EDITORIAL: We shouldn’t hide from our economic problems
WHEN Dr Duane Sands gave his assessment of how many more people need to get vaccinated to benefit the nation – a number very different from that given by his successor as Health Minister – we saluted him for being a plain talker.
STATESIDE: Putin won’t find Biden as easy to handle - but don’t expect it to make any difference
US President Joe Biden, who has been in office for five months, is now busy preparing for his first summit meeting with Vladimir Putin next week. Putin has been President of Russia for 18 of the past 22 years and was only nominally out of the office for those missing four years.
FRONT PORCH: Remembering the legacy of those who really fought for our future
In the last election, the Free National Movement (FNM) presented a slate of many new candidates and got most of them elected, negating the specious argument that new political parties are needed to get new blood in Parliament.
We must work together to fight a political virus
WHEN China reported cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology to the China office of the World Health Organisation on December 31, 2019, little did the world anticipate that a deadly pandemic unseen in a century was in the making.
Smith: Bannister comments on court are ‘scandalous’
ATTORNEY and activist Fred Smith has come out hard against a Cabinet minister’s criticism of a Supreme Court’s ban on demolishing shanty towns in Abaco pending the outcome of a judicial review, saying the remarks were “scandalous”.
COVID rule fines bring in $1m
VIOLATORS of COVID-19 rules have paid the government $1,020,550 in fines, according to National Security Minister Marvin Dames.
Less than three million vaccinated across Caribbean
AS BAHAMIAN officials urge vaccination to push the country towards herd immunity, a Pan American Health Organization official revealed that less than three million of the Caribbean’s population has been vaccinated against the deadly COVID-19 virus.
Two more virus deaths
TWO more people have died from COVID-19, pushing the nation’s death count to 234.
‘We’re emerging from third wave’
AMID a decline of positive COVID-19 cases in the country, former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands says it appears the nation is “starting to come out” of its third wave of COVID-19, adding he hopes virus numbers continue to trend downward.
Criminal records of 28 expunged - with 85 pending
NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames said the Bahamas Rehabilitation of Offenders Committee has expunged the criminal records of 28 people to date, with 85 applications pending.
AG’s Office in ‘inexcusable’ blunder on $1.5m freeze
An “inexcusable” blunder by the Attorney General’s Office and its US counterparts has resulted in the Court of Appeal refusing to refreeze the alleged $1.5m proceeds from an international fraud.
Cruise port chief eyes health visa efficiency gains
Nassau Cruise Port’s top executive says “there is an opportunity to create greater efficiencies” with the COVID-19 related health questionnaires and documents that cruise passengers must complete.
$2bn pension liability ‘blows everything up’
An ex-Cabinet minister yesterday warned “we blow everything up” if an estimated $2bn in unfunded civil service pension liabilities is added to the national debt, adding: “We never thought judgment day would come.”
Bahamas ‘can’t lose sight’ of real G7 goal
The Bahamas “cannot lose sight of the fact” that G-7 members and other high-tax European states want “to wipe out” international financial centres (IFC) such as this nation, a prominent accountant warned yesterday.
Airline pricing causes tourist ‘deterrent’ fear
The Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president yesterday voiced concerns that high airline ticket prices, especially at peak weekends and holidays, “could be a deterrent” for travel to this nation.
Murders up by 52%
MURDERS and armed robberies jumped by 52 percent and 42 percent this year compared to the same period last year, National Security Minister Marvin Dames said yesterday.
Sexist to Lanisha? Not by us
DIRECTOR of Sports Tim Munnings has denied any suggestion of sexism towards former Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Lanisha Rolle from sports officials, saying it is not a practice at that ministry.
‘Adriana was never here - she drowned’
IMMIGRATION officials have denied detaining a Cuban woman after the boat she was on capsized in Bahamian waters three months ago, believing her to have died onboard the vessel along with several others.
FACTS ON DEBT: Sands warns painful tax reforms can no longer be avoided
ELIZABETH MP Dr Duane Sands said yesterday the country will have to adopt serious changes in the years ahead in response to the nation’s worsening debt crisis, noting an income tax system may even have to be implemented.
