09052024 BUSINESS by tribune242

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

COCA-COLA’S

Baha-

mian manufacturer yesterday pledged there will be “no knee jerk reaction” on consumer prices to “considerable” energy cost hikes “in the ball park” of around 20 percent.

Walter Wells, Caribbean Bottling Company’s president and chief executive, told Tribune Business the company does not overreact to any major input cost rises and instead “tries to let the dust settle” and determine whether the impact is short or longterm before making any price adjustments.

Revealing that Caribbean Bottling “doesn’t look too hard at pricing on a regular basis”, with stores and end-consumers seeing the last increases near 2022 year-end due to

post-COVID inﬂation, he explained that it will wait out the latest electricity bill hikes and assess whether Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) new base rate structure will spark consistent long-term increases.

Conﬁrming that the drinks producer’s light bill has seen a similar increase to that detailed by Super Value’s owner, Rupert Roberts, following the implementation of BPL’s so-called Equity

Rate Adjustment (ERA) tariff structure from July 1, Mr Wells told this newspaper: “Our bill jumped up considerably.

“I saw the ﬁgure you reported on today of 20 percent, and it is in much the same ball park as ours. Of course, we have to take that in the context it covers one of the hottest months of the year. I haven’t gone back and checked the numbers and compared

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

it versus the numbers last year.”

The Government and BPL recently said increased consumption, due to the summer months and increased air conditioning and other appliance use, may offset the reduced base rates that are targeted at all customer classes other than the largest users known as ‘general services customers’. Manufacturers such as Caribbean Bottling, which consume signiﬁcant energy, fall into this category.

Mr Wells yesterday said he has not analysed how much of the energy bill increase is due to the increased base tariffs for general service customers as opposed to greater consumption. “I know it went up. How much of it is the price increase, and how much is increased consumption because it is

on imports, resulting in shortages that had “a quite severe” impact on sales.

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

A BAHAMIAN bottled water supplier yesterday said a “signiﬁcant” investment in new machinery will enable it to double output of key product lines and further put summer

2023’s “nightmare” behind it.

Christian Knowles, Aquapure’s operations chief, declined to detail how much has been invested in two new bottleblowing machines but told Tribune Business they will both boost efﬁciency and reduce the company’s per bottle costs when fully

installed before year-end 2024. He revealed that their acquisition represents the latest step in Aquapure’s plans to prevent a repeat of summer 2023, when equipment failures and “break downs” disrupted domestic production of its key one-gallon bottles and forced it to really

With such problems avoided in 2024, Mr Knowles told this newspaper that demand had returned to “normal” with the traditional uptick occurring from May and lasting throughout the summer in line with the hotter temperatures.

However, he added that there has been no overall “easing” in Aquapure’s raw material and other input costs given that

National debt drops by $200m in June quarter

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

THE Bahamas’ national debt fell by more than $200m during the three months to end-June 2024 as total repayments exceeded new borrowings by the Government.

The Central Bank, unveiling its economic review for the 2024 second quarter, added that the country’s debt only increased by “a muted” $3.6m over the 12 months to end-June to close the ﬁscal year at a total $11.653bn. The modest increase, combined with

economic growth, also took The Bahamas’ debtto-GDP ratio to a fraction below 80 percent.

Noting that the Government’s total borrowings for the ﬁrst ten months of its ﬁscal year totalled just over $3.22bn, and were exceeded by debt repayments of some $3.754bn, the Central Bank said: “As a result of these developments, during the second quarter the direct charge on the Government decreased by $200.7m (1.7 percent) over the quarter but grew by $54.2m (0.5

Gov’t slashes deﬁcit 65% despite VAT’s undershoot

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday revealed that it slashed its fiscal deficit by two-thirds to come in just $55.6m outside its 20232024 full-year target despite a 15 percent undershoot on VAT revenues. The Ministry of Finance, unveiling the Davis administration’s June 2024 and full-year performance, disclosed that it had cut the deficit - which measures by how much the Government’s spending exceeds its revenues - by 65 percent or $346.7m year-over-year, cutting it from $533.4m to just $186.7m. The latter figure exceeds the Government’s $131.1m full-year deficit target, set back in May 2023, by $55.6m or 42.5 percent but this is likely to be an

overshoot that the credit rating agencies, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s (S&P), and The Bahamas’ international and domestic creditors consider as being within an acceptable range.

AML’s ‘ﬁrst big win’ with $5m stock cut

By NEIL HARTNELL

Business Editor

AML Foods has scored a “ﬁrst big win” through the efﬁciency and liquidity gains created from the $5m cut in its inventory levels, its president and chief executive has revealed.

Gavin Watchorn, writing in the BISX-listed retail food and franchise group’s just-released 2024 annual report, told shareholders that this was the inaugural improvement generated by greater

reliance on technology and data in the decision-making process.

Revealing that this is just one of “three core areas” that will enable AML Foods to beat its goal of generating $250m in annual revenues by 20230, he conﬁrmed that it plans to continue expanding its store network and establish business-to-business (B2B) partnerships to help create new income steams.

“As we look ahead, we are conﬁdent that we will

HOW TO MAINTAIN EMPLOYEE MORALE

Low morale in the workplace can be a major problem, and should be addressed as early as possible before it escalates. Every company experiences changes and crises at some point in its existence, but not all encounter staff morale and productivity issues.

What sets one company apart from another? Mission, vision, values, culture, appreciation and respect are qualities that do not simply live on a poster or a wall but are practiced daily. An even better approach would be prevention. If only employers could know in advance that staff morale was going to take a dip, they could pay closer attention to their needs. Impossible, right?

No. This is not wishful thinking. Experience has shown when employees, and groups of workers, are at the highest risk of suffering low morale. The change

DEIDRE BASTIAN

could be abrupt or something that has been planned for a while, but has just now surfaced The main issue is that low morale exists, and is disrupting the company’s core functions. Here are a few workplace scenarios as to what can result in low morale.

A manager or team member’s departure from the company (especially if friendships existed); the introduction of a new manager, perhaps one with an awful, manipulated and ineffective leadership style; takeover by another company or new owner; staff reorganisation; assignment to a new ofﬁce; a change in job responsibilities; demotion; change in remote work status via a ‘return to ofﬁce’ mandate; lay-offs; implementation of new technology or a system that requires more knowledge and training, and which removes an employee from their comfort zone. Do not forget the ‘big elephant’ in the room: Employee recognition.

Some of these changes can result in an outbreak of low employee morale, causing even top performers to lack initiative, motivation and enthusiasm. It can lead to workers withdrawing

from day-to-day interactions, frequent absenteeism and doing the bare minimum to get by each day. By the time you notice your employees are exhibiting symptoms of low morale, it could be too late. However, there are simple, universal elements that hold true, one of which is the fundamental need to feel appreciated and valued. Managers never, ever miss an opportunity to recognise your employees. Celebrate employee accomplishments and progress as it is a key reason why most employees leave their jobs.

Companies with recognition programmes have 31 percent lower voluntary turnover than those without. Match effort and results, or else recognition loses meaning. When companies spend 1 percent or more of payroll on recognition, 85 percent see a positive impact on engagement. Employees want

DPM: VACATION RENTALS WILL OFFSET SANDALS LOSS

By FAY SIMMONS

Business

THE deputy prime minister yesterday voiced renewed optimism that Exuma’s more than 3,000 short-term vacation rental properties will offset the loss of Sandals Emerald Bay’s room inventory. Chester Cooper, also minister of tourism, investments and aviation, as well as Exuma’s MP, said the number of available Airbnb-style properties far exceeded the 245 rooms that will be lost with the closure of the island’s largest resort for conversion into a Beaches-branded property - a project that will

take between 12-15 months to complete once it starts.

“The last record we had was Airbnb had about 3,000 listings in Exuma, and to put that in context, Sandals has 245 rooms,” said Mr Cooper. “This is huge, and this is why we we feel conﬁdent that we have the kind of diversiﬁcation and accommodations in Exuma to be able to to carry on smartly, as you will, supporting the tourists that come, supporting the airlift and ensuring that we keep Exuma as a vibrant destination for tourism.

“So I only make that point to say that Airbnbs and vacation rentals play a critical role in the overall economy. I want to do all that we can to encourage

more.” Sandals Emerald Bay announced its midAugust closure as part of a plan to rebrand the property under another Sandals concept, Beaches.

Jeremy Mutton, Sandals Emerald Bay’s general manager, said the resort plans to begin its 12 to 15-month rebrand once it has obtained all required permits this fall. Mr Cooper yesterday said short-term vacation rentals are the fastest way to increase available room inventory and give Bahamians an opportunity to participate in the tourism industry.

“Whilst we have in the region of 15,000 rooms at the moment in the country, we need 30,000 and we have to keep pushing in this

direction,” said Mr Cooper.

“The fastest way to get that level of inventory is to really encourage vacation rentals. Of course, we are at the same time working with foreign direct investors, but this is an opportunity for domestic investors to make money from tourism.

“Bahamians have created enormous wealth as a result of this innovation in accommodations. If you look in Exuma, for example, there are people who are fulltime property managers. Many are full-time managers of their own properties. Many of them are renovating, revamping their houses and their old houses, their grammy houses, and putting them on Airbnb and making money.”

to know that their hard work and achievements are not going unnoticed. This is only ampliﬁed when their achievements are acknowledged. If managers regularly distribute authentic, deserved recognition, employees are likely to go the extra mile. Recognition is a powerful feedback tool. In fact, research found that when employees believe they will be recognised, they are 2.7 times’ more likely to be highly engaged. Learn what is more plausible, as every employee embraces recognition differently. Some get a boost from public praise, while introverted workers prefer a subtle or private gesture.

While it is great to recognise the big accomplishments, employees feel appreciated for smaller contributions as well. Being detailed and speciﬁc resonates better when it is tied to a particular employee

and they are likely to continue those behaviours in the future.

Employee recognition is critical to a company as, without it, worker morale decreases and motivation plummets. During a signiﬁcant change or crisis, a company’s mission, vision, values and culture should always serve as a reminder of the importance of what binds employees and employers together in the midst of short-term challenges. Uphold those principles. Until we meet again, ﬁll your life with memories rather than regrets. Enjoy life and stay on top of your game.

Mr Cooper maintained that stopover visitor numbers have not declined, adding that growth is only constrained by a lack of available rooms. “We’ve heard a lot of political nonsense about declining stopovers, etc. It’s been absolutely false,” he maintained. “We’re seeing increases in arrivals, in our numbers, We’re seeing increased arrivals through the airports.

“We are constrained by the limited number of hotel rooms in our country. So that’s why we’re pushing so hard to grow foreign direct investments, and that’s why I support vacation rentals, because you and I can

participate in the economy. So whilst there’s Baha Mar and Atlantis, there’s also Ocean View rentals down the street from me in Exuma, and people are making money”

As to the impending sale of the Grand Lucayan, Mr Cooper said there are “good prospects” but refused to give further details “until the money is in the bank”.

“I will make no statement on Grand Lucayan until the money is in the bank,” he said. “So if you don’t hear a statement from me, that mean the money ain’t in the bank yet. We’re hopeful, we’re optimistic. There are good prospects.”

CHESTER COOPER

CUSTOMERS LEFT DISAPPOINTED AT EXTENT OF ELEUTHERA REBATE

By ANNELIA NIXON anixon@tribunemedia.net

CUSTOMERS in Eleuthera have been disappointed over the extent of the rebate given by BPL after problems with outages on the island.

BPL reiterated in a statement yesterday that the 50 percent rebate promised to all residential and commercial customers in Eleuthera was to be applied to the base rate of July 2024 bills and reﬂected in August bills.

But a number of customers are disappointed in the deductions made on their electricity bills. One complained of only getting $110 off of her $700 electricity bill. Another business owner was confused about her gym which is joined to her home had a lighter electricity bill than her wash house facility and

she told this newspaper that she did not want to sound ungrateful, but the rebate was not what she thought it would be. Another resident claimed his bill doubled and less than ﬁfty percent was deducted from his bill.

BPL said the rebate “coincided with the period when the outages were most frequent”. BPL added that the 50 percent does not apply to any past due amounts, VAT which is paid to the government or fuel charges which they said they collect but pay to the fuel supplier.

“To assist customers in calculating the adjustment, they should refer to their July’s bill statement. The rebate would amount to 50 percent of their total kilowatt-hour usage during that period (excluding fuel and VAT (if applicable,” said the statement.

“I guess we should have looked at the ﬁne

print before we started to rejoice,” owner of Da Wash House and Transformations Fitness Centre, Keyshna Kemp, told Tribune Business. BPL added: “Again, BPL sincerely apologises to its customers for recurring outages. The rebate, offered as a gesture of BPL’s good faith and full understanding of the severity of the crisis, resulted in credits to 4,957 customer accounts in varying amounts totaling approximately $414,000.00. Not only does BPL absorb the nearly half-a-milliondollar loss but the company is fully committed to correcting the supply issues in Eleuthera. 15MW of new generation between BPL’s three power stations in Eleuthera and the hardening of the transmission and distribution system are top priorities to create long-term stability for the island.”

These comments came after a new generator made it to the Rock Sound plant as promised by energy minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis. However, Eleutherans are still experiencing frequent outages. The latest was a planned outage in North Eleuthera, planned for 3pm to 6pm yesterday.

“The thing is, I don’t think many of us are crying over the fact that it’s expensive,” Ms Kemp said. “If I had to pay this bill, that’s expensive nonetheless, but I was getting value, my money. I would not mind.I would not mind that my

electricity is on twenty four seven. I don’t. Would not mind this if I was not getting surges and dips. I wouldn’t mind if I was getting value for what I’m paying. The light bill is high. It’s exorbitant. That’s the word. It’s exorbitant.”

The powers that be, including Ms Coleby-Davis, Toni Seymour, COO of BPL and Sylvanus Petty, MP for North Eleuthera, all promised additional generation and “reliable, sustainable” electricity for Eleutherans.

“Looking ahead, BPL will have long-term solutions

DPM: Downtown gap ‘needs to be bridged’

By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE deputy prime minister yesterday renewed calls for Bahamian entrepreneurs to invest in downtown Nassau and Bay Street to upgrade the tourist experience.

Chester Cooper, also minister of tourism, investments and aviation, highlighted ongoing efforts by his ministry to collaborate with the cruise lines and encourage visitors to explore downtown Nassau.

“We have been actively engaged with cruise lines speciﬁcally to ensure that they are encouraging, and not discouraging, guests to get off the ship,” said Mr Cooper. Despite these efforts, he acknowledged that “the biggest complaint, notwithstanding, is not enough to do”, prompting a greater focus

on developing new attractions and experiences that will get more passengers to disembark and increase their spending.

The Tourism Development Corporation has been working with Bahamian entrepreneurs to develop and fund new product, tour and excursion ideas, but Mr Cooper stressed the need for even greater investment.

“We have gone into overdrive, working with the Tourism Development Corporation to help entrepreneurs to incubate ideas, to fund ideas, and to get new tours and experiences going for the beneﬁt of guests and the empowerment of the entrepreneur,”

Mr Cooper said.

“If you think of 15,000 guests coming in on a given day, what do they do? This is a call for the community to invest in tourism, to get involved, to create businesses, to invest in

downtown, to create experiences for our guests, to help us to create and fulﬁll the vibe that we have been trying to create for entertainment and restaurants and experiences, cultural and heritage and otherwise downtown.”

Mr Cooper asserted that now is a critical time for Bahamians to invest in tourism, adding: “So whilst we lead the process, Bahamians must invest in fdowntown, must invest in tourism. There’s no better time to do it than right now.

“Entrepreneurs have an obligation to provide a product and a service that caters to the need of the clientele. It is important that they monitor their feedback, monitor the reviews that they are getting consistently, to ensure that they are delivering on their promise and delivering to the expectation of the customer.”

Mr Cooper said there is a gap between visitor expectations and The Bahamas’ current tourism offerings, and his ministry is “resolutely focused” on increasing visitor spending and ensuring a “win-win” for all players in the sector.

“We’re doing all that we can to position entrepreneurs to take advantage of the high volumes of guests coming off the ships coming to our shores,” said Mr Cooper.

“There’s a gap that needs to be bridged. Guests are

SEE PAGE B5

coming online within the next 18 months, including new permanent generation and solar energy, to ensure a more resilient and sustainable power supply for the communities of Eleuthera,” Ms Coleby-Davis said. Mr Petty added: “Stable power has been vexing for more than 30 years as well; but since then the new minister has assured the people of Eleuthera that additional megawatts will be installed by September end, providing much-needed relief as well.”

BAHAMAS POWER & LIGHT (BPL) HEADQUARTERS

Coke maker won’t ‘knee jerk’ on 20% BPL hike

July, I would be remiss in saying,” he added.

“I don’t think all the increase we saw was consumption. I imagine that applies to most companies. It’s obviously hotter, your air conditioning units are working harder, and you have longer days with sunshine. All these things factor into the equation so we cannot say that it’s all related to the BPL rate increase yet. If it’s not related to BPL consumption, I’ll certainly ﬁnd out sooner rather than later.”

Asked about the financial consequences for Caribbean Bottling of a 20 percent light bill increase, Mr Wells used the hypothetical example of a company previously charged $100,000 per month for energy usage. A 20 percent jump, he pointed out, translated to a $20,000 monthly increase and an annual rise of $240,000 or close to a quarter-of-a-million dollars cost increase. However, Mr Wells echoed Super Value’s Mr Roberts and other food stores by affirming that Caribbean Bottling will seek to first absorb such

expense rises within its operations, and that passing it on to Bahamians via increased consumer prices is a last resort option that is some way off.

“You could say ‘let me try and pass it on to the consumer’, but we don’t change the pricing every time the price of inputs changes because we’d be changing the prices every week,” Mr Wells told Tribune Business. “We try to let the dust settle on increases of this nature to give us time to see if these are short-term increases, or will improve over time over the course of the year.

“You don’t want to have knee jerk increases around increases of this nature. The last time we looked at pricing would have been towards the end of 2022 when we were in the throes of the biggest inﬂationary period we had seen for many years post-COVID.

“We tweaked prices moderately and haven’t looked at them since then. We don’t look too hard at pricing on a regular basis. We only do it when we have no choice in the matter.” Mr Wells added that any increase in the cost of one input, or factor of production, is

often offset by reductions in others.

Pointing out that virtually all Caribbean Bottling’s raw materials are imported, with freight representing a signiﬁcant cost, he added: “We only change prices if total input costs increase. At the end of the day, they are usually pretty much the same. You cannot knee jerk react to one component because you will be jumping all over the place.

“Once a customer gets the wrong impression around any particular product that is over-priced, even if you lower the price because, say, inﬂation has gone down, you have to recapture that consumer to buy your product and you will have difﬁculty in bringing them back if they have the wrong impression.”

The Davis administration, in unveiling BPL’s new tariff structure, only increased base rates for the utility’s several hundred ‘general service’ customers who it said represent less than 1 percent of the total 113,000 customer base.

This category, which includes the likes of hotels as well as food stores, now have to contend with a base rate that has increased by

14.9 percent for the ﬁrst

900,000 kilowatt hours (KWh) of energy consumed - from 8.7 cents per KWh to 10 cents. And, for consumption above 900,000 KWH, these businesses have seen the tariff rise by 45 percent from 6.2 cents per KWh to 9 cents.

The Equity Rate Adjustment structure, as published on the Prime Minister’s Ofﬁce’s website, shows that all other BPL base rates - those for residential, commercial and temporary supply customers - have all been cut or remained the same.

Residential customers now receive the ﬁrst 200 KWh per month free, which translates into a saving of about $21-$22 per months or around $250-$260 per year, with the Government hailing this as a reward for low energy users and a means to aid the most vulnerable low income families.

It has also adjusted BPL’s fuel charge. All customers are now enjoying a 2.5 cent discount on the ﬁrst 800 KWh of energy consumed, but then having to pay an additional 1.5 cents levy on top of the calculated fuel charge above this

threshold, with the Davis administration touting this as a further incentive for Bahamians to reduce energy consumption.

The Government previously said all BPL customer categories, apart from the likes of Super Value and other ‘general service’ users, should enjoy a reduction in their energy bills as a result although it was quick to add that this may not be seen immediatelyand costs could go higher initially - due to the extra summer consumption more than offsetting the reduced rates.

Mr Roberts on Wednesday pledged that Super Value will take a 20 percent hike in its energy costs “on the chin” and not pass the increase on to consumers, and will instead “roll with the punches”.

He described the Equity Rate Adjustment (ERA) tariffs as a ploy whereby “big business will subsidise the voters”, and agreed it could result in other businesses passing these higher costs on to shoppers with small and medium-sized grocers now likely to be in a position where total expenses exceeding gross proﬁts.

AQUAPURE EYES OUTPUT DOUBLING TO PUT 2023 ‘NIGHTMARE’ BEHIND IT

almost all are imported into The Bahamas. But, while suppliers readily pass expense increases on to him, the operations chief said he “just doesn’t have the luxury” and has to “think now twice, but three or four times” before any increase in prices for Bahamian consumers.

“It was a good summer for us,” Mr Knowles said. “We didn’t have any of the breakdowns we saw last summer. We did a lot of planning to ensure we would not be in the same position. This preparation really paid dividends for us.

“Last summer was a nightmare. The previous year, we had a break down in one of our major bottling machines for one of our biggest sizes, the one gallon. We had to import the bottles. It was a nightmare. You can’t plan for those logistics costs and get rolled.

“We rely on on-time inventory, and had a challenge with that last year. It was a crippling effect. I’m really happy it’s behind us. Sales this year were normally what they would be in summer. We didn’t see a massive uptick in demand; it was pretty standard, as the curve and uptick we saw in May was quite normal, and we are happy with that.”

Reﬂecting on summer 2023, Mr Knowles added of the impact on sales: “It was quite severe. I don’t know the actual number, but it

was difﬁcult. We were still able to function, but when one of your top-earning products takes a beating there’s little to replace that in terms of movement in revenue. We’re very thankful for the customers that stuck with us through tough times.

“We had a good plan this year, and continue to execute that plan. Towards the end of the year, we have some new machinery, new equipment that we will put online quite soon, and that’s another effort to ensure the tough times we had last year don’t happen again.”

Describing the investment as “signiﬁcant, while declining to provide a dollar ﬁgure, Mr Knowles told Tribune Business that Aquapure and its owner, KLG Investments, have acquired “another two bottle blowing machines”.

“We’re replacing one of our aging machines and bought a brand new one-gallon bottle blowing machine to support what we have,” he explained.

“We’re hopeful that will be on line before the end of the year. These pieces of machinery, a lot of them have to be custom built for your speciﬁc needs.

“We’re conﬁdent that we made the right choice. You always have to reinvest in your operations and keep an eye on innovation in the marketplace as new technology makes things easier and more efﬁcient.

We’re looking forward to 2025. I think we’ll be as

prepared as we have been this summer.”

Mr Knowles added that the new capital investments will also boost production efficiency, which he described as a “big focus” for Aquapure, and generate cost savings that will boost profits moving forward. “When you’re efficient you save a lot of money on the cost, and at the end of the year that’s a big chunk of money to put on the bottom line just by being efficient,” he explained.

“We do have the ability, because of our extra capacity, to really hammer down and focus on increasing sales. This gives us the option, the possibility to increase sales.” Mr Knowles afﬁrmed that the new equipment will “easily double” Aquapure’s onegallon bottle production capacity, while the replacement for the aged machine will be “much more efﬁcient”.

“The cost of blowing per bottle is less, and we can do double the bottles in the same amount of time,” he added of the latter. “It offers us a lot more time to do maintenance before things get too far. We can make sure everyone does more proactive maintenance, which is always good.”

Asked whether input costs have ﬁnally eased following the post-COVID supply chain shock, Mr Knowles replied: “I will say no. I haven’t felt any sort of easing on that. The cost of goods, raw materials

and the like, is still going up. Just as an example, the freight costs from China that spiked during COVID, they came back down to pre-COVID levels, and went right back up again to a crazy amount.

“I don’t think, to be fully honest with you, and this

is my opinion, but I don’t think there’s some that will come back to pre-COVID prices. There’s some that will come to that level, but as a whole I don’t think we see anything come down to what it was pre-COVID.

“I think I just got another increase on my boxes a few

Mr Wells yesterday said he is “very anxiously looking forward” to the reduction in energy costs, and shift to more reliable, cleaner power, that has been promised by the Davis administration with its energy reforms given that The Bahamas is likely one of the higher-cost jurisdictions in the Caribbean.

“If there’s any way we can improve on that I believe it’s a significant benefit to every consumer, hospitality and tourism business. Everything benefits from it. I have every confidence it will come down in due course,” the Caribbean Bottling chief said.

Christian Knowles, Aquapure’s operations chief, yesterday said that while he had not studied the bottled water manufacturer’s energy bill recently his “personal one is higher by quite a bit”. He added: “We do use quite a bit of power. It is a thing. I know I was paying attention to the announcement from the Prime Minister when he said to check your bills in July. That was the famous guarantee.”

weeks ago. That seems to be the normal thing. As suppliers spend more to make them, they pass the increases on to me. I have to think not twice, but three or four times before I pass the increase on to our customers. We just don’t have that same luxury. We just have to make things that bit better, more quickly and efﬁciently.”

The Presidential Opportunity at University of The Bahamas

The Board of Trustees of University of The Bahamas (UB) is pleased to announce an intensive search for the next President of UB and invites nominations and applications for this exceptional leadership opportunity. The Board seeks a dynamic and inclusive leader who will embody a commitment to the values and traditions of the University. The next President will be an effective and transformational leader who builds on the exceptional strengths of UB, whose mission is to advance and expand access to higher education, promote academic freedom, drive national development, and build character through teaching, learning, research, scholarship, and service. The President will have a deep understanding of and appreciation for the culture of The Bahamas and will position the University for continued growth and success.

This presidential opportunity arrives at a pivotal moment in the history of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas as the nation celebrates 51 years of post-colonial progress and the 50-year legacy of UB. The University has expanded its focus to include continuous quality improvement, demonstrated by its commitment to achieving national and international accreditation. UB is publicly funded with locations on the islands of New Providence, Grand Bahama and San Salvador. UB offers diplomas, graduate, baccalaureate and associate degrees, as well as certifcates across approximately 60 academic programmes. The University serves approximately 4,500 students, has an alumni base of over 22,000 and is one of the largest employers in The Bahamas.

A comprehensive Leadership Profle outlining the University’s priorities as well as the characteristics and attributes of the next President is accessible at https://www.agbsearch.com/searches/presidentuniversity-of-the-bahamas

Additional information about University of The Bahamas is available at: https://www.ub.edu.bs/

AGB Search is assisting the Presidential Search Committee. To assure best consideration, applications and nominations should be received by September 19, 2024. All inquiries, nominations, and applications will be held in the strictest confdence.

Candidates are requested to submit the following documents in Microsoft Word or PDF format:

• A letter of interest describing relevant experience;

• A complete CV or resume; and

• Five professional references with email addresses, and telephone numbers. References will not be contacted until a later stage of the search and without the formal permission of the candidate.

All application materials should be submitted through the AGB Search portal system: http://bit.ly/45x16JU.

Candidates are invited to speak with the search consultant before submitting an application. Questions regarding the application process should be directed to UBahamasPresident@agbsearch.com.

Nominations and confdential inquiries should be directed to: Dr. Carlton Brown, Executive Search Consultant, AGB Search carlton.brown@agbsearch.com / (912) 247-8661

Gov’t slashes deﬁcit 65% despite VAT’s undershoot

The details unveiled yesterday also confound predictions by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), made last November, that the Government’s 2023-2024 fiscal deficit outturn would be much higher at 2.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) or around $379m. The $186.7m figure released yesterday is less than half, or some 49 percent, of the IMF forecast.

The Davis administration will likely seize on the fiscal data as affirming its fiscal credibility and that its consolidation plans - which involve a further reduction in the deficit to $69m for the current 2024-2025 fiscal year, and subsequent Budget surpluses thereafter where revenues exceed spending - are on track despite the deficit shrinking more slowly than it has projected.

However, the Government’s political opponents were yesterday quick to suggest that last year’s deﬁcit reduction may have largely been achieved by deferring payments owed to private sector vendors and cutting capital expenditure that represents investment in critical public infrastructure assets such as roads, schools and hospitals.

Capital spending for the 2023-2024 ﬁscal year came in 17.3 percent, or $63.1m, lower than budgeted at

$301.5m compared to the allocated $364.6m. The $301.5m was also almost $26m below the prior year’s $327.4m outlay, thereby raising questions as to whether The Bahamas’ infrastructure is receiving the necessary care and attention.

Michael Pintard, the Opposition’s leader, seized on this in a statement issued last night, saying: “We ﬁnd it troubling that capital spending decreased by over $20m compared to the previous year, given the massive infrastructure needs throughout the Bahamas and the ongoing water and electricity crisis on the island of Eleuthera.”

He questioned whether “fixing our crumbling infrastructure” is a government priority, with the Opposition also challenging whether delaying payments owed to vendors helped the Government achieve such a big improvement in its fiscal deficit especially since VAT revenues - which represent close to half the Government’s tax income - came in $238m below the 2023-2024 target.

Fred Mitchell, the PLP’s chairman and minister of foreign affairs, in a recent note to the party’s supporters said The Bahamas “is in a tight economic squeeze” and that the Government is “seeking to pay as we go, not to borrow if we don’t have to”.

The Opposition, interpreted this as an admission the Government has cash ﬂow and liquidity difﬁculties, and is paying vendors in installments, although this was vehemently denied by Mr Mitchell. However, Dr Duane Sands, the FNM’s chairman, told Tribune Business: “The information Imam receiving from various health-related vendors is that payables are behind by many months; as much as six months’ behind.

“It’s probably the worst kept secret in The Bahamas right now.” June is typically when the Government incurs its largest monthly deﬁcits as multiple ministries, departments and agencies race to present bills for payment before year-end that the Ministry of Finance knew nothing about. The Government has run deﬁcits totalling $318.7m and $212m for June 2022 and 2023, respectively.

However, for June 2024 it slashed the ‘red ink’ by 83.2 percent or $176.4m yearover-year to just $35.6m and break with historical trends.

The Ministry of Finance said this was solely due to a 40.5 percent, or $184.5m reduction, in total spending for the month to $270.6m as revenues were down by 3.3 percent or $8m compared to June 2023 at $235m.

With VAT collections only meeting 85 percent of their full-year target, coming in at $1.353.4bn as

opposed to $1.591.4bn, the Government’s total income was also off-target by a similar sum. Total tax revenues fell 6 percent short of the full-year goal, ﬁnishing at $2.743bn as opposed to the $2.919bn full year goal - a deﬁcit of $176m.

As a result, total revenues that also include non-tax income only amounted to 92.7 percent of the $3.319bn full-year target, coming in at $3.076bn - a $143m shortfall. However, the Government beat its real property tax revenue targets by 4 percent, collecting almost $8m more than the $195.3 percent goal with $203.2m.

International trade and transactions revenues also ﬁnished 2.4 percent of Budget targets, standing at $725.2m compared to $708.5m for the 12 months to end-June 2024, while taxes on other goods and services also closed 5.5 percent up on Budget projections at $435.5m compared to the $412.9m ambition.

Reduced spending was thus chiefly responsible for lowering the June deficit. “Preliminary data on the fiscal outturn for June 2024 showed a significant abatement in the estimated deficit to $35.6m from $212m a year-earlier,” the Ministry of Finance said.

“This outcome was primarily driven by the 40.5 percent ($184.5m) reduction in spending to $270.6m,

DPM: Downtown gap ‘needs to be bridged’

saying they need more to do. They need more to buy. They want more authentic goods and services, whilst some are saying that guests are coming and not buying. Well, we got to determine why it might be speciﬁcally related to what that business is offering, or there may be some some other circumstances.

“Bottom line is, this has to be a win-win. We’re enthusiastic about making it a win-win. We are resolutely focused on increasing tourism expenditure in our country, and there’s no better time for Bahamians to make money from tourism [than] right now. I keep saying that as a recovering businessman, former businessman, if I was in

business today, I would be investing in tourism.”

In response to concerns about the Straw Market, Mr Cooper announced plans for ofﬁcials to meet with vendors to assist them with product offerings and placement. “We have a team that’s going to be meeting extensively with straw vendors’” he said.

“We’re going to meet with multiple pockets of

while revenue receipts were lower by 3.3 percent ($8m) to $235m. The $245.6m in recurrent [spending] outlays for the review month represented a decrease of 35.1 percent ($133.1m) from the corresponding period in the prior year.”

Breaking this down, the Ministry of Finance said: “Outlays for the use of goods and services decreased by $98.2m to $33.8m. Subsidies receded by $19.4m to $42m. Other recurrent transfers to public entities decreased by $26.2m to $23.9m. Public debt interest payments were higher by $16.2m at $55.8m.

“Capital expenditures declined by 67.3 percent ($51.4m) to $25m. The bulk was expended for the acquisition of non-ﬁnancial assets (76.5 percent) and the remaining 23.5 percent represented capital transfers.”

As for June’s revenues, the Ministry of Finance said: “Tax receipts improved year-over-year by 17.3 percent ($30.2m) to $204.4m, and featured gains in the following major revenue categories. International trade and transactions taxes grew by $20.3m to $69.6m, supported by growth in domestic demand.

“VAT collections were higher by $8.8m at $99.2m, reﬂecting improvements in receipts related to realtyrelated transactions and other goods and services.

vendors to be able to determine the reality of what they are experiencing on the ground, and we are going to offer our expertise where needed to help them - perhaps to make adjustments, whether it’s in providing more authentic products or positioning, or location or environment.

“We have a team that’s actually already engaged on this. The Straw Market,

however, does not fall within the purview of the Ministry of Tourism, and therefore we’re working along with the Straw Market Authority and the Ministry of Works to ensure that we provide some support,” the deputy prime minister added.

Non-tax revenue yields moderated by 55.6 percent to $30.6m, following the prior year’s boost provided by the receipt of dividend income from the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) and tourism-related fees.” For the full 2023-2024 ﬁscal year, the Government’s recurrent spending came in 4 percent or $125m below the $3.086bn target at $2.961bn. Total spending came in 5.4 percent below forecast at $3.262bn as opposed to $3.45bn, representing a reduction of $188m compared to the Budget allocation.

Mr Pintard, though, asserted: “To the surprise of nobody, the Government has busted its deﬁcit target by some $56m or some 42 percent even though for most of the last ﬁscal year, the Davis administration had insisted they were still on track.”

With total revenue falling short of the Government’s target by $243.5 million, Mr Pintard added: “We in the FNM warned the Government during the Budget debate that their revenue projections were unrealistic given the World Bank’s and others’ admonishments that the global economic recovery was slowing.

“VAT revenue alone underperformed by some $238m against Budget coming in 15 percent below the approved budgeted sum.”

“There has been some concern about the positioning of a gate. I believe that’s been resolved. There’s been another concern about guests not bringing off cash, and we’re working with electronic payment providers to make payments a more seamless process.”

NOTICE TO PROSPECTIVE VENDORS

The U.S. Embassy anticipates signifcant contracting opportunities over the next 12 months. All vendors that wish to do business with The U.S. Embassy, Nassau, are required to register their business in SAM – System for Award Management – prior to receiving a contract award. There is no cost to register with or use SAM. The registration process can take up to six weeks and should be completed before bidding on any solicitations or opportunities.

Interested vendors should register at https://sam.gov/. Click on “Get Started” to initiate setting up a user account and then registering your business with SAM.

Instructions will be there under “Register Your Entity”

Assistance with the registration process is found at https://www.fsd.gov

For additional information please contact

AML’s ‘ﬁrst big win’ with $5m stock cut

exceed our goal to generate $250m in revenues by 2030.

Our growth will be centred around three core areas,” said Mr Watchorn, who recently disclosed to Tribune Business that the group is now targeting $300m in top-line income within the next six years.

“Firstly, we expect our investments in technology to continue, speciﬁcally in the space of gathering and leveraging data to provide insights into how we can improve our business. Our ﬁrst big win in this space was the recent reduction in our inventory levels by approximately $5m - delivered by the analysis of our sales and purchasing data.

“This reduction has freed up liquidity and improved efﬁciency levels within our operations. Secondly, we expect that we will continue to add new locations to our store ﬂeet. These locations may be a combination of new builds and acquisitions. Thirdly, we will

leverage digital capabilities to create B2B partnerships, expanding our current base and creating new revenue streams.”

Mr Watchorn was backed by Franklyn Butler, AML Foods’ chairman, who affirmed the $250m target and the increasing focus on technology to generate cost savings and efficiencies. “Over the last year, we continued our journey of upgrading our systems, fine tuning many of our processes since migrating to our ERP (enterprise resource planning) system,” Mr Butler wrote.

“We are now conﬁdent that we have a solid grasp on several of our key measures of success which are inventory costs, shrink and out of stocks....

Additionally, our focus on cost containment and sustainability remains a top priority, and we will continue to invest in solar and other energy efﬁcient technologies to counteract our impact on our environment

and mitigate the rising costs of power and utilities.

“We believe that this investment, coupled with our ongoing investment in our associates who are beneﬁting from our training and development programmes, will continue to set us apart from our competitors,” Mr Butler continued.

“In the ﬁrst quarter, we also concluded the purchase of four acres in the Carmichael Road and Faith Avenue areas which we plan to utilise for future growth and expansion as we set our eyes on achieving our growth target of $250m in annual revenues by 2030.”

Elsewhere, AML Foods’ ﬁnancial statements for the year to end-April 2024 reveal that there has been seemingly little progress in resolving two disputes - the ﬁrst involving the Department of Inland Revenue’s demand for $949,833 in allegedly unpaid VAT stemming from Grand

Bahama’s post-Dorian tax free zone, and the second its attempted purchase of the former City Markets headquarters on East-West Highway.

“On November 21, 2023, the company was issued a formal and ﬁnal levy from the Department of Inland Revenue (DIR) concerning alleged unpaid taxes totalling $949,833 which related to VAT outstanding for items sold VAT-free in Grand Bahama during the period of January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2021, under the SERZ (special economic recovery zone) order,” AML Foods said.

“On December 20, 2023, the company, with the assistance of legal counsel, initiated a formal dispute against the DIR related to this assessment. To comply with the appeal process, the company was required to provide full payment of the assessment, which the company also made on December 20, 2023.

“This payment was made without waiving any rights in the ongoing dispute, and the company intends to vigorously contest the assessment. The full payment of $949,833 is included in other assets on the company’s statement of ﬁnancial position as at April 30, 2024.”

AML Foods provided no details on what the Department of Inland Revenue is using as the basis to justify its claim for unpaid VAT. The period in question, though, relates almost entirely to the Minnis administration’s time in ofﬁce and to the SERZ orders it would have implemented. These effectively made Grand Bahama and Abaco taxfree zones to facilitate post-Dorian reconstruction and rebound.

Meanwhile, AML Foods’ attempted purchase of the former City Markets headquarters remains embroiled in a Supreme Court dispute involving multiple

NATIONAL DEBT DROPS BY $200M IN JUNE QUARTER

percent) year-on-year to $11.314bn...

“The Government’s contingent liabilities declined by $3.7m (1.1 percent) over the review quarter, and by $50.6m (13 percent) on an annual basis, to $339m. As a consequence, the national debt, inclusive of contingent liabilities, contracted by $204.4m (1.7 percent) over the three-month period but rose by a muted $3.6m (0.03 percent) on an annual basis to $11.653bn as at end-June 2024.

“As a ratio to GDP, the direct charge decreased by

an estimated 2.7 percentage points on a yearly basis to 77.6 percent at end-June. In addition, the national debtto-GDP ratio declined to an estimated 79.9 percent compared to 83 percent in the second quarter of 2023.” Contingent liabilities represent debt whose repayment the Government has guaranteed on behalf of state-owned enterprises. Elsewhere, the Central Bank said commercial banking industry profits for the ﬁrst three months of 2024 collectively increased by a total $9.2m to almost $117m

thanks mainly to increases in non-interest (fees and commissions) income and reduced expenses associated with delinquent loans.

“During the ﬁrst quarter of 2024, the latest period for which data is available, banks’ net income rose by $9.2m (8.5 percent) to $116.8m vis-à-vis the same period of 2023, due largely to gains in non-interest income and lessened bad debt expenses,” the banking regulator said.

“The net interest margin edged up by $0.5m (0.4 percent) to $149.1m attributed to a $1m (0.6 percent)

increase in interest income, which outweighed the $0.4m (4.7 percent) rise in interest expense. Further, interest from commission and foreign exchange fees grew by $0.6m (4 percent), contributing to a $1.2m (0.7 percent) growth in the gross earnings margin to $165.2m.

“An analysis of proﬁtability ratios also showed overall gains. As a percentage of average assets, the gross earnings margin narrowed by 20 basis points to 5.45 percent as the interest margin fell by the same magnitude to 4.92 percent, while the commission and

foreign exchange income ratio moved lower by one basis point to 0.53 percent,” the Central Bank added.

“Further, banks’ net earnings margin decreased by 20 basis points to 1.48 percent, although the operating costs ratio stabilised at 3.97 percent. However, after allowing decreased contribution from other income sources, net of depreciation and bad debt expenses, the net income ratio widened by 14 basis points to 3.86 percent.

“As it pertains to noninterest expense, banks’ operating outlays moved

parties. “On September 21, 2016, the company signed an agreement to purchase a building located at Soldier Road Industrial Site for $3.359m,” the ﬁnancial statements said.

“Subsequent to the payment of the ﬁnal purchase price in July 2017, a dispute arose as to the ability of the vendors to provide good title to the property. This dispute is currently before the Supreme Court. Included in other assets is $3.138 which excludes VAT.”

That transaction, agreed almost eight years ago, has become embroiled in a furious legal battle stemming from disputes between parties associated with the vendor, the City Markets employee pension fund. AML Foods, in its substantive claim still to be determined by the Supreme Court, is seeking declarations to uphold and conﬁrm the validity of its purchase or, in the alternative, recover the full price paid.

higher by $5m (4.4 percent) to $120.4m. Speciﬁcally, non-staff related operating costs - including professional and rental expenses - rose by $4.6m (6.4 percent) to $77.2m. Similarly, staff costs increased by $1.8m (4.6 percent) to $41.1m,” the regulator continued.

“However, occupancy costs fell by $1.4m (40.4 percent) to $2m. Further, banks’ other net earnings on their ‘non-core’ activities moved higher by $13m (22.1 percent) to $72m, as provisions for bad debt fell by $5.6m to $9.3m. Meanwhile, non-interest earnings grew by $8.7m (14.4 percent) to $68.9m, and depreciation costs by $1.2m (24.8 percent) to $6.2m.”

US job openings fall as demand for workers weakens

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer

AMERICA'S employers posted fewer job openings in July than they had the previous month, a sign that hiring could further cool in the coming months.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that there were 7.7 million open jobs in July, down from 7.9 million in June and the fewest since January 2021. Openings have fallen steadily this year, from nearly 8.8 million in January.

Layoffs rose from 1.56 million to 1.76 million, the most since March 2023, though that level of job cuts is roughly consistent with pre-pandemic levels, when the unemployment rate was historically low. Layoffs have been unusually low since the economy's rapid

recovery from the pandemic recession, with many employers intent on holding onto their workers.

Overall, Wednesday's report painted a mixed picture of the job market. On the positive side, total hiring rose in July, to 5.5 million, after it had fallen to a fouryear low of 5.2 million in June. And the number of people who quit their jobs ticked up slightly, to about 3.3 million. The number of quits is seen as a measure of the job market's health: Workers typically quit when they already have a new job or when they're conﬁdent they can ﬁnd one.

Still, quits remain far below the peak of 4.5 million reached in 2022, when many workers shifted jobs as the economy accelerated out of the pandemic recession. The spike in quits at that time helped drive up wage gains as companies jacked up pay to try to ﬁnd or keep employees. The

current lower level of quits suggests that wage increases will likely remain modest, which should help further cool inﬂation.

Stephen Stanley, an economist at Santander, noted that July's job openings are still about 7% above 2019 levels, when hiring was healthy. "Labor demand is still solid, albeit moderating," he said.

Wednesday's ﬁgures indicate that fewer companies are seeking to add workers despite recent data showing that consumer spending is still growing. Last week, the government estimated that the economy expanded at a healthy 3% annual rate in the April-June quarter.

In July, job openings fell sharply in health care and state and local government and also dropped in warehousing and transportation.

Openings rose in manufacturing and professional and business services, a

category that includes legal services and engineering and accounting. Even as openings have fallen for the past two years, there are still roughly 1.1 job openings for every unemployed person, Wednesday's report showed. That reﬂects the economy's continuing need for workers and marks a reversal from before the pandemic, when there were always more unemployed people than available jobs.

The July report on job openings is the ﬁrst of several measures this week of the labor market's health that the Federal Reserve will be watching closely. If clear evidence emerges that hiring is faltering, the Fed might decide at its next meeting Sept. 17-18 to start cutting its benchmark interest rate by a relatively aggressive half-percentage point. If hiring remains mostly solid, however, a more typical quarter-point rate cut would be likelier.

Even bargain chains see spending pullback as higher prices squeeze more Americans

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer

DOLLAR Tree is slash-

ing its full-year earnings and sales forecasts as its customers continue to struggle with higher prices and spend less.

Shares tumbled more than 20% Wednesday after hitting a 52-week low on the prior day. The biggest one-day sell-off for Dollar Tree shares in more than 20 years arrived less than a week rival bargain chain

Dollar General reported a dismal quarter and suffered its largest single-day slump ever.

Dollar Tree has been trying to lure customers from other retailers using its rock-bottom prices, but juggernauts like Walmart and Target have also said their customers are under pressure and they're cutting prices, too.

That has left little leeway for bargain stores because huge chains like Target are cutting prices on groceries, a huge draw for customers who are likely to shop for other items at Target and skip an additional trip to a dollar store.

"Dollar stores have lost market share to larger retailers that have broadened their offerings and gained customer loyalty through everyday low prices," said Jharonne

Martis, director of consumer research, analytics and AI at LSEG.

And the economic headwinds that ﬁrst hit lowincome customers at Dollar Tree appear to be climbing upward to those who are better off, according to company executives.

"Dollar Tree has a broader customer base that includes more middle and upper-income households and beginning this quarter, we started to see inﬂation, interest rates, and other macro pressures have a more pronounced impact on the buying behavior of these customers," said Chief Operating Ofﬁcer Mike Creden.

Dollar Tree now expects full-year adjusted earnings between $5.20 and $5.60 per share, down from a range of $6.50 to $7.

The Chesapeake, Virginia, company also projected annual sales in a range of $30.6 billion to $30.9 billion, down from $31 billion to $32 billion. Both of those numbers fall short of Wall Street projections and it showed in the retailer's plunging stock Wednesday.

Dollar Tree's second quarter adjusted revenue was $7.37 billion, short of the $7.5 billion that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected.

Dollar Tree earned $132.4 million, or 62 cents per share, for the period ended Aug. 3. Stripping out certain items, earnings were 67 cents per share, 36 cents short of Wall Street projections. Though inﬂation is slowing, Americans continue to struggle with sharply higher prices for such necessities as gas, food and housing compared with their prepandemic levels.

For the third quarter, Dollar Tree anticipates adjusted earnings between $1.05 and $1.15 per share, with revenue in a range of $7.4 billion to $7.6 billion. That, too, is shy of Wall Street expectations for per=share earnings of $1.31 and revenue of $7.58 billion.

Dollar Tree is also wrestling with internal problems that have hampered growth.

In June the company said that it was looking at strategic options for the Family Dollar stores that it owns, including a possible sale.

Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar nearly a decade ago for more than $8 billion after a bidding war with Dollar General. But it's had difﬁculty incorporating Family Dollar into its business and recently announced that it would close nearly 1,000 stores, with most of them being Family Dollar locations. "On the bottom line, net income is down by a third," said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData.

"The overall impression is that Dollar Tree has quickly moved from a company that was advancing to one that is simply treading water. Though, to be fair, most of this is because of the troubles at Family Dollar."

Photo:Charlie Neibergall/AP

How do you know when AI is powerful enough to be dangerous? Regulators try to do the math

By MATT O'BRIEN AP Technology Writer

HOW do you know if an artiﬁcial intelligence system is so powerful that it poses a security danger and shouldn't be unleashed without careful oversight?

For regulators trying to put guardrails on AI, it's mostly about the arithmetic. Speciﬁcally, an AI model trained on 10 to the 26th ﬂoating-point operations per second must now be reported to the U.S. government and could soon trigger even stricter requirements in California.

Say what? Well, if you're counting the zeroes, that's 100,000,000,000,000,000,00

0,000,000, or 100 septillion, calculations each second, using a measure known as ﬂops.

What it signals to some lawmakers and AI safety advocates is a level of computing power that might enable rapidly advancing AI technology to create or proliferate weapons of mass destruction, or conduct catastrophic cyberattacks.

Those who've crafted such regulations acknowledge they are an imperfect starting point to distinguish today's highest-performing generative AI systems — largely made by California-based companies like Anthropic, Google, Meta Platforms and ChatGPTmaker OpenAI — from the next generation that could be even more powerful. Critics have pounced on the thresholds as arbitrary — an attempt by governments to regulate math.

"Ten to the 26th ﬂops," said venture capitalist Ben Horowitz on a podcast this summer. "Well, what if that's the size of the model you need to, like, cure cancer?"

An executive order signed by President Joe Biden last year relies on that threshold. So does California's newly passed AI safety legislation — which Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign into law or veto. California adds a second metric to the equation: regulated AI models must also cost at least $100 million to build.

Following Biden's footsteps, the European Union's sweeping AI Act also measures ﬂoating-point operations per second, or ﬂops, but sets the bar 10 times lower at 10 to the 25th power. That covers some AI systems already in operation. China's government has also looked at measuring computing power to determine which AI systems need safeguards.

No publicly available models meet the higher California threshold, though it's likely that some companies have already started to build them. If so, they're supposed to be sharing certain details and safety precautions with the U.S. government. Biden employed a Korean Warera law to compel tech companies to alert the U.S. Commerce Department if they're building such AI models.

AI researchers are still debating how best to

THERE'S NO X IN BRAZIL. CELEBRITY FANDOM WORLDWIDE IS IN DISARRAY

By MALLIKA SEN Associated Press

IT was a rapture and a revelation all at the same time. En masse, celebrity stan accounts posted tearful farewells over the weekend as X was suspended in Brazil amid a showdown between Elon Musk and a Supreme Court justice. Many of their hundreds of thousands of followers learned only then that their favorite celebrity's most dedicated English-language fan accounts had actually been run by Brazilians.

It shouldn't have necessarily been a surprise — "Come to Brazil" is a stalwart meme. Brazil's CCXP bills itself as the Americas' largest comic-con, drawing A-list Hollywood talent. The stars of the long-ended show "Everybody Hates Chris" are beloved. Brazil does fandom like no other, the avalanche of goodbyes unearthing a wide array of accounts for Taylor Swift, C-list celebrities and the long-dead alike. "I came to realize how strong our digital power is in this last minute, because we tweet in English so

Legal Notice NOTICE

In the ESTATE OF PETER MICHAEL BURROWS, deceased, late of the Settlement of Dundas Town in the Island of Abaco one of the Islands in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, deceased.

Notice is hereby given that any person having any claim or demand against the above Estate is required to send the same duly certifed in writing to the Undersigned on or before the 1 Oth day of October, A.O., 2024 after which date the Executrix of the Estate will proceed to distribute the assets therein having regard only to those claims of which she shall then have had notice.

AND TAKE NOTICE that any person indebted to the Estate is required to make full settlement on or before the date hereinbefore mentioned.

HULLco (LC. Hull & Co.) Chambers

Attorneys for the Executrix 11 00 East Bay Street Marsh Harbour, Abaco Bahamas

evaluate the capabilities of the latest generative AI technology and how it compares to human intelligence. There are tests that judge AI on solving puzzles, logical reasoning or how swiftly and accurately it predicts what text will answer a person's chatbot query. Those measurements help assess an AI tool's usefulness for a given task, but there's no easy way of knowing which one is so widely capable that it poses a danger to humanity.

"This computation, this ﬂop number, by general consensus is sort of the best thing we have along those lines," said physicist Anthony Aguirre, executive director of the Future of Life Institute, which has advocated for the passage of California's Senate Bill 1047 and other AI safety rules around the world.

Floating point arithmetic might sound fancy "but it's really just numbers that are being added or multiplied together," making it one of

the simplest ways to assess an AI model's capability and risk, Aguirre said.

"Most of what these things are doing is just multiplying big tables of numbers together," he said. "You can just think of typing in a couple of numbers into your calculator and adding or multiplying them. And that's what it's doing — ten trillion times or a hundred trillion times."

For some tech leaders, however, it's too simple and hard-coded a metric. There's "no clear scientiﬁc support" for using such metrics as a proxy for risk, argued computer scientist Sara Hooker, who leads AI company Cohere's nonproﬁt research division, in a July paper.

"Compute thresholds as currently implemented are shortsighted and likely to fail to mitigate risk," she wrote.

Venture capitalist Horowitz and his business partner Marc Andreessen, founders of the inﬂuential

people don't know that we are Brazilians. But we are a lot, we are everywhere," said Aianne Amado, a University of Sao Paulo doctoral candidate who studies Brazilian fandoms. "I think that we will be missed and it's not going to be the same network."

Meet the fans Paola Strabelli didn't care much for reading. A few years ago, though, she saw "Vita and Virginia" and became entranced — not with its lead actors, but with Virginia Woolf herself. She started to read Woolf voraciously, and created @ botvirginia to share Woolf's quotes, amassing 115,000 followers.

Strabelli, 26, told The Associated Press that, growing up, she didn't have many friends. In some ways, she said, her life began with online fandom — ﬁrst, through Katy Perry and the show "Once Upon A Time," and then Woolf. Online friendships translated into real life, and, for

a year, she dated a girl she met through their shared passion.

The law student behind @agron_updates, dedicated to "Glee" actor Dianna Agron, never reckoned on disclosing her nationality. The 32-year-old from Brazil's center-west region requested anonymity for privacy, as she pursues government jobs. She was drawn to Agron because she thought the actor seemed "so kind." By 2016, annoyed with how Agron's fan accounts operated — cropping out boyfriends, for example — she co-founded an X account that grew to more than 7,600 followers.

All along, she's been careful to maintain a separation between her own feelings and the account's.

"Sometimes I will watch a movie and I think it's terrible, but I'll go on the account and say, 'Guys, it's amazing,'" she said. "I wasn't hoping to have to come out as a Brazilian."

NOTICE

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPANIES ACT, 2000 Honey Labs Inc. (IN VOLUNTARY LIQUIDATION)

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that in accordance with section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act, 2000, as amended, Honey Labs Inc. is in dissolution.

The dissolution of the said Company commenced on 3 September 2024 when the Articles of Dissolution were submitted to and registered with the Registrar General in Nassau, The Bahamas.

The Sole Liquidator of the said Company is Kim D. Thompson of Equity Trust House, Caves Village, West Bay Street, P O Box N 10697, Nassau, Bahamas.

Kim D Thompson Sole Liquidator

Silicon Valley investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, have attacked the Biden administration as well as California lawmakers for AI regulations they argue could snuff out an emerging AI startup industry. For Horowitz, putting limits on "how much math you're allowed to do" reflects a mistaken belief there will only be a handful of big companies making the most capable models and you can put "flaming hoops in front of them and they'll jump through them and it's fine."

In response to the criticism, the sponsor of California's legislation sent a letter to Andreessen Horowitz this summer defending the bill, including its regulatory thresholds.

Regulating at over 10 to the 26th ﬂops is "a clear way to exclude from safety testing requirements many models that we know, based on current evidence, lack the ability to cause critical harm," wrote state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco. Existing publicly released models "have been tested for highly hazardous capabilities and would not be covered by the bill," Wiener said.

Both Wiener and the Biden executive order treat the metric as a temporary one that could be adjusted later.

Then there's @21metgala, run by two 18-year-old college students, Maria and Tamara. In three years, it's gained more than 175,000 followers and, unlike many stan accounts, covers general celebrity news (though they have a soft spot for Rihanna). Maria, who cited privacy in not wanting to publish her surname, said via WhatsApp that she was taken aback by the response to their departure.

"Most of our followers didn't know we were Brazilian, so it was a huge shock when we announced it," she wrote. Even Cardi B responded with distraught emojis.

Amado attributed Brazil's fervor for foreign entertainment to both its colonial history and the country's sheer diversity, noting its high consumption of Japanese otaku culture and its large population of Japanese descent.

Fandom is hard work

Fandom can often be derided with a condescension that belies the sheer amount of work that goes into maintaining these accounts.

"At ﬁrst, I thought that fans were crazy. And, like, psychologically, I don't know, sick? ... And now, I've come to see that it's all about passion and effect and it's a very human behavior. Everybody's interested in something," be it cooking or canines, Amado said. "But for some reason, when you're interested in something in pop culture, people tend to think that is less than."

An academic from Belo Horizonte, Samira Spolidorio has studied fansubbing — where devoted viewers

Yacine Jernite, who works on policy research at the AI company Hugging Face, said the ﬂops metric emerged in "good faith" ahead of last year's Biden order but is already starting to grow obsolete. AI developers are doing more with smaller models requiring less computing power, while the potential harms of more widely used AI products won't trigger California's proposed scrutiny.

"Some models are going to have a drastically larger impact on society, and those should be held to a higher standard, whereas some others are more exploratory and it might not make sense to have the same kind of process to certify them," Jernite said.

Aguirre said it makes sense for regulators to be nimble, but he characterizes some opposition to the ﬂops threshold as an attempt to avoid any regulation of AI systems as they grow more capable.

"This is all happening very fast," Aguirre said. "I think there's a legitimate criticism that these thresholds are not capturing exactly what we want them to capture. But I think it's a poor argument to go from that to, 'Well, we just shouldn't do anything and just cross our ﬁngers and hope for the best.'"

come together to subtitle. She has a simple theory for why Brazilians are such engines of fandom, using a word that came up in interview after interview: Brazilians are just "passionate." They're also looking for a sense of belonging, she said.

Despite being grassroots efforts that drew no proﬁt, fansubbing groups had "very strict rules" requiring volunteers to work overnight, Spolidorio said. A 40-minute episode required at least four people to subtitle and two to review — there were style guides, too. That commitment can exact a price. Before X's suspension, @agron_ updates had an expiration date of Dec. 31. Running it was affecting its administrator's entire life, even leading to a breakup.

"One of the reasons was I was always on the phone, always checking for content," she told the AP. "It's kind of like a drug, it seizes something in your brain. You want to be ﬁrst to post it."

"I've been unemployed for the past two years, and I have to study, I have to do something with my life," she added. "There's no way I can keep my life revolving around keeping a Twitter account for someone who — I love Dianna, but she doesn't work."

What's next In the past week, X alternative Bluesky has boosted its base by onethird, adding 2 million users, CEO Jay Graber told the AP. Around 90% are Brazilian and most activity is in Portuguese, she said Monday.

PRESIDENT Joe Biden signs an executive on artiﬁcial intelligence in the East Room of the White House, Oct. 30, 2023, in Washington. Vice President Kamala Harris looks on at right.

Photo/Evan Vucci/AP

ANA CLAUDIA, a salesperson at a cell phone case store located inside the bus station, shows the last X post she received before the social media platform was blocked nationwide in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024 Photo:Eraldo Peres/AP

Boeing will ﬂy its empty capsule back to Earth soon. Two NASA astronauts will stay behind

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer

BOEING will attempt to return its problem-plagued capsule from the International Space Station later this week — with empty seats.

NASA said Wednesday that everything is on track for the Starliner capsule to undock from the space station Friday evening. The fully automated capsule will aim for a touchdown in New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range six hours later.

NASA's two stuck astronauts who ﬂew up on Starliner will remain behind at the orbiting lab. They'll ride home with SpaceX in February, eight months after launching on what should have been a weeklong test ﬂight. Thruster trouble and helium leaks kept delaying their return until NASA decided that it was too risky for them to accompany Starliner back as originally planned.

"It's been a journey to get here and we're excited to have Starliner return," said NASA's commercial

crew program manager Steve Stich.

NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will close the hatches between Starliner and the space station on Thursday. They are now considered full-time station crew members along with the seven others on board, helping with experiments and maintenance, and ramping up their exercise to keep their bones and muscles strong during their prolonged exposure to weightlessness.

To make room for them on SpaceX's next taxi ﬂight, the Dragon capsule will launch with two astronauts instead of the usual four. Two were cut late last week from the six-month expedition, which is due to blast off in late September. Boeing has to free up the parking place for SpaceX's arrival.

Boeing encountered serious ﬂaws with Starliner long before its June 5 liftoff on the long-delayed astronaut demo.

Starliner's ﬁrst test ﬂight went so poorly in 2019 — the capsule never reached the space station because of

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software errors — that the mission was repeated three years later. More problems surfaced, resulting in even more delays and more than $1 billion in repairs.

The capsule had suffered multiple thruster failures and propulsion-system helium leaks by the time it pulled up at the space station after launch. Boeing conducted extensive thruster tests in space and on the ground, and contended the capsule could safely bring the astronauts back. But NASA disagreed, setting the complex ride swap in motion.

Starliner will make a faster, simpler getaway than planned, using springs to push away from the space station and then short thruster ﬁrings to gradually increase the distance. The original plan called for an hour of dallying near the station, mostly

for picture-taking; that was cut to 20 or so minutes to reduce the stress on the capsule's thrusters and keep the station safe.

Additional test ﬁrings of Starliner's 28 thrusters are planned before the allimportant descent from orbit. Engineers want to learn as much as they can since the thrusters won't return to Earth; the section containing them will be ditched before the capsule reenters.

Kroger’s CEO says shoppers would see lower prices after the chain’s merger with Albertsons

By CLAIRE RUSH and DEE-ANN DURBIN Associated Press

THE chief executive ofﬁcer of Kroger insisted Wednesday that merging with rival Albertsons would allow the two supermarket companies to lower prices and more effectively compete with retail giants like Walmart, Costco and Amazon.

Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen argued in favor of what would be the largest grocery chain merger in U.S. history while testifying during a federal court hearing in Oregon on the U.S. government's request for a preliminary injunction that would block the $24.6 billion deal.

"The day that we merge is the day that we will begin lowering prices," McMullen said while under questioning by a lawyer representing his company.

Addressing another issue that has worried shoppers in communities with both Albertson and Krogerrun stores, McMullen said

Kroger was committed to not closing any branches immediately if the merger is ﬁnalized but might down the road if it decides location changes or consolidations are needed.

The Federal Trade Commission sued early this year to stop the merger the two companies proposed in Oct. 2022 after Kroger agreed to purchase Albertsons. The commission alleged the deal would eliminate competition and lead to higher food prices for already struggling consumers.

Kroger, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,800 stores in 35 states, including brands like Ralphs, Smith's and Harris Teeter. Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including brands like Safeway, Jewel Osco and Shaw's. Together, the companies employ around 710,000 people.

FTC attorneys argued during the U.S. District Court proceedings on the commission's injunction request that in the 22 states

where the two companies compete now, they closely match each other on price, quality, private label products and services like store pickup. Shoppers beneﬁt from that competition and would lose out if the merger is allowed to proceed, they said.

McMullen countered that argument by saying that Albertsons prices are 10-12% higher than Kroger's and that the merged company would try to reduce the disparity as part of a strategy for keeping customers. Walmart now controls around 22% of U.S. grocery sales. Combined, Kroger and Albertsons would control around 13%.

"We know that pricing is going to continue to go down," McMullen said.

His statements and the upcoming testimony of Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran were expected to be critical components of the three-week hearing, which is at its mid-point. What the two say under

oath about prices, potential store closures and the impact on workers will likely be scrutinized in the years ahead if the merger goes through.

FTC Chief Trial Counsel Susan Musser referred to Kroger's 2021 investor fact book to make the argument that the merger would affect competition in areas where the two company's stores overlap. According to ﬁgures included in the document, Albertsons is Kroger's biggest competitor in multiple metropolitan areas, including Portland.

A Kroger attorney countered by saying that Walmart remains Kroger's largest competitor in a majority of markets around the country.

The FTC and labor union leaders also claim that workers' wages and beneﬁts would decline if Kroger and Albertsons no longer compete with each other. They've additionally expressed concern that potential store closures could create so-called food

and pharmacy "deserts" for consumers.

Albertsons has argued the deal could actually bolster union jobs, since many of it and Kroger's competitors, like Walmart, have few unionized workers.

McMullen said Wednesday that Kroger was committed to honoring existing labor contracts.

FTC lawyer Musser said the merger still might affect working conditions since union contracts are typically renegotiated every three years.

Under the proposed deal, Kroger and Albertsons would sell 579 stores in places where their locations overlap to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand

Union and Piggly Wiggly store brands.

The FTC alleges that C&S is ill-prepared to take on those stores. Laura Hall, the FTC's senior trial counsel, cited internal documents that indicated C&S executives were skeptical about the quality of the stores they would get and may want the option to sell or close them.

C&S CEO Eric Winn, for his part, testiﬁed last week that he thinks his company can be successful in the venture.

The FTC is seeking the injunction to block the merger temporarily while its lawsuit against the deal goes before an administrative law judge. U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson was expected to hear from around 40 witnesses before deciding whether to grant the request.

LEGAL NOTICE

NOTICE

Lozwood Holding Company Limited

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPANIES ACT (No.45 of 2000) In Voluntary Liquidation

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138 (4) of the International Business Companies Act, (No.45 of 2000), that Lozwood Holding Company Limited (IBC no. 177154 (B)) is in dissolution. The date of commencement of the dissolution is the day of 2nd day of September, 2024. The Liquidator of the Company is Russell Homer and can be contacted at 1, Place de Saint-Gervais 1201 Geneva Switzerland. All persons having claims against the above-named company are required to send their names, addresses and particulars of their debts or claims to the Liquidator before 2nd day of October, 2024.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that ALEX ALMONOR of #2 Beaconfeld Drive Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twentyeight days from the 5th day of September, 2024 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that REDINO DONALD RECKLEY P.O. Box SP-62764 of Rock Crusher, Nassau, Bahamas applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 26th day of August, 2024 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE

given that LIONEL JEAN-LOUIS of P.O. Box N-10326, Nassau Village, New Providence, Bahamas applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 29th day of August, 2024 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

KROGER CEO William Rodney McMullen speaks during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights hearing on the proposed Kroger-Albertsons grocery store merger on Nov. 29, 2022, in Washington. Photo:Mariam Zuhaib/AP

THE NORDSTROM FAMILY TEAMS UP WITH A MEXICAN RETAIL GROUP TO BID FOR ITS NAMESAKE RETAILER

NEW

YORK Associated Press

MEMBERS of the Nordstrom family with the help of a Mexican retail group are offering to take the century-old department store private for $3.76 billion, months after ﬁrst expressing interest in a buyout.

In a letter to the board of directors dated Tuesday, Erik Nordstrom said the Nordstrom family members own about 33.4% of the company's outstanding common stock and is willing to pay investors $23 for each share they own.

The Mexican retail group, El Puerto de Liverpool, operates more than 300 stores in Mexico and is that nation's third-largest credit card issuer with over 7.2 million active accounts. It already owns about 9.6% of Nordstrom stock.

A NORDSTROM store in Pittsburgh is shown on June 3, 2024. Photo:Gene J. Puskar/AP

offer unattractive. However, as a family-run ﬁrm the dynamics are slightly different, and it will be up to an independent committee to determine whether this is in the best interests of the company and its investors."

stores, which have become a strength. Sales at Nordstrom Rack jumped 8.8% in the most recent quarter and its comparable sales rose 4.1%.

The offer represents a premium of nearly 35% to Nordstrom's stock since March 18 when media reports about the proposed transaction ﬁrst emerged, shares have rallied this year and closed just below $23 on Wednesday. "That the Nordstrom family have made an offer to buy the department store chain comes as no surprise. What is interesting is the $23 a share value which is pretty much the current price of the stock," said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData.

"The lack of any real premium would, under normal circumstances, make the

Nordstrom last month reported sales growth of 3.4% in the second quarter, as sales in stores open at least a year — a key metric of a retailer's health — rose 1.9%. But net income slipped nearly 11% to $122 million. Adjusted earnings per share totaled 96 cents, and overall results beat analyst estimates. Besides its namesake upscale stores, the company also operates discount Nordstrom Rack

"The offer comes at a time when Nordstrom is getting back on track after a long period of poor performance," Saunders said. "However, the business remains one of two halves. The department store division has various structural challenges, while the off-price Rack division is starting to produce some good growth. This mixed outlook will limit the amount any party is willing to pay."

Erik B. and Peter E. Nordstrom are the fourthgeneration leaders of the

retailer, which was founded in 1901 as a shoe store. Erik is the company's chief executive and Peter is president. In the regulatory ﬁling the family cited the health of their late father Bruce Nordstrom as one impetus behind the proposed transaction. Former Chairman Bruce Nordstrom died in May at 90 years old.

The Nordstroms and their partner say they have commitments for $250 million in new bank ﬁnancing. Nordstrom, based in Seattle, acknowledged receipt of the proposal and a special committee of the board of directors — which it had already formed in April — will evaluate the offer.

Shares of Nordstrom, up 27% this year, ended slightly lower Wednesday at $22.78.

Wall Street extends losses as technology and energy stocks fall

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers

U.S. stock indexes lost more ground Wednesday, with declines in the technology, energy and other sectors adding to Wall Street's losses a day after the market's worst skid in a month.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2% following Tuesday's 2.1% drop. The Nasdaq composite shed 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, managed a gain of 0.1%.

The market's latest pullback came as a government report showed job openings in the U.S. fell unexpectedly in July, a sign that hiring could cool in the coming months.

The Labor Department reported that there were 7.7 million open jobs in July, down from 7.9 million in June and the fewest since January 2021. Openings have fallen steadily this year, from nearly 8.8 million

in January. But overall, the report was mixed, with hiring having risen last month.

The employment market is being closely watched by investors and the Federal Reserve as a gauge of the economy's strength. Wall Street traders are anticipating that the Fed will start cutting its benchmark interest rate at its meeting later in September.

The central bank raised rates to a two-decade high

in an effort to cool inflation. The rate of inflation has been steadily easing under the weight of the higher rates, while the broader economy has remained relatively strong. The Fed's goal was to tame inflation without stalling the economy into a recession.

A weakening jobs market could raise concerns about slower economic growth ahead, but it could also mean less inﬂation pressure.

PEOPLE pass the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in New York.

"Job vacancies declined, hires rose and quits were steady," said Carl Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi, economists at High Frequency Economics, in a note. "There is no signal here of any sudden collapse of the labor market here or any imminent recession."

Technology stocks were the biggest weights on the market. Some of the bigger companies in the sector have an outsized impact on the broader market because of their large market values. Nvidia, with its $2.65 trillion market value, fell 1.7%. Apple fell 0.9% and Intel slid 3.3%.

Energy stocks also helped pull the market lower. Exxon Mobil fell 1.2% as the price of U.S. crude oil fell below $70 a barrel. Several health care companies also slumped. Eli Lilly and Co. fell 1.1%, Elevance Health dropped

Photo:Peter Morgan

/AP

2.7% and Centene slumped 8.7%.

Shares of U.S. Steel sank 17.5% after the Biden administration signaled it's open to formally blocking the company's acquisition by Nippon Steel of Japan.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 8.86 points to 5,520.07. The Dow rose 38.04 points to 40,974.97. The Nasdaq lost 52 points to close at 17,084.30.

Several other reports this week will help give a clearer picture of the economy for the Fed and Wall Street.

The Institute for Supply Management will release its services sector index for August on Thursday. The services sector is the biggest component of the U.S. economy.

The U.S. will release its monthly jobs report for August on Friday. Economists polled by FactSet expect that report to show that the U.S. added 160,000

jobs, up from 114,000 in July and the unemployment rate edged lower to 4.2% from 4.3%. The report's strength, or weakness, will likely inﬂuence the Fed's plans for how it trims its benchmark interest rate.

Traders are forecasting the Fed will cut its benchmark rate by 1% by the end of 2024. Such a move would require it to cut the rate by more than the traditional quarter of a percentage point at one of its meetings in the next few months.

Dollar Tree slumped 22.2% for the biggest drop among S&P 500 stocks after the discount retailer slashed its full-year earnings forecast. Hormel Foods fell 6.4% after the maker of Spam trimmed its revenue forecast for the year. Department store operator Nordstrom slipped 0.2%. Members of the Nordstrom family offered to take the company private for $3.76 billion cash, months after ﬁrst expressing interest in a buyout.

With charges and sanctions, US takes aim at Russian disinformation ahead of November election

By ERIC TUCKER, DAVID KLEPPER and MATTHEW LEE Associated Press

THE Biden administration seized Kremlin-run websites and charged two Russian state media employees in its most sweeping effort yet to push back against what it says are Russian attempts to spread disinformation ahead of the November presidential election.

The measures, which in addition to indictments also included sanctions and visa restrictions, represented a U.S. government effort just weeks before the November election to disrupt a persistent threat from Russia that American ofﬁcials have long warned has the potential to sow discord and create confusion among voters. Washington has said that Moscow, which intelligence ofﬁcials have said has a preference for Republican Donald Trump, remains the primary threat to elections even as the FBI continues to investigate a hack by Iran this year that targeted the presidential campaigns of both political parties.

"The Justice Department's message is clear: We will have no tolerance for attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit our democratic systems of government," Attorney General Merrick Garland said. One criminal case disclosed by the Justice Department accuses two employees of RT, a Russian state media company, of covertly funding a Tennessee-based content creation company with nearly $10 million to publish Englishlanguage videos on social media platforms including TikTok and YouTube with messages in favor of the Russia government's interests and agenda, including about the war in Ukraine.

The nearly 2,000 videos posted by the company

ATTORNEY General Merrick Garland speaks before a meeting of the Justice Department's Election Threats Task Force, at the Department of Justice, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Washington, with Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, left, FBI Director Christopher Wray, center right, and Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, Matthew Olsen, right.

have gotten more than 16 million views on YouTube alone, prosecutors said.

The two defendants, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. They are at large. It was not immediately clear if they had lawyers.

The Justice Department says the company did not disclose that it was funded by RT and that neither it nor its founders registered as required by law as an agent of a foreign principal. Though the indictment does not name the company, it describes it as a Tennessee-based content creation ﬁrm with six commentators and with a website identifying itself as "a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues."

That description exactly matches Tenet Media, an online company that hosts videos made by well-known conservative inﬂuencers

Tim Pool, Benny Johnson and others. Johnson and Pool both responded with posts on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, calling themselves "victims."

Calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "scumbag," Pool wrote that "should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived."

In his post, Johnson wrote that he had been asked a year ago to provide content to a "media startup." He said his lawyers negotiated a "standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated."

Tenet Media's shows in recent months have featured high-proﬁle conservative guests, including RNC co-chair Lara Trump, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake.

In the other action, ofﬁcials announced the seizure of 32 internet domains that were used by the Kremlin to

spread Russian propaganda and weaken global support for Ukraine. The websites were designed to look like authentic news sites but were actually fake, with bogus social media personas designed to look like they belonged to American users.

Though the Justice Department did not identify which candidate in particular the campaign was meant to boost, internal strategy notes released Wednesday make clear that Trump and his campaign were the intended beneﬁciaries.

The proposal for one propaganda project states that one of its objectives is to secure a victory for a candidate who is currently out of power and to increase the percentage of Americans who believe the U.S. has been doing too much to support Ukraine. President Joe Biden has strongly supported Ukraine during the invasion by Russia.

The names of the candidates and their parties are blacked out in the documents released by the Justice Department.

Intelligence agencies have previously charged that Russia, which during the 2016 election launched a massive campaign of foreign inﬂuence and interference on Trump's behalf, was using disinformation to try to meddle in this year's election. The new steps show the depth of U.S. concerns and signal legal actions against those suspected of being involved.

"Today's announcement highlights the lengths some foreign governments go to undermine American democratic institutions," the State Department said. "But these foreign governments should also know that we will not tolerate foreign malign actors intentionally interfering and undermining free and fair elections."

The State Department announced it was taking action against several employees of Russian state-owned media outlets, designating them as "foreign missions," and offering a cash reward for information provided to the U.S. government about foreign election interference.

It also said it was adding media company Rossiya Segodnya and its subsidiaries RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly, and Sputnik to its list of foreign missions. That will require them to register with the U.S. government and disclose their properties and personnel in the U.S.

In a speech last month, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Russia remained the biggest threat to election integrity, accusing Putin and his proxies of "targeting speciﬁc voter demographics and swingstate voters to in an effort to manipulate presidential and congressional election outcomes." Russia, she said was "intent on co-opting unwitting Americans on social media to push narratives advancing Russian interests."

She struck a similar note Thursday, saying at an Aspen Institute event in Washington that the foreign inﬂuence threat is more diverse and aggressive than in past years.

"More diverse and aggressive because they involve more actors from more countries than we have ever seen before, operating in a more polarized world than we have ever seen before, all fueled by more technology and accelerated by technology, like AI, and that is what we have exposed in the law enforcement actions we took today," she said.

Much of the concern around Russia centers on cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns designed to inﬂuence the November vote. The tactics include using state media like RT to advance anti-U.S. messages and content, as well as networks of fake websites and social media accounts that amplify the claims and inject them into Americans' online conversations. Typically, these networks seize on polarizing political topics such as immigration, crime or the war in Gaza.

In many cases, Americans may have no idea that the content they see online either originated or was ampliﬁed by the Kremlin.

"Russia is taking a whole of government approach to influence the election, including the presidential race," an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said this summer during a briefing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under rules worked out with that office.

Groups linked to the Kremlin are increasingly hiring marketing and communications firms within Russia to outsource some of the work of creating digital propaganda while also covering their tracks, the officials said during the briefing with reporters.

Photo:Mark Schiefelbein/AP

SECTION C

RELIGIOUS NEWS, STORIES AND CHURCH EVENTS

Prayer journaling and what it means for spiritual growth

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter acadet@tribunemedia.net

WHETHER

for thoughtful reﬂections about life or penning your plan and goals for the future, journaling is much known to be a form of therapy for many. Even the bible says in verses like Jeremiah 30: 2, to “write in a book all the words I have spoken to you”. Moreover, there are websites such as healthyspirituality. org that speak on the power of writing things down. The writer Jean Wise noted: “When you write things down, articulate your dreams, goals, and prayers, struggle to ﬁnd just that right word or phrase that describes a deep desire, God breaks in with power beyond our understanding and our lives become more meaningful. Writing things down invites God’s wisdom and clarity to how we think, speak, and live.”

A number of Bahamians shared their thoughts on putting

pen to paper when it comes to their walk with God.

“I don’t really journal now, but I used to do it a lot before.

Right now I can say though, I utilise writing down things in my notes app on my phone,” said Patricia Cooper.

She went on to say just yesterday she had a chat with a girlfriend where they were

speaking on a speciﬁc topic, a topic that led to her jotting down parts of the conversation.

“She shared with me the bible verse of God preparing a table for me in front of my enemies, and I immediately made a note of our conversation, just to go back and reﬂect on it when I had some free time. That is my version of journaling right now and

I like that it’s something I have a habit of doing, “ said Patricia.

For Jessica Johnson, who said she has a prayer app on her phone, her journals would usually start with a bible verse that has been on her mind after meditating on its meaning.

“Your journals don’t have to make sense to no one else but you. Ramble as much as you

want, let your thoughts ﬂow freely and make it your safe space. I’m sure you have heard before, therapists encouraging persons to journal. I don’t know the scientiﬁc meaning behind how it helps with your mental state, but I can attest that it does. It’s my sanctuary, my sacred space, where I connect with not only who I am, but with the big guy upstairs,” said Jessica.

For me personally, prayer journaling is an intimate and fulﬁlling space where I collect a number of my daily prayer notes and reﬂect on them when needed, which is quite often.

Out of all the hustles of life, especially in a fast-paced, digital world - I believe it is important to make time speciﬁcally for just you and God. Whether that is ﬁrst thing in the morning before connecting with your cellular device, or the last thing you do before closing your eyes at night.

The benefits don’t only offer a deepened spiritual growth, it also offers a form of stress relief and enhance creativity. So, grab a journal, find a quiet corner, and let your heart pour onto the pages. In this space, you may just find the muchneeded peace, clarity, and connection you’ve been seeking.

POPE URGES INDONESIA TO LIVE UP TO PROMISE OF ‘HARMONY IN DIVERSITY’

JAKARTA, Indonesia

Associated Press

POPE Francis urged Indonesia to live up to its promise of "harmony in diversity" and ﬁght religious intolerance on Wednesday, as he set a rigorous pace for an 11-day, four-nation trip through tropical Southeast Asia and Oceania that will test his stamina and health.

Francis had a packed ﬁrst full day in Indonesia, meeting with outgoing President Joko Widodo and other Indonesian authorities at the presidential palace, and then greeting Catholic priests, nuns and seminarians at Jakarta's main cathedral in the afternoon.

Cannons boomed as Francis joined Widodo on the veranda of the palace along with President-elect Prabowo Subianto. A marching band, stiff-legged troops and children in traditional Indonesian dress welcomed the ﬁrst pope to visit in 35 years.

In his remarks to the Indonesian authorities, Francis compared the country's human diversity with the archipelago's 17,000 islands. He said each one contributes something speciﬁc to form "a magniﬁcent mosaic, in which each tile is an irreplaceable element in creating a great original and precious work".

And yet, Francis warned that such diversity can also become a source of conflict. It was an apparent reference to episodes of intolerance that have flared in recent years in Indonesia as well as a broader concern about conflicts raging around the world.

"This wise and delicate balance, between the multiplicity of cultures and different ideological visions, and the ideals that cement unity, must be continuously defended against imbalances," Francis said. Political leaders, he said, had a particular role to play but he also assured Widodo of the Catholic Church's commitment to increasing interreligious dialogue.

"This is indispensable for meeting common challenges, including that of countering extremism and intolerance, which through the distortion of religion attempt to impose their views by using deception and violence."

Regionally, internal conflict in Myanmar has forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, where thousands have fled overcrowded, violent camps to countries including Indonesia. Francis met with at least one Rohingya refugee upon arrival Tuesday at the Vatican's residence in a show of support for refugees to be welcomed, not rejected.

Farther aﬁeld, Indonesia has long been a strong supporter of Palestinians and the government has regularly condemned Israel's war in Gaza. Widodo thanked Francis for the Vatican's support of Palestinians since the start of the war.

"War will not beneﬁt anyone, war will only bring suffering and misery to the common people," Widodo said. "Therefore let us celebrate the differences that we have. Let us accept each other and strengthen tolerance to realise peace, to realise a better world for all humanity."

Francis arrived in Jakarta on Tuesday to kick off the longest, farthest and most difﬁcult

trip of his pontiﬁcate given his myriad health problems. At 87, he uses a wheelchair, has regular bouts of bronchitis and has had multiple surgeries for intestinal problems.

By the trip's end on September 13, Francis will have ﬂown 32,814 kilometers (20,390 miles) to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, one of the longest papal trips ever in terms of days on the road and distances traveled.

In Indonesia, Francis will be seeking to support the Catholic community, which only makes up 3% of the population of some 275 million, while seeking to encourage greater ties with the country that is home to the largest Muslim population.

The highlight of Francis' ﬁrst stop will be his participation Thursday in an interfaith meeting in Jakarta's iconic Istiqlal mosque with representatives of the six religions that are ofﬁcially recognized in Indonesia: Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Catholicism and Protestantism.

government ofﬁcials, residents and community organizations.

"The pope's visit has an important role to play in encouraging Indonesia to end intolerance and discrimination against all minority groups. Freedom of religion is a right protected by the Indonesian Constitution," said Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia.

While Francis will want to highlight Indonesia's tradition of religious tolerance, the country's image as a moderate Muslim nation has been undermined by ﬂare-ups of intolerance. In 2021, a militant Islamic couple blew themselves up outside a packed Catholic cathedral on Indonesia's Sulawesi island during a Palm Sunday Mass, injuring at least 20 people.

As Francis arrived, Amnesty International said it hoped his visit would encourage an end to acts of intolerance and discrimination against minority groups and truly promote a respect for religious freedom that is enshrined in the country's constitution.

In a statement, Amnesty noted that from January 2021 to July 2024, there were at least 123 cases of intolerance, including rejection, closure or destruction of places of worship and physical attacks. The perpetrators allegedly came from various backgrounds, including

In the afternoon, Francis meets with Indonesian clergy and nuns in Jakarta's Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral for his traditional pep talk to the local church. Indonesia is home to the world's largest Catholic seminary and has long been a top source of priests and nuns for the Catholic Church, though their numbers today are not keeping pace with the growth in the overall Catholic population. Asia, along with Africa, has long been seen as the future of the Catholic Church, both in terms of the number of baptised faithful and the number of men and women who decide to become priests or nuns. In Asia, the numbers are growing whereas longtime Catholic bastions such as Europe and the Americas have been seeing a long-term contraction both in the number of Catholics and those who enter religious life. While Indonesia can by no means compete with India or the overwhelmingly Catholic Philippines in terms of the overall number of baptised Catholics or priests, the number of men studying to become priests is continuing to grow whereas the number of seminarians in Asia overall has started to level off or even decline in the last few years.

According to Vatican statistics as of December 31, 2022, the last year for which data is available, there were 5,903 Catholic priests in Indonesia for a population of 8.29 million Catholics. While the number of seminarians studying for the priesthood in Asia has declined since 2017, including in the Philippines and India, Indonesia continued to add them, with 4,024 seminarians in 2022 compared to 3,777 in 2017.

POPE FRANCIS, left, and Indonesian President Joko Widodo attend a meeting with Indonesian authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps, during his apostolic visit to Asia, at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024.

Photo:Willy Kurniawan/AP

EBENEZER EXUMA HOSTS BACK TO SCHOOL CHURCH SERVICE

FROM PAGE C48

As in past times, school students of all ages attended the event along with their guardians.

The excitement to embark on a new scholastic journey was evident among the students, Vanessa Smith, a representative of the church, said.

Students from pre-school, kindergarten, primary school, junior high, senior high, as well as university students graced the Worship Service with excitement, anticipation and simply hearts ﬁlled with joy.

“Rev Stephen Smith and the Ebenezer family in Farmer’s Hill, Exuma, ensured the the ediﬁce was smartly adorned with school bags, books, combs, brushes, hair accessories, water tumblers and so much more to uplift and enlighten the hearts of the students,” she said.

Kerisca Kemp, vice president of Bahamas Sickle Cell Association, along with her team and sickle cell advocates Sinikka Clarke, Exuma branch ecretary, Tamika Rolle, public relations, Rickeya Lewis- Brown, member, and Tori Lewis, tech support/ public relations, were also in attendance at the church service.

Ms Kemp, who is a caregiver for her son battling sickle cell, used the opportunity to shed light on the disease and the battles being faced by the sickle and their family.

As a strong advocate, she said she believes the hereditary disease which affects the red blood cells will one day be cured in her son.

Also in attendance at the event were the Key Club of St Andrew’s Anglica School. The group was led by advisors Richa Moss, Anya Moxey-McPhee and guidance counselor Denika Curtis. Senior high students Kierra Smith, Diana Gray, Karzarrio Smith, Cai Smith, Alexis Dogerville, Kianna Rolle, Kimora Brown and Jason Rolle were also on hand for the special service.

Kierra Smith, an 11th grade student, brought remarks on behalf of the group sharing that the goals of the organisation, led by students is to “help build character, develop leadership skills and provide community service”.

Rev Smith along with the Ebenezer family made monetary donations to both organisations.

All students in attendance received lunch money in the amount of $35 for one week in addition to the numerous school, hair and personal supplies. The university and college students received $150 each.

A special prayer was made for the students as they boldly embrace, conquer and successfully begin the new school academic year 2024-2025.

Ebenezer Exuma hosts Back

To School church service

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

PARENTS and parishioners were encouraged to "bridle the tongues" when they discipline their children so as to not create a dysfunctional environment where correction is not received, during Ebenezer Exuma’s Back to School church service held on Sunday.

The powerful and timely message was delivered by Rev Stephen Smith, pastor of Ebenezer Farmers Hill Exuma, who every year warmly welcomes kids to worship with the congregation before they embark on another school year.

And while he encouraged and blessed the students - praying for their safety and success this school year - he also focused his message on parents and guardian in the pews.

"Do not provoke your children but rather speak positive. You cannot call them names like stupid or idiot and still expect them to be a genius. Children remember their parents words especially and it can negatively affect their productivity and even life path,” he said.

Rev Smith emphasised that positive reinforcements and structure at home will go a long way in assisting teachers in their daily interactions with students.

“Maintain a structure for your children's lives. This will help enforce what their teachers taught them in school as well as help them attain their personal goals. Spend time with your children, talk with them and allow them to be comfortable around you as parents to express what may be on their minds or even what they may be experiencing in life. It all begins at home,” he said.