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Volume: 120 No.204, October 25, 2023

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PINTARD WANTS PROBE ON FTX Call for committee over govt links to collapsed company

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard said the Official Opposition will call for a select committee on FTX in the House of Assembly.

He said there are

unanswered questions about the bankrupt company, highlighting a recent report about Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis.

During the fraud trial of FTX Founder Sam Bankman Fried, it was revealed that Mr Davis, in an email, FNM leader Michael Pintard speaking at a press conference at the party’s headquarters said the Official Opposition will call for a select committee on FTX in the House of Assembly.

Photo: Moise Amisial

SEE PAGE THREE

NYGARD TO TAKE STAND IN HIS DEFENCE IN SEX ASSAULT TRIAL

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net FORMER fashion mogul and Lyford Cay resident Peter Nygard is expected to testify in his own defence as his sex crime trial continues in Toronto, Canada.

His lawyer, Brian Greenspan, announced this

during his opening address to the jury yesterday.

Mr Greenspan said Mr Nygard could not recall the allegations from the five women testifying that he had sexually assaulted them, but will say the incidents never occurred.

Mr Nygard, 82, has SEE PAGE FIVE

NORTH ANDROS ‘to get power had been “accepted” by the Business his administra- relief’ from Bpl European Union (EU). tion had agreed a plan to

Blacklist solution shelved by Davis administration, says former PM

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net DR HUBERT Minnis yesterday accused the Government of “causing” The Bahamas’ tax blacklisting by “shelving” a solution that

The former prime minister, speaking after The Bahamas last week failed to escape the EU’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions following the latest review, told Tribune

address the 27-nation bloc’s concerns over this nation’s compliance with its economic substance reporting demands.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

minnis contradicts wynn developer on easement

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A FORMER prime minister yesterday contradicted the developer of Goodman’s Bay’s proposed 14-storey penthouse complex over the existence and termination of beach easement access.

Dr Hubert Minnis, who

FORMER PM DR HUBERT MINNIS

is also Killarney’s Member of Parliament, backed assertions by Edward Hoffer, a leading opponent of the Wynn Group’s project, that the development threatens to “suck up” an easement that runs alongside the side of his house and property next door.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

By LETRE SWEETING Tribune Staff Reporter lsweeting@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Power and Light will try to relieve power woes in North Andros with rental generators while working to create a new power station on the island.

SEE PAGE FOUR

Bronze for lamar

see sports

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 25, 2023, PAGE 3

Pintard wants probe over FTX from page one asked Sam Bankman-Fried to advise his son about a digital assets project two months before FTX imploded.

No evidence of wrongdoing on Mr Davis’ part was provided.

However, Mr Pintard, during a press conference at the FNM’s headquarters, said: “The prime minister and his colleagues have refused to answer questions we raised while demonstrating outside of holding a press conference outside of the prime minister’s office.

“And this is even more relevant now since it has surfaced that the prime minister has asked the principal who’s now being investigated to provide advice to a member of his family.”

“The question is: Is the prime minister and his colleagues prepared to have a full discussion of the role any of his members played in terms of helping FTX get established, acquire properties, hire persons, some of whom worked previously with government, and have they benefited personally or politically from any resources from this company?”

In February, Mr Pintard revealed his intent to

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard said the Official Opposition will call for a select committee on FTX in the House of Assembly.

Photo: Moise Amisial

call for a select committee on FTX, but he never followed through.

“We intend during this in the month of November to officially call for the

establishment of this select committee and debate this in detail,” he said yesterday.

He said the opposition will also seek to

address matters related to immigration, the public procurement process and the recent Speech from the Throne.

“We will at the same

time convene the Public Accounts Committee and call for persons and the papers in a series of public hearings which will reveal to the public that this

government has very little intention on behaving in a lawful manner when it comes to rewarding some persons who are loyal to their cause,” he said.

govt spending over $1m to The FNM ‘is fine just the way we are right modernise And revAmp website now’, says leader on party convention

By LETRE SWEETING Tribune Staff Reporter lsweeting@tribunemedia.net MORE than $1m will be spent to revamp and modernise the government website, according to Wayde Watson, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

In April, Mr Watson announced that a sixmonth project to revamp the government website was underway after frustrated users complained about outdated and antiquated features.

The project would involve a partnership between the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, and Netclues Incorporated, which the government contracted.

Yesterday, following the second annual Caribbean Investment Forum 2023 at Atlantis, Mr Watson said a popular website development company has been contracted to facilitate the site’s revamping, which is expected to be completed next year.

He said new features will include a tab to speak with a government representative for assistance.

“Right now, we have

already completed the phase where the landing page of the official website has been approved, has been vetted by the agencies of the government, as well as the Department of Information and Communication Technology experts and our web section,” he said.

“Now, what we’re doing is we’re working on the individual ministry websites to make certain that we can flip through those pages, make certain that the data is correct, and make certain that it has the adaptive technology behind it so that it can be rendered whether it is on a tablet, PC, mobile device or computer screen.

“We have about 88 different pages on the website, so we have to look at each one of those pages. So, we expect to be completed sometime early in quarter two or quarter three of 2024.

“I don’t have the exact total at this particular time, but I know it’s somewhere around the region of $1m and something to do the entire website. We have contracted a very popular website company that has its footprint in the region, in The Bahamas and in the Cayman

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard would not say when his party will host its next convention, but speculated about what will happen at the Progressive Liberal Party’s upcoming event.

He told reporters the FNM “is fine just the way we are right now”.

The FNM’s constitution mandates that it hold a convention every two years.

The party held its last convention in November 2021.

The PLP will have its convention on November 9 and 10.

Amid speculation about

Islands.

“The work that they have done is extremely professional and very immaculate, so we were able to successfully garner that particular company to facilitate what it is that we’re trying to do as we move forward with the digitalisation effort in the country.”

In April, Mr Watson said there were 18,000 registered users on the website.

AtlAntis worker ‘tAken to hospitAl’ After reported stAbbing incident POLICE last night were unable to confirm reports of a stabbing of an employee at a restaurant at Atlantis.

Various online reports circulated about the alleged attack, with conflicting details, but police

gave no confirmation at the time of going to press of the incident.

Tribune sources say the incident took place at around midday at Poseidon’s Table at Atlantis, with two people taken to hospital for treatment,

including the alleged attacker.

However, there was no official report of the incident in yesterday’s crime reports. See www.tribune242.com for more information as it is confirmed.

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

whether former Cabinet minister Shane Gibson will pursue a position at the PLP’s convention –– he said it’s “very possible” in a recent interview –– Mr Pintard said it would be interesting to see if PLP chairman Fred Mitchell is challenged.

“I understand people are lining up to relieve him of his job,” he said.

Before the West Grand Bahama and Bimini by-election, Mr Pintard criticised the Davis administration’s performance in office.

He accused the administration of neglecting Grand Bahama, “taking credit for work they did not do”, and of using Obie Wilchcombe’s legacy to gain votes.

“The government was elected in 2021 after they attempted to reject the Member of Parliament, our brother, who has recently passed,” he said. “They wish to come back now and says it’s all love, it’s all good, as if they ever wanted the member of parliament to be in West Grand Bahama and Bimini.”

“They didn’t stop there.

They have sought, now that he has passed, to use every waking moment to give the impression that they care about the residents, many of whom have gotten very little help from this administration that did not provide the resources, even resources requested by the recent member of parliament. “

Mr Pintard said he has a list of about 350 homes needing repairs.

He said: “Where was the love while these residents were waiting on social services and housing that’s now calling on them relentlessly?”

“Where was the love,” he asked, “when people were ‘complaining’ about high unemployment, potholes and other issues.”

“You can see very little evidence of the serious work that the prime minister as minister of finance has done in West Grand Bahama,” he added. “He should have provided more help and resources for the member of parliament, but failed to do so.”

PAGE 4, Wednesday, October 25, 2023

THE TRIBUNE

Bahamas Power and Light signs industrial agreement with the Bahamas Electrical Utility Managerial Union

By LETRE SWEETING Tribune Staff Reporter lsweeting@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Power and Light signed an industrial agreement with the Bahamas Electrical Utility Managerial Union yesterday that addresses pension and other issues.

Full details of the agreement are unknown because it was not released to the press.

The five-year agreement comes after the previous deal expired in 2018.

The agreement follows months of heated discussions between the parties, with the Bahamas Electrical Utility Managerial Union (BEUMU) previously accusing BPL of refusing to negotiate a new industrial agreement in “good faith”.

The union was on work-torule from mid-August to early October.

BEUMU, which

represents BPL’s middle managers, filed a trade dispute in August outlining their issues with the utility company.

The union previously claimed that the staff pension scheme was operating without a governing board and deducted contributions before the authorised date.

Energy and Transport Minister JoBeth ColebyDavis said yesterday at the Office of the Prime Minister that the new agreement represents months of hard work from the board and management of BPL. “The lifespan of this agreement is five years and provisions have been made for four negotiated increments, review of allowances, which I’m advised was not done for more than 15 years, and the recognition of paternity leave,” she said.

“The government of The Bahamas believes in

cultivating strong labour relations and today’s signing is a demonstration of our continued commitment to Bahamian workers and creating a productive working environment.”

BEUMU President Christopher Hanna said while the agreement does not address all of the union’s concerns, it is fair and satisfactory.

“There were many things in the industrial agreement that the union wanted that we didn’t get,” he said.

“I would just speak to one item, which is the shift rate. We wanted to come on par with everybody else who is making $3 an hour for their shift rate, and I think we are at $1.55. Because the contract was fair straight around, we kind of let that go. But there’s a lot that we feel we wanted that we didn’t get.

We’re satisfied with the industrial agreement.”

UNION and BPL representative including BPL CEO Shevonn Cambridge, Deputy Chair of BPL Nadia Storr, Minister of Energy and Transport JoBeth Coleby-Davis and President of the Bahamas Electrical Utility Managerial Union Christopher Hanna during the official signing of BPL’s Managerial Union industrial agreement with BPL at the Office of The Prime Minister yesterday.

Photo: Dante Carrer

‘Remediation woRk has begun’ at a bPL dieseL sPiLL in nichoLLs town, andRos

North Andros ‘to get power relief’ from BPL from page one island.

The unreliability of electricity in North Andros intensified after a catastrophic fire destroyed a BPL station there in July, leaving residents scrambling to preserve goods.

Power troubles since then have been sufficiently significant to prompt residents to contemplate life-changing decisions, such as temporarily relocating to New Providence to do business.

BPL chief executive officer Shevonn Cambridge said yesterday: “As we gear up now to look at putting in the long-term solution, we’re going to supplement the supply in North Andros with a little bit more reliable rental power in the interim, but we are also going to build a new power station down there.

“A new power station is an 18-to-24-month project because we’re looking at several options, and one

of them is actually to put in a hybrid solution that’s going to be a little bit more of a greener solution than what was formerly in North Andros.

“We’re going to use this as an opportunity to probably combine some of the generation assets between central and north, which would give us greater efficiencies in our operations in Andros in general.”

Mr Cambridge said BPL is focusing on a national energy policy target of 30 per cent by 2030 through a transition to greener fuel and alternative forms of power generation in the country.

“So, we have a plan to roll out some renewable energy solutions in New Providence, as well as in a number of our Family Islands, mainly starting out with some of the larger islands. And we’re hoping to get that done by 2025 or thereabouts.

“You’re going to see it in North Andros, probably within the next 12 months.

In New Providence, there are plans that are well underway as well to do some green implementation within the next 12 months.

So we’ve started off already with the commissioning of our battery storage system, which will actually supplement any renewable energy injection into the New Providence grid.”

Energy and Transport Minister JoBeth ColebyDavis addressed what she called “deep public concerns with consistent energy supply and elevated electricity bills.”

“These concerns are felt by both residential and business consumers,” she said. “It is my full expectation that consumers will see and feel relief in very short order.

“In the coming days, I will speak to a comprehensive strategic plan for energy in The Bahamas.

Key focus areas of this plan will include a reduction in energy costs and improving the consistency of energy supply.”

A HOLE dug on private property near a BPL facility in North Andros shows what appears to be fuel or oil in the water. Residents of the area are concerned after a pipeline leak that the water table may be contaminated.

By LETRE SWEETING Tribune Staff Reporter lsweeting@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Power and Light executives said they are addressing a diesel spill that happened at a Nicholls Town, North Andros power station nearly two years ago and has yet to be remediated.

BPL initially did not report the leak to the public and declined to discuss clean-up efforts in August because of ongoing litigation.

In August, the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection Director (DEPP) Rhianna Neely-Murphy said the department had been reviewing documents from BPL concerning the spill. She has not said whether BPL complied with the Environmental Planning and Protection

Act. “The diesel spill near the North Andros power station, that was a spill from a year or two ago,” chief executive officer Shevonn Cambridge said yesterday. “We started some remediation work there, and for various reasons, we were stopped.

I think we’ve just gotten clearance to go back.

“We’re now in discussions with the landowner about accessing the property and making sure that we clear all of the requirements in order to do that in a responsible way.”

Mr Cambridge couldn’t specify a remediation timeline.

“The experts will have to go in and see the extent of the contamination, but from my understanding, a lot of it would have been actually recovered from the initial spill,” he said.

“So, what is there is some surface and some –– because of the highwater table –– you may have some sheen. There are some special ways of going about collecting that and disposing of it.”

Under the Environmental Planning and Protection Act, those who own, operate or control premises involving a pollutant spill must notify DEPP, implement an approved contingency plan and work to minimize the threat to human health or the environment.

In August, Randy Butler, the president and a director of Daran Corporation Holdings, a company suing BPL over the leak, expressed outrage at how long it took officials to address the issue, which some fear threatens the environment.

NOTICE

NOTICE

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that MARILIA PREZILAN, Faith Avenue, Nassau, The Bahamas applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 18th day of October 2023 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE is hereby given that MAXWELL JOSEPH of Central Pine, Abaco, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 25th day of October, 2023 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE is hereby given that KRYSTAL DYANDREA BROWN, P.O Box N8417 Marathon Road, Nassau, The Bahamas applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 18th day of October 2023 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 25, 2023, PAGE 5

Nygard to take stand in his defence in sex assault trial from page one pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement involving allegations ranging from the 80s to the mid-2000s.

“Peter Nygard’s response, unlike much of his life, is remarkably simple and straightforward. It is impossible to have a recollection of what did not occur,” Mr Greenspan said, according to CTV News Toronto.

“He has a clear and unimpeded memory of countless details of his life, which render the history the complainants have provided as inaccurate, unreliable and untrustworthy.”

Over the past four weeks, five women have testified that Mr Nygard sexually assaulted them in his bedroom at his Toronto headquarter’s office.

The witnesses were between 16 and 28 when the alleged assaults occurred.

Their names have been concealed to protect their identity.

The New York Times reported the victims’ testimonies this week.

Each woman described a sliding door in Mr Nygard’s room that could be controlled by a keypad on his nightstand. Mr Nygard

allegedly locked several of them inside the room against their will.

According to the New York Times, one woman said during her testimony that she “was a prisoner in that room.” She told the jury the sliding door is seared in her psyche.

The Toronto trial is one of the many cases for which Mr Nygard is set to stand trial. He also faces sex charges in New York.

When the Toronto trial ends, he will be extradited to New York.

In 2020, the Southern District of New York filed documents alleging that Nygard raped 10 women, including nine Bahamians, in a wide-ranging criminal enterprise that involved intimidating victims and offering them hush money for over a decade.

The lawsuit claimed he evaded exposure by bribing local police and certain Progressive Liberal Party politicians.

Eight of Nygard’s alleged Bahamian victims were between 14 and 18 when he raped them.

The indictment claimed Nygard’s victims were typically young, vulnerable, and impoverished Bahamian girls he knew wouldn’t report his crimes to the police.

FASHION MOGUL PETER NYGARD

Grand Bahama Junkanoo Corporation receives $90,000 donation from Carnival

CARNIVAL presented the Grand Bahama Junkanoo Corporation Ltd will a cheque donation during their business community meeting held at the Grand Lucayan Resort on Thursday. Third from left are Kelly Penton Chacon, senior director of Public and Executive Communications Carnival; Marie McKenzie, Vice President of Global Ports & Carib Government Relations, Carnival; and Minister for Grand Bahama Ginger Moxey; and Andrew Been, GB Junkanoo Corporation chairman; and Thomas Curry, leader of Platinum Knights Junkanoo Group.

Photos: Vandyke Hepburn

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Staff Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net CARNIVAL presented $90,000 to the Grand Bahama Junkanoo Corporation for the promotion of Junkanoo on the island.

It represents the single

largest private corporate sponsorship the island’s Junkanoo Corporation has received.

Andrew Been, chairman of the Grand Bahama Junkanoo Corporation, was grateful for the generous contribution made

by Carnival last Thursday.

The cruise line presented the cheque to the corporation during a meeting with the business community at the Grand Lucayan Resort.

The meeting was held to provide residents with an overview and update of their plans for

FROM left to right are: Sarah St George, acting chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority; Minister for Grand Bahama Ginger Moxey, Juan Fernandez, Carnival vice president of destination operation; and Chris Chiames, Carnival chief communication officer speak with members of the press following the business community meeting.

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

Celebration Key, its mega port destination.

Carnival’s investment in Grand Bahama has more than doubled from $200m to $500m.

Mr Been said they are excited about Carnival’s plans for Grand Bahama and its commitment and

support for the culture of Junkanoo.

“We appreciate them for stepping up to the plate to assist Junkanoo on Grand Bahama,” he said. “You know the economy in Grand Bahama is not at its best. And for them to come on board

and work with the Junkanoo Corporation to assist in having the parade go on for 2024 shows they are going to be good corporate citizens in the community, and we look forward to their partnership with Junkanoo in the future.”

PAGE 6, Wednesday, October 25, 2023

THE TRIBUNE

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As FTX saga unfolds, we need to hear the full story THE story of FTX is still in the telling.

The spectacular implosion of the crypto company put the spotlight of the world on The Bahamas – sometimes very unflatteringly. One article by a Bloomberg columnist in particular drew criticism for claiming that the first clue when it came to reasons to be wary of the company was that it chose The Bahamas as its headquarters. It then rehashed a history of The Bahamas that headed back to the 17th century and the days of pirates – not waters current companies are swimming in.

A book has already come out telling the story of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and there will doubtless be movies and documentaries to follow.

Legally, the story is also being told – with various legal proceedings afoot, both here in The Bahamas and internationally.

One definite date in that story is November 6 – when the Supreme Court will hear the petition to put FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary into full liquidation.

There has been an ongoing dispute with the US arm of FTX – though today we report that there has apparently been “substantial progress” in resolving those issues.

And then there is the political story.

The book mentioned above claimed that Mr Bankman-Fried had considered paying off the debt of The Bahamas. It said: “Sam explained that he was trying to decide whether simply to pay off the $9 billion Bahamas national debt himself, so the country could fix roads and build schools and so on. He’d recently met the new prime minister to discuss this idea and some others. I learnt later from one of the prime minister’s aides that after the Bahamian general election in September 2021, Sam was the first person the prime minister had wanted to meet.”

The Office of the Prime Minister was quick to distance itself from that claim, saying that it never entertained any such proposal.

Then there was the claim in court of an email showing the Prime Minister asking Mr Bankman-Fried to provide advice to his son about a digital assets project – an email that came two months before the FTX collapse.

The Office of the Prime Minister did not provide a comment or response to The Tribune when asked about that email. No evidence of wrongdoing on

Mr Davis’ part was provided in relation to that claim.

It is into that landscape of the political story that FNM leader Michael Pintard has interjected himself as he calls for a select committee on FTX in the House of Assembly.

He said that the administration had refused to answer questions raised by the FNM, and added: “The question is: Is the prime minister and his colleagues prepared to have a full discussion of the role any of his members played in terms of helping FTX get established, acquire properties, hire persons, some of whom worked previously with government, and have they benefited personally or politically from any resources from this company?”

This is not the first time Mr Pintard has raised the prospect of a select committee – he mentioned it previously in February. We will see if he lives up to his promise to officially call for the committee in November.

On the face of it, it is not unreasonable to want to get to the bottom of all things related to FTX. Its collapse was seismic, and bad news for The Bahamas – it affected our reputation, though our handling of issues related to the collapse has been professional and recognised as such at home and abroad.

The collapse was not The Bahamas’ fault – far from it, the ones to blame are those who led FTX itself.

But a thorough probe would answer questions about whether there were warning signs we should have noted, whether all processes were followed correctly, and where we might do better in the case of the next FTX, whatever company that might be.

The truth is, we want to have big investors coming in, but we want to make sure our nation is protected in terms of both its finances and its reputation.

A collapse on the scale of FTX deserves a thorough review – in whichever format that might be, and a call for a select committee is as good a method as any to start things rolling.

If there were things we could have done differently, we need to know them. The collapse left Bahamians out of work, suddenly out of a contract they thought was secure. It left recipients of donations wondering if they had to scrape together the money to pay back. It left a scramble for assets.

There are so many stories about FTX. It is only fair that we should get the full story.

THE EIFFEL Tower is reflected in a puddle as people walk past at the Trocadero square, in Paris, France yesterday.

Photo: Pavel Golovkin/AP

Grant’s remarks concerning EDITOR, The Tribune.

BISHOP Ricardo Grant’s recent comments at the FNM’s candidate launch raise some troubling concerns. It is disheartening that a candidate seeking a parliamentary seat should make condescending remarks to voters, suggesting that he owes them nothing and implying that they can easily be bought.

Such a stance not only demeans the very people he aims to represent but also undermines the sanctity of the democratic process.

Perhaps the bishop has overlooked a fundamental tenet of political service: that of making pledges to work towards betterment, ensuring that the voices of the community are genuinely heard, and tirelessly advocating for their needs.

Indeed, his assertion that he has “no promises” to make sounds alarmingly detached from the needs and aspirations of the West Grand Bahama and Bimini constituency. In the same breath, it is also crucial to acknowledge the significance of upholding one’s word, as he

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net pointed out. However, to dismiss the very act of commitment to the community outright feels like a cop-out.

Furthermore, I find it problematic to have figures from the religious domain entering the political arena with such a cavalier attitude. The church and the state have historically maintained separate roles to ensure that neither exerts undue influence on the other. Bishop Grant’s comments risk blurring these lines, with remarks that seem to emanate more from the pulpit than from the political stage. His assertion of being a “bishop and prince in the Lord’s church” with shallow pockets while addressing his constituency is quite unsettling. It not only trivialises the concerns of the voters, but also indicates a potential conflict of interest. Can one effectively serve both the church and the state

without compromising on the core values and responsibilities of either?

Moreover, the notion of accepting a “blessing” without any obligations attached is quite disconcerting. In a political climate where transparency and accountability are paramount, even a hint of financial inducement or quid pro quo can erode public trust.

West Grand Bahama and Bimini deserve representatives who stand by their convictions, articulate clear visions, and most importantly, respect and value the community’s voice. While Bishop Grant’s intentions might be noble, his words and demeanour suggest otherwise.

It might be prudent for Bishop Grant to reflect upon where he can best serve — whether in the sacred halls of the church or the political corridors of parliament. For the sake of the integrity of both institutions, one hopes he chooses wisely.

THE GATEKEEPER October 25, 2023

Tribute to a good mother EDITOR, The Tribune.

MY MOTHER and Father migrated to Canada in 1956, refugees escaping the Soviet’s punishments allotted to those who oppose Soviet tyranny wherever it may be, Russia, Eastern Europe and in their case Hungary.

My parents built a life working in Ontario, raising three children well.

The first job they worked together was picking tobacco in Tillsonburg seasonally.

Then brick making, landscaping, cabinetmaking and a few years in Oshawa building automobiles as well.

My mother Pearl worked as a house cleaner, tailor and farmworker as well, years serving others in iconic Sears Retail until its end.

My mother and father did their best while working to fill our lives full of joy, for three little kids who did not know how good they had it,

my friend.

The stresses of life challenged their marriage pledge, but at the end we could call them lovers to the end.

My father passed away, my brother died too.

Now we look to our mother Pearl for a few gems of wisdom, a smile and laughter that fills us with pride, for we are blessed to have her still with us at aged 85.

Pearl is ill, with pain throughout her being, and yet she strives to be a woman like the best.

A traditional feminist is she, she can never rest.

Full of power is she, a tidal wave of understanding and love, and we all appreciate Her today like never before.

Barrie has a lady named Pearl as a resident and friend, her bite is often softer than her Clint Eastwood stare, but a citizen like Pearl is no blessing in disguise.

She loves her neighbours

and friends very much alike.

All those who migrate to our favoured land, be of stout heart and open hands.

The person who smiles at you and says good day, may surely be Pearl having a good day.

STEVEN KASZAB Bradford, Ontario.

October 19, 2023

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 25, 2023, PAGE 7

BAMSI engages teachers, students in tree planting exercise at C W Sawyer Primary SENATOR and Executive Chairman of the Bahamas Agriculture & Marine Science Institute (BAMSI), Tyrell Young, Member of Parliament for Mount Moriah, McKell Bonaby, teachers and students during a tree planting exercise at C W Sawyer Primary School yesterday.

Photo: Dante Carrer

THREE MEN AND THREE WOMEN MAN GETS OVER TWO YEARS PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO GUN CHARGE JAIL FOR ATTEMPTED ROBBERY

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net THREE men and three women were granted bail yesterday after allegedly being found with a loaded gun in their car on Wulff Road last weekend.

Magistrate Shaka Serville charged Kenneth Seymour, 20, Jerome Wright, 20, Julian James, 20, Quenna Fowler, 20, and 17 and 16-year-old female defendants with possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition.

The group was arrested on Wulff Road after police caught them in a highspeed car chase in their grey Honda Accord on October 22. A vehicle search allegedly uncovered a black Heckler & Koch 9mm

pistol and nine rounds of 9mm ammunition.

After all six accused pleaded not guilty to the charges, bail was set at $6,000 for each with one or two sureties for the male accused. Bail was set at $5,000 with one or two sureties for the female defendants.

The male defendants are expected to sign in at their local police station every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday by 7pm. The female defendants are expected to obey a daily residential curfew. Williams is expected to sign in at Carmichael Road Police Station every Friday, while Flowers is expected to sign in at the Fox Hill Police Station on the same day.

Their trial begins on April 3, 2024.

Man accused of murder over fatal shooting on Gibbs Corner in 2021 A MAN was accused of murder yesterday over a fatal shooting on Gibbs Corner in 2021.

Monteze “G-Money” Rolle, 21, was accused of murder as he appeared before Magistrate Shaka Serville. Levan Johnson represented the accused.

Rolle is accused of shooting and killing Charles Williams at his residence on Gibbs Corner on March 27, 2021.

Another man, Zencil Rolle, was charged with this crime in April 2021.

The accused was told his matter would be moved to the Supreme Court through a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

The defendant will be sent to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until the higher court grants him bail.

Rolle’s VBI is slated for service on January 30, 2024.

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By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net A MAN was sentenced to 28 months in prison after admitting to breaking into a woman’s home and attempting to steal a safe last week.

Magistrate Algernon Allen, Jr, charged Tearan Cartwright, 43,

with housebreaking and attempted stealing.

Cartwright is accused of breaking into Teashaona Gibson’s home on Thompson Lane in an attempt to steal a pink coloured safe for $125.

After pleading guilty, Cartwright was sentenced to prison for two years and four months.

MOTHER CHARGED WITH ABUSING HER BABY GETS $8,000 BAIL

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net A MOTHER, accused of abusing her nine-monthold son during the summer, was given $5,000 bail.

Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain charged the 27-year-old woman, whose name is being withheld to protect

the child’s identity, with cruelty to children.

The mother was accused of exposing her infant son to unnecessary suffering, causing injury to his health on June 20.

After pleading not guilty, the accused was informed that her bail would be $5,000 with one or two sureties. She will go to trial on December 8.

The country’s real power problem PAGE 8, Wednesday, October 25, 2023

LAST week, I attended a conference that was primarily organised for people in a particular category. Those people hold power because they control resources that others need to do their work or meet their goals and are often put in competition with one another to gain access. The organisers of the conference, accustomed to convening the target group of people and cognizant of the power dynamics and the criticism aimed at it, decided to tell target group members to nominate people they aim to serve to attend the event. This was supposed to make it possible for the two groups to directly engage with one another and lift the veil so that “beneficiaries” could be present for and participate in conversations that shape the strategies of the people in positions of power.

This change did, as expected, result in a conference attended by people who hold significant power and people who need to engage them in order to get them to use their power to make the decisions that enable access. Those of us in the latter group expected to be, for the most part, on the listening end while those in the former took centre stage. We were taken aback when, instead, people from our group were on panels and leading small group discussions. While no one thought it was wrong to give members of our group a great platform, there was immediate concern that the target group members were removing themselves from the equation and putting the onus on us to teach them and attempt to move them in a certain direction.

The conference opened with a keynote that, apparently, most people considered elementary and unnecessary.

The very next segment was a panel, entirely comprised of the people in need of resources, speaking directly to the people in positions of power. They, perhaps without realising it, built on the content presented in the keynote, highlighting the ways that people may believe they have information, but can still fail to use it to create systemic change.

They talked about the failure of people in positions of power to deconstruct systems of oppression.

One person on the panel was particularly direct

THE TRIBUNE

By Alicia Wallace

in comments, letting the organisers know that even the composition, timing, and content of the panel was indicative of their inability to use even the most

memorable of the entire conference, and we all immediately knew that no other sessions would come close it. In small group sessions and infor-

response?” “When will we get a chance to hear from them?”

In my conversations offsite that evening, I heard from some of the people in positions of power that many of them were still trying to figure out what to do with what they had heard. Those that I spoke with did not appear to be upset that they were called out for their complicity in oppressive systems and called up to a higher standard. Some of them were,

the people they work for is much greater than the gap between my group and theirs.

How is it that our group of barely invited people could stand on stage in a room full of target group members, boldly giving the context, connecting it to systemic issues, and issuing the call to action, and the target group is afraid to take it back to their colleagues and directors? Is it so terrifying to repeat the points that have already

Holding power feels good. Sharing power feels less good. Using power for benefit of all should feel incredible, but that would require a general interest in the wellbeing for all people.

PHOTO: NATHAN DUMLAO

basic information, within the current context, to act for change.

That panel, just a couple of hours into day one of a two-and-a-half day conference, was the most

mal discussions, it was the main topic of conversation.

Numerous people asked, “How are they going to respond to that?” “Are they going to just let that linger and not give us a

of course, surprised, and many of them simply did not have the authority to speak on behalf of their organizations. One person said, “I mean, I agree with everything that was said. I just don’t know how to take my political analysis back to [the people with more decision-making power in my organisation].”

It is interesting to see how people view themselves, and how greatly their perceptions of themselves can diverge from the ways they are seen by others, and from reality. I looked at that person and listened to the suggestion that the power they hold, far greater than the power of the people in my group, was far too little to be able to make a difference, even with the people they work with on a daily basis. In that person’s mind, the gap between them and

been made by others? If so, then they must think it nearly impossible to support those points and advocate for the demands to be met.

On the second day, I heard whispers about people in the target group who took great exception to being called out. They, apparently, felt “attacked” and did not know what could possibly be expected of them. It is easy to assume that these people are so accustomed to the power they hold resulting in people treating them with excessive care and caution, that anything outside of that is offensive. They, perhaps, considered themselves entitled to undue kindness and the avoidance of uncomfortable topics of conversation.

This is the way it goes. It is not only in conferences

that events unfold in this way. It is much easier to consider oneself powerless than it is to grapple with what it means to hold power, particularly when others hold so little. It is far more expedient to convince people that hands are tied, the budget is already in, the decision is not yours, or that their proposal can be considered in the next cycle. It is easier to pretend that you simply do not understand the problem, or that you are offended by the very suggestion that you have done anything wrong or failed to do enough that was right than it is to refuse to be complicit and to choose to do something about the power imbalance or, at the very least, leverage your power to meet the needs of the people with significantly less.

As I reflect on the conference and the behaviour of the people there, I am reminded of the government of The Bahamas and its response to human rights issues. The government, of course, has a certain kind of power than it can use to guarantee access to human rights for people in situations of vulnerability. It is regularly called to account by advocates in The Bahamas. It is also reminded of its obligations by its peers through multilateral systems. Rather than accept its responsibility, it points to the general public and says that it is “not ready” or that it would be too “confused” by necessary changes. It even says that the “outcry” is not sufficient. It pretends to have no idea what is happening in the country. When feigning ignorance does not work, it ascribes ignorance to the populous, and it has been getting away with it.

It is strange the Bahamian public, which is generally quite easily offended, has taken it lightly when the government suggests that it is uneducated and incapable of understanding information and issues that the government simply refuses to clearly present.

Holding power feels good. Sharing power feels less good. Using power for benefit of all should feel incredible, but that would require a general interest in the wellbeing for all people. There is a power problem, indeed. We also have to acknowledge and address the other problem—that people lives are significantly and increasingly undervalued by other people and, of course, by government administrations that benefit from keeping people dependent on handouts. This is the reason no administration in recent history has brought the impactful change they promise, and political parties no longer bother to even make such promises.

They know, and we need to understand the truth: incremental change will never bring us equality, justice, or liberation. Power has to shift, and the people with it will not be the ones to make it happen.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 25, 2023, PAGE 9

AMAZON WILL START TESTING DRONES THAT WILL DROP PRESCRIPTIONS ON YOUR DOORSTEP

By TOM MURPHY and HALELUYA HADERO Associated Press AMAZON will soon make prescription drugs fall from the sky when the e-commerce giant becomes the latest company to test drone deliveries for medications.

The company said last week that customers in College Station, Texas, can now get prescriptions delivered by a drone within an hour of placing their order.

The drone, programmed to fly from a delivery centre with a secure pharmacy, will travel to the customer’s address, descend to a height of about four metres — or 13 feet — and drop a padded package.

Amazon says customers will be able to choose from more than 500 medications, a list that includes common treatments for conditions like the flu or pneumonia, but not controlled substances.

The company’s Prime Air division began testing drone deliveries of common household items last December in College Station and Lockeford, California. Amazon spokesperson Jessica Bardoulas said the company has made thousands of deliveries since launching the service, and is expanding it to include prescriptions based in part on customer requests.

Later on Wednesday, Amazon announced it will also launch drone delivery at a third U.S. location and cities in Italy and the United Kingdom by the end of next year.

The company said it will disclose the exact locations in the coming months.

Amazon Prime already delivers some medications from the company’s

A DRONE delivering presciption drugs in College Station, Texas.

Amazon will soon make prescription drugs fall from the sky when the e-commerce giant becomes the latest company to test drone deliveries for medications. The company said that customers in College Station, Texas, can now get prescriptions delivered by a drone within an hour of placing their order. (Amazon via AP)

pharmacy inside of two days. But pharmacy Vice President John Love said that doesn’t help someone with an acute illness like the flu.

“What we’re trying to do is figure out how can we bend the curve on speed,” he said.

Amazon Pharmacy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Vin Gupta says the U.S. health care system generally struggles with diagnosing and treating patients quickly for acute illnesses, something that was apparent throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Narrowing the window between diagnosis and treating makes many treatments more effective, he said.

Amazon is not the first company to explore prescription deliveries by drone. The drugstore chain CVS Health worked with

UPS to test deliveries in 2019 in North Carolina but that programme has ended, a CVS spokesman said.

Intermountain Health started providing drone deliveries of prescriptions in 2021 in the Salt Lake City area and has been expanding the program, according to Daniel Duersch, supply chain director for the health care system. Intermountain is partnering with the logistics company Zipline to use drones that drop packages by parachute.

Companies seeking to use drones for commercial purposes have faced hurdles from regulators who want to make sure things are operating safely. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had predicted a decade ago that drones would be making deliveries by 2018. Even now, the e-commerce giant is only

using the technology in a small number of markets.

Lisa Ellman, the executive director of the Commercial Drone Alliance, an industry group that counts Amazon as one of its members, said to date, regulatory approvals have been limited to specific geographic areas and “in terms of their scope and usefulness to companies.”

That said, she noted regulators have also been issuing more approvals.

Last month, the FAA gave the OK for Zipline and UPS to fly longer-range drones.

Walmart has also been working to expand its own drone deliveries.

Also on Wednesday, Amazon unveiled a new drone called MK30 that, by the end of next year, will replace the drones it currently uses to delivery packages.

The company says the new drone flies further, is smaller and quieter, and also has enhanced delivery capabilities.

Amazon has said its drones will fly as high as 120 metres, or nearly 400 feet, before slowly descending when they reach the customer’s home.

The drone will check to make sure the delivery zone is clear of pets, children or any other obstructions before dropping the package on a delivery marker.

Amazon has been growing its presence in health care for a few years now.

Aside from adding a pharmacy, it also spent nearly $4 billion to buy primary care provider One Medical.

In August, the company added video telemedicine visits in all 50 states.

INDIA CONDUCTS TEST AHEAD OF PLANNED MISSION TO TAKE ASTRONAUTS INTO SPACE IN 2025

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India successfully carried out Saturday the first of a series of key test flights after overcoming a technical glitch ahead of its planned mission to take astronauts into space by 2025, the space agency said.

The test involved launching a module to outer space and bringing it back to earth to test the spacecraft’s crew escape system, said the Indian Space Research Organization chief S. Somanath, and was being recovered after its touchdown in the Bay of Bengal.

The launch was delayed by 45 minutes in the morning because of weather conditions.

The attempt was again deferred by more than an hour because of an issue with the engine, and the ground computer put the module’s lift-off on hold, said Somanath.

The glitch caused by a monitoring anomaly in the system was rectified and the test was carried

INDIAN Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman S. Somanath.

(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, File)

out successfully 75 minutes later from the Sriharikota satellite launching station in southern India, Somanath told reporters.

It would pave the way for other unmanned missions, including sending a robot into space next

year.

In September, India successfully launched its first space mission to study the sun, less than two weeks after a successful uncrewed landing near the south pole region of the moon.

After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India in September joined the United States, the Soviet Union and China as only the fourth country to achieve the milestone.

The successful mission showcased India’s rising standing as a technology and space powerhouse and dovetails with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s desire to project an image of an ascendant country asserting its place among the global elite.

Signaling a roadmap for India’s future space ambitions, Modi earlier this week announced that India’s space agency will set up an Indian-crafted space station by 2035 and land an Indian astronaut on the moon by 2040.

Active since the 1960s, India has launched satellites for itself and other countries, and successfully put one in orbit around Mars in 2014.

India is planning its first mission to the International Space Station next year in collaboration with the United States.

TECHTALK

MICROSOFT REPORTS HIGHER PROFITS AND REVENUE POWERED

BY CLOUD COMPUTING AND AI INVESTMENTS REDMOND, Wash.

(AP) — Microsoft on Tuesday reported a 27% increase in profit for the July-September quarter compared to the same time last year, powered by growth in its cloud computing division where it has centered its investments in artificial intelligence.

The company reported quarterly net income of $22.29 billion, or $2.99 per share, which beat Wall Street expectations.

The Redmond, Washington-based software maker posted revenue of $56.52 billion in the quarter, up 13% from last year, also beating expectations.

Analysts polled by FactSet Research expected Microsoft to earn $2.65 per share on revenue of $54.52 billion.

Analysts are currently projecting Microsoft will produce revenue of $58.67 billion for the OctoberDecember quarter.

CEO Satya Nadella said in a prepared statement that the software company is “rapidly infusing AI across every layer of the tech stack” to drive productivity gains for customers.

Microsoft’s cloud-focused business segment experienced the most growth, up 19% from the same time last year to $24.26 billion for the three months ending Sept. 30.

Its productivity business segment, which includes its Office suite of email and other workplace products, grew 13% to $18.59 billion for the quarter.

TOP FREE iPHONE APPS (US): 1. Temu: Shop Like a Billionaire, Temu 2. Lapse - Disposable Camera, Lapse 3. Microsoft Authenticator, Microsoft Corporation 4. Google, Google LLC 5. ChatGPT, OpenAI 6. TikTok, TikTok Ltd. 7. WhatsApp Messenger, WhatsApp Inc. 8. Instagram, Instagram, Inc. 9. YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream, Google LLC 10. Max: Stream HBO, TV, & Movies, WarnerMedia Global Digital Services, LLC

TOP PAID iPHONE APPS (US): 1. Minecraft, Mojang 2. Geometry Dash, RobTop Games AB 3. Heads Up!, Warner Bros.

4. Shadowrocket, Shadow Launch Technology Limited 5. Bloons TD 6, Ninja Kiwi 6. HotSchedules, HotSchedules 7. Five Nights at Freddy’s, Clickteam, LLC 8. MONOPOLY, Marmalade Game Studio 9. Papa’s Freezeria To Go!, Flipline Studios 10. Plague Inc., Ndemic Creations

PAGE 10, Wednesday, October 25, 2023

THE TRIBUNE

Backlash to the oil CEO leading the UN climate summit overlooks his ambitious agenda for COP28 – and concerns of the Global South

and ran the UAE stateowned renewable energy company, Masdar, which he helped to grow into the largest renewable operator in Africa.

He was appointed CEO of ADNOC in 2016, in the context of the UAE’s official launch of a national “post oil strategy.” The previous year, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed delivered a speech to a UAE government summit declaring that the UAE would celebrate “the last barrel of oil” by mid-century.

ADNOC has been heavily criticized for planning to invest US$150 billion in oil and gas expansion capacity this decade. I share these concerns. To stay within the 1.5-degree Celsius (2.7-Fahrenheit) global warming limits adopted under the Paris Agreement, the world may need to cease new fossil fuel investments, as the International Energy Agency has urged, and also decommission some 40% of already developed fossil fuel reserves.

However, I also believe this must be viewed in a global context when discussing the COP28 presidency: Far larger fossil fuel growth plans than the UAE’s are being led by the US, Canada, Russia, Iran, China and Brazil. Most fossil fuel financing around the world comes from banks in the US, Canada and Japan.

And since 2015, European banks have poured a colossal $1.3 trillion into fossil fuels, including $130 billion in 2022 alone.

Bu Ibrahim Özdemir Clark University IN December 2023, negotiators from countries worldwide will meet in the United Arab Emirates for the next round of international climate talks.

While the talks are considered essential to securing global agreements needed to avoid dangerous climate change, confidence in the summit, known as COP28, is at a low. One reason is the man in charge.

The UAE set off a firestorm in January 2023 when it announced that Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, the CEO of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company – also known as ADNOC – would be the president-designate of the climate summit, giving him a large amount of control over the meeting’s agenda.

US and European politicians demanded al-Jaber’s resignation. Former US Vice President Al Gore claimed that fossil fuel interests had “captured the UN process to a disturbing degree, even putting the CEO of one of the largest oil companies in the world in as president of COP28”.

Concerns about the role of fossil fuel industries in obstructing pro-climate policies are entirely legitimate, in my view. There is abundant evidence that the largest fossil fuel companies knew their products would cause climate change decades ago, but deliberately attempted to deny climate science and oppose climate policies.

However, I believe calls to boycott COP28 and ban the region’s choice to lead it are undermining the credibility of United Nations negotiations and are overlooking the potential of the COP28 agenda.

I am a former adviser to the UN Environment Programme and a scholar of environmental ethics. My own concerns about this issue led me to team up with six colleagues from across the Global South to conduct a detailed comparative analysis of the goals and behaviour of the five most

THE COP28 AGENDA

DR Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber CEO of Masdar and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC), gives a welcoming speech at the Opening Ceremony of World Future Energy Summit, part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2013, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. recent COP presidencies.

We concluded, to our surprise, that the policy agenda being promoted by the UAE’s COP28 presidency would do much to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. We also found that many criticisms of the UAE’s presidency are unfounded.

HOW AL-JABER WAS CHOSEN First, it’s useful to understand how COP presidents are chosen.

Choosing which country hosts a COP summit is managed by a United Nations process that rotates democratically among six regions. The countries in

each region consult about who will represent their region, and that country makes a pitch, which is assessed and finalized by the secretariat that runs the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

For COP28, the AsiaPacific region, which consists of a diverse mix of

developing nations, chose the UAE and al-Jaber.

ENERGY CONCERNS OF THE GLOBAL SOUTH For some Global South nations, the prospect of phasing out fossil fuels – called for by many activist groups and countries headed into COP28 – seems not only daunting, but a threat to economic development.

Of the dozens of oilproducing countries in the world, around half are middle-income developing countries with economies that are highly vulnerable to volatile oil and gas prices. Studies have suggested that a fast fossil fuel phaseout could cause trillion-dollar losses related to infrastructure investments in oil-producing countries if they aren’t prepared.

At the same time, however, many nations of the Global South face disproportionate consequences from climate change, from extreme weather events to rising sea levels that can threaten the very existence of their communities.

Al-Jaber has called phasing down fossil fuels “inevitable” and “essential”, but he has said the energy system and the Global South aren’t ready for a fast phaseout until renewable energy ramps up and that the summit should focus on adaptation.

That view, while supported by some countries in the Global South, has drawn sharp criticism.

AL-JABER, ADNOC

MASDAR

AND

Al-Jaber’s presidency of COP28 has been described by some as an attempt by the UAE to “greenwash” oil and gas expansion plans

by ADNOC, one of the largest oil companies in the world.

While I am sympathetic to this concern, my colleagues and I found it to be far too simplistic. Al-Jaber spent the bulk of his career in the renewable energy sector. In 2006, he founded

In our assessment, we found that the UAE is already providing leadership that goes beyond previous COP presidencies.

Our report found that the total value of the renewable energy projects planned by the UAE with various partners this decade adds up to over $300 billion. This is considerably bigger than clean energy investments mobilized by previous COP presidencies, our analysis found.

The COP28 agenda that the UAE is promoting also offers a promising pathway to accelerate a transition away from fossil fuels.

The agenda includes a goal of tripling renewable energy capacity within the next seven years, further driving down costs to rapidly outcompete fossil fuels, potentially within the next 20 years.

It also calls for countries to agree to eliminate fossil fuel production where carbon emissions are not captured by around midcentury, which could fast-track scaling up carbon capture, usage and storage commercially.

And restructuring climate financing to make it low-cost and reduce debt burdens, as the UAE presidency proposes, could finally unlock the trillions of dollars desperately needed by the developing world to support its energy transitions while industrialising. Given that lack of financing is the key obstacle to the energy transition in developing countries, COP28’s focus on this is critical.

Certainly, the optics of having an oil CEO lead a climate summit is concerning for anyone who advocates rapid-action phasing down of fossil fuels, and it remains to be seen how dedicated the UAE is to these policies.

But I and my co-authors of the report concluded that if the COP28 summit succeeds in securing landmark agreements on the above issues, it would be a significant step forward in fast-tracking a just transition away from fossil fuels and a considerable improvement on what has been proposed in past COP summits.

UÊ"À } > ÞÊ«ÕL Ã i`Ê Ê www.theconversation.com

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 25, 2023, PAGE 11

Qatar a key intermediary in Israel-Hamas war as hostages’ fates hang in the balance JERUSALEM Associated Press THE gas-rich nation of Qatar has become a key intermediary over the fate of more than 200 hostages held by Hamas militants after their unprecedented attack on Israel, once again putting the small Arabian Peninsula country in the spotlight.

The negotiations have also thrust Qatar into a delicate international balancing act as it maintains a relationship with those viewed as militant groups by the West while trying to preserve its close security ties with the United States.

Under arrangements stemming from past Hamas cease-fire understandings with Israel, the gas-rich emirate of Qatar has paid the salaries of civil servants in the Gaza Strip, provided direct cash transfers to poor families and offered other kinds of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Qatar has also hosted Hamas’ political office in its capital of Doha for over a decade. Among officials based there is Khaled Mashaal, an exiled Hamas member who survived a 1997 Israeli assassination attempt in Jordan that threatened to derail that country’s peace deal with Israel. Also there is Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ supreme leader.

The US sanctioned Mashaal in 2003 for being “responsible for supervising assassination operations, bombings and the killing of Israeli settlers.” Washington sanctioned Haniyeh in 2018, saying he had “close links with Hamas’ military wing and has been a proponent of armed struggle, including against civilians.”

Mashaal, in an interview with Sky News this week, said hostages taken during Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 could be released if Israel stops its airstrikes — something incredibly unlikely as Israel prepares for a ground offensive inside the Gaza Strip.

More than 200 people, including foreigners, were believed captured by Hamas during the incursion and taken into Gaza.

Four of those have been released, a mother and daughter on Friday and two more on Monday.

“Let them stop this aggression and you will

SHEIK HASSAN NASRALLAH, leader of Hezbollah, left, chats with Khaled Mashaal, in south of Beirut, Lebanon, March 27, 2004. The gas-rich nation of Qatar has become a key intermediary over the fate of some 200 hostages held by Hamas after their unprecedented attack on Israel, once again putting the small Arabian Peninsula in the spotlight.

Photo: Hassan Ammar/AP find the mediators like Qatar and Egypt and some Arab countries and others will find a way to have them released and we’ll send them to their homes,” Mashaal said of the hostages.

Hosting the Hamas leaders has brought scrutiny to Qatar, both in the past and since the attack over two weeks ago that killed more than 1,400 people in Israel.

However, the Biden administration has repeatedly praised Qatar for its efforts in working to free the hostages and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Doha during his recent shuttle diplomacy trip in the region.

“Qatar is a longtime partner of ours who is responding to our request, because I think they believe that innocent civilians ought to be freed,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s

ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, channelled the wider anger in the Arab world over Israel’s unrelenting airstrikes and siege of the Gaza Strip after the Oct. 7 attack. The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry says the strikes have killed over 5,000 Palestinians so far.

During Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup last year, Palestinian flags were prominently displayed and Israeli journalists sometimes harassed.

“It is untenable for Israel to be given an unconditional green light and free license to kill, nor it is tenable to continue ignoring the reality of occupation, siege and settlement,” Sheikh Tamim said on Tuesday in a speech to the country’s Shura Council, an advisory and legislative body.

He slammed Israel’s siege, saying that it “should not be allowed in our time” to use as weapons the cutting off of water and preventing medicine and

food supplies to an entire population.

Qatar, a peninsula sticking out like a thumb into the Persian Gulf with a small population and military, has always looked warily at its larger neighbours Saudi Arabia and Iran. It faced a yearslong boycott by four Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, over a political dispute, which Kuwait’s ruler at the time warned could have sparked a war.

It also bore withering criticism from the US and others over its pan-Arab satellite news network Al Jazeera. It aired statements from the late al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden and has been providing nonstop coverage of the toll of Israel’s punishing airstrikes in this war with Hamas, including images of the dead and dying that have fuelled demonstrations across the Middle East and wider world.

But those concerns about larger powers have

seen Qatar balance the risks through its diplomacy and hosting of the forward headquarters of the US military’s Central Command at its sprawling Al-Udeid Air Base.

The US considers Qatar as a major non-NATO ally and Doha has widening defence trade and security cooperation with America, including priority delivery for certain military sales.

The Al-Udeid base served as a key node in America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, while Qatar also hosted the Taliban officials with whom Washington earlier negotiated to end the longest US war.

But Qatar’s negotiations have led to headaches in the past.

Most recently, Qatar agreed to have just under $6 billion in Iranian assets once frozen in South Korea transferred to Doha as part of a September prisoner swap between

Tehran and the US After the Hamas attack, Qatar and the US agreed not to act on any request from Tehran to access those funds for humanitarian goods as initially planned — at least for now.

That enraged sanctionschoked Iran and left Qatar “walking the tightrope of international relations,” said David B. Roberts, who has long studied Qatar as an associate professor at King’s College London and recently published the book “Security Politics in the Gulf Monarchies.”

“The reality is it is quite straight forward that so many senior government people in Israel and America want Qatar to have this role and ... Qatar ultimately will be seen in a broadly positive light in trying to free these hostages,” Roberts said.

“If you do want this unique spot,” he added, “then you’re not signing yourself up for an easy life.”

GAZA HAS OIL MARKETS ON EDGE. THAT COULD BUILD MORE URGENCY TO SHIFT TO RENEWABLES, IEA HEAD SAYS Associated Press TENSIONS from the war in Gaza could help accelerate the move away from planet-warming fossil fuels like oil and gas and toward renewable energy, electric cars and heat pumps — similar to how sharp increases in the price of oil during the 1970s unleashed efforts to conserve fuel, the head of the International Energy Agency said.

“Today we are again facing a crisis in the Middle East that could once again shock oil markets,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. That comes on top of the stress on energy markets from Russia’s cutoff of natural gas to Europe over its invasion of Ukraine, he said.

“Put these two things together, and no one can convince me that oil and gas are safe and secure energy choices for countries or consumers,” Birol told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of the publication Tuesday of the IEA’s annual world energy outlook, which analyses the global picture of energy supply and demand.

“This could further accelerate the energy transition around the world,” with renewable sources like wind or solar offering a “long lasting solution” to energy security issues as well as climate change, he said.

The attack on Israel by the militant organization Hamas and the ensuing

A MOTORIST finishes filling up the tank of a vehicle at a Shell station, July 5, 2023, in Englewood, Colorado. The IEA’s annual world energy outlook, which analyzes the global picture of energy supply and demand, was released yesterday.

Photo: David Zalubowski Israel military operations have raised fears of a wider Mideast conflict. So far oil price rises have been relatively moderate. International benchmark Brent crude traded at $90.17 per barrel Tuesday, up from around $84 on the eve of the Hamas attack. So far the fighting has not led to a supply interruption.

Fossil fuel prices are down from 2022 peaks, but “markets are tense and volatile,” said the IEA in the report.

“Some of the immediate pressures from the global energy crisis have eased, but energy markets, geopolitics, and the global economy are unsettled and the risk of further disruption is ever present,” it said.

Birol pointed out that there was “a major government response” to the energy supply concerns that arose 50 years ago from the Arab oil embargo imposed during the 1973 Yom Kippur war.

It sent oil prices nearly 300% higher and led to the founding of the IEA in 1974 to help shape a collective

response to the disruption.

That was followed by the 1978 Iranian revolution, which added another price shock. At the time, the solutions included the rollout of nuclear power plants and the imposition of mileage standards for cars.

“This time, we have all of the available technologies,” Birol said. “We have solar,

wind, nuclear power, electric cars. They will extend significantly around the world and it will be an additional boost to the energy transition.”

He pointed to the rapid rollout of electric cars, saying that in 2020 only one in 25 cars was electric but in 2023 it was one in five. Meanwhile the share of fossil fuels in electricity generation has fallen from 70% ten years ago to 60% today and should reach 40% by 2030, he said.

Concerted international action at the upcoming United Nations climate conference is needed to expand use of clean technologies and find new ways of financing the massive investment that is needed, especially in the developing world, the IEA said.

The report also pointed to a shifting role for China, once a leading source of increased demand for energy due to rapid industrialization and growth. The report said energy demand there could peak as soon as 2025 amid slowing growth and “impressive” shifts to clean energy like solar and nuclear.

The IEA estimates that demand for fossil fuels will peak before 2030 under current policies but says governments will have to increase their efforts to speed up the transition if the world is to meet the global goal of keeping warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

PAGE 12, Wednesday, October 25, 2023

THE TRIBUNE

DIAMONDBACKS BEAT PHILLIES 4-2, FACE RANGERS IN WORLD SERIES

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer TELL the truth: How many people picked Arizona and Texas to meet in the World Series?

A Rangers-Diamondbacks matchup had 1,750 to 1 odds when wagering opened last fall.

But in an era when 12 teams make the playoffs, sustained excellence over the six-month regular season has become a boarding pass, not the journey, leading to a Longshot Series that opens Friday night at Globe Life Field.

“Once you get into the big dance, anything can happen,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said before last night’s 4-2 win at

Philadelphia advanced Arizona to its first World Series since 2001.

“Throw it all out the window. The teams that get in deserve to be in.”

All the glamour teams are watching at home: the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves stumbled in the Division Series, defending champion Houston was ousted by Texas, and the New York Yankees didn’t even make it to the postseason.

Instead, Major League Baseball has its third allwild card meeting – a Grand Canyon vs. Lone Star finale of second-place teams played in air-conditioned ballparks under retractable roofs — potentially the first all-indoor Fall Classic.

Both prior all-wild card matchups went seven games. The Los Angeles Angels beat the San Francisco Giants in 2002 and Bruce Bochy’s Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals in 2014 for their third title in five years.

Texas and the Diamondbacks are both two years removed from last-place finishes and 100-loss seasons. “Sometimes, one of the last hurdles to get over is that winning feeling, attitude, when you’ve been losing for a few seasons,” Bochy said.

Bochy, 68 and in his 26th year as a big league manager, joined the Rangers last October. He is going for his fourth title, which would tie with Walter Alston and

THE ARIZONA Diamondbacks celebrate their win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 7 of the baseball NL Championship Series in Philadelphia last night.

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Joe Torre for fourth most Fame. “I don’t think about think here I am going to a behind Joe McCarthy and me. I’m riding their backs, World Series. Yeah, that’s Casey Stengel (seven each) trust me,” Bochy said. special. But it’s more about and Connie Mack (five). All “It’s unreal that I’m here, them and trying to find a prior managers with three to be honest. Sitting at the way to get a ring for those or more are in the Hall of house for three years, and guys.”

DE KOCK’S CENTURY LEADS SOUTH AFRICA PAST BANGLADESH AT CRICKET WORLD CUP MUMBAI, India (AP) — Quinton de Kock blasted his second-highest ODI score as South Africa beat Bangladesh by 149 runs at the Cricket World Cup yesterday.

De Kock scored 174 runs off only 140 balls, including 15 fours and seven sixes, as the Proteas recorded the third-highest total of the tournament: 382-5 in 50 overs.

It was De Kock’s third century in five innings.

Heinrich Klaasen followed up his century against England with 90 runs off 49 balls. He smashed two fours and eight sixes.

Bangladesh faltered in light of the tall chase and was bowled out for 233 (46.4 overs) with Gerald Coetzee picking 3-62.

Marco Jansen took 2-39 in eight overs, while Kagiso Rabada finished with 2-42 as South Africa romped to its fourth win in five games.

South Africa moves up to second with eight points, above New Zealand (8 points) due to a higher net run-rate.

Mahmudullah’s hundred went in vain — he scored a run-a-ball 111 runs — as Bangladesh sunk to 10th on the table with a poorer runrate than England, albeit equal on two points.

“I was nervous at the start but it turned out to be a good day with another two points for the team,” said De Kock, the player of the match who turned the spotlight on teammate Klaasen.

“He has been really special in this tournament. He has taken it by storm and everyone is loving watching him.”

Opting to bat, South Africa lost opener Reeza Hendricks for 12 runs, and then Raasie van der Dussen also fell lbw to Mehidy Hasan Miraz (1-44).

The Proteas were down to 36-2 in 7.5 overs in good batting conditions. Standin skipper Aiden Markram and de Kock then added 131 runs for the third wicket.

It was a crucial partnership and set the base for South Africa’s late onslaught.

De Kock reached 50 off 47 balls, while Markram got to 50 off 57 balls. Their 100-run stand came off 107 balls.

De Kock then reached his hundred off 107 balls.

Unlike his past two centuries in this tournament, he bedded for a longer knock this time scoring another 74 runs off only 33 balls.

Against the run of play, Shakib had Markram caught at long off to get the breakthrough in the 31st over. It only invited more carnage: Klaasen and de Kock smacked 142 runs off only 87 balls to take South Africa past 300 in 44 overs.

While Klaasen reached 50 off 34 balls, De Kock fell four runs short of his highest score in ODIs — 178 against Australia in 2016.

REGATTA TIME AGAIN: The 10th Annual Cecil G Cooke Memorial Junior Regatta, one of the largest events on the nation’s junior sailing calendar being hosted by The Royal Nassau Sailing Club, is scheduled for November 4-5 in Montagu Bay.

SUBWAY SPONSORING 10TH ANNUAL CECIL G COOKE MEMORIAL JUNIOR REGATTA NOVEMBER 4-5 ONE of the largest events on the nation’s junior sailing calendar is being hosted by The Royal Nassau Sailing Club with race action in Montagu Bay on Saturday November 4 and Sunday, November 5.

Typically, the regatta is attended by dozens of young athletes from across New Providence and many Family Islands.

Spearheaded in 2014 by Sandra Cooke, the regatta commemorates her father, the late Cecil G Cooke, who achieved The Bahamas first Olympic gold medal with Sir Durward Knowles in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Ms Cooke is particularly excited about this as it is the 10th edition of this popular regatta.

“As sailing is now our new national sport and popularity is building rapidly amongst Bahamian youth, I am looking forward to seeing record participation this year,” Sandra also commented.

“I would like to give a huge thank you to Subway who are generously providing title sponsorship of the

event, as they have done a number of times over the years.

“Regattas on this scale involve a lot of outlay and we simply couldn’t have done it without their support.”

The race action takes place in several different fleets of sailboat - the Optimist for the younger competitors and Sunfish

and Lasers for the older and more experienced sailors.

The top three finishers in each fleet will receive trophies.

And the prestigious Cecil G Cooke Memorial Trophy will be presented to the top Optimist sailor.

For more information on junior sailing visit www. bahsailingschool.com

ENGLAND’S MAGUIRE, KANE AND BELLINGHAM SHINE IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AMID TRIBUTES FOR BOBBY CHARLTON

By ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer ROME (AP) — On a night of tributes for the late Bobby Charlton, Harry Maguire kept Manchester United in contention and fellow England standouts Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham each scored in the Champions League.

A second-half header from Maguire and then a penalty saved by Andre Onana in stoppage time secured a 1-0 win for United over FC Copenhagen to earn the English club its first points following consecutive losses.

Kane produced the crucial goal to help Bayern Munich earn its 16th straight win in the group stage with a 3-1 victory over Galatasaray, and Bellingham scored with a long-range shot for Real Madrid’s second in a 2-1 win at Braga yesterday.

Charlton, the former England and Manchester United star, died Saturday at age 86. In United’s first home match since his death, a lone piper playing the tune to the United anthem “We’ll Never Die” provided a moving soundtrack inside Old Trafford.

The piper led out United manager Erik ten Hag, Charlton’s former teammate Alex Stepney, and

A STATUE of Manchester United trio of George Best, right, Denis Law, centre, and Sir Bobby Charlton is seen prior to the Champions League group A soccer match between Manchester United and Copenhagen at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, yesterday.

(AP Photo/Dave Thompson) United youth-team cap- hasn’t dropped a point in tain Dan Gore onto the group play since 2020.

Galatasaray is next with field ahead of United’s match against FC Copen- four points, United has hagen. They laid a wreath three and Copenhagen has in the centre circle before one.

Kane made little impact a minute of silence was until late in the second half observed.

Another rendition of for Bayern’s second goal.

“There’s only one Bobby The England captain first Charlton” then swirled tried a flashy backheel off around the stadium to Jamal Musiala’s low cross applause as fans paid their but the ball hit defender respects to one of Eng- Sacha Boey.

It then bounced favourland’s World Cup winners from 1966 who is widely ably for Kane to score with considered United’s great- his second effort in the 73rd. est player.

Musiala then scored GROUP A Bayern leads Group A Bayern’s third.

Kingsley Coman had with a perfect nine points at the halfway stage and scored early for Bayern

but the German team was under pressure from Galatasaray for much of the game.

In Manchester, Maguire had been criticised for his recent performances and he celebrated his goal emphatically and then formed a heart with his fingers.

GROUP B Goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus earned Arsenal a 2-1 win at Europa League champion Sevilla.

Martinelli has now scored in his first start for Arsenal in the Champions League, the Europa League (vs.

Standard Liege), Premier League (vs. West Ham) and League Cup (vs. Nottingham Forest).

Lens and PSV Eindhoven drew 1-1 with Johan Bakayoko and Elye Wahi trading goals.

Arsenal leads the group with six points, followed

by Lens (5), Sevilla (2) and PSV (2).

GROUP C Bellingham scored his 11th goal in 12 matches since joining Madrid to help the 14-time European champion strengthen its lead in Group C. Madrid has a full nine points. Napoli is next with six points after a 1-0 win at Union Berlin; Braga has three points and Berlin has

none. Rodrygo also scored for Madrid, which is trying to make it to the knockout rounds for the 28th consecutive time.

Giacomo Raspadori filled in for the injured Victor Osimhen at centre forward and scored in Napoli’s victory.

Strong work from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia meant that Raspadori needed only one touch to redirect a pass from the Georgia dribbling wizard.

GROUP D Brais Méndez scored again as Real Sociedad defeated Benfica 1-0 in Lisbon to hand last season’s quarterfinalist a third straight defeat.

Surprise starter Alexis Sánchez set Inter Milan on its way to a 2-1 victory over Salzburg to boost the Nerazzurri’s chances of reaching the knockout stages.

Sánchez scored in the 19th minute for the veteran forward’s first goal since returning to the club in the offseason. Oscar Gloukh briefly leveled for Salzburg but Hakan Çalhanoglu scored what proved to be the winner from the penalty spot in the 64th minute.

Real Sociedad and Inter each have seven points to top the group. Salzburg is next with three points and Benfica has none.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 25, 2023, PAGE 13

Best-of-the-Best Regatta returns to Montagu Bay November 30

By TENAJH SWEETING Tribune Sports Reporter tsweeting@tribunemedia.net THE sixth edition of the Best-of-the-Best Regatta returns to Montagu Bay from November 30 to December 3.

Officials of the Ministry of Works and Family Island Affairs and stakeholders made the announcement of the four-day event at a press conference yesterday.

More than 200 sailors are expected to make waves in four different classes - A, B, C, and D. Additionally, junior sailors will showcase their abilities and compete at the sporting event.

Minister of Works and Family Island Affairs Clay Sweeting has high expectations for this year’s event.

“April of this year, sailing was named our national sport much to the delight of people across The Bahamas. For the first Best of the Best Regatta since the national sport designation, our expectations are very high, we hope to bring more than 200 Bahamian sailors from varying generations

ORGANISERS, inlcuding Minister of Works and Family Island Affairs Clay Sweeting, centre, discuss the hosting of the sixth edition of the Best-of-the-Best Regatta in Montagu Bay November 30 to December 3. for the largest regatta purses in Bahamian sloop sailing history,” Sweeting said.

The four classes will have representatives from the Family Islands inclusive of

Long Island, Exuma, Acklins, Ragged Island, Cat Island and Mayaguana.

The preliminaries begin on Thursday, November 30 and the final events kick off on Sunday.

With sailing now named the national sport, the minister said that sailors are excited to start the competition.

“I think that the excitement is around sailing

being named, prior to that we have been able to help create an excitement along with the skippers and boat builders within sailing…we try to be a part of what they do.”

“We continue trying to invest and help to develop the sport in different ways. Youth sailing is one avenue we have been able to do that and it started to become very popular.

“We are very happy that the sailors continue to support us,” Minister Sweeting said.

The event will be livestreamed once again and large televisions are expected to be on the site.

The event organisers want to give the public on the Family Islands and around the world, who are unable to commute to the event, a chance to watch the talented sailors.

The public is encouraged to come out to view live entertainment on the waters and on land.

Bahamian artists will perform and there will also be games played and giveaways.

Last year’s Best of the Best Regatta was hosted December 1-4. Eight boats were in competition in Class A and B. Meanwhile, Class C had 32 boats on the waters.

NUGGETS CELEBRATE FIRST NBA TITLE WITH BANNER, RINGS

By ARNIE STAPLETON AP Sports Writer

DENVER Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic, left, and forward Michael Porter Jr touch the NBA championship trophy during a ceremony to mark the team’s title, before an NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers last night in Denver.

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

THE Denver Nuggets raised their championship banner last night, then dropped the hammer on the Los Angeles Lakers with a 119-107 victory fuelled by Nikola Jokic’s triple-double.

Jokic had 29 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in the NBA’s season opener.

Jamal Murray added 21 points, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 20, Aaron Gordon had 15 and Michael Porter Jr had 12.

All of LA’s starters also scored in double figures, led

by LeBron James’ 21 points in 29 minutes — his playing time is being monitored at the start of his 21st season.

Taurean Prince scored 18 points his debut for the Lakers, his fifth team in nine seasons, Anthony

Davis had 17 points, Austin Reaves 14 and D’Angelo Russell 11. The Lakers trailed by 18 early but trimmed that deficit to 63-54 at halftime and used a 13-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to pull within 87-84 before Aaron Gordon stopped the run with a 3-pointer.

The Lakers never got closer. After James’ basket got Los Angeles within 103-96 with just over five minutes remaining, the Nuggets called timeout and came out of it with a 10-3 run featuring 3-pointers by Murray and Porter to put the Lakers away.

The Nuggets received their gold, diamondencrusted championship rings in a pregame ceremony. Murray, wearing a microphone, told teammate Gordon, “I might play the first quarter with it!”

Denver coach Michael Malone held his ring up high, grabbed the mic and hollered, “Last year was amazing. We got our ring.

Who wants another? Let’s go get it!”

The Nuggets went 16-4 in the playoffs — including a sweep of the Lakers — and finished things off by closing out Miami in five games to start a summer of celebrations from Denver’s delirious downtown to Jokic’s hometown of Sombor, Serbia.

JOKIC SNUBBED Jokic may have followed up back-to-back MVP seasons by leading the Nuggets to their first NBA title in their 30th postseason appearance, but TNT left him off its graphic promoting its opening-night doubleheader featuring the Lakers-Nuggets and SunsWarriors games.

The graphic featured LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum — the last an odd choice given that the Celtics don’t play until tonight.

The slight upset Charles Barkley, the co-host of TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” who apologised to the Nuggets and their fans for the omission. That said, Barkley opined in a pregame interview that he thinks the Nuggets will have a tough time repeating.

“I think they’re in the mix. I’m a big Bruce Brown fan,” Barkley said of the starting small forward who signed a two-year, $45 million contract with the Indiana Pacers following Denver’s title run. “They gotta replace him and the young guys gotta come on, and they’re going to have to adjust to being the hunted.”

Williamson, Ball, Cunningham and Holmgren headline list of young NBA comeback hopefuls

By BRETT MARTEL AP Sports Writer NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Zion Williamson sprinted down the sideline of an empty practice football field on a campus that houses the headquarters of the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans and NFL’s New Orleans Saints.

Nearby, a couple members of the Pelicans’ training staff oversaw the injury-plagued forward’s offseason conditioning work.

That scene back in August symbolised a substantive change Williamson made in an effort to come back healthy after playing in just 29 games last season because of a hamstring injury. No longer was the 2019 No. 1 overall draft pick spending offseasons away from New Orleans, doing his own thing.

“I wanted change,” Williamson said. “If I wanted to change, I’ve got to do something different. So, I sat down with the Pels and came up with a great plan.”

Williamson is among a handful of promising young NBA players aiming to become successful comeback stories this NBA season — from Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball, to Detroit’s Cade Cunningham and Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren.

“Those guys can change your organisation. They’re impact players,” Pelicans

coach Willie Green said.

“So, when you’re missing them, you’re trying to figure out how to make adjustments, generate offence, the style that you want to play. But when you have them and your team is whole ... it gives you a glimpse of what the possibilities are.

“A big part of it is staying healthy, being on the floor,” Green added. “Hopefully, all of those guys do. It’s better for the NBA.” Williamson is entering the first year of a five-year contract extension he signed in July 2022 that could pay him more than $200 million if he remains fit and produces as hoped.

His potential to be a dynamic, high-scoring force has been evident when he’s played. He’s averaged about 26 points and seven rebounds.

His combination of explosiveness, vertical leap and ball-handling is unusual for a player of his listed size: 6-foot-6, 285 pounds. That’s one reason he’s captured basketball fans’ imagination since his high school days in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and through his lone college season at Duke.

Fans in New Orleans celebrated in the streets when Williamson was drafted, but haven’t gotten to see him play much in person. Williamson has played in 114 total games in his first four NBA seasons — 61 during

PELICANS forward Zion Williamson (1) goes to the basket to slam dunk over Magic centre Moritz Wagner in the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game in New Orleans on October 10.

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) the pandemic-affected 2020-21 season, when arena crowds were limited to just a few thousand per game.

He played 24 games as a rookie — mostly because of a preseason right knee injury — and missed all his third pro season because of a fractured right foot.

This past offseason, Williamson said he “stayed in New Orleans for a big part of the summer, working with the Pels, being on the same page with them,” and “really just locking in to every aspect of my body.”

He made it through the preseason healthy, periodically providing promising, above-the-rim highlights, and is slated to play in the

Pelicans’ regular season opener in Memphis tonight.

LAMELO BALL The Hornets’ star point guard played in just 36 games last season because of ankle problems, including a fracture in February that sidelined him the rest of the way. He’s back now, albeit in ankle braces.

Ball was among the more productive point guards in the league when he played last season, averaging 23.3 points and 8.4 assists per game. The Hornets averaged 6.8 more points per 100 possessions with Ball on the court.

Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said the Hornets simply can’t win without

the 2022 All-Star, who was also the NBA’s third overall draft choice in 2020.

“I think that he is ready to take a step,” Clifford said. “When you actually sit in the summer where you can go slower and watch, he was making really good progress in a lot of ways.”

CADE CUNNINGHAM Drafted first overall out of Oklahoma State in 2021, the point guard was limited to 12 games last season by a stress fracture in his left leg.

But Cunningham proclaimed himself “100%” when Pistons training camp began.

Before that, USA Basketball chose Cunningham to join its select team to

practice and scrimmage against its World Cup team.

“You saw glimpses of how good he is, and also forecast how good he can be, at the USA deal this summer,” first-year Pistons coach Monty Williams said.

Now Cunningham aims to build upon his first pro season, when he averaged 17.4 points, 5.6 assists and 5.5 rebounds — and was unanimously voted to the NBA All-Rookie first team.

CHET HOLMGREN Drafted second overall out of Gonzaga in 2022, Holmgren missed his entire rookie season with a lisfranc injury in his right foot.

Now he says he’s as ready as he can be to join a team that made last season’s Western Conference playin without him.

When his injury occurred, Holmgren said he was determined not to let “this one bad thing spiral into many bad things and let it accumulate to one big, bad situation.”

This offseason, he was well enough to join Cunningham on USA Basketball’s select team.

“I didn’t want to shy away from opportunities to play against good players,” Holmgren said. “I feel like I did a really good job this summer of really calculating where I was playing and the situations and the settings — but still going out and really chasing the competition and opportunity to get better.”

PAGE 14, Wednesday, October 25, 2023

THE TRIBUNE

THE UNITED States team celebrates with their gold medals on the podium of the men’s 3x3 basketball at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, on Monday.

(AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

‘Jimmermania’ lives on with US gold in 3x3 basketball at the Pan Am Games

By MAURICIO SAVARESE AP Sports Writer SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Jimmer Fredette, a different kind of basketball globetrotter, continues to draw attention even far from the NBA. At age 34, the three-point shot master led the United States 3x3 team to a gold medal at the Pan American Games in Santiago on Monday and started setting his mind to the Paris Olympics.

The few thousand locals watching the US team play host Chile in the men’s final were not too keen on “Jimmermania” at the start, but their hearts eventually softened for Fredette and his teammates.

In his NBA days, he played for Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento Kings, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns. The American team of Fredette, Kareem Maddox and Canyon Barry won 21-15.

Point guard Fredette transitioned over a year ago to the half-court Olympic event, which had its debut in Tokyo with no US team on the court. Since he embraced 3x3 basketball, the player from Glen Falls, New York, set his sights on the first American gold medal in Paris in the sport that reminds him of his childhood.

“I played with my brother, we were always shooting baskets, I was always dribbling on the side.

This is a bit like that, too,” Fredette told journalists in Santiago after his team’s victory. “I learned to play basketball in the streets, in the parks. It is a bit of full circle to win in 3x3.”

When Fredette finished high school, he received offers from 12 schools. He picked Brigham Young University, where he stood out as a scorer, became a college basketball star and a 3-point shooter respected by his peers. Jimmermania appeared after a victory against San Diego State, in which he scored 43 points. From then on, fans carried signs saying teams he scored against had been “Jimmered.”

The No. 10 pick of the 2011 NBA draft did not succeed as much in the professional league, but in Santiago he sounded calm about that.

“I am here now,” Fredette said.

Fredette left the NBA in 2016 to play for China’s Shanghai Sharks and stayed for three years. After a brief time with the Suns, he joined Panathinaikos in Greece between 2019-2020. He has been out of a contract since he left his old team in China after the 2020-2021 season.

“I just love the Olympics, I watch it all. Getting there with these guys would be a massive thing,” Fredette said. He is already dreaming of a rematch against Serbia, who defeated the US at this year’s 3x3 world cup final in Vienna.

“This gold does serve as a booster,” he said.

PAN AM GAMES START IN DISARRAY WITH CLEANERS STILL WORKING AROUND THE NATIONAL STADIUM FROM PAGE 16 Mexican fan Luis Miguel Cruz, a 56-year-old engineer, attended the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara and has been disappointed by the lack of organisation this year in the Andean nation.

“I am a bit frustrated. It was hard to get here from downtown, I didn’t know where to get the right subway. I didn’t know which entry to use here and neither did the first volunteer I found,” Cruz told the AP as he ate a hot dog from a food truck at the National Stadium.

“In Guadalajara, the food truck was exceptional, there were many places to sit, a lot of variety. Here it is small, few seats, too.”

Security has also been a concern as the Chilean capital faces a wave of criminality that has worried locals.

Many drivers have entered the National Stadium compound in recent days without having their cars checked by event security. That happened on Friday and Saturday during the visit of International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.

Yesterday, more people waited for bag checks at different gates of the compound than in previous days, despite an apparently smaller amount of people attending events.

The athletes village has also faced problems, as it does at many Pan American Games.

JONATHAN KULOW, of the United States, David Curtiss of the United States and The Bahamas’ Lamar Taylor pose on the podium of the men’s 50-metres freestyle at the Pan American Games yesterday.

(AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

20-year-old swimmer Lamar Taylor breaks his national record in 50 free, secures bronze at Pan Am Games FROM PAGE 16 has nine swimmers, five track and field athletes, a trio of tennis players, one sailor, golfer and wrestler.

Over 6,800 athletes from 41 countries are vying for a chance to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

The event will conclude on November 5.

Some have complained about a lack of hot water in their showers and long lines to eat.

Last week, more than 1,300 keys to bedrooms in the athletes village were not properly identified. They had to be tested one by one, which stalled the arrival of several competitors.

Local media reported last week that that leaks at the athletes village forced members of several members of the United States, Brazil and Argentina delegations to momentarily move into a hotel.

Pan American Games organisers did not respond a request for comment from the AP. Some of the problems found by athletes in recent days were expected long before the games.

Colombian diver Mariana Osorio said the distance between the athletes village and the aquatics centre was excessive.

“It took us an hour to get there. Sometimes you arrive with back pains and you’re just going there to compete,” Osorio said.

“It is not ideal.”

Organisers have managed to avert the most serious risk to the games so far, though.

A broken water pump could have left Santiago’s pool halfempty, but it was fixed in time.

Now the race is on to get everything ready for track and field, which starts on Sunday.

Shortly before opening the games, Chilean President Gabriel Boric told journalists “there might be some bumps (in

the games), but we are doing all the work so this is impeccable.”

“One can always find inconveniencies,” he added. “Our government is available so these are sorted. May all the difficulties be brief so sportspeople and fans can watch with comfort.”

After two days of competitions, Chilean Sports Minister Jaime Pizarro told journalists at the National Stadium compound he believes the games are going smoothly. He also didn’t rule out bidding for the Olympics in the future.

“If there’s one thing that is important in life it is to always dream,” Pizarro said after being asked about an Olympic bid.

“We have to live intensively what we are living now. That this can help us for the future, I have no doubt.”

Augustina Avalle, a 42-yearold Chilean fan, doesn’t think Santiago should even consider bidding for the Olympics based on its hosting of the Pan American Games.

But she doesn’t think the problems seen this weekend will affect the games overall.

“It is clean and comfortable inside the venues, and that’s what I care about more,” said Avalle, who was wearing a Chile national team shirt as she watched women’s gymnastics.

“I was at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. I know that some of these issues here you can’t see at Olympics, but this is the Pan American Games.”

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, October 25, 2023, PAGE 15

WHO WILL WIN? NOMINEES ROLL IN FOR NATIONAL SPORTS AWARDS FROM PAGE 16 basketball team, men’s national beach soccer team and the Bahamas Special Olympics team.

The Community Sports Award will be presented to a programme that uses sports to make an impact in the community by helping to develop athletes or bringing citizens together.

This year’s nominees are the Jazz Chisholm Foundation, Island Luck Cares Foundation, Peace on Da Streets Organisation, One Eleuthera Foundation and the Buddy Hield Foundation.

Other awards to be presented are junior and senior high school student athlete (male and female), Family Island student athlete, collegiate athlete of the year, national secondary athletic school of the year (junior and senior), community sports award, Family Island Sports Council of the Year, youth national team of the year, national coach of the year, federation of the year, tourism impact award, Bahamas Olympic Committee

This year’s nominees are the Jazz Chisholm Foundation, Island Luck Cares Foundation, Peace on Da Streets Organisation, One Eleuthera Foundation and the Buddy Hield Foundation (BOC) award, Leevan Sands Courage, athlete of the year with disability (male and female), national sportsmanship, and the Minister of Sports- for excellence.

Federations provided a pool of nominees for the above mentioned awards.

The nominations for the remaining categories are expected to be released by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture in the upcoming days.

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2023

Regatta, page 13

Lamar Taylor wins bronze in 50 free

By TENAJH SWEETING Tribune Sports Reporter tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

N

ational record holder Lamar Taylor brought home the first medal for The Bahamas yesterday at the 19th Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.

The 20-year-old once again turned in a top performance and not only earned a bronze medal but also set a new personal best and national record in the men’s 50 metres freestyle at the Centro Acuàtico in Ñuñoa, Chile.

After Monday’s performance in the men’s 100m backstroke, Taylor was in top form in the pool at the Pan Am Games.

He booked his trip to the finals when he secured one of the top three positions in the men’s 50m freestyle (heat four) with a time of 22.48 seconds.

The Henderson State University student powered his way to the wall and stopped the clock in a swift 22.13 seconds in the finals.

The 20-year-old smashed his previous personal best and national record of 22.26 seconds achieved in July at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

Overall, he finished ranked third out of 16 competitors in the aquatics event.

Thanks to the strong performance from Taylor in the short-distance event, The Bahamas has already matched their medal total from the 2019 Pan American Games with one.

Victoria Russell also competed yesterday at the Pan Am Games. She placed sixth in the women’s 50m freestyle with a time of 27.54 seconds.

The 23-year-old ended ranked 29th out of 34

20-year-old swimmer breaks his own national record in the process BAHAMAS MATCHES ITS MEDAL TOTAL IN 2019 PAN AM GAMES competitors in the event.

Competition continues today for the swimmers.

Emmanuel Gadson is all set for the men’s 200m individual medley heats.

Jack Barr will join him in competition today in the men’s 1,500m freestyle.

Zaylie Thompson will also perform in the women’s 200m individual medley.

The tennis sporting discipline picks back up today for doubles matchups.

The duo of Sydney Clarke and Justin Roberts will team up against Paraguay’s Leyla Britez and Martin Vergara at Centro Deportivo de Tenis.

The Bahamas Olympic Committee (BOC) selected a 20-member team to represent the country at the Pan Am Games.

The members are competing in six sporting disciplines - sailing, tennis, swimming, athletics, golf and wrestling. The team

SEE PAGE 14

MEDAL GLORY: Lamar Taylor, of The Bahamas, poses with the bronze medal on the podium of men’s 50-metres freestyle at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, October 24, 2023.

(AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

NOMINEES ROLL IN FOR THE NATIONAL SPORTS AWARDS

By TENAJH SWEETING Tribune Sports Reporter tsweeting@tribunemedia.net THE National Sports Awards is less than two weeks away and the names of the top nominees have started to roll in.

The sports presentation is scheduled to take place on the front lawn of the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium at 6:30pm on Saturday, November 4.

Three out of the 26 categories to be awarded have been revealed and more of the names will be unveiled as the week progresses.

With the sporting year winding down for the majority of the disciplines, it is now the time for athletes and sporting organisations to receive their flowers.

The nominations for the Prime Minister’s Cup award are in. The category considers athletes who put the country first and display elements of national pride in their athletic abilities.

The individual not only figuratively wears the national flag in their hearts, but also encourages teammates and fellow Bahamians to follow suit.

Hurdler Devynne Charlton was nominated from the Athletics sporting discipline.

Other candidates include tennis players Justin Roberts and Marvin Rolle, Miami Marlins star Jasrado “Jazz” Chisholm Jr, Indiana Pacers shooting guard Chavano “Buddy” Hield, former WNBA MVP Jonquel “JJ” Jones, equestrian Anna Camille Vlasov and bodybuilder Terrion Kemp.

The next category up for grabs will be the National Team of the Year Award.

The national teams had strong showings across the various sporting disciplines all year.

The award will go to the team that had the most outstanding performances and achievements during the 2022-2023 sporting season.

Nominees will feature the CARIFTA swim team, CARIFTA track and field team, men’s national

SEE PAGE 15

Pan Am Games start in disarray with cleaners still working around the National Stadium

By MAURICIO SAVARESE AP Sports Writer SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Workers and volunteers at the Pan American Games were still removing bricks, pieces of wood and construction machinery from outside competition venues on Tuesday, the fourth day of the largest multi-sport event in the region.

Construction material is scattered around many of the entrances to the National Stadium compound, where six venues are set to stage 30 events at the Pan American Games in Santiago.

Chile is hosting the Olympic-style event for the first time and public officials have invested $507 million in the area.

PEOPLE are reflected on a puddle as they walk in the National Stadium compound during the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, on Saturday.

(AP Photo/Matias Basualdo) Near the stadium’s main of wood were untouched entrance, dozens of empty between Friday, the day of boxes, crates and pieces the opening ceremony, and

Saturday. Some of those leftovers are linked to the last-minute installation of rootless trees, two volunteers told The Associated Press.

The volunteers spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

One of the workers continued cleaning and picking up trash while two local policemen dressed in green, known as carabineros, watched from one of the entrances to the compound.

A lack of volunteers and signage around Pan American Games venues has left many fans struggling to find their way to and around the National Stadium area.

SEE PAGE 14