media outlet decided to lean into sensationalism by bringing up an advanced question submitted to The Bahamas by Spain about the protection of LGBTQI+ people. It asked the former senator about this, and the response was, “That battle must be fought, but it must not be fought a [women’s rights] matter. The women’s issues have yet to be resolved and if they are [conflated] with those issues, given the kind of disposition of the population of The Bahamas it is highly unlikely that women’s rights will be addressed, and we may find ourselves, for another 50 years, wandering in the darkness. So yes, we must fight for those rights, but they must be fought for as a separate right. not mixed in with women’s rights.”

oW nership class’ pM says

This is a complete mess of a statement. It is wrong, and it is dangerous. There are many ways to respond to this kind of inaccurate and uninformed statement. Among the most important is to make it clear that people have different identities, and they cannot be treated as separate from one another. Some people are black and elderly. Some people are black and elderly and experiencing poverty. Some people are black and elderly and experiencing poverty, and have disabilities. There is no way to isolate the blackness from the experience of poverty from a person in that group. Each identity affects a person’s experience of the world and the way they are perceived and treated.

Rights are not a gift. Women are not asking for a present. We have rights. One of the main functions of the government is to protect, promote, and uphold human rights.

Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis meeting with local small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) discussed government-led initiatives and the challenges faced by the business community. He underscored his administration’s commitment to supporting Bahamian entrepreneurship and innovation.

In A roundtable discussion held today, Prime Minister Philip Davis met with local small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to discuss government-led initiatives and the challenges faced by the business community.

The meeting, hosted in conjunction with the Access Accelerator Small Business Development Centre, underscored the Davis Administration’s commitment to supporting Bahamian entrepreneurship and innovation, particularly in the face of recent adversities, including Hurricane Dorian, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a global inflation crisis.

The roundtable was attended by 26 small businesses, including nine from the Family Islands, who attended via video conferencing. The forum presented an opportunity for the businesses to present their challenges and hopes for the upcoming fiscal year and to pose their most pressing questions to policy makers. The SMEs raised an array of topics such as crown land

applications, downtown revitalisation, and cost and ease of doing business.

During the discussion, Prime Minister Davis highlighted the resilience and adaptability of Bahamian SMEs, commending them for their agility, resourcefulness, and grit in navigating recent tumultuous times.

The Prime Minister also underscored the government’s commitment to enhancing the capacity of Bahamian SMEs. He outlined a number of government-led funding and capital access opportunities such as the $25 million in loans and equity financing available to SMEs over the next 5 years via Access Accelerator, the $450,000 in business development grants allocated for young entrepreneurs (up to 30) - $200,000 of which is reserved for family island youth.

Emphasizing the government’s commitment to a more diversified and inclusive economy, Prime Minister Davis touted the Bahamas Development Bank’s loan program which has disbursed nearly $4.5

Million via 14 loans to Bahamian businesses across six different industries.

He also spoke about The Orange Economy Micro Technology Grants aimed at boosting the country’s creative artists’ potential and renewed interest in the agriculture and fishing industries.

Prime Minister Davis reaffirmed his commitment to justice and fairness in the face of global climate change and its economic impact. He stated that his fight for fair climate finance is a fight for resources owed to build an economy in which many more Bahamians can participate and thrive.

Today’s roundtable meeting was a critical component of the Your Gov, Your Voice initiative of The Office of The Prime Minister, which aims to engage external stakeholders, increase public engagement in policy making, and boost transparency in Government communications. Similar meetings will be held with other groups throughout the nation.

LGBTQI+ people’s rights are, in fact, a women’s rights matter. A very easy place to start is by acknowledging that there are LGBTQI+ people who are women. There are women who are LGBTQI+ people. Does a woman with women’s rights have full access to them if LGBTQI+ people do not have rights? Does, for example, a law against domestic violence between partners who are one man and one woman work for a woman who is living with a partner who is a woman? We cannot choose the parts of ourselves that we want to be on a particular day or that we want to invoke in order to get access to a right. In very recent US history, white women got the right to vote, due in no small part to the work of black women, and readily left black women behind, happily accepting access

to the right to vote when black women were explicitly excluded. We had our own experience of this kind of dynamic around the 2016 referendum when people were ready to define “sex” with very limiting and incorrect terms, locking one of the groups most vulnerable to sex-based discrimination out of the intended protection from sex-based discrimination.

It is lazy and discriminatory to push for a separation of women’s rights from LGBTQI+ rights. We cannot decide that women are more important than LGBTQI+ people. We cannot decide not to talk about LGBTQI+ rights because we want to have success with women’s rights. Human rights, by virtue of what they are, are indivisible and interdependent. none of them is fully accessed without one another. We can acknowledge that all of our human rights are not going to become accessible at the same time without creating a false narrative about separation of rights or framing LGBTQI+ people and their rights as disposable. In addition to all of

this, the UPR is not specifically focused on women’s rights. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is the treaty that is focused on women. UPR is about human rights. All human rights. For all human beings. It is completely in keeping with the purpose and function of the UPR process to discuss the rights of LGBTQI+ people along with other communities. Human rights are not a finite resource. People are diverse. We all have many identities. We all have specific experiences and needs that emerge from our identities. We all have human rights. We all must have access to our rights. no one can simply decide that our rights are less important or less achievable than others, and relegate them—or us—to a corner. The UPR process makes that clear, and the written report will add to the evidence of these facts. We have to wait to see how the media will choose to report on it, and who it will contact to make reporting more robust, factual, and productive.

Recommendations

• Two-Faced: Gender Inequality in The Bahamas, a Gina Rodgers Sealy film, is screening at Four Walls Squash and Social Club on Village Road on May 20 at 7pm, May 21 at 2pm, and May 24 at 7pm, at Island House on May 20 at 6pm, May 21 at 3pm and 6pm, and at Regency Theater in Grand Bahama on May 20 at 7:30pm. This documentary includes stories from survivors of sexual violence and domestic violence and insights from women’s rights advocates including Marion Bethel, Gaynel Curry, and Marion Bethel. It is an important, educational, and moving documentary that ought to be required viewing for parliamentarians and senators, officials leading government ministries, law enforcement officers, people in nongovernmental organizations, university students, and religious leaders.

• Mothers and birthing parents of children seven years old and younger are invited to participate in a research on postpartum experiences and maternity leave in The Bahamas. The survey takes, on average, four-and-a-half minutes to complete and can be accessed at tiny.cc/matleave242. Fathers and non-birthing parents of children seven years old and younger are invited to participate in a focus group on parental leave and can express interest via email to equalitybahamas@gmail. com.

• Mother, Mother. This mix, created by DJ Ampero for Equality Bahamas includes songs by Marvin Gaye, Adele, Manu Beats, Queen Ifrica, Spice Girls, and Sade. Be introduced to music and revisit some that you may have forgotten about. The mix is available at tiny.cc/mothers23 in memory and celebration of mothers.

‘We are investing in building a broader

BOLIVIAN EV STARTUP HOPES TINY CAR WILL MAKE IT BIG IN LITHIUM-RICH COUNTRY

By CARLOS VALDEZ

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) —

On a recent, cold morning, Dr. Carlos Ortuño hopped into a tiny electric car to go check on a patient in the outskirts of Bolivia’s capital of La Paz, unsure if the vehicle would be able to handle the steep, winding streets of the high-altitude city.

“I thought that because of the city’s topography it was going to struggle, but it’s a great climber,” said Ortuño about his experience driving a Quantum, the first EV to have ever been made in Bolivia. “The difference from a gasoline-powered vehicle is huge.”

Ortuño’s home visit aboard a car the size of a golf cart was part of a government-sponsored programme that brings doctors to patients living in neighbourhoods far from the city centre. The “Doctor in your house” programme was launched last month by the municipality of La Paz using a fleet of six EV’s manufactured by Quantum Motors, the country’s sole producer of electric cars.

“It is a pioneering idea. It helps protect the health of those in need, while protecting the environment and supporting local production,” La Paz Mayor Iván Arias said.

The programme could also help boost Quantum Motors, a company launched four years ago by a group of entrepreneurs who believe

EVs will transform the auto industry in Bolivia, a lithiumrich country, where cheap, subsidised imported gasoline is still the norm. Built like a box, the Quantum moves at no more than 35 mph (56 kph), can be recharged from a household outlet and can travel 50 miles (80 kilometres) before a recharge. Its creators hope the $7,600 car will help revive dreams of a lithiumpowered economy and make

electric cars something the masses will embrace.

“E-mobility will prevail worldwide in the next few years, but it will be different in different countries,” says José Carlos Márquez, general manager of Quantum Motors. “Tesla will be a dominant player in the U.S., with its speedy, autonomous cars. But in Latin America, cars will be more compact, because our streets are more similar to those of Bombay

and New Delhi than to those of California.”

But the company’s quest to boost e-mobility in the South American country has been challenging. In the four years since it released its first EVs, Quantum Motors has sold barely 350 cars in Bolivia and an undisclosed number of units in Peru and Paraguay. The company is also set to open a factory in Mexico later this year, although no further details

have been provided on the scope of production there.

Still, Quantum Motors’ bet on battery-powered cars makes sense when it comes to Bolivia’s resources.

With an estimated 21 million tons, Bolivia has the world’s largest reserve of lithium, a key component in electric batteries, but it has yet to extract — and industrialise — its vast resources of the metal.

In the meantime, the large majority of vehicles in circulation are still powered by fossil fuels and the government continues to pour millions of dollars subsidising imported fuel than then sells at half the price to the domestic market.

“The Quantum (car) might be cheap, but I don’t think it has the capacity of a gasoline-powered car,” says Marco Antonio Rodriguez, a car mechanic in La Paz, although he acknowledges people might change their mind once the government puts an end to gasoline subsidies.

Despite the challenges ahead, the makers of the Quantum car are hopeful that programmes like “Médico en tu casa,” which is scheduled to double in size and extend to other neighbourhoods next year, will help boost production and churn out more EV’s across the region.

“We are ready to grow,” said Márquez. “Our inventory has been sold out through July.”

STUCK ANTENNA FREED ON JUPITER BOUND SPACECRAFT

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A crucial radar antenna on a European spacecraft bound for Jupiter is no longer jammed.

Flight controllers in Germany freed the 52-foot (16-metre) antenna Friday after nearly a month of effort.

The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, nicknamed Juice, blasted off in April on a decade-long voyage. Soon after launch, a tiny pin refused to budge and prevented the antenna from fully opening.

Controllers tried shaking and warming the spacecraft to get the pin to move by just millimetres. Back-to-back jolts finally did the trick.

The radar antenna will peer deep beneath the icy crust of three Jupiter moons suspected of harbouring underground oceans and possibly life.

Those moons are Callisto, Europa and Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system.

Juice will attempt to go into orbit around Ganymede. No spacecraft has ever orbited a moon other than our own. The news wasn’t so good for NASA’s Lunar Flashlight spacecraft.

After struggling unsuccessfully for months to get the Cubesat into orbit around the moon, the space agency called it quits Friday.

OFF-GRID SOLAR BRINGS LIGHT, TIME AND INCOME TO REMOTEST VILLAGES

By VICTORIA MILKO and DITA ALANGKARA Associated Press

LAINDEHA, Indonesia (AP)

— As Tamar Ana Jawa wove a red sarong in the fading sunlight, her neighbour switched on a light bulb dangling from the sloping tin roof. It was just one bulb powered by a small solar panel, but in this remote village that means a lot. In some of the world’s most remote places, off-grid solar systems are bringing villagers like Jawa more hours in the day, more money and more social gatherings.

Before electricity came to the village a bit less than two years ago, the day ended when the sun went down. Villagers in Laindeha, on the island of Sumba in eastern Indonesia, would set aside the mats they were weaving or coffee they were sorting to sell at the market as the light faded.

A few families who could afford them would start noisy generators that rumbled into the night, emitting plumes of smoke. Some people wired lightbulbs to old car batteries, which would quickly die or burn out appliances, as they had no regulator. Children sometimes studied by makeshift oil lamps, but these occasionally burned down homes when knocked over by the wind.

That’s changed since grassroots social enterprise projects have brought small, individual solar panel systems to Laindeha and villages like it across the island.

For Jawa, it means much-needed extra income. When her husband died of a stroke in December 2022, Jawa wasn’t sure how she would pay for her children’s schooling. But when a neighbour got electric lighting shortly after, she realised she

could continue weaving clothes for the market late into the evening.

“It used to be dark at night, now it’s bright until morning,” the 30-year old mother of two said, carefully arranging and pushing red threads at the loom. “So tonight I work ... to pay for the children.”

Around the world, hundreds of millions of people live in communities without regular access to power, and off-grid solar systems like these are bringing limited access to electricity to places like these years before power grids reach them.

Some 775 million people globally lacked access to electricity in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are home to some of the largest populations without access to electricity. Not having electricity at home keeps people in poverty, the U.N. and World Bank wrote in a 2021 report. It’s hard for very poor people to get electricity, according to the report,

and it’s hard for people who don’t have it to participate in the modern economy.

Indonesia has brought electricity to millions of people in recent years, going from 85% to nearly 97% coverage between 2005 and 2020, according to World Bank data. But there are still more than half a million people in Indonesia living in places the grid doesn’t reach. While barriers still remain, experts say off-grid solar programmes on the island could be replicated across the vast archipelago nation, bringing renewable energy to remote communities.

“Off-grid solar there plays an important role in that it will deliver clean electricity directly to those who are unelectrified,” said Daniel Kurniawan, a solar policy analyst at the Institute for Essential Services Reform.

Now, villagers frequently gather in the evening to continue the day’s work, gather to watch television

shows on cellphones charged by the panels and help children do homework in light bright enough to read.

“I couldn’t really study at night before,” said Antonius Pekambani, a 17-year old student in Ndapaymi village, east Sumba. “But now I can.”

Solar power is still fairly rare in Indonesia.

While the country has targeted more solar as part of its climate goals, there has been limited progress due to regulations that don’t allow households to sell power back to the grid, ruling out a way of defraying the cost that has helped people afford solar in other parts of the world.

That’s where grassroots organisations like Sumba Sustainable Solutions, based in eastern Sumba since 2019, saw potential to help.

Working with international donors to help subsidise the cost, it provides imported home solar systems, which can power light bulbs and charge cellphones, for monthly payments equivalent to $3.50 over three years.

The organisation also offers solar-powered appliances such as wireless lamps and grinding machines. It said it has distributed over 3,020 solar light systems and 62 mills across the island, reaching more than 3,000 homes.

Imelda Pindi Mbitu, a 46-year-old mother of five living in Walatungga, said she used to spend whole days grinding corn kernels and coffee beans between two rocks to sell at the local market; now, she takes it to a solar-powered mill shared by the village.

“With manual milling, if I start in the morning I can only finish in the afternoon. I can’t do anything else,” she said sitting in her wooden home.

“If you use the machine, it’s faster. So now I can do other things.”

Similar schemes in other places, including Bangladesh and sub-Saharan Africa, have helped provide electricity for millions, according to the World Bank.

But some smaller off-grid solar systems like these don’t provide the same amount of power as grid access.

While cellphones, light bulbs and mills remain charged, the systems don’t generate enough power for a large sound system or a church.

Off-grid solar projects face hurdles too, said Jetty Arlenda, an engineer with Sumba Sustainable Solutions.

The organisation’s scheme is heavily reliant upon donors to subsidize the cost of solar equipment, which many rural residents would be unable to afford at their market cost. Villagers without off-grid solar panels are stuck on waitlists while Sumba Sustainable Solutions looks for more funding. They’re hoping for support from Indonesia’s $20 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership deal, which is being negotiated by numerous developed nations and international financial institutions.

There’s also been issues with recipients failing to make payments, especially as the island deals with locust outbreaks diminishing crops and livelihoods of villagers. And when solar systems break, they need imported parts that can be hard to come by.

But for now, villagers like Jawa said the solar systems are making a big difference.

“I’m grateful for this lamp,” she said, sitting at the loom and nodding towards the hanging bulb. “It will be bright all night.”

DR Carlos Ortuno drives a Bolivian-made, Quantum electric car to a house call, in La Paz, Bolivia. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

ANTONIUS MAKAMBOMBU, a worker of Sumba Sustainable Solutions performs maintenance work on a solar panel on the roof of a customer’s shop in Laindeha village on Sumba Island, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Ukraine says it downed Russian hypersonic missiles during ‘exceptional’ air attack on Kyiv

UKRAINE Associated Press

Ukrainian air defences, bolstered by sophisticated Western-supplied systems, thwarted an intense russian air attack on kyiv early Tuesday, shooting down all missiles aimed at the capital, officials said.

The bombardment, which targeted locations across Ukraine, included six russian kinzhal aero-ballistic hypersonic missiles, the most fired in a single attack in the war so far, according to Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii ihnat.

russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly touted the kinzhals as providing a key strategic competitive advantage and among the most advanced weapons in his country’s arsenal. The missiles are difficult to detect and intercept because of their hypersonic speed and manoeuvrability.

if Ukraine’s claim of having shot down six fired Tuesday is confirmed, it would mark another blow to Putin’s war efforts and show the increasing effectiveness of the country’s air defences.

air force spokesman ihnat, who said in March that Ukraine lacked the equipment to intercept the kinzhals, didn’t explain Tuesday what systems were used to knock them down. Since March, Western countries have supplied Ukraine with various air defence systems.

russia fired the kinzhals from MiG-31k warplanes, along with nine cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and three S-400 cruise missiles launched from the ground, ihnat said. in all, Ukraine’s military said later, russia had targeted Ukraine with 27 missiles

in a day and launched 37 airstrikes.

russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu late Tuesday contested the Ukrainian claims, telling the state-run ria-novosti news agency: “We have not launched as many kinzhals as they allegedly shoot down every time with their statements.”

Loud explosions boomed over kyiv in the major nighttime attack apparently aimed at overwhelming Ukraine’s air defences.

kyiv’s mayor reported three people were wounded.

The barrage came as European leaders sought new ways to punish russia for the war and a Chinese envoy sought traction for

Beijing’s peace proposal, which appears to have made little impression on the warring sides. it also came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned home from a whirlwind European tour to seek more military aid.

The overnight attack on kyiv was “exceptional in its density — the maximum number of attacking missiles in the shortest period of time,” said Serhii Popko, the head of the kyiv military administration. kyiv resident Valentyna Myronets, 64, said she felt “pain, fear, nervousness, restlessness” amid the assaults. “God, we are waiting for victory and when all this is over,” she said.

Uk ambassador Melinda Simmons tweeted that the barrage was “pretty intense.”

“Bangs and shaking walls are not an easy night,” she wrote.

it was the eighth time this month that russian air raids had targeted the capital, a clear escalation after weeks of lull and ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive using newly supplied advanced Western weapons.

after the first onslaught, russia also launched iranian-made Shahed attack drones and conducted aerial reconnaissance, ihnat said. Debris fell across several districts in the capital,

starting fires, kyiv Mayor Vitali klitschko said.

Sophisticated Western air defence systems, including american-made Patriot missiles, have helped spare kyiv from the kind of destruction witnessed along the main front line in the country’s east and south. While most of the ground fighting is stalemated along that front line, both sides are targeting other territory with long-range weapons.

associated Press reporters saw a metal fragment that landed inside the kyiv zoo labeled Lockheed Martin and Boeing, two of the companies involved in manufacturing the Patriot missile system.

russian Defence Ministry spokesman igor konashenkov said a kinzhal destroyed a Patriot missile battery in kyiv but he didn’t provide evidence, and the statement couldn’t be independently verified. ihnat, the Ukrainian air force spokesman, refused to comment on the claim.

russia began using the kinzhal to strike targets in Ukraine early in the invasion but has used the expensive weapon sparingly and against priority targets, apparently reflecting limited availability.

The russian military says the missile’s range is up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles) and it can fly at 10 times the speed of sound. its speed and heavy warhead allow the kinzhal to destroy heavily fortified targets, such as underground bunkers or mountain tunnels.

Ukraine’s bolstered air defences have deterred russia’s aircraft from going deep into the neighbour country and helped shape the course of the war, military experts say. in iceland, European leaders are taking part in a rare summit of the

46-nation Council of Europe, the continent’s main human rights body, to discuss how to manage claims for compensation from russia’s damage to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, a Chinese envoy is preparing to visit Ukraine and russia as Beijing advocates a peace plan it released in February.

Li Hui, a former ambassador to Moscow, also will visit Poland, France and Germany, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. Ukraine has cautiously welcomed China’s proposal while saying it would wait to see what specific actions China takes. Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government says it is neutral and wants to mediate in the war, but has given Moscow political support, and a breakthrough appears unlikely. in russian-occupied southern Ukraine, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) from kyiv, russian officials began training to evacuate 3,100 staff members of the shut-down Zaporizhzhia nuclear Power Plant and their families, a representative of Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear company, said Tuesday. The plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, employed around 11,000 people before the war, some 6,000 of whom remain at the site and in the surrounding town of Enerhodar.

More russian military units have arrived at the plant and are mining it, the representative told The associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. russian troops have barred remaining workers from communicating with each other or leaving, Energoatom said on Telegram.

Prince Harry seeks to cH allenge denial of request to Pay for own uk Police Protection s alman rusHdie warns free ex Pression under t Hreat in rare Public address after attack

LONDON Associated Press

WriTEr Salman rushdie has made a public speech, nine months after being stabbed and seriously injured onstage, warning that freedom of expression in the West is under its most severe threat in his lifetime.

rushdie delivered a video message to the British Book awards, where he was awarded the Freedom to Publish award on Monday evening. Organizers said the honour “acknowledges the determination of authors, publishers and booksellers who take a stand against intolerance, despite the ongoing threats they face.” rushdie, 75, looked thinner than before the attack and wore glasses with one tinted lens. He was blinded in his right eye and suffered nerve damage to his hand when he was attacked at a literary festival in new York state in august.

LONDON Associated Press

a LaWYEr for Prince

Harry argued in a London court Tuesday that he should be allowed to challenge a government decision that denied him the right to pay for police protection when he visits the Uk

The case is one of six the Duke of Sussex has pending in court that centre around two issues: his security and claims that British tabloids hacked his phone and unlawfully obtained other information about him.

His high-profile phone hacking trial against the publisher of the Daily Mirror is underway before a different High Court judge.

The hearing in the security case centred around Harry’s claim that he doesn’t feel safe bringing his young children, archie, 4, and Lilibet,

nearly 2, from the US to visit his home country without a police security detail.

a spokesperson for the prince has said his US security team doesn’t have jurisdiction abroad or access to intelligence in the Uk

The British government stopped providing security for Harry after he and his wife, Meghan, quit their royal duties and moved to California in 2020. Harry has a separate legal case challenging the decision to deny providing him security in the Uk Harry’s lawyer asked a judge to allow the duke to bring a legal case against the Home Office and the Executive Committee for the Protection of royalty and Public Figures for denying him the right to personally pay for his security.

attorney Shaheed Fatima argued the committee, which includes

members from London’s Metropolitan Police department, the Home Office and Buckingham Palace, exceeded its authority and its denial was inconsistent with legislation that allows a police chief to provide special police services for payment.

“Parliament has clearly decided that in principle, payment for policing is not inconsistent with the public interest,” Fatima wrote.

The government’s lawyer, robert Palmer, said reimbursing police for security at special events such as a marathon, soccer matches and celebrity weddings was not the same as using “police officers as private bodyguards for the wealthy.”

Palmer said the denial was within the authority of the committee and set a policy position. The judge is expected to rule later.

His alleged assailant, Hadi Matar, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and attempted murder.

He told the awards ceremony that “we live in a moment, i think, at which freedom of expression, freedom to publish has not in my lifetime been under such threat in the countries of the West.” now i am sitting here in the US, i have to look at the extraordinary attack on libraries, and books for children in schools,” he said. “The attack on the idea of libraries themselves. it is quite remarkably alarming, and we need to be very aware of it, and to fight against it very hard.”

rushdie spent years in hiding with police protection after iran’s Grand ayatollah ruhollah khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, in 1989 calling for his death over the alleged blasphemy of the novel “The Satanic Verses.”

SalMan Rushdie attends the 68th National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner on Nov. 15, 2017, in New York. Writer Salman Rushdie has made a public speech nine months after being stabbed and seriously injured onstage, warning that freedom of expression in the West is under its most severe threat of his lifetime. Rushdie delivered a video message to the British Book Awards, where he was awarded the Freedom to Publish award on Monday evening.

He gradually returned to public life after the iranian government distanced itself from the order in 1998, saying it would not back any effort to kill rushdie, though the fatwa was never officially repealed.

rushdie won the Booker Prize in 1981 for his novel “Midnight’s Children,”

and in 2008 was voted the best-ever winner of the prestigious fiction prize. His most recent novel, “Victory City” — completed a month before the attack — was

published in February. in his speech, rushdie also criticized publishers who change decades-old books for modern sensibilities, such as large-scale cuts and rewrites to the works of children’s author roald Dahl and James Bond creator ian Fleming. He said publishers should allow books “to come to us from their time and be of their time.” “and if that’s difficult to take, don’t read it, read another book,” he said.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry, firefighters put out fire caused by fragments of a Russian rocket after it was shot down by air defense system during the night Russian rocket attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early yesterday.

Photo: Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry/AP

Photo: Evan agostini/Invision/AP

BrItaIn’s Prince Harry arrives at the Royal Courts Of Justice in London, Thursday, March 30, 2023. A lawyer has asked a London judge to allow Prince Harry to challenge the government’s denial of his request to pay for police protection when he visits the U.K. Attorney Shaheed Fatima said Tuesday, May 16, 2023 that the government had exceeded its authority.

Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

NEW LIFE: Top athletes enjoy the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) New Life Invitational in Freeport, Grand Bahama, over the weekend. The second edition of the meet was held as athletes not only looked to qualify for the World Championships in August but also to vie for their share of the $75,000 cash prize. Photos by Vandyke Hepburn/BIS

Familiar faces soak up spotlight at NACAC New Life Invitational

NEW LIFE: Top athletes at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) New Life Invitational in Freeport, Grand Bahama, over the weekend. The one-day meet got underway at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex and saw athletes break New Life records. Bahamian athletes also returned home to put on a show. The second edition of the meet was held as athletes not only looked to qualify for the World Championships in August but also to vie for their share of the $75,000 cash prize.

Photos by Vandyke Hepburn/BIS

Nuggets beat Lakers 132-126 to win West Finals Game 1

By ARNIE STAPLETON AP Sports Writer

DENVER (AP) —

Nikola Jokic recorded his sixth triple-double of these playoffs with 34 points, 21 rebounds and 14 assists, powering the Denver Nuggets to a 132-126 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the opener of the Western Conference finals last night.

Behind Jokic’s sizzling start and strong finish, and Jamal Murray’s 31 points, Denver beat the Lakers in the opener of the West finals for the first time ever.

After a slow start, Anthony Davis had 40 points and 10 rebounds, and LeBron James finished with 26 points, 12 boards and nine assists. Austin Reaves chipped in 23 points and fuelled L.A.’s desperate fourth-quarter run that nearly erased Denver’s 14-point cushion after three.

The Nuggets led by as many as 21 but the Lakers pulled within three points twice in the fourth quarter, once on Reaves’ 3-pointer at 124-121 and again on James’ pair of free throws that made it 129-126 with 1:12 remaining.

After Jokic sank two free throws with 26 seconds left to give Denver a 131126 lead, Murray poked the ball from James as he was about to take it to the hoop and Jokic gathered the loose ball before being fouled with 10.9 seconds left. He sank one of two and James misfired from 3 as the seconds ticked off.

Game 2 is Thursday night at Ball Arena, where the top-seeded Nuggets are 7-0 in the playoffs and 41-7 overall, the best home record in the league this season.

Jokic said a day earlier that the Nuggets desperately needed to avoid following in the sneakersteps of the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State

‘JOKER’ LEADS THE CHARGE WITH 6TH TRIPLE DOUBLE OF PLAYOFFS

WHO IS VICTOR WEMBY?

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

THE Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes has a winner. It’s the San Antonio Spurs.

The NBA draft lottery was last night in Chicago and 14 teams had hope that the ping-pong balls will bounce their way, giving them the No. 1 pick this year and the chance to draft Wembanyama.

The Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets and Spurs all had the best chance of winning the lottery and getting the No. 1 pick — 14%, or about 7-1 odds.

But the Spurs got the win, and now Wembanyama’s career will start with legendary coach Gregg Popovich, the NBA’s alltime win leader.

• Here is a look at what all the fuss is about:

WHO IS VICTOR WEMBANYAMA?

He’s one of the most talked-about players in the world right now, for good and obvious reasons. He is a 7-foot-3, 19-year-old phenom who is wrapping up his third professional season in France and is about to start his NBA career.

Warriors, both of whom dropped their home opener to the Lakers and wound up losing in six games.

Moreover, James has won his last 20 playoff series in which his team has won the opener.

The Nuggets hadn’t taken Game 1 against the Lakers since 1979, when they won the opener of the best-of-3 series only to lose the next two. That’s the closest the Nuggets have ever come to eliminating the Lakers, who have beaten Denver three times in the West finals, including in the Florida bubble in 2020.

Flashing his MVP credentials in a stunning display of power in the first quarter, Jokic pulled down a dozen boards and dished out five assists to go with eight points. That made

him the first player since at least 1997 to have a dozen or more boards and at least five assists in any quarter of an NBA playoff game.

11-2 run to cut the deficit to 11 points before Jokic responded with an offbalance 3-pointer over the outstretched arm of Davis that barely fluttered the net at the buzzer, leaving Davis to trudge back to the bench in disbelief.

The “Joker,” who missed out on his third consecutive NBA MVP award this year when he was edged by Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, had 19 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks by halftime as the Nuggets took a 72-54 lead into the locker room. Jokic outrebounded the Lakers by himself 16-13 in the first half and the Nuggets beat L.A. in the opener of a playoff series

for the first time in eight tries.

PLENTY OF POINTS

With 258 combined points, it was the highest-scoring conference finals game that didn’t go to overtime since 1987, when Detroit beat Boston 145-119.

CLOCK SHOT

A malfunctioning shot clock was fixed and restored to its rightful place above the baskets in time for the 2nd half. A malfunction forced officials to place a timer on both ends of the Ball Arena floor in the 1st half. It made for a different sort of gaze for the players, who usually glance slightly up from where they’re shooting to know how much time is left. In the first half, they had to look toward the right side of the baseline.

‘Wemby’ sweepstakes and draft lottery has a winner: It’s the Spurs

By ANDREW SELIGMAN AP Sports Writer

CHICAGO (AP) —

Victor Wembanyama is now set to begin his NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs, after they won the NBA draft lottery and the No. 1 overall pick last night.

The Spurs were one of three teams with the best odds — 14% — to land the No. 1 pick, which they’ll almost certainly use on Wembanyama. The 7-foot-3 French 19-yearold is one of the most highly touted prospects in NBA history and will be expected to make an immediate impact on the league.

And he had a message for San Antonio.

“I’m trying to win a ring ASAP,” Wembanyama told ESPN after the lottery results. “So be ready.”

It’s the third time the Spurs have won the lottery, and on both previous occasions they made picks that paid off for decades. They chose David Robinson in 1987, Tim Duncan in 1997, and those selections were a major part of how the Spurs became a team that won five NBA titles under coach Gregg Popovich.

“Our future was already bright,” Spurs managing partner Peter J. Holt said. “Now, it’s going to be through the moon.”

General manager Brian Wright called it “an incredible day” for the franchise and the fans.

Charlotte will pick second, Portland moved up to third, and Houston fell to fourth.

“This draft is a deep, talented one,” Trail Blazers general manager Joe

Cronin said. “We know picks one through six there’s always gems to be found, but to move up into the top three is really exciting.”

As for getting the No. 1 pick in a year like this?

“People talk about generational talents and you only think on-court skill, but it’s bigger than that,” Wright said. “Peter talked about his ability to be a great teammate, his ability to think the game, unique challenges. You see him doing things that you wouldn’t have even guessed someone could do — his approach, his professionalism. I think when you use the word generational talent, it extends beyond just your ability to put the ball in the basket. And he’s unique in so many ways.”

The Spurs were 22-60 this season, tied for the second-worst record in the NBA. Popovich and the Spurs have had incredible success with international players in the past — most notably, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, who owns the French team that Wembanyama played for last season.

“He’s an incredible young man,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN as part of its draft lottery broadcast. “He’s 19 years old and I didn’t take out a yardstick or meter stick or whatever they use in France, but he seemed all of 7-4 to me. … He clearly appears to be a generational talent.”

Wembanyama finished his regular season with Boulogne-Levallois of France’s top pro league earlier Tuesday, his 22-point effort good enough for him

to clinch the league’s scoring title. It was shortly past 2am Wednesday in Paris when the lottery results were revealed, and Wembanyama was gathered with family and friends for a celebration.

“Can’t really describe it,” Wembanyama said in his interview with ESPN, adding “it’s a really special moment.”

Finally, he knows where his NBA journey will begin. His agents did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press.

“I think the team that has the first choice isn’t going to get it wrong,” said Vincent Collet, Wembanyama’s coach in France

and also the coach of the French national team — which Wembanyama is expected to play for this summer at the World Cup and next summer at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Detroit had the worst record in the NBA and was one of the three teams with the best odds of winning.

The Pistons wound up falling all the way to fifth, the worst of their possible outcomes.

The rest of the lottery order: Orlando will pick sixth, Indiana seventh, Washington eighth, Utah ninth, Dallas 10th, Orlando (from Chicago as part of an earlier trade) in 11th, Oklahoma City 12th, Toronto 13th, and New Orleans 14th.

Wembanyama is wrapping up his third professional season in France and has been the consensus top pick for months. He has the height of a center, the shooting touch of a wing and the passing ability of a point guard. He wasn’t at the lottery because of his game schedule in France. But many of the other top prospects — Scoot Henderson of the G League Ignite, Brandon Miller of Alabama, twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson of the Overtime Elite programme — were in the room to watch the lottery results get unveiled and get a little better idea of where they may be heading to start their NBA careers.

LeBron James calls Wembanyama “an alien,” and says that with the utmost of respect.

Wembanyama has the height of a centre, the shooting touch of a wing and the passing ability of a point guard.

His wingspan is nearly 8 feet and he can nearly grab the rim — 10 feet in the air — without even jumping.

WHAT WEMBANYAMA’S BACKGROUND?

His parents are both tall and both very athletic. His father, Felix Wembanyama, is about 6-foot-5 and was a high jumper.

His mother, Elodie de Fautereau; is about 6-foot-3 and was a basketball standout. They have tried to keep life very normal for a son who just happens to have worldwide fame already.

And Wembanyama has tried to be a normal kid; he likes video games, art, reading and soccer.

WHAT HAPPENED TUESDAY?

The winner of the lottery gets the chance to make the No. 1 pick in next month’s draft.

So, while Wembanyama isn’t officially a member of the Spurs yet, it’s a foregone conclusion that — barring some sort of incredible trade — he’ll be selected by San Antonio in June and could be with his new club for summer league games in early July.

HOW WILL HE FIT IN THE NBA?

There is a learning curve for everybody, even No. 1 draft picks. And it’s a rite of passage for all rookies, especially highly touted ones, to get challenged by established NBA players — few of them are taller, but many are stronger and more experienced. He will have some rough moments, for certain. But he will make any team better, maybe much better, right away.

WHERE HAS HE PLAYED?

He became a full-time pro in the 2020-21 season with the French club Nanterre. He has been on three teams in his three seasons in the French league, his year with Nanterre followed by a season with the powerhouse club ASVEL — owned by Spurs great Tony Parker — and this season with Boulogne-Levallois. His current team wrapped up its regular season on Tuesday (which is why he wasn’t at the draft lottery) and is about to open the playoffs.

NUGGETS centre Nikola Jokic (15) pulls down a rebound as Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) and LeBron James look on during the first half of Game 1 of their NBA basketball Western Conference Finals series last night. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

BOULOGNE-Levallois’ Victor Wembanyama dunks during the Elite basketball match BoulogneLevallois against Paris at the Palais de Sports Marcel Cerdan stadium in Levallois-Perret, outside Paris, Tuesday, May 16. Wembanyam is projected to be the first overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

BLUE CHIPS ATHLETICS CLUB’S 7TH THROWERS CAMP AT QC JUNE 26

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH the continued success of the throwers in track and field, Blue Chips Athletics’ head coach Corrington Maycock wants to provide the opportunity to develop more competitors to keep the trend flowing.

From June 26 to July 1, Maycock and the Blue Chip Athletics Club will host their seventh Throwers Camp at the Queen’s College playing field from 9am to 3pm daily. This is the first camp since 2018 and the emphasis will be placed on the shot put, discus and javelin with special guest American coach Greg Jack and fellow Blue Chip Athletics’

team-mates Rhema Otabor, Keyshawn Strachan and Tarajh Hudson. “I’m hoping that we recover what we lost since COVID19 because we didn’t have during COVID-19,” Maycock said.

“But I’ve noticed that throwing has grown since COVID-19 and we have a lot more athletes coming out to compete in the throwing events. So I’m hoping that this is the biggest camp that we’ve had since we started the camp in 2012.”

Maycock said for the last 4-5 years, the throwing events were the key to the success of the Bahamas junior national teams and this is one of the reasons why they are pushing to get more competitors in the

javelin, shot put, discus and even the hammer throws.

“Yes I’m biased, but the track events are not as glamorous as they used to be,” he stated. “The throwing events have taken over when you look at what Rhema (Otabor), Keyshawn (Strachan) and Tarajh (Hudson) and the ones ahead of them who have set the foundation for them like Serena (Brown) and others.

“We have a lot of talent stacked with kids like Kamera (Strachan) and Dior-Ray (Scott) who want to continue to build on that. So camps are very important because what kids did during the season they can now develop before they go back into their upcoming season.”

One of the benefits from the past performances of the throwers is that Maycock will have at his disposal Otabor, Strachan and Hudson, who are all making their presence felt on the collegiate scene, as instructors during the camp. “A lot of these kids look up to them now. They idolise them. They are their favourite junior athletes and so it’s something that they can look forward to during the summer,” he said. “They can actually say they actually touch and learn from these throwers who have been in their position.”

The trio will be working along with the lead instructor Jack, whom Maycock said brings a wealth of knowledge to the camp

about the throwing events. He is also a recruiter for college, which provides another opportunity for student-athletes to be viewed and placed on the radar for college.

“Greg has been here twice. He worked with Keyshawn, Otabor and her brother Michael for about a week when he was here,” Maycock said.

“But I always say, it’s good to bring in a new face. He might be teaching the same thing, but it’s how it’s delivered. Kids pick up some things faster from others, but Greg has a wealth of experience that he will be sharing with the campers.

The registration fee is $250 with a camp shirt included for all participants,

but Maycock said the focus should not be on the cost, but rather the valuable lessons that will be provided.

“We want to get those throwers who have been performing this year but want to take their performances to the next level,” Maycock said.

“We are also looking for those kids who are sitting down at home with nothing to do, but would love to get involved in throwing.

“I think we will have a very good camp this year. There are a lot of kids out there looking for something to do. “I don’t think they all know their calling, but they can try throwing because there are a lot of scholarships available for throwers to go to school and further their education in college.”

ON THE REPLAY: The USA clinched the beach soccer title with an impressive 5-0 whitewashing of Mexico on Sunday. Gabriel Silvera booted in a pair of goals and Nick Perera, Tomas Canale and Ricardo Carvalho added one each. Unfortunately, The Bahamas ended up one goal short of beating Mexico in the semifinal clincher and one behind El Salvador to complete the championship in fourth place overall. The Bahamas men’s national beach soccer team came so close to booking their ticket to the United Arab Emirates for the 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. But before a large crowd of spectators on hand at the Malcolm Park beach soccer facility, Mexico left them grounded with a hard-fought, 3-2 victory in the feature game played in the semifinal matches of the CONCACAF Championships on Saturday night. Mexico, the four-time CBSC champions who took advantage of a stunning own goal from the Bahamas and another from Edgar Portilla in the first of three periods, prevailed to join the United States on the trip to Dubai. The USA avenged their defeat to El Salvador two years ago by dethroning the defending champions with a 5-2 victory in the other semifinal game. As the championship came to a close, defending champions El Salvador nipped the Bahamas 3-2 as Kyle Williams and James Thompson scored for the Bahamas.

BREAKING BARRIERS

FROM PAGE 16

the 2023 Beach Soccer Championships.

“I think that it’s great to break barriers for other girls, but honestly I wanted to be a positive role model for them to let them know

they can achieve anything they put their mind to,” she said.

Albury thanked head of the referee academy

Dianne James, her mentor

William Da Costa, her former coach Luiz Escobar and the BFA for the

opportunities they have afforded her.

Overall, she felt the experience was a great one to have as she was able to learn from the other instructors, referees and will now look forward to the next competition.

Photos: Austin Fernander/Tribune Staff

Breaking Barriers:

Annisa Albury first Bahamian woman confirmed to referee at CONCACAF Beach Soccer Pre-World Cup

By TENAJH SWEETING tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

Annisa Albury was the first Bahamian woman to be confirmed as a referee for the 2023 Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association (CONCACAF) Beach Soccer Pre-World Cup.

She was selected along with 19 other referees as they determined which two teams booked their tickets to the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup scheduled for November 16 to 26 in Dubai. Ultimately, the United States of America and Mexico will make their journey to November’s soccer showdown.

After playing an integral role in the 2023 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championships, Albury talked about how it felt to be the first ever Bahamian woman selected to referee among her counterparts.

She said the feeling was quite surreal to say the least as she is still coming down from the high of being selected not only as the first woman but also as a Bahamian woman.

With Albury being tasked with refereeing such major and definitive games, she did not shy away from the opportunity. Although the decision came as a surprise to her, the Bahamas Football Association (BFA) made the decision to recommend her as soon as the 2023 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championships were confirmed to take place in New Providence. Nonetheless, Albury had been preparing for an opportunity of this magnitude for a while.

“I have been working towards this for a while.

I have been refereeing games in the [United] States and then I also have done some international friendlies. When I found out the tournament was here, I definitely was surprised when they put my name forward,” the referee said.

Albury not only attributed her newest accomplishment to her preparedness but was grateful to come up under the tutelage of her mentor Wilson Da Costa and also Luiz

Escober who helped her to develop a love for the sport on a national level in 2019 which led to her learning how to referee shortly after. “I felt really prepared. I have had a great mentor who is also a FIFA beach soccer instructor, it felt amazing to play such a key role in determining the teams that went to the World Cup, but because of my experience refereeing already and such a great mentor, I felt prepared,” she said.

At a loss for words, the Bahamian referee was

TOP BAHAMIAN TENNIS PLAYERS ARE BENEFICIARIES OF ATHLETIC COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS

ABIGAIL Simms and Kaylee Kanuka are two standout athletes who have represented the Bahamas internationally in tennis.

One is leaving the collegiate tennis scene armed with great knowledge and an awesome tennis collegiate career while the other is about to make her mark in the collegiate arena.

The Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) congratulates Kaylee Kanuka on receiving a college tennis scholarship to attend Seton Hill University.

Kaylee has represented

The Bahamas on numerous national teams as a top tennis junior, including Jr Billie Jean King Cup.

Kanuka is graduating from Asheville School in North Carolina where the Asheville varsity girls’ tennis team won the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISSA) Championships in 2020.

Kaylee was instrumental in the team claiming their first ever state championship in school history.

She has now set her sight on the college circuit and will be competing in the Big East Conference and will be playing for a NCAA

CHISHOLM JR PUT ON 10-DAY INJURED LIST

Division 2 college. She will be studying criminal justice.

The Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) also congratulates Abigail Simms on her graduation from Indianna Tech University.

Abigail obtained her bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. During her college tennis career, Abigail played in a number of positions,

including the #1 Singles and Doubles.

Abigail was the WHAC conference player of the week and was instrumental in her team winning two back-to-back conference championships in 2021 and 2022.

As Kaylee and Abigail embark on this new chapter in their lives, The Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association prays for continual blessings upon them.

simply thankful to the CONCACAF for the way they treated her before and during the 2023 Beach Soccer Championships.

The 28 referees and instructors, which only included one woman, had to undergo a five-day beach soccer seminar where they reviewed the game, its laws and underwent physical training to prepare for the championships.

Albury described it as the best week and-a-half she has ever experienced.

Despite having the challenge of refereeing the

championships, she was simultaneously fulfilling her duties as a coach at Lyford Cay International school, coach of the Renegades Football Club, and role model to the girls.

She noted that one of the main reasons she became a coach was to be a positive example for younger girls in life or in sports.

The “Jill of many trades” coached her girls’ team through their championship games in the same week she was refereeing

SEE PAGE 15

MIAMI (AP)

— Marlins centrefielder Jasrado “Jazz” Chisholm Jr was put on the 10-day injured list yesterday because of a right toe turf injury.

A first-year outfielder, Chisholm Jr collided with the centre-field wall while attempting to catch a drive hit by Henry Ramos in Miami’s 6-5 loss against Cincinnati on Saturday. Chisholm remained down on the warning track for a couple of minutes before he reached his feet and limped off the field. “Not what you want from your star centrefielder,” Marlins manager Schumaker said before yesterday’s series opener against Washington. “We put a lot on his plate early in the year and in spring training, and he’s done nothing but grow in that position.”

Chisholm has seven homers and began yesterday tied for 2nd in the NL with 14 steals. He homered in consecutive games against the Reds before his injury. The 25-year-old Chisholm was voted starting second baseman in the 2022 All-Star Game but didn’t play because of a back injury he sustained in June that sidelined him the remainder of the season.

Chisholm spent his first three seasons with Miami primarily at second base but agreed to the move to centre, where he started 38 of the first 41 games. The move also opened second base for reigning AL batting champion Luis Arraez, acquired from Minnesota in an off-season trade.

“Definitely a tough loss,” Schumaker said. “Looking forward to him getting healthy and back.”

Schumaker said reserves Garrett Hampson and Peyton Burdick will split the initial starts in centre during Chisholm’s absence.

NASSAU NASTICS SET TO LAUNCH KIDS’ SUMMER CAMP STARTING JUNE 19

By TENAJH SWEETING tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

NASSAU Nastics will launch a summer camp for children from June 19 to August 25.

The camp is open to boys and girls ages three and up. This year’s camp is scheduled to take place at the Oakes Field gymnasium and kids will get the opportunity to not only learn more about gymnastics but to also have fun while learning.

With the Nassau Nastics summer camp existing since the 1990s, head coach Trevor Ramsey talked about his goals and expectations for the kids that enrol into this year’s summer camp.

“We want the kids that are attending the summer camp to have fun, gymnastics is supposed to be fun but we want to keep the fun in fundamentals.

“The kids will be learning basic fundamentals and we want them to enjoy themselves every year,” Ramsey said.

He added that it is important that the kids enjoy themselves in the summer because that is what helps them to return to the programme in September.

The summer camp will not only be a learning opportunity but will also allow for the children to keep themselves occupied and meet new friends, according to the coach.

Although the Nassau Nastics summer camp is usually filled with familiar faces, they are typically beginners.

The camp will teach beginner skills such as forward and backward rolls, handstands, cartwheels, pullovers on the bars, walks on the beams, locomotor skills, along with lots of games and activities as well.

Despite the camp taking place in the early summer, it will not interfere with the regularly scheduled Nassau Nastics afternoon programme which typically

takes place 4-6pm in the evenings.

The head coach encouraged persons to enrol their girls and boys as the programme is beneficial for both helping to build coordination, enhancing locomotor skills, and is a good foundation for the kids in general.

The coaches also work with kids from ages 16 months to six years old at the tiny toddler gym at their facilities.

For persons interested, the camp is set for Monday to Fridays 9am to 2pm.

Persons can register by contacting 242-525-7279 or can pick up a form at the Nassau Nastics Oakes Field gymnasium. The registration cost is $30 and the weekly cost is $90.

FIRST Bahamian woman referee Annisa Albury alongside the other CONCACAF referees and team captains of Costa Rica, Turks and Caicos. Shown, from left to right, are Fernando Calvillo (Referee), Costa Rica’s team captain, Simon Estrada (Referee), Alexis Gonzalez (Referee), Turks and Caicos team captain and Annisa Albury (Referee)

ABIGAIL SIMMS, above, and Kaylee Kanuka.