10132022 NEWS AND SPORT

IMMIGRATION TO SEND IN OFFICERS

The Farm reported to have quadrupled in size since Dorian

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

IMMIGRATION Min ister Keith Bell said there will be an increased number of immigration officers deployed to Abaco due to the recent expansion of several shanty towns there, with one unregulated com munity mushrooming to 200 acres since 2019.

A recent operation on Abaco resulted in 52 arrests and exposed the scope of the worsening shanty town problem.

The Department of immi gration launched Operation

Expedition from October 7 to 10, where immigration officers as well as the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force went to the island to explore, detain and eventually repatriate any irregular migrants found.

The expedition found that one shanty town in par ticular - The Farm - grew from 50 acres to about 200 acres since Hurricane Dorian.

Other shanty towns, including a large area in Marsh Harbour, have expanded as well.

‘I DON’T KNOW IF BUSINESSES WILL SURVIVE’ DOUBLE BLOW

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE head of the Retail Grocers Association yes terday warned that the government’s decision to expand its list of price-con trolled items and increase the national minimum wage at the same time will be a “big hit” to businesses, adding: “I don’t know if they’ll be able to survive it.” Philip Beneby, the

association’s president, told The Tribune yesterday that while the government’s plans to ease the high cost of living would likely be a big help to many strug gling Bahamians, it would not benefit small business owners.

He also cautioned offi cials to be careful not to add further economic hard ship on businesses that he described as the “engine to any economy”.

‘PRICE CONTROLS ARE HURTING CONSUMERS’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

SUPER Value’s prin cipal yesterday urged the Government to abolish the price control regime rather than expand it, arguing: “Consumers will be better off.”

Rupert Roberts, speaking to Tribune Business after the Prime Minister pledged to extend price con trols to 38 extra products and further cut existing

mark-ups allowed on food staples such as chicken and eggs, argued that the

administration needs to move in the opposite direc tion by allowing retailers and wholesalers true free dom to compete.

Describing price controls as akin to “price fixing”, he explained that they eliminated incentives for grocery retailers to seek out efficiency savings and sell below what rivals charged since all operators simply offer price-controlled goods at the same cost.

PM: WIVES RAPED BY HUSBANDS SHOULD CALL POLICE

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis has told both married and single women to report matters of abuse to the police in the face of a new University of The Bahamas study that explored the prevalence of spousal rape and assaults within marriages.

The study found that one in 12 or an estimated 4,000 married women have been raped by their husbands. The study suggested that around 6,000 wives claimed

UNIONS: WE’LL STILL PUSH FOR MINIMUM WAGE OF $300

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Trades Union Con gress president yesterday asserted that the labour movement will push for a further minimum wage increase to $300 per week once the economy has rebounded “in a strong way”.

Obie Ferguson told Tribune Business he “sees no reason” why the unions should not advocate for such a rise once The Bahamas has fully recovered from the devastation inflicted by COVID-19 while affirming that achieving a “livable wage” remains the ultimate goal.

FRONT PORCH: THE USUAL MISTAKES AND MISJUDGEMENTS

GOVERNMENT

RUPERT

PARTY TIME AFTER TEN YEARS OF RUBIS

RUBIS hosted a cel ebration last night to commemorate ten years in The Bahamas.

Over 100 local partners, stakeholders and guests heard first-hand from CEO of Rubis Caribbean Mauri cio Nicholls as he reflected on the past ten years.

Guests enjoyed a magical evening with bites, drinks,

and live entertainment at Baha Mar’s convention centre.

In 2012, Rubis acquired Chevron’s fuel business in The Bahamas.

Rubis now operates over 350 retail service stations in 17 territories across the Caribbean; 23 of which are located in The Bahamas.

POLICE PROBE SHOOTING

POLICE are investigat ing a shooting incident which occurred in Red Land Acres last night.

The victim was taken to hospital via EMS, police said, but additional infor mation was not released up to press time.

Police also said a fight between two relatives on Monday left one victim

with a stab wound.

The incident took place shortly before 11pm on Monday. Two male relatives were engaged in an alterca tion while at their residence which resulted in one family member stabbing the other in the leg.

The victim was taken to hospital where he was treated and discharged.

RUBIS CEO Mauricio Nicholls at last night’s celebration of ten years in business in The Bahamas.

THE RUBIS management team celebrate ten years in business in The Bahamas. From left, Kirk Johnson, Micah Knowles, Raymond Samuels, Mauricio Nicholls, Rachell Miller, and Marvin Knowles.

Photos: Austin Fernander

PM: ‘No concerns’ that businesses won’t cope

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

PRIME Minister Phil lip “Brave” Davis said yesterday he had no con cerns about small business longevity in the face of an impending light bill increase and now a newly announced higher mini mum wage of $260 a week.

Mr Davis said it was a step in the right direction.

“I am not concerned about that, that’s why we have given them notice for it,” Mr Davis told The Trib une yesterday at Pompey Museum when he was asked whether he was concerned about small businesses that will have to cope with increased payrolls come Jan uary on top of higher light bills beginning next month.

“We have done other

things to assist small busi nesses to ensure that they will be able to absorb those expenses that they antici pate,” he added.

The comments follow his announcement on Tuesday of an increase in the coun try’s minimum wage from $210 to $260 per week. The higher wage will be retro active in the public service going back to July of this year and for those in the pri vate sector, the change will begin in January 2023. The timeline, he said, is to give employers time to prepare for the increased expense.

Despite the criticism from some on the increase of minimum wage, Prime Minister Davis told report ers yesterday he has no reason to defend it as it is a step towards seeking a liv able wage in The Bahamas.

In his national address on Tuesday, Mr Davis acknowl edged that the increase in minimum wage will not elim inate the hardships, however, it represents progress on the way to a liveable wage.

“I don’t defend it, as I said in my address last night (Tuesday) this is progress, it’s a step towards getting to a livable wage. We appreci ate and I acknowledge in my speech, if you listened, that this $260 minimum wage in these economic times may not be enough, I appreci ated that,” he said yesterday.

“I’ve been there and I understand when people sit around their table to decide what bill they cannot pay or which bill they are going to postpone or which bill cannot be postponed anymore. I’ve anticipated that, but I said this is a step

towards where we are going towards a livable wage and that’s progress. We move from one point to the next and we expect to try to get to a liveable wage, bringing along and recognising how the economy is growing and how jobs are expanding.”

Meanwhile, international ratings agency Moody’s has doubled down on con cerns that the government’s budget revenue forecasts are “overly optimistic” and that its debt servicing pay ments will be higher than projected due to the rise in global interest rates.

In view of Moody’s down grade of the country’s credit rating B1 from Ba3, Mr Davis defended the govern ment as he said the report highlighted “much positive” of the country’s fiscal state.

When asked by The

Tribune what was being con sidered by the government in terms of fiscal measures given the latest Moody’s downgrade, Mr Davis said: “If you read the Moody’s report you would’ve seen that Moody’s indicated that we are on the right track.

“Moody’s indicated that the steps taken by this gov ernment are on the right track and they commended our fiscal responsibilities and our plans hence why the

downgrade,” the prime min ister said. “The debt has been downgraded so you have to understand what they did and appreciate it in the context which it was. So, the question really is mischaracterising what they actually did.

“Understand what Moody’s did, read the report and not just look at what you determined to be the negative of the report, there is much positives in their reporting of our fiscal state.”

‘I DON’T KNOW IF BUSINESSES WILL SURVIVE’ DOUBLE BLOW

Mr Beneby was con tacted for comment after Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis announced upcoming increases in the national minimum wage and revealed that 38 new items will be subject to price controls, including chicken, eggs and bread among others.

The minimum wage increase for private sector workers is set to take effect beginning January 2023, while it will be retroactive in the public service going back to July of this year.

“There’s talk about an increase in the minimum wage and there’s talk of increased electricity and then there’s talk of adding more basket items to the list, some 38 new items,” Mr Beneby said.

“So, if you’re going to decrease the profitability of a business, and increase the expenses, I don’t know how that’s gonna work because adding more price control items to the list, that would decrease the profitability.

“But you’re adding to the operational costs and I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not against a salary increase. That’s not my argument but you’re hurting the business to do so because when there’s a salary increase, then that means there’s also an increase in National Insur ance contributions and other effects from that.

“So, that is something that, they would really have to take deep consideration of because you don’t want to hurt the small businesses because as they say, small businesses are the engine to any economy and if they

continue to do that then eventually we won’t have the small businesses and then you would have unem ployment so there has to be balance there.

“So, it’ll be a big hit to the businesses, and I don’t know if they’ll be able to survive it,” he continued.

He noted that stores don’t really make any profit from price-controlled items and that they only carry them “out of necessity”.

He also questioned how businesses were going to manage given the fact that they had other expenses to deal with on top of an already high cost of living.

“We already have quite a bit of price control items and to continue to add to that, the medium to small businesses don’t have that kind of spread with their profitability,” Mr Beneby also said.

“And then the govern ment also expects you to pay your BPL bill, they also expect you to pay your business licence and they expect you to pay every real property tax and they expect you to pay all of the commitments from the government side and also from your operational side in terms of insurance and there’s now talk of insur ance rates going up.”

He continued: “So how can you increase minimum wage and reduce the profit ability at the same time and how are you going to pay those increases? I don’t know but there must be some magic formula that gives you that, but I don’t know what the magic formula is yet.”

However, Gowon Bowe, a top financial expert, said he thinks it would be “dis ingenuous” or premature for businesses to outright

conclude that there will be closures or even layoffs once the new policies take effect.

He was also contacted by this newspaper for insight on the matter yesterday.

“There are a couple of reasons why I say that and the first one is really, how many persons are on mini mum wage so even when we look at the industries that typically look at minimum wage like the retail sector, food outlets... the question is were persons (receiving) $210 or were they already at $250 to $260 a week?” Mr Bowe said.

“Secondly, businesses can look at it in two ways: so if I know that the consumer base is likely to expand because of increased money in the pockets of employ ees, then if I’m getting increased productivity, I can actually look at it as an

investment that hopefully would have a return in a faster manner.”

Though, he acknowledged that some businesses may be forced to make difficult decisions, especially if they are not making the profits needed to sustain operations.

Mr Bowe also said: “Businesses are not like governments where we could run deficits and worry about it later. If we run a deficit today, we have to be able to finance it and so that means that businesses have to make very real time deci sions based on sometimes, incomplete information and that’s why I said I think to provide some level of, shall we say comfort, the busi ness community would very aggressively want to see the government has based its decision on empirical analysis and not just on sen timental expression.”

FNM: ADDRESS FULL OF PROMISES, NOT SPECIFICS

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Move ment leader Michael Pintard criticised Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis’ national address as full of “tremendous prom ises”, but lacking specifics on how the government will address serious issues such as crime and financing big commitments.

His party held a press conference discussing facets of Mr Davis’ address, in particular his comments on national issues such as crime and minimum wage.

Mr Pintard said Mr Davis did not mention what his government’s new crime fighting plans are.

In response to criticisms, Mr Davis told reporters: “I don’t expect them to say anything else. I thought my address was full, complete, explanatory, and pointed the way forward. Acknowl edging that we still have a lot of challenges, that we have done a lot, but there’s still a lot to do. I don’t expect them to praise me for what has happened or embrace what I intend to do forward. Go forward.”

Mr Pintard said the prime minister failed to indicate where the country is going to get the resources in order to execute a number of the things that he mentioned.

23 CUBANS

REPATRIATED

A GROUP of 23 Cubans were repatriated on Tuesday.

The Department of Immigration said the group left the country around 3.40pm on a Bahamasair chartered flight for Havana, Cuba, with 21 men and two women.

The department’s depor tation unit led this escort with “all COVID-19 proto cols strictly observed as the health, welfare, and safety of our officers, law enforce ment counterparts, and migrants remain the high est priority”, a press release noted.

The opposition chal lenged Mr Davis to lay out his fiscal and economic plan.

However, the prime min ister asserted that they “clearly didn’t listen” to his speech.

“I would have spoken to the fact of how we have re-established our revenue enhancement unit and that we’re going after all those funds, all the arrears that we have that totals near a billion dollars. That we have been making good progress and collecting taxes that are due to The Bahamas, that’s where it’s gonna come from.”

He said the country’s emerging blue carbon market also will be a new revenue stream.

The prime minister announced an increase in the country’s minimum wage from $210 to $260 per week. Additionally, as Bahamians continue to grapple with the high cost of living compounded by inflation, Mr Davis revealed

that 38 new items will be subject to price controls.

Mr Pintard said there was absolutely no difficulty with increasing the amount of funds made available to the most vulnerable in the community, but pointed out some concerns.

He said the government has not had a discussion with small busi nesses to see if the wage increase will impact them and cause them to reduce staff or hours worked.

“We don’t want that con sequence, but it is important that Bahamians have a liv able wage but what is also true is when the prime min ister talks about the items, in terms of price control, the level of inflation in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas it’s going to eat that $50 very, very quickly. It’s going to put additional pressure on the Bahamian people, the prime minis ter if he was really serious would have taken VAT off the bread basket items and on medications.”

Meanwhile, Mr Pintard

highlighted that the min ister of national security is disconnected from the commissioner of police in terms of their view of the state of crime in the coun try. On Monday, Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe said the crime issue was a crisis while Commis sioner Clayton Fernander had a different view.

He said it is unacceptable that such a small country has 107 murders for the year and there is no outrage by this government.

He also criticised the decision to send police officers to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“We are also sympathetic and recognise that, on occa sion, there may be a need for some of our experts to also assist those in other countries, including the Turks and Caicos. What we do want, however, is for the government to explain that we are not compromised in any way in our own crime fighting initiatives, when we take the initiative to go

ahead and help another country,” the FNM leader said.

FNM deputy leader Shanendon Cartwright said Mr Davis’ address had no specifics for the crime fight.

“Last night, we heard no specifics, as it relates to how we are going to make the Bahamian people feel at ease that the government has an answer. They were short on specifics, as the leader will have mentioned, we will have made some 14 recommended recommen dations to the government, we can see the crime is mul tifaceted in terms of the issues.

“So there should be a sense of urgency from the government to come up with a multifaceted solu tion to deal with it. But it involves the government

leading, bringing all of the stakeholders together, the civic, religious organ isations, everybody, because this does affect everybody.”

Mr Pintard also ques tioned the situation at the National Insurance Board, saying: “The min ister with responsibility for NIB clearly indicated that there may be a need for a rate increase, given the treacherous posi tion that NIB is in at the moment. We noted that the Prime Minister did not address this criti cal safety net issue that we thought should have been front and centre in his discussion on address ing the needs of the most vulnerable Bahamians. particularly those who are approaching retirement.”

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis during his national address.

Immigration to send in officers

Mr Bell yesterday echoed his statements made earlier this month, saying that ille gal immigration is not at a crisis level in The Bahamas, but instead should be consid ered a “complex problem”.

“We have an immigration problem in the country,” he said at a press conference. “And I indicated before that a crisis is something which springs up, which you’re not necessarily prepared to deal with. But again, as I indi cated, it is a more complex problem, a challenge.”

Mr Bell said, “We want to assure the Abaconi ans and the Bahamian people that there will be an increased presence from this point going forward in the Abacos and certainly in other areas nonstop.

“But it will obviously call for a multi-agency approach involving immigration, the Ministry of Works, police, defence force, Ministry of National Security, etc to address this issue once and for all.”

Regarding The Farm’s growth, Immigration Director Keturah Ferguson said: “It was about 50 acres initially; it has grown a lot more, pos sibly as much as 200 acres.”

Assistant Director of Immigration Peter Joseph explained further that during Operation Expedi tion two teams explored two shanty town areas where buildings were being built illegally on crown land.

“I lead a team to Abaco. On arrival, we split into two groups, one team went to Treasure Cay. Another team went into the Marsh Harbour and surround ing areas. The Farm has expanded to two to three times the original size that it was over the past year and the Marsh Harbor area.

“We identified also a

number of areas that ini tially had no building and no development or very little development, which has also expanded expo nentially. We conducted this exercise over the course of three days. During the exer cise you have a number of persons who attempted to flee offices or to give chase, they were apprehended, taken to our local immigra tion office or processed.”

Chief Immigration Officer Chad Adams said during the expedition, some Bahamians were assist ing irregular migrants with hiding and not providing identification.

“In some vessels we would have found some trap doors underneath, where persons were pulled from. We also had houses with some trap doors underneath, where we pulled persons from. We also saw individuals who are Bahamian citizens, we entered their home. They would hide them (irregular migrants) in their closets, cupboards, cabinets. So we saw this as a challenge,” he said.

“We had some battles with Bahamian citizens who didn’t feel that they needed to present us with an ID. Those that were questiona ble were taken into custody, taken to the local immi gration offices where they were questioned and inter viewed,” he said.

“Those that did not meet the requirement to be legally in the coun try were taken into custody and escorted or transported here to New Providence Some are still pending investigations. Some of those individuals are before the courts as we speak,” Mr Adams said.

Yesterday Mr Bell said the government has to move toward establish ing a positive system of

identification of Bahamians born in The Bahamas.

“The taking of the biometrics, palm printing, fingerprinting, to ensure that persons born in The Bahamas, they have defini tive means of identification of these individuals,” he said.

“We have cases of fraud, persons assuming the iden tity of other individuals. And so when they present a birth certificate, for exam ple, there are challenges that we have in the Immi gration Department to authenticate or verify that who is claiming to be ‘x’ is in fact ‘x’.”

Meanwhile Ms Ferguson agreed with Mr Bell adding that the number of irregular migrants this year is higher than previous years.

“The Department of Immigration has noticed the increase of irregular migrants particularly from Haiti and Cuba. This is evident in our repatriation statistics for the period Jan uary to October 2022. For this period, the department repatriated approximately 2,804 persons to their homeland; of this number 1,992 were Haitians and 519 were Cubans.

“This compares to the statistics for the over all year 2020 and 2021, in which case, there were 964 persons and 2,815 persons, respectively, repatriated,” Mrs Ferguson said.

“The more notable and larger groups of irregu lar migrants this year have come from Jamaica, Ecuador and Dominican Republic. Additionally, the department has observed an increase of irregular migrants and several of the major islands throughout the Bahamas.”

To date, the government of The Bahamas has spent over $2.2m on repatriation exercises, she said.

CONCH FESTIVAL RETURNS

THE MCLEAN’s Town Conch

Festival returned on Monday, in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Grand Bahama - after a gap of three years following Hurricane Dorian. The festival is celebrated as one of the oldest in the country.

LABOUR ON THE BLOCKS JOB FAIR TO BE HELD THIS WEEKEND

By LETRE SWEETING lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

OFFICIALS say the upcoming Labour on the Blocks job fair this week end promises to be the “largest job fair ever”.

Five months after the job fairs hosted by the Department of Labour in May under the Labour on the Blocks 2.0 initiative in New Providence and Grand Bahama, they are set to host another job fair in the capital with prepa rations for some 2,000 job

seekers.

Leroy Major, member of Parliament for Southern Shores, said he expects it to be “the largest job fair ever”.

The job fair will take place on Saturday, begin ning at 9am, at Anatol Rogers High School in conjunction with the con stituencies of South Beach, Carmichael and Southern Shores.

Labour and Immigra tion Minister Keith Bell said this upcoming job fair will include four exciting

components to further assist jobseekers, includ ing assistance with new work clothing at all Depart ment of Labour locations, and an upgraded training programme.

“The team for the Department of Labour has also planned a number of other options, includ ing, but not limited to, one, training opportu nities facilitated by the National Training Agency, BTVI, Cybertech and the National Maritime Acad emy. Two, the job readiness

programmes. Three, dual enrollment at BTVI. Four, closet access (clothes) for jobseekers wishing to be interviewed at the job fair,” he said.

Mr Bell said that while the job fair will be held in southwest New Providence, all jobseekers and students are invited to attend and the government anticipates having another job fair in Freeport, Grand Bahama in the very near future.

Labour Director Robert Farquharson said that with the inclusion of training

programmes and dual enrollment programmes, high school students are encouraged to attend this upcoming fair.

“They (students) could spend 80 percent in the high schools and 20 percent at BTVI. If we could get the young men and women cer tified from grade 10, when you graduate at grade 12, you will be certified and have a piece of paper that says you are qualified to perform these jobs. That’s a very exciting initiative that we’re doing. This is the time

now to plan,” Mr Farquhar son said.

Over 45 companies will be present at Saturday’s job fair, including some nine hotels and other various companies, such as Baha Mar, Atlantis, Blue Lagoon, Ocean Club, Commonwealth Brewery, SMG construction, Cava lier cruise line, Disney cruise line, various banks, Sbarro, John Bull, Wen dy’s, Kentucky, Bamboo Shack, and other busi nesses in all sectors, said Mr Farquharson.

OFFICIALS TO ASSESS NATIONAL DIPLOMA

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION Minis ter Glenys Hanna-Martin revealed officials are hoping that by December they will be able to make an accurate assessment of the national high school diploma so that they can ensure it does not negatively affect students.

She said officials have recently had town meet ings on the issue in New Providence.

“And then we will move into Grand Bahama next, but we are going to be hoping that by December, we will be able to make an accurate assessment of the high school diploma, so that we can ensure that it truly tests the ability

and prepares the child and does not have the negative impact of marginalising children,” she told report ers this week.

“And this is what one of the allegations is and we’re very concerned about that. So that is underway. That is a fundamental initiative to which we believe will increase student morale and will also allow for greater motivation for attainment.”

To graduate with a diploma from a public high school the following crite ria must be met: attain four subjects in the Bahamas Junior Certificate examina tions; maintain a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 over the three years, grade 10-12, on a four point scale; complete 30 hours of unpaid community service;

and maintain 90 percent punctuality level over three-year period, among other criteria.

The minister added that officials are assess ing attendance in schools post-pandemic.

“I should have said that one of the other issues COVID related is attendance. And we have engaged, we’ve taken over some of the COVID police officers who were previ ously involved in ensuring protocols were complied with and we have trained them and they’re in New Providence and we bring them in Grand Bahama, so that they can take on the task of ensuring children are in school and that work is already underway,” she said.

FNM pledges to take action over money owed by parks authority

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Staff Reporter

FREE National Move ment Leader Michael Pintard revealed the party’s legal team is going to take action against the govern ment on behalf of sev eral people he said are owed money by the Bahamas Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority.

He said they expect to file a writ some time over the course of the next week addressing that issue.

believe that

number

The latest move comes after Mr Pin tard warned that the party intended to take legal action against the govern ment to initiate a judicial review targeting its refusal to follow the Public Pro curement Act.

“So we’re just waiting on securing the legal opinion on that particular matter, and then we’ll be able to update the public further. One of the things we are doing in advance of that, the legal team is going to take action against the government on the many per sons who are still disadvan taged through beaches and parks. And so we expect to file a writ, sometime over the course of the next week, addressing that particular issue. That’s where we’re heading.”

those persons are just unjustly being dealt with and that the government should proceed

Mr Pintard made the disclosure about the impending writ when giving an update to The Trib une on the proposed legal action regarding the Pro curement Act.

Asked how many people he would file the writ on behalf of, the Marco City MP replied: “Well, we’re going to begin with an initial 20 that we have pre pared the matter on - that number can very likely grow in terms of the writ. We are agitating on behalf of all of those persons who have not been paid and who have actually executed the work. But the initial legal action, we will pick a group in order to proceed.”

Mr Pintard said they

FNM leader Michael Pintard.

would like for those who are owed funds to have their matters settled.

“We are ultimately trying to get the persons paid, you know persons who have completed work, who have verification of having completed the work, and

we believe that - a number of those persons are just unjustly being dealt with and that the government should proceed and settle the matter with them,” he explained.

“A number of them have gone through the

verification process. They follow the instructions of the persons who were in charge when we were in. They followed the guide lines of those who inherited the control for beaches and parks and the number of them have indicated to us,

we are advised, they have not gotten the appropriate payments nor have they gotten reasonable explana tions as to why they have not been paid. So we would like for those persons who are owed funds to be settled.”

PM: WIVES RAPED BY HUSBANDS SHOULD CALL POLICE

being victims of sexual abuse.

Overall, married women were more likely to be sex ually abused than a single woman by an intimate part ner, researchers found.

The findings were con demned yesterday by Human Rights Bahamas’ secretary general Paco Nunez.

In the face of the study’s results, Mr Davis was asked yesterday what he would say to Bahamian women in the country.

“What I say to any woman married or not, if they are aggrieved by being assaulted violently by anyone, they should

report it to the police,” the prime minister said on the sidelines of the opening of an exhibition at Pompey Square yesterday.

“The law takes into account the separation of persons who would have had a marriage and any assault on a woman be it whether you call it rape, grievous harm or other wise the law should take its course.

“Report those incidents to the police.”

For his part, Mr Nunez said the report’s findings were not at all surprising in a country that continues to refuse to promote women’s rights and recognise gender equality.

He said: “It is uncon scionable, outrageous and

utterly barbaric that at least one in 12 married women in The Bahamas have been raped by their husband, and that even more report being the victim of some other kind of sexual abuse.

“Even worse, as the UB researchers acknowledge, the numbers may only rep resent the tip of the iceberg; it is well documented that only a fraction of sexual assaults are ever reported, and there is no reason to assume this would not be the same for marital rape.

“In fact, victim silence may be even more likely within a marriage, in the face of a callous society that has already turned its back in two referenda, and a husband who has shown he is willing to commit

legally-sanctioned assault, and can do so with impunity.

“We are to be con demned as a society for failing to protect thousands of vulnerable women, and for allowing the sacred institution of marriage to be corrupted by aggres sive, predatory behaviour. It is our hope that this new study will finally hold up a mirror to society and force Bahamians to see clearly on this issue.”

He said surely, those who have vocally defended the status quo will now feel suf ficiently ashamed to either change their stance or keep silent.

“If they are not yet ashamed, they are well and truly shameless. Human Rights Bahamas once again

applauds the Davis admin istration for committing to bring an end to this night mare once and for all. We urge them to move swiftly to prevent thousands more women from being harmed, traumatised and broken in this way.

“It is time for us to accept that all women – and also many men who find them selves trapped in unhealthy marriages – need, deserve and should be entitled to protection under the law.”

Between mid-September and mid-October of this year, some students at the university collected data from 1,700 women. Of this number, 455 were mar ried and were asked about their experiences of rape and sexual abuse in their

current relationships.

The study sought to quan tify the extent of the issue against the backdrop that there has been increased outcry for the criminalisa tion of rape within marriage since the offence does not exist in Bahamian law.

The study comes as the government has said it intends to criminalise spousal sexual abuse. The proposed Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act was last month presented during the Ministry of Social Services and Department of Gender and Family Affairs’ sexual offences legislation one day symposium. The draft amendment to the Sexual Offences Act seeks to crim inalise marital rape and redefine what consent is.

TURKS AND CAICOS THANKS FOR BAHAMAS POLICE LINK

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

NIGEL Dakin, Gover nor of the Turks and Caicos Islands, has expressed gratitude to the Bahamas government for lending support to assist in their fight against crime, saying the nation’s officers are already making a difference on the grounds there.

“The day after the Baha mian officers arrived, they were operational,” he said during his address to TCI on Tuesday.

“All I need to say now is they’ve already made a dif ference. Some are directly inducted into our tactical firearms unit, making one

large joint team. Some are deployed as response units.

Their dogs, able to attack or to search, were active at the airport yesterday, sup porting our customs officers search for guns and drugs.”

“I, the Premier and Com missioner, and the people of the TCI, are extremely grateful for what can only be described as very gen erous support from our steadfast neighbour. Baha mas, you have been your brother’s keeper.”

Mr Dakin made the remarks while giving an update on local and inter national response to tackle the rise in gang related vio lence on TCI, adding the situation there had been “significantly more stable”

in recent days.

He thanked The Baha mas and the US for assisting with policing operations.

According to police offi cials, about 20 Bahamian officers were sent to TCI last week as a part of a joint national security operation.

National Security Minis ter Wayne Munroe has said the government of Turks and Caicos remains a criti cal partner in ensuring the safety and well being of Bahamians and assured the

operation was in the best interests of the country.

He has also hit out at back lash to the announcement with some observers asking why the government would send police officers abroad while The Bahamas is grap pling with a rise in murders and other violent crimes.

In a press statement released on Monday, the Free National Movement raised similar concerns and also called on the govern ment to explain its rationale

over the move.

“We have for national security reasons not been explicit and I see the leader of the opposition doesn’t seem to understand and if I tell you all what the officers are there to do, we are also telling the criminals what the officers are there to do,” Mr Munroe responded on Tuesday.

“So, I don’t grasp how they did national security, but how we do national security is we do not arm our enemy with information

so the Bahamian people could be assured that it is the Bahamian national security interests that is being addressed by our officers in the Turks and Caicos.

“All we need to do is look at Haiti. Haiti is a failed state in terms of their police apparatus collapsing and if anyone thinks that doesn’t impact The Bahamas, then they don’t have a suffi ciently broad view of our national security interests.”

‘We are ultimately trying to get the persons paid,

know persons who have completed work, who have

having completed the

News

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demands Russia reverse annexations

THE UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of four Ukrainian regions and demand its immediate reversal, a sign of strong global opposition to the seven-month war and Moscow’s attempt to grab its neighbor’s territory.

The vote in the 193-member world body was 143-5 with 35 abstentions. It was the strongest support from the Gen eral Assembly for Ukraine and against Russia of the four resolutions it has approved since Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24.

Ukraine’s UN ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, called the vote “amazing” and “a historic moment”. US Ambas sador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said supporters were “holding our breaths” and called it “a monumental day”. Euro pean Union Ambassador Olof Skoog called it “a great success” that sends “a resounding message to Russia that they are and remain isolated”.

US President Joe Biden said in a statement that the vote demonstrated the world “is more united and more determined than ever to hold Russia accountable for its violations”. It is “a clear message” that “Russia cannot erase a sovereign state from the map” and it “cannot change borders by force”, he said.

The Western-sponsored resolution was a response to Russia’s announced annexation last month of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zapor izhzhia regions. Moscow acted following Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” that the Ukrainian government and the West have dismissed as sham votes con ducted on occupied land amid warfare and displacement.

During two days of speeches at the assembly’s resumed emergency spe cial session on Ukraine speaker after speaker accused Russia of violating key principles of the United Nations Char ter — respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all UN member nations.

There was intense lobbying by sup porters of the EU-facilitated resolution ahead of Wednesday’s vote.

US envoy Thomas-Greenfield told the assembly before the vote that when the United Nations was established on the ashes of World War II it was built on an idea — “that never again would one country be allowed to take another’s ter ritory by force”.

Afterward, she told reporters the vote means “that in the eyes of the world and the United Nations, Ukraine’s borders remain the same”.

“The resolution also sends an enor mously important signal to Moscow and to everyone: It does not matter if you as a nation are big or small, rich or poor, old or new. If you are a UN member state, your borders are your own and are protected by international law,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “They cannot be redrawn by anyone else by force.”

A key issue for the resolution’s Western backers was how many countries would support it, and the result went beyond their most optimistic expectations.

The General Assembly voted 141-5 with 35 abstentions March 2 to demand an immediate Russian ceasefire, with drawal of all its troops and protection for all civilians. On March 24, it voted 140-5 with 38 abstentions on a resolution blaming Russia for Ukraine’s humani tarian crisis and urging an immediate cease-fire and protection for millions of civilians and the homes, schools and hospitals critical to their survival.

But the assembly voted by a far smaller margin April 7 to suspend Russia from the UN’s Geneva-based Human Rights Council over allegations Russian soldiers in Ukraine engaged in rights violations that the United States and Ukraine have called war crimes. That vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions.

A 2014 resolution affirming Ukraine’s territorial integrity and declaring the referendum that led to Russia’s annexa tion of the Crimean Peninsula illegal was adopted by a vote of 100-11 with 58 abstentions.

Among the surprise supporters of Wednesday’s resolution were the “yes” votes from Saudi Arabia, the United

Arab Emirates and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council as well as Brazil.

Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, had appealed to countries to vote against the resolution, calling it “a politicized and openly provocative doc ument” and denouncing its sponsors as “unscrupulous Western blackmailers”. He expressed regret the vote was not by secret ballot, as Russia sought but the assembly rejected.

Nebenzia reiterated Russia’s claims the referendums were valid, saying “the populations of these regions do not want to return to Ukraine”.

The four countries that joined Russia in voting against the resolution were North Korea, Belarus, Syria and Nicaragua.

Ukraine’s Kyslytsya expressed pro found regret that the four countries made “the wrong choice against the UN Charter” and urged them to reconsider their commitment to the UN’s principles.

Among the 35 countries that abstained, 19 were from Africa, including South Africa. China and India, the world’s two most populous countries, also abstained along with Pakistan and Cuba.

The more powerful Security Council, whose resolutions are legally binding, has been stymied on taking action on Ukraine because of Russia’s veto power, which it used on September 29 to block condemnation of Russia’s attempts to annex Ukrainian territory.

By contrast, the General Assem bly, where there are no vetoes, has now approved four resolutions criticising Russia over Ukraine. Its votes reflect world opinion but are not legally binding.

The resolution adopted Wednesday declares that Moscow’s actions violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, are “inconsistent” with the prin ciples of the UN Charter, and “have no validity under international law and do not form the basis for any alternation of the status of these regions of Ukraine”.

It demands that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally with draw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its interna tionally recognised borders”.

And it supports “the de-escalation of the current situation and a peace ful resolution of the conflict through political dialogue, negotiation, media tion and other peaceful means” that respect Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and internationally recognised borders.

Many countries among the more than 70 speakers urged a negotiated end to the war. The EU’s Skoog called the appeal for a peaceful solution “very important”, but stressed it must be based on Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

During Wednesday’s debate, there was strong support for the resolution.

Australian Ambassador Mitch Fifield called Russia’s attempted annexation “ille gal and a dangerous escalation” and urged all countries to oppose acts of aggression.

Ambassador Fergal Mythen of Ireland said voters in the “sham” referendums in the four regions “faced intimidation by the Russian military and Russia’s ille gitimately appointed authorities”.

Cambodian Ambassador Sovann Ke didn’t indicate how he would vote but said that “the forcible annexation of regions from a sovereign country is a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and interna tional laws, which is not acceptable” and urged that internationally respected bor ders “be fully respected.” In the voting, Cambodia supported the resolution.

South Korea’s ambassador, Hwang Joonkook, gave unequivocal support “to the sovereignty, political independence and the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

He said his country’s “own painful expe riences” after the 1950-53 Korean War “can testify that any attempt to divide a nation in any form or method is merely the beginning of lasting very serious troubles, rather than a solution.”

On the other side of that divide, North Korean Ambassador Kim Song supported the “self-determination” of the people in the four regions annexed by Russia as a right protected in the UN Charter and said the results must be respected.

By EDITH M LEDERER Associated Press

Govt has its annus horribilis

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THIS week was the equivalent of that famous quote of Her Maj esty ‘annus horribilis’.

So, who will OPM blame this time? Europeans nasty folks picking on small “black states” whilst we try desperately to copy their lifestyle ironic.

My previous letter on denial surprisingly did not get comments. I presume, therefore, I am onto some thing yes, I firmly believe that one of our most serious issues is we refuse to accept shortcomings and refuse to accept even the most obvi ous logical conclusion.

EU had to come, stupid as we got off their list only to end up back on.

BPL was not caused by war in Ukraine. Oil started going up with projections of $160 plus a barrel two years

ago after Biden was inau gurated. BPL knew it was coming, you kicked the can down the road hoping you could get away with making a critical political decision so soon after election.

BPL - did BPL owe Shell $150m for fuel? If BPL are paying them $10m every month for ten months pre sume the total arrears was much higher. Now what are BPL’s receivables like?

Why nothing mentioned?

That’s obvious, you step on political toes and something this government won’t do, but again it is denying real ity. BPL has to be paid like we pay a cable bill or cut off. BPL, you brought this on yourselves all probably

$450-500m worth of debt, might be wrong.

What‘s the status at W&S? Another debt to water suppliers? Few hun dred million?

Bahamasair the same how much?

How much does govern ment owe at this immediate time? Auditor General, your responsibility to dis close, sir.

We better quickly switch back to the real world not of make believe and denial of the real world in which the majority of Bahamians struggle to live.

Don’t make your ‘New Day’ a ‘Horrible Day’ like Her Majesty commented on the occurrences in that year.

D ROLLE

Nassau, October 7, 2022.

Environmental health

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE people’s environ ment in Nassau, Bahamas is in total need of deliverance, I would like to know why our inner cities are being neglected and overlooked by the minister of environ ment who appears to be sleeping.

I invite the minister to take a ride through the inner city of Nassau, it’s a junk yard and no one seems to care. We have one of the biggest junk yards in the world, for being so small.

The overgrown proper ties just drive me crazy, a friend told me a few months ago that he took pictures of the property next door to

him and took the pictures to environmental health. He was told that there is noth ing could be done because the people are keeping their own property filthy.

I firmly believe that something could be done, the government should amend the laws to cause the island to be kept clean, by amending the law so that if a property owner doesn’t keep his property clean they could be fined and made to pay a fine, but it seems like no one cares, take a trip down Bay Street. It’s ridiculous to see all the derelict buildings and no one is doing anything and the tourists get off the ship - it is really wrong for

us to display Bay Street to anyone. Wake up environ mental, the city and the inner cities need develop ment - fine all property owners for not keeping their properties clean. The garbage collectors collect the garbage and leave more on the ground than what they carry.

Mr Prime Minister, please see to it that a law is introduced that would cause us to keep our island clean the way it ought to be kept. Please do something to clean our environment.

GRANVILLE McMINNS

Nassau, October 12, 2022.

Columbus confusion

EDITOR, The Tribune.

SO, we celebrate exColumbus Day and I started to think so if Columbus never came across the Atlantic and landed in San Salvador would I be here?

100% of African stock my ancestors were enslaved in Liberia and shipped here.

My conclusion - none of us of African heritage would be here. So, we don’t celebrate Columbus?

Okay, Columbus’ ancestors from Europe developed the AfricaCaribbean Slave trade, but who at the African end benefitted?

I’m muddled, Editor. To me we have to thank and

praise the good gentleman Columbus as the majority of Bahamians would still be in Africa doing what or with what level of econom ics unsure.

Anyway, we all love a holiday!

K MURPHY

Nassau, October 10, 2022.

Governor General pick

EDITOR, The Tribune.

SELECTING a Gover nor General - seeing we are sophisticated enough to choose MPs - nominate persons for National Hon ours, surely we can also be part of the process of appointing the Governor General?

Seems pre-July-2023 the current person hold ing the office will demit

so a process could start say in March 2023 asking for nominations as with National Awards the same people could process the work.

Short list issued after vet ting and put to an online “vote of preference” four candidates four votes in preference order.

Cabinet would ratify that person who received the most preference votes. Sole

exclusion required clean police record can’t be a sit ting MP or Senator. New Day? Let’s see. Let the people control and get who the people want not a political person of a par ticular party in office and we stuck with that person for four-five years.

JEROME THURSTON

Nassau, October 6, 2022.

A YOUTH in a bird costume made of newspapers dances the “Leque leque”, the Aymara Indigenous word for a particular bird, at an event featuring Indigenous and folkloric dances, in La Paz, Bolivia, yesterday.

Photo: Juan Karita/AP

High school friend of alleged victim in incest case testifies

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A HIGH school friend of a woman who accused her father of sexual abuse denied claims in the Supreme Court that he ever dated the complainant as the defence had said in an ongoing incest trial yesterday.

This same witness further said that the photo evidence of a social media post of him allegedly kiss ing the defendant’s daughter was used to grossly mislead the court to believe he was sleeping with her instead of the accused man.

The 47-year-old father repre sented by Murrio Ducille, KC, returned to court for the continua tion of his incest trial before Justice Guillimina Archer-Minns.

It is alleged by the prosecution that the defendant sexually abused his now adult daughter twice, once in 2015 and again in 2016 when she was 15 and 16 years old. Charges were officially filed against him in 2017. In a previous trial appear ance, an audio recording was played in court of the defendant

begging the complainant not to tell anyone of the alleged incidents due him being afraid he would go to jail.

During the defendant’s latest testimony before the jury under questioning by his counsel, he once again denied having forcibly slept with his daughter in 2015 or 2016. He further denied that it was his voice in the aforementioned audio recording.

As part of his cross-examination, Assistant Director of Public Pros ecutions Basil Cumberbatch struck at the defence’s claim that the man’s daughter made these accusations to blackmail the accused for financial gain.

While the prosecutor acknowl edged that the defendant is an affluent businessman, he disagreed with the assertion that the charges brought against him were so he could be extorted by his daughter. Instead the prosecutor suggested that the accused forcibly had sex with his then underaged daughter by the pool’s bathroom of his condo in 2015 out of revenge for child sup port payments.

He further cited that in a prior court date the defendant admitted

that he doubted his paternity. The court was told that the complain ant heard the accused cursing at her mother to find her “baby daddy”. As such the prosecution claimed that he resented paying his court ordered child support and was fur ther motivated to sexually abuse his daughter because of his own alleged rape by his uncle as a child, a claim that was traced back to the same phone recording.

Although the defendant con firmed that he did have to pay child support, he denied all of the prosecution’s allegations against him, including that he was sexually abused as a child.

Referring to the defence’s photo evidence of a Facebook post show ing his daughter with her purported boyfriend they claim slept with her instead, the prosecutor alleged that the evidence was manufactured. He attributed the manipulation to the defendant’s history in IT. The prosecutor closed this line of ques tioning by stating that everything the defendant had said on the stand was a lie. In response the defence once more denied all claims made against the accused.

The prosecution then called a RBDF operator as a rebuttal wit ness, who said he was a close friend of the complainant in high school in 2015. Although this witness said that he recognised himself and the complainant in the Facebook photo taken while they were still in school, he said that the photo was purposefully staged and that he had no romantic involvement with her.

He went on to explain the photo was staged by him and the complain ant to fend off a romantic pursuer and that he posted it on Facebook.

However, he refuted the defence’s claim that he was seen kissing the complainant’s neck in the photo saying he was only lean ing his head on her shoulder. The witness, under cross-examination by the defence, also said that he was never the complainant’s boyfriend and that they never slept together.

When asked who posted the comment under the photo saying “Missing my beau” the witness said that it wasn’t him because it wasn’t his typing style. He also said that his old Facebook account had been hacked.

The case will continue today with the defence’s closing address.

MAN DENIES SEX WITH 13-YEAR-OLD

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A MAN on trial in Grand Bahama denied having sex with a 13-year-old girl who was found in the back seat of his vehicle with her pants down on April 13, 2021.

Hayward Dorsett is on trial in the Supreme Court for the rape of a minor and possession of child pornography.

It is alleged that between April 13 and April 14, 2021, he had sex with a minor in the backseat of his vehi cle. He was also allegedly found with nude photos and videos of the minor on his cellular phone.

The accused took the wit ness stand yesterday.

According to evidence, Dorsett repeatedly har assed the 13-year-old for sex in text messages through a Facebook account under the name Lamont Johnson.

The accused said he had used that account for two weeks.

He told the virtual com plainant that someone had sent him nude photos and a video of her.

In a message on April 5, Dorsett told the teen he wanted to have sex with her, but she told him she was not interested.

The accused made a request for sex again in a text message on April 6, but

the teen said no.

After she persistently refused his advances for sex, Dorsett started to threaten the girl.

Dorsett told the court he had threatened to post the nude photos and video of the teen that were on his phone if she tried to block him and if she did not have sex with him.

Dorsett was 19 years old at the time. He said he did not know that the virtual complainant was 13 years old.

In cross-examination, prosecutor Ashley Carroll asked Dorsett about the text message on Facebook on April 6 at 12.45pm when the teen told him that she was 13.

The prosecutor asked Dorsett about a message he sent to the teen on April 7, at 8.30pm that read: “You running me hot right now, I giving you until 9pm, I swear.” The teen replied at 8.31pm that she was not feeling well and that she had the flu.

Dorsett said he did not recall that.

The prosecutor read a reply message in which the teen asked Dorsett, “Why you doing this to me? I am only in grade seven.”

She said the teen also told Dorsett that she would kill herself if the nude photos and videos of her were released.

In response to the teen’s message, the prosecu tor suggested that he had texted: “I ain’t care no more still. I ain’t feel sorry for you no more.”

Prosecutor Carroll sug gested that on April 8 Dorsett continued texting the teen begging the girl to have sex with him and con tinued to threaten to post the photos.

“Yes, ma’am,” he admitted.

A Facebook text mes sage was sent to the teen on April 8 at 7.57pm by Dor sett, threatening to post the nude photos if she did not answer his text.

At 9.12pm, the teen responded, sending a text asking Dorsett to leave her alone.

Prosecutor Carroll asked Dorsett about the text mes sage he sent on April 11 at 10.30am. It read: “If you give me what you tell me you gone give me, I would not be doing this.”

“You meant sex?” she asked.

“Yes,” Dorsett replied.

Ms Carroll suggested that Dorsett continued to harass the teen until April 13. He agreed with her.

He said he called her around 9.38pm on April 13. The teen told him she was getting her hair done. He called her again around 11.45pm and asked if she was finished.

The teen said “yeah.” He messaged the teen and asked if he could come by.

The teen told him she was sleeping at her grand mother’s residence. Dorsett said he told the teen he was coming to that location.

Dorsett told the teen to jump in the backseat. He said the teen asked for his phone. He was sitting in the front seat. He gave it to her. He went in the back seat to see what she was doing with his phone.

He said the teen deleted the photos and video of herself from his phone.

While they were in the backseat, the teen’s aunt came outside with a flashlight.

Prosecutor Carroll asked

Dorsett if he went there for sex. He replied, “yes.”

Dorsett claimed that the teen had pulled down her pants, but not all the way. He denied that they had sex.

The prosecutor sug gested to Dorsett: “You climbed in the backseat and pulled down your pants and inserted your penis in her vagina.”

“No, ma’am,” said Dorsett.

The prosecutor then asked Dorsett about the evidence given by his friend Kiano, who told the court that the accused told him the teen begged him to stop because it was hurting.

Ms Carroll told Dor sett that neither he nor his attorney had challenged Kiano’s evidence in court.

Justice Andrew Forbes is presiding over the case, which is before a jury of five women and nine men.

K Brian Hanna is repre senting Dorsett. Ms Carroll and Erica Culmer Curry are appearing on behalf of the Crown.

COURT IN JET SKI THEFT CASE

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

TWO men were charged in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday in connec tion with the theft of two jet skis and a collective $43,610.05 worth of prop erty from Long Cay last week.

Franklyn Dean, 29, and Rhyan Gibson, 21, both stood before Senior Mag istrate Derence A Rolle Davis on a charge of steal ing. Gibson alone faced an additional charge of receiving.

On October 7 at Long Cay, New Providence, the accused, being concerned together and with another, are alleged to have stolen $43,610.05 worth of prop erty belonging to Lowrett Powell on October 7. These include two 2022 Seabob jet skis, one yellow and one red; eight Baha Mar logo masks; one Yamaha Blue generator; one 2022 Seabob slow charger and one Seabob fast charger as well as a Dawn dish liquid.

While Dean pleaded not guilty to these charges his co-accused, Gibson, pleaded guilty to his.

Bail of $7,000 with one surety was granted to each accused. This matter was adjourned for continuation on December 7.

MAN ACCUSED OVER FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was granted bail in Magistrate’s Court yesterday on charges of firearm and ammunition possession.

Lusconder Jean, 20, stood before Magistrate Samuel McKinney on charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition.

On October 8 in New Providence, Jean was reportedly found by author ities with a black Taurus G2C pistol. At the time of his arrest, he was also found with ten unfired rounds of 9mm ammunition.

In court, the accused pleaded guilty to the charges. Jean was granted $7,500 bail with one or two sureties.

The trial in this matter is set to begin on November 14.

AFTER a year in office, the Progressive Liberal Party is facing a similar political gravity that befalls many new governments as their term in office contin ues and any honeymoon period fades.

Much of the support for the current govern ment was generated by exhaustion with pandemic restrictions. The opening of the economy and the coun try engendered a collective sigh of relief, hugely ben efitting the PLP in its first year in office.

Yet the incumbent administration should recall a basic lesson. Over time, voters become increasingly less angry and annoyed by the previous govern ment, repositioning their criticisms, perennial frustra tions and sometimes venom toward current office holders.

Voters tire of listening to incumbents still blam ing the last government for most of the nation’s ills. The majority of voters already rendered their judgment on those they sent packing. They are now forming new judgments on the govern ment of the day that will harden over time.

The Philip “Brave” Davis administration is making a number of the similar mis steps and mistakes of the former government of Dr Hubert Minnis and other governments at home and abroad in recent history.

Whether the incumbent administration will learn both from its mistakes and those of previous govern ments is an open question.

At a certain point, a new government owns the issues of the day and is held responsible by voters, the media and others for addressing them in a timely, coherent, intelligent and sustained manner.

The country and the

government are beset by a host of complex structural issues that require more than public relations or spin, a default mechanism employed by some govern ments. While government communications are vital, they are no substitute for sound policy and good governance.

LESSON

This is a lesson the new British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, and her Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, had to relearn over the past several weeks as they were forced to reverse and explain various fiscal decisions.

To their credit, they did promote a big package in an attempt to tackle the structural economic and productivity problems sty mieing growth in the UK. They understand the need for urgent and large-scale action. Sir Kier Starmer and Labour will face the same historic challenges if they are elected.

Glossy videos, press conferences and speeches that lack a clear policy

direction are no substitute for good political and policy judgment.

When a government is hobbled by policy difficul ties, the refrain, “We need to fix communications,” is akin to the captain of a ship exhorting his crew to make sure the boat is beautifully bedecked even as the ship is quickly taking on water after colliding with a deadly reef.

A perennial problem in Bahamas government is a lack of direction from policymakers, including politicians and public offic ers, who often lean too heavily on their commu nications staff for policy advice.

ERRORS

With the Oban debacle, the Minnis administration hit a reef, one of several unforced errors that dam aged the government, calling into question its competence and credibility. The BPL saga is a policy and political reef of this government’s own making.

One journal described it as “an ill-advised decision that would predict ably backfire in all our faces when it deferred the fuel charge increase Bahamas Power & Light sought to implement in March”.

“We will now be faced with the consequences of that decision and the inac tion on continuing the hedge strategy left in place by the former administra tion. The ripple effects of increased energy prices cannot be overstated.”

This is worse than Oban because it will affect every consumer and business. It will be an ongoing story, with myriad economic fallouts.

As reported by NPR within an approximately

USUAL MISTAKES AND MISJUDGMENTS OF GOVERNMENT

24-hour period after the announcement of the BPL price hikes: “The OPEC+ alliance announced a two million barrels a day cut in oil production — an amount that could drive oil and gas prices back up after weeks on a downward trend.”

The exogenous shocks to domestic energy prices will continue, especially because of the war in Ukraine, expo nentially driving up food and energy costs in The Bahamas, which produces no energy and imports most of its food.

The IMF is now warning of a global slowdown and recession, with Managing Director Kristalina Geor gieva advising: “Things are more likely to get worse before it gets better.”

In reporting on the IMF’s forecast, the Associated Press noted: “Additionally, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation and worsening climate con ditions are also impacting world economies and exac erbating other crises, like high debt levels held by lower-income countries.”

CRISIS

We are in the midst of a structural economic crisis that continues to worsen. With two troubling down grades, one last year and the other one last week, The Bahamas is facing medium - and long-term debt challenges.

Some international lend ing agencies may be more worried about the credit worthiness of The Bahamas than they are letting on.

This journal’s busi ness editor recently noted: “Moody’s has dou bled down on concerns that the Government’s Budget revenue forecasts are ‘overly optimistic’ and

that its debt servicing pay ments will be higher than projected due to the rise in global interest rates.

“The credit rating agency, fresh from downgrading The Bahamas deeper into so-called ‘junk’ status over concerns the Government may be unable to access the debt financing it requires, also suggested that the Davis administration’s plans to restrain public spending ‘will weigh on growth’ and thus slowdown economic expansion.”

In addition to our eco nomic difficulties are entrenched social dysfunc tion and high crime. This past weekend, the govern ment’s communications and messaging on crime resembled the shambolic messaging by previous governments, with officials contradicting each other as to whether or not there is a crime crisis.

There is a crime crisis on New Providence, with many residents feeling unsafe, afraid, frustrated and anx ious at the level of various crimes especially violence. What will be the domestic and international fallout if a visitor is killed as was recently the case in the Turks and Caicos?

LOSE CONFIDENCE

Citizens gradually lose confidence in a govern ment if they believe that officials are not proposing and implementing seri ous and sustained policies to respond to the issues that matter most. Gov ernments lose credibility if they do not seem to be levelling with the public. Credibility lost is difficult to regain.

As noted in many previ ous columns, Bahamian governments have not proposed the medium - and long-term social interventions that may reduce violent crime and entrenched social dysfunction.

Kicking deficit and debt problems and social prob lems down the road may

seemingly benefit a govern ment in the short term. But the country will eventually pay quite heavily.

Barbados was one of the best managed countries in the region until things went terribly wrong, in part because of unaddressed structural problems.

As it enters its second year in office, the PLP should remember the ten dency by detractors or supporters of a govern ment to comfortably reside in bubbles, bunkers and narrow mindsets.

With The Bahamas facing grave economic and social challenges, it would be politically immature and churlish to root for the gov ernment’s failure. We are all in the proverbial ship together.

Meanwhile, there are the often uncritical cheer leaders of a government living inside a rarified atmosphere. There are those who see any criti cism as negative and as a kind of “scoffing” at the government, while failing to realise that their com fortable circumstances and defensive crouch are like an impenetrable bubble that will eventually burst.

Most governments suc cumb to a bubble mentality because its leadership lives in a rarified environment with nice salaries, govern ment vehicles, luxury travel and other perquisites.

Moreover, no Bahamian leader is likely to have a 70 percent approval rating in a country with both parties having a near equal share of the vote, and especially after a historically low voter turnout last year.

Every prime minister needs advisors outside of the bubble who will give him or her honest and unvarnished advice and feedback, especially what leaders may not want to hear, including timehonoured lessons of good governance.

and good governance.

Next

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis pictured during his national address. Photo: BIS

States to watch in crucial Senate races

STATESIDE

IN the US, this is the time when punditry takes over a central position in the national political discourse. A potentially consequential non-presidential election is looming in less than four weeks, and the outcome for control of the House of Representatives and the Senate is unclear. Ear lier, we took a glance at three key Senate races in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In those, for various reasons, one Demo cratic incumbent and two Democratic challengers seem poised to prevail.

Here are three more races to watch.

FLORIDA

The incumbent Republi can senator, Marco Rubio, looks assured of victory in the Sunshine State. Rubio, who was first elected to the Senate in 2010, ran for pres ident six years later while disavowing any intention to try to retain his Senate seat if he didn’t get the Repub lican nomination. Donald Trump routed the field of his opponents in 2016, not least because he revealed an uncanny ability to dis parage them in ways that stuck.

Rubio, who was an early favourite during the early 2016 primaries as a bright, attractive His panic Republican with an impressive prior record in the Florida legislature, suc cumbed under the burden of defending himself against the moniker “Little Marco”.

“Another problem with Marco, he’s a choke artist, he chokes,” said Trump during that 2016 campaign. “He just folds under pres sure. I’ve never seen anything like that. I was standing right next to him.

‘A potentially consequential non-presidential election is looming in less than four weeks, and the outcome for control of the House of Representatives and the Senate is unclear.’

I look over (and) I say, ‘are you okay?’ It looked like he just came out of a swim ming pool. He was soaking wet, and he kept repeating himself — repeating himself.”

Trump’s daughter Ivanka flirted briefly last year with a challenge to Rubio, but backed off. Rubio has gained stature in the Senate and has so far successfully navigated the treacherous political waters of his home state’s party with sharks like the state’s other ambitious senator Rick Scott and governor Ron DeSantis swimming dangerously nearby. Rubio is a good bet to become a longtime Republican Senate stalwart if he continues to rein in his presidential ambitions.

Currently, according to recent polls, a major ity of independents — 55 percent — favour Rubio, while 37 percent indi cated they would vote for Val Demings, the black congresswoman and former police chief from Orlando who was an early Democratic presidential contender two years ago. Demings, despite boasting a winning resume, looks like she will lose this race.

Rubio holds a ten-point lead among suburban voters, while Demings leads among urban voters by only 14 points. Democrats usu ally need to do much better than that in Florida’s cities if they hope to win state wide elections.

OHIO

The Buckeye State has often exercised an out sized influence on national American politics. The state claims the most homegrown US presidents (eight) to earn a tie with Virginia. Presidential candidates who carried Ohio almost always prevailed nationally for many decades. More recently, this one-time bellwether has turned a more reliable shade of red, and Trump is espe cially popular in Ohio.

Capitalising on this loyalty so far is the GOP candi date to replace retiring Repub lican Senator Rob Portman, a relative moderate from Cincinnati. JD Vance is a Yale Law School gradu ate, military veteran and best-selling author (“Hill billy Elegy”) who has also worked for conservative billionaire Peter Thiel, of PayPal fame. Vance, sig nificantly, won a heated contest for Trump’s endorsement in the state’s May 3 primary election. That propelled him to the nomination.

Vance’s wife, incidentally, is also a lawyer, and clerked under both John Rob erts and Brett Cavanagh, respectively the leader and lightning rod of the current, conservative US Supreme Court.

“In a world in which the two candidates were both competent, you would expect the Republican to win fairly easily,” said David Niven, a profes sor of political science at the University of Cincin nati. “In a world in which (Democratic opponent Tim) Ryan is on point, and Vance has some selfinflicted wounds, you have the formula for a very competitive outcome.”

Ryan is an ambitious Democratic congressman who represents the blue stronghold of Youngstown and the Mahoning River valley in eastern Ohio.

While Trump and Ronald

Reagan triumphed here, in local elections the reliably heavy trade union support usually delivers wins for Democrats. Ryan has chal lenged Nancy Pelosi for the House speakership. He has flirted with a presidential campaign.

Ryan has so far run a disciplined campaign, hit ting Vance hard on the Supreme Court’s notori ous Dobbs decision which withdrew federal protec tion for a woman’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy with an abor tion. Ryan has also agreed that Joe Biden is too old to run for re-election.

Ryan has described Vance as an extremist who associates with “crazies” from his party. At their first televised campaign debate on Monday, Ryan charged that “you’re running around with Ron DeSan tis, the governor of Florida, who wants to ban books. You’re running around with (Sen) Lindsey Graham, who wants a national abor tion ban.”

Vance has tried to counter Ryan’s economic message with cultural appeals by accusing Ryan of wanting to defund the police. He’s tarring Ryan with the brush of unpopular Democratic policies, blaming Dems for a flawed China policy and border security failures for fentanyl over doses. (Opioid addiction has been a particularly pernicious killer in Ohio.)

Vance has also harshly attacked the national media, which has often highlighted incautious remarks he has made on the campaign trail.

“This campaign is big, and the national media is obsessed with it,” Vance said to the Los Angeles Times earlier this month.

“You might be aware that they don’t always love me, they have some issues with me.”

On Monday, Vance charged that “it’s close to Halloween and Tim Ryan has put on a costume where he pretends to be a rea sonable moderate.” Had he been a real moderate focused on economic issues, Vance said, “Youngstown may not have lost 50,000

Democrat who was reelected in 2018. Brown, buoyed as is Ryan by strong trade union support, is a potential Democratic presidential nominee in 2024 if Biden doesn’t seek re-election. Brown’s wife is Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz, and the two are quite the liberal power couple in Washington.

Ohio might be in play this year for someone like Ryan. But don’t bet on it, because that would be a bet against Trump in Ohio.

Reporters recently asked the opinion of a random local citizen. “I don’t know [Vance] that well,” said Benjamin Hubbard, 65, of Middletown, a once-vibrant industrial city southwest of Columbus that has faded and provided the home town backdrop for Vance’s bestseller. “I know Trump supported him, so he must be pretty good.”

NEVADA Incumbent Democrat

ator Catherine Cortez Masto should be coasting along to victory. The first Ameri can Latina Senator in a state with a large Hispanic population, she is a former state attorney general with a good reputation and a respectable record as a first-term senator in Washington.

But Cortez Masto is not coasting. She’s in a real dog fight with the current state attorney general, Adam Laxalt, who is heir to the politi cal legacy of his long-term senator grandfather Paul Laxalt, once a renowned crony and ally of Ronald Reagan. Intriguingly, Adam Laxalt is also the outside child of another former US senator.

Adam Laxalt’s mother is Michelle Laxalt, Paul Laxalt’s daughter and a former Republican staffer and lobbyist. His father is former New Mexico sena tor Pete Domenici, who was married to someone else when Adam was born.

(This secret until 2013.) Laxalt was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for governor four years ago. Reporters have been swarming in Nevada seek ing election clues.

“There is a significant amount of nervousness and fear about the econ omy and especially about the cost of housing. Your gas costs more, your rent costs more,” said Ted Pappageorge, the secretarytreasurer of the Culinary Workers Union, which represents thousands of housekeepers, bartenders and cooks and has played a key role in electing Demo crats in Nevada. “Working families are hurting.”

“The path to victory all runs through the His panic community,” said Xochitl Hinojosa, a Nevada Democratic consultant.

“Democrats are finally realising, we’ve invested in black voters significantly over decades, and we’ve been successful, but we’ve assumed Hispanics will turn out for us, and that’s not always been the case. We must learn.”

with Charlie Harper

FLORIDA: MARCO RUBIO

OHIO: TIM RYAN VS JD VANCE

NEVADA: ADAM LAXALT VS CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO

Jones’ lies over Sandy Hook to cost him $965m

WATERBURY, Connecticut Associated Press

THE conspiracy theo rist Alex Jones should pay $965m to people who suf fered from his false claim that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shoot ing was a hoax, a jury in Connecticut decided Wednesday.

The verdict is the second big judgment against the Infowars host over his relentless promotion of the lie that the 2012 massacre never happened, and that the grieving families seen in news coverage were actors hired as part of a plot to take away people’s guns.

It came in a lawsuit filed by the relatives of five chil dren and three educators killed in the mass shooting, plus an FBI agent who was among the first responders to the scene. A Texas jury in August awarded nearly $50m to the parents of

another slain child.

Robbie Parker, who lost his six-year-old daughter, Emilie, said outside the Connecticut court that he was proud that “what we were able to accomplish was just to simply tell the truth”.

“And it shouldn’t be this hard, and it shouldn’t be this scary,” he added, his voice breaking.

Jones wasn’t at court but reacted on his Infowars show.

As courtroom video showed the plaintiffs’ names being read out along with the jury awards to each, Jones said that he himself had never men tioned their names.

“All made up. Hilari ous,” he said. “So this is what a show trial looks like. I mean, this is the left com pletely out of control.”

The trial featured tearful testimony from parents and siblings of the victims, who told about how they were

threatened and harassed for years by people who believed the lies told on Jones’ show.

Strangers showed up at their homes to record them. People hurled abusive com ments on social media.

Erica Lafferty, the daughter of slain Sandy Hook prin cipal Dawn Hochsprung, testified that people mailed rape threats to her house.

Mark Barden told of how conspiracy theorists had urinated on the grave of his seven-year-old son, Daniel, and threatened to dig up the coffin.

“I wish that after today, I can just be a daughter grieving my mother and stop worrying about the conspiracy theorists,” Laf ferty said outside court. But she predicted that Jones’ “hate, lies and conspiracy theories will follow both me and my family through the rest of our days.”

To plaintiff William Sher lach, the verdict “shows

that the internet is not the wild, wild West, and that your actions have consequences”.

He had testified about seeing online posts that falsely posited that the shooting was a hoax, that his slain wife, school psy chologist Mary Sherlach, never existed; that he was part of a financial cabal and somehow involved with the school shooter’s father; and more. He told jurors the shooting deniers’ vit riol made him worry for his

family’s safety.

“Going forward — because, unfortunately, there will be other horrific events like this — people like Alex Jones will have to rethink what they say,” Sherlach said.

Testifying during the trial, Jones acknowledged he had been wrong about Sandy Hook. The shooting was real, he said. But both in the courtroom and on his show, he was defiant.

He called the proceed ings a “kangaroo court,”

mocked the judge, called the plaintiffs’ lawyer an ambulance chaser and labeled the case an affront to free speech rights. He claimed it was a conspir acy by Democrats and the media to silence him and put him out of business.

“I’ve already said ‘I’m sorry’ hundreds of times, and I’m done saying I’m sorry,” he said during his testimony.

Twenty children and six adults died in the shooting on December 14, 2012.

COUNCIL LEADER RESIGNS AFTER RACIST LANGUAGE

LOS ANGELES Associated Press

THE Los Angeles City Council member whose racist slurs in a leaked recording created an uproar resigned yesterday hours after the state attor ney general announced an investigation into possible criminal charges involving a meeting where she made the remarks.

Former council presi dent Nury Martinez, the first Latina to hold the seat, announced her decision in a press release following a groundswell of outrage and calls for the resignations of her and two other council members involved in the conversation recorded last year. In the conversation, she made racist remarks about the black son of a white councilman and other crude comments.

Her resignation state ment did not mention those remarks, though in words directed at her daughter and said: “I know I have fallen short recently of the expectations we have for our family. I vow to you that I will strive to be a better woman to make you proud.”

The announcement came after Attorney General Rob Bonta said he would investigate Los Angeles’ redistricting process that

the three council mem bers were discussing with a labor leader in which they schemed to protect Latino political strength in council districts.

Bonta, a Democrat like the three council members, said the investigation could lead to civil liability or criminal charges, depending on what is found.

“It’s clear an investiga tion is sorely needed to help restore confidence in the redistricting process for the people of LA,” he said.

Bonta spoke in Los Angeles while the council itself was trying to conduct business nearby despite the uproar triggered by the recording, which pro vided an unvarnished look into City Hall’s racial rival ries. Those involved in the closed-door meeting were all Latinos, while Bonta is the first Filipino American to hold the top law enforce ment job in the nation’s most populous state.

Three council members — Martinez, Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo — faced calls from President Joe Biden and others to resign after the recording surfaced online.

Martinez had stepped down as council president on Monday while still hold ing onto her council seat. At the time, she said she was ashamed of her racially offensive language.

INFOWARS founder Alex Jones in court on September 22.

LOS Angeles City Council president Nury Martinez pictured in April.

JAZZ CHISHOLM JR SERVES AS ANALYST ON MLB NETWORK

By RENALDO DORSETT

JAZZ CHISHOLM JR gave the public a glimpse into a future career off the field as he serves as in-studio analyst this week on MLB Network for the divisional playoff rounds.

The Miami Marlins’ All-Star second baseman made his debut Tuesday night following the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 win over the San Diego Padres last night in their NLDS series opener.

Chisholm appeared on MLB MLB Tonight alongside Greg Amsinger, Sean Casey and Harold Reynolds Tuesday night and again last night alongside Matt Vasger sian and Yonder Alonso following Game 2 of the NLDS featuring the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves.

On night one, Chisholm analysed some of the key at bats in Tuesday’s game play, demonstrating his approach to bunting, and his favourite defensive highlight reel plays of the night in a segment called “Smooth Jazz.”

He continues his instudio work today when he joins the crew of MLB Central with Robert Flores, Lauren Shehadi and Mark DeRosa at 9am and on MLB Tonight alongside Stephen Nelson, Dan O’Dowd and Xavier Scruggs at 2pm.

In a 2022 impacted by injury, Chisholm solidi fied himself as one of the sport’s rising stars. He produced an All-Star campaign that included a .254 batting average with 14 home runs, 54 hits, 45 RBI, 12 stolen bases, and scored 39 runs and an .860 OPS through 60 games.

Since he made his historic MLB debut in September 2020, the 24-year-old infielder has since produced a 5.0 WAR over three sea sons with 178 hits, 117 runs scored, 104 RBI, 37 stolen bases, 34 home runs, 31 doubles and nine triples across 205 career games. Chisholm’s last appearance on the field in a Marlins uniform was June 28. He originally suffered a back injury early in the season on a slide and eventually re-aggravated the injury in late June, which forced him out of the lineup. He later revealed that he played this season with a torn meniscus which he suffered in training camp.

At the national team level, Chisholm also recently announced his intention to compete for Great Britain at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Great Britain recently qualified for the WBC, for the first time in pro gramme history, with its undefeated performance at last month’s qualifier in Regensburg, Germany.

The tournament will be hosted from March 8-21 across several venues.

Chisholm was one of nine Bahamians on the roster for Great Britain in the 2017 WBC Qualifiers in Brooklyn, New York.

Miller-Uibo in the running for Women’s World Athlete of the Year

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

A TRIPLE crown at the World Athletics’ Indoor and Outdoor Championships and the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Champi onships has landed Bahamian multiple national record holder Shaunae Miller-Uibo back in the running for the 2022 Women’s World Athlete of the Year.

Miller-Uibo was confirmed as one of ten nominees announced on Tuesday by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics.

The performances by the athletes produced what World Athletics has dubbed another memorable year for the sport and the nominations reflect some of the standout performances achieved at the World Ath letics Championships in Oregon, the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, one-day meeting circuits and other events around the world.

Isaacs and Hanna team up at Lake Eerie Crushers

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

A PAIR of Bahamian players are set to become teammates in the Frontier League after a series of trades by the Lake Eerie Crushers.

Todd Isaacs Jr and Elli son Hanna II joined the Crushers this week after both outfielders were involved in multi-player deals that landed them with the franchise based in Avon, Ohio.

Isaacs was traded from the New Jersey Jackals along with catcher Zak Whalin, pitcher Angelo Baez, and pitcher Thomas Bruss in exchange for util ity player Jackson Valera.

Hanna was traded from the Missoula Paddleheads along with right hand pitcher Austin Crowson in exchange for pitcher Jason Alvarez.

The Crushers finished 49-47 last season and missed the playoffs.

In addition to the changes on the field, the Crushers, announced Jared Lemieux as Direc tor of Baseball Operations and Field Manager for the upcoming season. Lemieux spent the past two seasons coaching with the New Jersey Jackals.

The 2023 regular season will begin on Thursday, May 11 and run through Sunday, September 3.

The Frontier League is the largest league in all of independent professional baseball. It includes teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. In 2021, it merged with the American Association and the Atlantic League to become an official MLB Partner League.

TODD Isaacs Jr

Injuries brought an early end to Isaacs’ second season with the Jackals this fall.

In 50 games, he totalled .327 batting average with 70 hits, including nine home runs, 34 RBI, scored 45 runs, with 22 stolen bases, slugging .505 with a .300 OBP.

On opening weekend, Isaacs finished with three hits, one home run and four RBI as the Jackals took 2-3 games over the Evansville Otters in Evans ville, Indiana.

In 53 games of the 2021

season Isaacs’ 11 home runs ranked second on the Jackals, behind Justin Wylie’s 15, achieved in 80 games. For the season, he hit .304 with 63 hits, includ ing nine doubles, three triples, 32 RBI, scored 44 runs, nine stolen bases, slugging .536 with an .889 .OPS

Hanna’s 2022 season saw him serve in multiple roles – as a graduate student as well as assistant coach in his first season of pro fessional baseball with the Paddleheads in the Pioneer League.

He was one of three prospects chosen by the Paddleheads following the inaugural Pioneer League tryouts.

He made the transi tion from the field to the sidelines at the collegiate coaching ranks when he was named an assistant coach for the Hood Col lege Blazers baseball programme - with respon sibility for hitting, catchers,

and outfielders. The Blaz ers compete in the Middle Atlantic Conference in NCAA Division III.

The Pioneer League is an MLB Partner League.

The Paddleheads were formerly the Missoula Ospreys when the franchise was an affiliate of the Ari zona Diamondbacks from 1996-2020. It previousliy had Bahamian connections as both Jazz Chisholm Jr and Kristian Robin son spent their respective rookie seasons with the Ospreys. Following the

restructure of Minor League Baseball out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the league was converted from an MLB-affiliated Rookie Advanced league to an independent league and granted status as an MLB Partner League.

Hanna concluded his collegiate career with the Indiana State Sycamores when he hit .429 and scored five runs in the NCAA Tournament’s Nashville Regional.

He was selected to the Missouri Valley Confer ence All-Tournament team.

Following his tenure with the Sycamores, he won the 2021 Prospect League Championship with the Cape Catfish and was also named a West Conference All-Star.

The Prospect League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of college players through out the United States and Canada.

SHAUNAE Miller-Uibo after winning the gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon earlier this year.

ELLISON Hanna II

WOMEN’S WORLD ATHLETE

The other nominees for 2022 Women’s World Athlete of the Year are:

Tobi Amusan, Nige ria’s quadruple World, Diamond League, Com monwealth Games and African 100m hurdles champion, who estab lished a world record of 12.12 seconds in the semi-finals at the World Championships.

Chase Ealey, America’s world shot put champion and world indoor shot put silver medallist and Diamond League shot put champion, who threw a world-leading 20.51m.

Shelly-Ann FraserPryce, Jamaica’s world 100m champion, claiming a fifth gold medal in the event as well as taking the Diamond League 100m champion and running a world-leading 10.62 among her record seven sub-10.70 100m races of the season.

Kimberly Garcia, Peru’s world 20km race walk champion, win ning her country’s first ever World Athletics Championships medal, in addition to winning the world 35km race walk champion in a South American record to com plete a race walk double and the world Athlet ics Race Walking Team Championships 20km bronze medallist.

Shericka Jackson, Jamaica’s dual world and Diamond League 200m champion, who ran a world-leading 21.45 to move to second on the world all-time list.

Faith Kipyegon, Kenya’s double world and Diamond League 1500m champion, who ran a world-leading Kenyan record of 3:50.37, just three tenths of a second off the world record.

Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Ukraine’s world indoor high jump champion and world high jump silver medallist and European high jump champion, who jumped a world-leading 2.05m, equalling the out door national best.

Sydney McLaughlin, America’s world 400m hurdles and 4x400m champion, who broke the world 400m hurdles record with 51.41 at the US Championships and further improved the world record to 50.68 to win the world title.

Yulimar Rojas, Ven ezuela’s triple world indoor and outdoor and Diamond League triple jump champion, who improved her world record to 15.74m in Belgrade.

A three-way voting process will determine the finalists.

The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the World Athletics social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube this week; a ‘like’ on Facebook, Ins tagram and YouTube or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.

The World Athletics Council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the World Athlet ics Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.

Voting for the World Athletes of the Year closes at midnight on Monday 31 October. At the conclusion of the voting process, five women and five men finalists will be announced by World Athletics.

The winners will be revealed on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December.

Further information about the World Athlet ics Awards 2022 will be announced in the coming weeks.

Heroes Day Blitz Chess Tournament returns

AFTER a two-year hiatus The Bahamas Chess Fed eration’s Annual Heroes Day Blitz Chess Tourna ment resumed on Saturday. Twenty-six players com peted in the fast-paced event. The annual tourna ment is held to celebrate local great heroes of the past and our modern-day heroes, including our chess heroes who have dedicated many years to help develop the cognitive skills of our people.

The Blitz style format of the tournament features chess games of 10 minutes or less and requires players to think quickly and keep a cool head. The 2022 Heroes Day Blitz featured an Open Section and Junior Section.

Chapell Whyms won the tournament. Avian Pride secured second place and Kendrick Knowles placed third. In the Junior Section Chika Pride won, Joshua Rolle placed second and Taivan Thompson secured third place.

Kendrick Knowles, Presi dent of the Bahamas Chess Federation was encour aged by the response to the event.

“The response for the 2022 Heroes Day Blitz was encouraging. I was par ticularly excited to see the number of young chess players participating and

to learn of the emergence of so many chess clubs in schools throughout The Bahamas,” he said. “The Blitz is a great learning experience for new play ers and those attempting to improve their chess skills. I encourage all players,

particularly less experi enced players, to participate in more tournaments.

“I also encourage chess clubs to partner with The Bahamas Chess Federation as we all work together to grow the sport of chess in The Bahamas.”

DOLPHINS QB TUA TAGOVAILOA LIMITED IN RETURN TO PRACTICE

By ALANIS THAMES AP Sports Writer

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP)

— Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa took a small step Wednesday toward returning to football.

Tagovailoa, who has been in the concussion protocol since Sept. 29, returned to practice in a lim ited capacity, though he will not play Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.

“We just miss his personality. He’s a guy that we rely on,” Dol phins coach Mike McDaniel said.

The coach said there is a “sce nario” where Tagovailoa could be medically cleared this week, but the QB will take things slowly, working out and throwing individually.

“He hasn’t done a thing on the football field for literally two weeks,” McDaniel said. “That wouldn’t be fair to the player. That wouldn’t be fair to the team. I don’t feel comfortable putting him in that situation.”

During the media viewing por tion of practice, Tagovailoa could be seen stretching, laughing with coaches and teammates and throw ing the football next to rookie quarterback Skylar Thompson.

Thompson will start Sunday against the Vikings as Tagovailoa and Teddy Bridgewater advance through the concussion protocol.

Tagovailoa suffered a concussion in the first half of a Thursday night game against the Cincinnati Ben gals and had to be stretched off the field and taken to a hospital.

He had not practiced since and did not travel with the Dolphins for last Sunday’s game, a loss to the New York Jets.

Four days before the Cincin nati game, Tagovailoa took a hard hit against the Buffalo Bills and appeared disoriented when he got to his feet. He was taken to the locker room and evaluated for a concussion. After he was exam ined and no signs of head injury were found under the NFL’s pro tocol, Tagovailoa returned to start the third quarter, prompting an investigation by the NFL Players Association into the handling of his injury.

Last Saturday, the NFL and NFLPA agreed to make changes to the league’s concussion protocol,

adding language addressing abnor mality of balance and stability to its list of symptoms that would keep a player from returning to a game.

Bridgewater, who exited last week’s game against the Jets because of the league’s new con cussion rules, worked individually with trainers Wednesday and could return to limited football activities Thursday.

If Bridgewater is cleared from the protocol this week, he will back up Thompson Sunday.

Thompson entered last week’s game against the Jets after Bridge water took a hard hit on the

Dolphins’ first offensive snap. Thompson completed 19 of 33 passes for 166 yards, no touch downs and an interception.

McDaniel said he will likely decide whether to activate quarter back Reid Sinnett from the practice squad as a third gameday option later this week.

NOTES: CB Xavien Howard, who is dealing with groin issues, was limited in practice Wednesday. Howard and LT Terron Armstead (toe) will need the whole week to prepare for Sunday’s game, McDan iel said. WR Tyreek Hill (foot) was a full participant Wednesday.

PLAYERS at 2022 Heroes Day Blitz.

LEFT: CHAPELL WHYMS, Winner, Open Section. Right: Curtis Pride, 2nd Vice President, The Bahamas Chess Federation.

LEFT: CHIKA PRIDE, Winner, Junior Section. Right: Curtis Pride, 2nd Vice President, The Bahamas Chess Federation.

Open Section: 1st - Chapell Whyms 2nd - Avian Pride 3rd - Kendrick Knowles

Junior Section: 1st - Chika Pride 2nd - Joshua Rolle 3rd - Taivan Thompson

TEAMMATES gather around Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) after an injury during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Thursday, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Emilee Chinn)

By SCHUYLER DIXON AP Pro Football Writer

FRISCO, Texas (AP)

—

The Dallas Cowboys are preparing for another start from quarterback Cooper Rush in an NFC East showdown with undefeated Philadelphia as Dak Prescott’s recov ery from a broken right thumb continues.

Coach Mike McCarthy said Prescott was set to do some light throwing at the end of practice Wednesday after starting the workout in the rehab group.

The division lead will be on the line when the Cowboys (4-1) visit the Eagles (5-0) on Sunday night.

Rush has won four consecutive starts, includ ing over last year’s Super Bowl teams in Cincinnati and the defending cham pion Los Angeles Rams.

Prescott fractured the thumb on his throwing hand in a season-opening loss to Tampa Bay.

McCarthy has said he wanted Prescott to get a full week of practice before playing, and he indicated Wednesday’s activity didn’t count toward that.

“I think we’re still in the medical rehab phase,” McCarthy said. “So once he clears this phase and he’s fully activated, then I think that’s when we have our conversation.”

The Eagles can take a two-game lead on the defending divi sion champions with a victory. Prescott is 7-3 in his career against Philadelphia.

It would be the first start against the Eagles for Rush, who has won the first five starts of his career going back to a victory at Minnesota last season.

McCarthy said Rush’s winning streak wasn’t a factor in the decision on when Prescott would return.

“You’ve got to trust the medical process,” McCarthy said. “I know Dak didn’t want to hear it. You’ve got to make sure that he’s right for the long haul, too. Not that I’m saying we’re being conservative because that doesn’t really line up with him the way he approaches preparing to play.”

Prescott entertained reporters with lefthanded throws during the open portion of practice. He threw routes on air to his receivers after practice. Prescott was officially listed as not practicing Wednesday.

“Whatever is best for the team,” Prescott said when asked about waiting at least another week.

“I understand the pro cess,” he said. “The week can be frustrating. But game day, I’m excited for my brothers. Excited to watch them go and do my part and supporting.”

Owner/general man ager Jerry Jones said Tuesday on his radio show that Prescott would have to “really spin the ball” to be ready for a game.

“Try to direct that ball without thumb strength if you really have a broken thumb. Can’t do it,” Jones said. “But if you have strength and can grip the ball, then you can spin the ball. Can he zip the ball out there and make the throw? We’ll start working on that Wednes day real hard.”

NOTES: LB Micah Parsons worked on the side with trainers during the open por tion of practice and was officially listed as a nonparticipant. He had his third two-sack game of the season while playing through a groin issue in the 22-10 victory over the Rams.

“There’s no question,” Parsons said when asked if he would play against the Eagles. ... OL Jason Peters was limited in practice, but sounded optimistic about play ing after missing the LA game with a chest/rib injury.

By ROB MAADDI AP Pro Football Writer

CARSON WENTZ takes enough hits on and off the field that short rest is just another obstacle.

Fresh off his coach run ning him over figuratively, Wentz leads the Washington Commanders (1-4) against the Chicago Bears (2-3) on Thursday night with each team trying to snap a losing streak.

Commanders coach Ron Rivera caused quite a stir this week when he blamed the team’s four-game skid and last-place standing in the NFC East on his quarterback. Rivera later explained his response was misconstrued but the damage was done.

For Wentz, it’s just another shot. He’s been taking plenty of them since his days in Philadelphia when nothing seemed to go right after he helped the Eagles start 13-3 in 2017, tore two knee ligaments and watched backup Nick Foles become a Super Bowl MVP.

“I learned very early on you gotta just find a way to get out there Thursday,” Wentz said. “Your recovery is definitely expedited. ... It’s very tough, very chal lenging, but it’s also prime time and guys get fired up to go play and hopefully put on a put on a good performance.”

The Bears have lost two in a row after a 2-1 start. Second-year quarterback Justin Fields is the league’s third-lowest rated passer and has only 17.6 attempts per game.

Chicago is a 1-point favorite, according to Fan Duel. In a week with seven road favourites, Pro Picks likes the slight under dog Commanders to rally around Wentz.

UPSET SPECIAL:

COMMANDERS 23-19

New York Jets (plus 7) at Green Bay

The Jets (3-2) are improved but Aaron

Rodgers and the Packers (3-2) can’t lose to New York teams two straight weeks.

BEST BET: PACKERS 30-17

Tampa Bay (minus 8 1/2) at Pittsburgh

The Steelers (1-4) were embarrassed in Kenny Pickett’s first career start. The Buccaneers (3-2) still haven’t played up to their lofty standard after barely holding on to beat the Falcons.

BUCCANEERS 24-17

Jacksonville (plus 2 1/2) at Indianapolis Matt Ryan and the Colts (2-2-1) seek to get even for a 24-0 shutout in Week 2. The Jaguars (2-3) have stumbled lately. COLTS 23-16 Cincinnati (minus 1 1/2) at New Orleans

The defending AFC champion Bengals (2-3) try to even their record after another late loss. The Saints (2-3) look to do the same.

Joe Burrow is the differ ence-maker in this one.

BENGALS 24-20

New England (plus 3) at Cleveland

The Browns (2-3) gave up 238 yards rushing to the NFL’s worst rushing team. Facing that kind of run defence, the Patriots (2-3) don’t need Mac Jones.

BROWNS 23-21

Minnesota (minus 3) at Miami

The Vikings (4-1) facing the Dolphins (3-2) and third-string quarterback Skylar Thompson seems like a mismatch.

VIKINGS 23-17

Baltimore (minus 5) at New York Giants

After knocking off the Packers in London, the Giants (4-1) get no respect from oddsmakers. The Ravens (3-2) should be undefeated if they could hold big leads.

RAVENS 33-20

San Francisco (minus 5

1/2) at Atlanta

Jimmy Garoppolo is the DJ Khaled of the NFL. All he does is win.

49ERS 24-20 Carolina (plus 10 1/2) at Los Angeles Rams Welcome back to head coaching duties, Steve Wilks.

RAMS 34-6 Arizona (minus 2 1/2) at Seattle Kyler Murray and the Cardinals (2-3) are far better on the road than at home under coach Kliff Kingsbury.

CARDINALS 28-17

Buffalo (minus 2 1/2) at Kansas City

A potential preview of the AFC title game that could determine who hosts the game in January. Bills (4-1) look to get even for their playoff loss in Kansas City last season. The Chiefs (4-1) have a short week after a Monday night win.

BILLS 30-27

Dallas (plus 5) at Philadelphia

The Eagles (5-0) face their toughest test as they aim to remain the only unbeaten team in the NFL.

EAGLES 23-20

Denver (plus 5 1/2) at Los Angeles Chargers

Russell Wilson hasn’t given the Broncos (2-3) and their fans what they expected. Justin Herbert and the Chargers (3-2) are back on track.

CHARGERS 24-20

Pro Picks takes Commanders to rally around Wentz, beat Bears RODGERS DOESN’T PRACTICE, STILL EXPECTS TO PLAY AGAINST JETS

2022 RECORD Last Week: Straight up: 11-5. Against spread: 6-9-1.

Season: Straight up: 49-31. Against spread: 40-39-1.

Best Bet: Straight up: 1-0. Against spread: 1-0.

Season: Straight up: 4-1. Against spread: 4-1.

Upset Special: Straight up: 0-1. Against spread: 1-0. Season: Straight up: 2-3. Against spread: 3-2

By STEVE MEGARGEE AP Sports Writer

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers didn’t practice Wednesday.

However the reigning MVP still expects to play Sunday after hurt ing his thumb on an unsuccessful desperation pass attempt that ended their loss to the New York Giants in London.

“The thumb’s all right,” Rodg ers said. “It was nice to get a day off today, do a little rehab. But I’ll try and get back out there and practice tomorrow and see how it feels and be fine by Sunday, I’m sure.”

The Packers (3-2) host the New York Jets (3-2) on Sunday.

Green Bay had the ball on its 36-yard line on the final play against the Giants when Rodgers

attempted to throw a deep pass into the end zone. Before Rodg ers could make the throw, Oshane Ximines hit him to knock the ball loose and seal New York’s comefrom-behind 27-22 victory.

“In the moment, you’ve still kind of got the adrenaline going,” Rodgers said. “Once the adrena line wore off and got on the bus, got back to the airport, got on the plane, I knew it was banged up a little bit. But it’s gotten better every day.”

When he announced that Rodg ers wouldn’t practice Wednesday, Packers coach Matt LaFleur said that “I don’t think we have much concern as far as game day.”

Rodgers said he’s been working on his grip all week to see how it’s progressing.

The four-time MVP says he’s gotten accustomed to these types of injuries and cited an example

from his college career, when he broke his index finger in a 2003 game at Illinois.

“You don’t plan for it, but I was able to play through it and finish the season, and there’s always those things that can happen,” Rodgers said. “A guy goes up to bat a pass down, you might catch a finger here or there. But I’ve banged up most of my fingers on both hands, so I’m kind of used to it.”

Rodgers isn’t off to as fast a start as he enjoyed while earning MVP honours each of the past two seasons. He has completed 67.9% of his passes for 1,157 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions while adjust ing to life without two-time All-Pro wideout Davante Adams, who’s now with the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Packers are scoring 19.4

points per game to rank 22nd out of 32 teams. They had 26.5 points per game last season and a league-high 31.8 points per game in 2020. Green Bay’s offence failed to score in the second half against the Giants, with the Pack ers’ only points coming when New York took an intentional safety in the closing seconds.

“I expect that typical stretch coming up at some point where we get really hot,” Rodgers said. “Hopefully it starts this week. But I think that’s right around the corner.”

NOTES: WR Christian Watson, who left the Giants game with a hamstring injury, didn’t practice Wednesday. ... LB Tipa Galeai (hamstring) also didn’t practice.

...

OTs David Bakhtiari (knee) and Elgton Jenkins (knee) and DL Devonte Wyatt (quadriceps) were limited practice participants.

GREEN Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) passes the ball during the first quarter of an NFL game between the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London, Sunday. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

SON SCORES TWICE AS TOTTENHAM TAKES CONTROL OF CL GROUP

LONDON (AP) —

Son Heung-min scored twice as Tottenham came from behind and then survived a late scare to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2 in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Harry Kane also scored to help Totten ham move atop Group D — one point clear of both Marseille and Sporting Lisbon — with two rounds remaining.

But the England captain’s penalty miss in stoppage time added to a frantic finale.

“We could have scored many, many goals,” manager Antonio Conte said. “Instead, until the end we suffer. For sure, we have to try to learn about this situation and understand the game is never ended.

“But an important win for us.

“We started in a difficult way but a good reaction, we scored three goals, we had many chances to improve — good saves from their goalkeeper — and in the end we’re leading our group.”

Victory against Sporting in Totten ham’s next match will secure qualification to the round of 16.

Frankfurt took a 14th minute lead after poor defending from Eric Dier saw the England international mis-control in his own box. Jesper Lindstrom pounced to steal pos session and Daichi Kamada put the ball into an empty net.

Son equalised for the home team six minutes later — slotting in after Kane’s decisive pass.

Then it was Kane’s turn to get on the score sheet after being fouled by Kristijan Jakic in the box.

He duly converted in the 28th minute — scoring his 21st goal in 28 Champions League appearances.

Spurs looked to have the game sealed nine minutes before half time when Son struck his second.

The South Korean lashed an unstoppable first-time volley into the roof of the net after being picked out by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

He might have recorded a hat trick before the break but was twice denied by Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp.

The German team’s hopes looked even bleaker just before the hour mark when it was reduced to 10 men.

Tuta was sent off for two yellow card offences in the space of three minutes for fouls on Son.

But if the home crowd expected Spurs to extend its lead, it didn’t happen.

Instead, Faride Alidou headed home Mario Gotze’s 87th minute corner to set up a nervy finish before Kane fired a stoppage time penalty over the bar, which would have provided a more comfortable margin of victory.

Lewandowski keeps Barcelona barely alive in Champions League

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona couldn’t get the victory it needed at home against Inter Milan, and for the second season in a row the Catalan club likely won’t make it to the knock out stage of the Champions League.

Robert Lewandowski scored in stoppage time to help Barcelona salvage a 3-3 draw in a thrilling back-andforth match against Inter on Wednesday, but the result did little to help Barça’s chances of advancing.

“This Champions League has been cruel for us,” Barce lona coach Xavi Hernández said. “Now it’s very difficult to advance. It’s a shame.”

Lewandowski kept the team alive — for now at least — with a last-gasp header after the visitors had taken a 3-2 lead with a goal from Robin Gosens in the 89th. A loss would have meant certain elimination for

Barcelona for a second con secutive season in the group stage.

Barcelona is third in Group C with four points, three behind second-place Inter. Bayern Munich, which beat Viktoria Plzen 4-2 for its fourth victory in a row, has advanced with 12 points. Inter leaves Barcelona in full control of its fate ahead of matches against lastplace Plzen in Italy and then

at Bayern Munich. A win against Plzen — which has lost all of its four matches in the competition this season — will be enough for the Ital ian side to advance.

“We played a great match against an opponent of great value,” Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi said. “We created a lot, suffering all together. We could have closed the group with two games to spare. We hope to give the fans this satisfaction against Viktoria Plzen.”

Barcelona hosts Bayern before visiting Plzen. Bar celona needs to win its last two matches and hope Inter doesn’t add more than two points.

“It’s disappointing,” Barce lona captain Sergio Busquets said. “It is a difficult group but we had to do better after all the signings we made.

“It’s not settled yet, but now it’s very complicated as we don’t depend on ourselves

anymore.”

It would be the first time since 1999 that the Catalan club fails to advance to the knockout stage in consecu tive years, coinciding with the departure of Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain two sea sons ago.

Failure this season would be extra disappointing for the club after Barcelona went on a spending spree to boost its squad with players such as Lewandowski and Raphinha.

Last year, Barcelona endured its worst Cham pions League campaign in about two decades, finishing behind Bayern Munich and Benfica in its group while going through a dire financial situation in the aftermath of Messi’s departure.

Barcelona took the lead from close range after a cross by Sergi Roberto in the 40th, but defensive mistakes proved costly for the hosts and Inter rallied with goals

from Nicolo Barella in the 50th and Lautaro Martínez in the 63rd.

Inter’s first goal came after Gerard Piqué let a ball go over his head as he appar ently didn’t realise Barella was behind him. The veteran defender was booed by some fans at the packed Camp Nou.

Barcelona equalised with Lewandowski in the 82nd, but Inter moved ahead again through Gosens.

Goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen saved Barcelona again with a great foot save in a one-on-one situation with Kristjan Asllani in the final minutes.

Inzaghi was sent off near the end with a second yellow card after complaining to officials.

The setback comes before Barcelona visits Real Madrid in the first “clásico” of the season in the Spanish league on Sunday.

MO SALAH SCORES FASTEST-EVER CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HAT TRICK

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Mo Salah came off the bench to score the fastest-ever hat trick in Champions League history as Liv erpool routed Rangers 7-1 at Ibrox on Wednesday.

The Egyptian came on in the second half with his team leading 3-1 and proceeded to fire a stunning treble in just six minutes, 12 sec onds to set a new benchmark in the competition.

Bafétimbi Gomis previously held the record from 2011 when he took eight minutes to complete his hat trick in a 7-1 win for Lyon against Dinamo Zagreb.

But Salah smashed that time with his stunning feat, walking away with the match ball in Glasgow and putting the seal on a confidenceboosting win for Liverpool, which is in a strong position to advance to the round of 16.

With Manchester City to come in the Premier League on Sunday, Jurgen Klopp hopes the victory will be a turning point for his team after such an unconvincing start to the season.

“The goals we scored were exceptional,” he said. “It’s a night where things worked out for us. It changes the mood definitely, and that’s good.

“We all know who is coming on Sunday. That will be different, but it’s better to go in with the feeling from tonight.”

It had been a night when Rob erto Firmino had looked like being the hero — scoring twice and set ting up another for Darwin Nunez after Rangers had gone ahead in the first half.

But Salah ensured he would dominate the headlines with three wonderfully taken goals.

Klopp had opted to make changes with his team in total con trol after Nunez made it 3-1 in the 66th minute.

When Salah poked in a fourth for Liverpool from a tight angle in the 75th minute, it served notice of what was to come.

Five minutes later, he curled in another from the edge of the area and almost immediately completed his hat trick with another clinical strike.

Another substitute, Harvey Elli ott, finished the scoring in the 87th.

Liverpool is second in Group A with 9 points with two games remaining. Napoli leads with 12 points and advanced to the round

of 16 by beating Ajax 4-2 earlier Wednesday. The Amsterdam club has 3 points, while winless Rangers have zero.

Rangers were left stunned after dominating the early play.

The Scottish giant had avoided a heavy defeat in a 2-0 loss at Anfield a week ago only due to the heroics of goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

But in a vastly improved perfor mance, it had the home crowd in dreamland when taking the lead after 17 minutes.

Fabio Carvalho lost possession in

his own half, and after a swift break Scott Arfield fired low past goal keeper Alisson on the edge of the area.

It could have been even better for Rangers when Antonio-Mirko Colak cut out Joe Gomez’ loose back pass but couldn’t find a finish.

Liverpool equalised against the run of play after 24 minutes when Firmino headed in Konstantinos Tsimikas’ corner at the near post.

Liverpool went ahead 10 minutes into the second half when Gomez’ curled cross was turned home by

Firmino again.

From there, the visitors took control and went 3-1 up when the Brazilian’s delightful back heel set up Nunez to strike. It looked like game over — but Salah had other ideas.

“They punished us with the attack they have,” Rangers coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst said.

“In the last 25 minutes we weren’t in the game, not with our heads, not with the decisions we made. Against a team like Liverpool, you get punished.”

BARCELONA’S ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI, second left, scores his side’s third goal during the Champions League Group C soccer match between Barcelona and Inter Milan at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

LIVERPOOL’S MOHAMED SALAH, centre, celebrates after scoring his side’s sixth goal during the Champions League Group A soccer match between Rangers and Liverpool at Ibrox stadium in Glasgow, Scotland, Wednesday.

(AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

BARCELONA’S Robert Lewandowski.

TOTTENHAM’S Son Heung-min.

FLORENCE, Italy (AP)

— Second-seeded Matteo Berrettini crashed out of the Firenze Open in the second round on Wednes day, while there were also upsets in the two all-Ameri can matches.

Berrettini seemed on the verge of victory when the Italian went up 5-2 in the third set but Roberto Car balles Baena reeled off five games in a row to win 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-5 and silence the passionate crowd.

King

“I’m very happy, it’s a very good win for me, the best of my career,” said the Spanish player, who is ranked 80th.

Carballes Baena will face Mikael Ymer in the quarterfinals of the indoor, hardcourt tournament after the Swedish qualifier elimi nated fifth-seeded Aslan Karatsev 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-1.

Fourth-seeded Maxime Cressy and sixth-seeded Jenson Brooksby are also

out after losing to fellow Americans.

Cressy was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by J.J. Wolf and Brooksby lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 to Mackenzie McDonald in the only remaining first round match.

Wolf will face seventhseeded Alexander Bublik in the quarterfinals after the Kazakh player beat Coren tin Moutet 7-5, 6-4.

Florence is hosting a tourlevel event for the first time since 1994.