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In a brief communication to the House of Assembly on Wednesday, following the New York indictment of senior officers of the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Defense Force, Prime Minister Philip Davis said the people responsible will be held accountable in a ‘swift and decisive move’ by his government.

What Prime Minister Davis said

Prime Minister Philip Davis said, “The misconduct of a few must not and will not define The Bahamas.

“Let there be no doubt, the Bahamian people deserve accountability for every act of betrayal committed during this time. The tree will be shaken until every bad apple falls.

“To those who believe they can outsmart the systems of justice and intelligence, let this serve as a clear and stern warning: the days of operating in the shadows are over. You will be found, and you will be held accountable,” Davis said before the House was quickly suspended and Opposition Leader Michael Pintard was denied from speaking.

Why it matters

The Royal Bahamas Police Force, plagued with corrupt allegations was once again hit with damnable allegations when a senior member of its organization Chief Superintendent Elvis Curtis, and Sergeant Prince Symonette, along with Chief Petty Officer Darren Roker of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force were three of thirteen men charged in the United States with conspiracy to transport cocaine to the United States from South America, firearms use, and carrying and possession of firearms conspiracy.

Curtis has implicated an unnamed politician, claiming the operation was authorized for $2 million.

The big picture

Curtis is in charge of the Lynden Pindling Airport Division of the Royal Bahamas Police Force and is accused of accepting bribes from traffickers to facilitate the transportation of cocaine while “providing safe passage for the traffickers and their cocaine loads through the Nassau Airport and elsewhere in the Bahamas.”

Sergeant Prince Symonette of the Royal Bahamas Police Force is accused of working with Curtis and traffickers to transport the drug by air and sea while accepting bribes “for streamlining customs clearance for aircraft,” receiving bribery money of $10,000 as a down payment.

Roker allegedly received $10,000 in bribery money as a down payment to alert traffickers about sensitive operations by the US Coast Guard and OPBAT to avoid capture.

Curtis and Symonette reportedly “planned a trip to the United States to receive approximately $1.5m in US currency, which would represent an advanced payment on an agreed-upon at least approximately 500-kilogram load of cocaine to be imported through The Bahamas into the United States.”

State of play

The indictment labels Bahamian government officials as ‘corrupt,’ which affects the Bahamas reputation and its dealings with the US. Thus, Davis said he will meet with the Charge d’Affaires of the United States Embassy today to discuss the indictment and “reaffirm our government’s commitment to full cooperation in uncovering the truth and dismantling these criminal networks.”

Driving the news

Curtis and Roker were apprehended in Florida but will stand trial in New York.

“The government of The Bahamas will act decisively to ensure that those responsible for these breaches, regardless of rank or position, are held accountable. This betrayal will not go unanswered,” Davis said.

“In light of these serious allegations, I want to assure this House and the Bahamian people that my government will act swiftly and decisively. We will engage with our U.S. partners and assist fully in this investigation.

“The defendants will have their day in court, where the guilt or innocence of each will be established. But we cannot wait – and we will not wait – for the outcomes of court proceedings in the United States.”

Featured Image: Tribune

The family of the missing Chicago woman is expressing new concerns after being told that an unidentified man wandered onto the property where Taylor Casey stayed before she mysteriously disappeared.

Taylor’s mother Collette Seymore said the Royal Bahamas Police Force failed to inform her of an encounter the unknown man had with participants of the center, but it was revealed by the lead manager of the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat, who said he (the manager) had given his statements to the local authorities.

According to reports, the Monday before Casey’s disappearance, an unknown man with a walkie-talkie was seen walking the platform where Taylor’s tent was located.

“When the man saw an employee, he went in another direction and walked off of the property,” Seymore said, recounting the story as told to her.

See OTHER News: ‘She was a brilliant woman’: Friends grieve American woman struck by a boat

On the day Taylor disappeared, a man approached a yoga participant while she was sitting alone on the beach, according to Seymore. The man reportedly walked from the direction of the Atlantis Resort and approached her.

The man wore all black with a Celtics baseball cap, claiming to be from Chicago, and expressed interest in taking a yoga class. He proceeded to follow her onto the property, according to Seymore.

“It’s strange.”

Seymore who arrived last week Wednesday, has since left the Bahamas after meeting with the officials of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

“I had to come home (Chicago) without my child. We need answers,” she told Brian Entin on Banfield NewsNation.

The 41-year-old’s phone pinged in waters and retrieved some “56 feet out,” the mother said.

Amber Shearer and Dongayla Dobson, 31, the two American women who accused two Bahamian male staff members of a local hotel in Grand Bahama, of drugging and raping them, are sticking to their story though CCTV footage seems to prove otherwise.

The footage from surveillance cameras shows Shearer and Dobson posing for a selfie with the accused men before the reported rape, then ambling off into the distance to a secluded spot where they claimed the ordeal took place.

They return on camera forty minutes later from the secluded spot, walk up the beach but does not alarm beachgoers that they were raped. They go to a bathroom and meet a nurse who claims the women had bruises on their legs from the alleged ordeal.

The women are both back in the United States with an attorney after making the egregious claims, appearing on US media castigating law enforcement in the Bahamas for how they were reportedly treated after the ‘ordeal’.

The Bahamian men–Warren Adderley 40, and Spencer Parker 54, accused of rape were released from police custody pending further investigations. Further, Pirate’s Cove and Carnival Cruise Line have refuted the women’s claims after camera footage conflicted with their allegations.

Though the men have not publicly spoken on the matter after their termination from Pirate’s Cove, Parker wished to speak to DailyMail but was advised by an attorney to remain silent on the matter and await the conclusion of the investigation. Family members of the men, though, insisted it was consensual sex.

The FBI Bureau in the Bahamas is assisting local authorities.

Here is a timestamp of the events that unfolded

Images were obtained by the DailyMail.

A tight shot of Shearer and Adderley walking arm-in-arm to a secluded area off the beach around 10:09 am.

The two women holding hands together, appear 40 minutes later, returning to the beach without Adderley. At one point, Shearer (in the peach swimsuit) appears to be extending her arm to take a selfie with her friend.

Another image shows the two women holding hands together after the reported rape, taking another selfie.

The beach at Pirates Cove where Amber Shearer and Dongayla Dobson say Warren Adderley and Spencer Parker sexually assaulted them

The pair returned to the sand and went inside a restroom where, moments later, they indicated to a female attendant that they felt unwell and claimed to have been drugged. They were assisted by a nurse who was also a passenger on the cruise. They then reported the matter to the hotel manager.

The two women met the two resort workers at Pirates Cove Zipline & Waterpark when their Carnival ship docked in Grand Bahama on February 4.

In interviews with US media, the tearful friends said their four-day cruise turned into a nightmare when Adderley and Parker offered them a two-for-one deal on the resort’s signature cocktails, which are mixed in front of guests and served from coconut shells and hollowed-out pineapples. According to the women, their drinks were spiked.

The two women followed Parker offsite to a secluded patch of woodland (pictured) –  beyond the range of the resort’s cameras – where things took a shocking turn, according to the women.

Pirate’s Cove Beach Getaway package offers an array of activities which Carnival Cruise sells for $57, Carnival released a statement insisting Shearer and Dobson were on an ‘independent shore excursion’.

The women appear distraught in US television interviews, describing the ordeal.

Cruise ship passenger Brittanie Crippin was on board the ill-fated ferry boat on Tuesday as it sunk in waters near Paradise Island off Blue Lagoon Island.

Mourning the 75-year-old woman killed during the mishap, Crippin said the captain and crew of the snorkeling vessel operated by Blue Lagoon, seemed clueless.

“The captain and crew had no idea what to do. The captain was laughing as it sank, gave no instructions [on] what to do, the crew didn’t help at all,” she lamented.

Video circulating social media shows a crowded boat as passengers congregate on one side of the vessel attempting to level the craft as the other side descends deeper into the water.

“Our boat is sinking,” one woman who says she was on the top floor of the double-decker, calmly states as other passengers scream. They are all adorned with life vests and some jump into the water as it sinks further.

“Oh sh—t,” one passenger yells.

The boat of 100 passengers left the ferry dock at 9:30 am for Blue Lagoon Island, but half an hour later, it ran into trouble in the rough seas and began to take on water.

Crippin said the weather was good despite reports of bad weather on Tuesday. “Everyone was crying and screaming for help.

“Wild times in the Bahamas.

“There were lots of life vests aboard. No one had life vest on until it started to sink.”

Chad Schissel, another passenger believed the captain turned too quickly and the waves capsized the boat. “The crew freaked out more than the passengers. [They] must have been trained very well,” he said sarcastically.”

Kissy Schissel added that “the wave hit the front of the boat and sunk us under.”

The boat remained partially submerged since the water depth was reportedly only 20 feet deep.

Jamie Diliberto, a Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas passenger, said the victim was a fellow passenger. He could not contain his emotions, “I am crying.”

Passengers were later rescued by the Royal Bahamas Defense Force, Blue Lagoon, and other vessels in the area.

The victim was visiting on a five-day cruise from Colorado. The Bahamas was her second stop. The exact cause of death remains unknown.

The featured picture shows Kissy Schissel after the ordeal.

Since search and rescue efforts failed to locate Cameron Robbins, the American high school graduate who reportedly jumped into Bahamian waters last week while on vacation, theories have swirled this week that the teen was possibly killed by a shark.

Sharks are common sightings in Bahamian waters though attacks are infrequent. And the waters near Anthol Island are reported to be ‘infested’ with the marine predators.

The Black Beard’s Revenge party boat in which Robbins was a passenger, was in the area of Anthol Island, near Paradise Island, when the 18-year-old reportedly lept overboard on a dare, in just trunks and without a floating device.

In a newly released video, passengers panicked as he swam in the dark ocean, and some are urging him to hold onto a floating device in the water, but he swims in another direction. This puzzled many viewers and some point to an object or shape in the water that resembles a shark. This, many say, could be a reasonable cause for Robbins’ decision to swim away from the boat when he was being encouraged to swim closer.

Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Raymond King, whose organization led the search and rescue mission alongside US Coast Guards before efforts were suspended, said, “I can tell you that area where an individual (Cameron Robbins) reportedly jumped over, it’s an area that is really shark-infested as well. It is so unfortunate but I don’t want the family to lose hope.”

tHEKing presumes Robbins is dead, further stating that “the probability of survival decreases significantly particularly if a person did not have on a life vest and particularly if a person is perceived to be intoxicated.”

In 2017, American citizen Tiffany Johnson was snorkelling in waters near Anthol Island and lost her arm when a tiger shark attacked. And, in 2022, Caroline DiPlacido was on vacation and snorkelling near Green Cay which is 2 miles west of Anthol Island, when she was killed by a bull shark.

It has been a week since Robbins went missing without a trace and his family who helped search, has since returned to Baton Rouge, Louisianna.

A recent high school graduate who took a celebration trip to the Bahamas with friends is missing after he went overboard on Wednesday night.

Cameron Robins, 18, was on a vessel near Athol Island, an uninhabited island near Paradise Island,  when he “reportedly jumped overboard” around 9:40 pm.

What is the status of the investigation?

The Royal Bahamas Defense Force is leading the search to find Robbins who reportedly lept in the water on a dare, according to reports. A video in circulation reportedly shows the teen swimming in the dark waters alongside the boat, but he mysteriously disappeared underwater.

US Coast Guards in a Twitter post said it is assisting the RBDF and the Royal Bahamas Police Force in finding the US citizen.

The coast guards are providing air assistance in the desperate search and rescue mission.

As of Thursday night, he was still not found as friends led a vigil at the school he recently graduated from, University Laboratory School in Baton Rouge, Lousiana.

Friends said a US senator is arranging for more helicopters to join the search.

Who is Cameron Robbins?

Robbins is described as a baseball athlete and a “special kid”  who started his education at the school when he was 5 years old.

“Just one of those kids that you’re so proud of once they cross the stage,” said the Director of the Laboratory School Kevin George, who watched Robbins walk across the stage on Sunday.

“He’s an athlete, great kid, great smile, great head of hair.”

The school’s baseball coach Justin Morgan said Robbins was loved by everyone.

“He was a fierce competitor on the baseball field. He is a hard worker both on and off of the field.”

In a statement to Insider, George said the school is praying for the best possible outcome.

“I have been in touch with Cameron’s family and at this time, authorities are still searching for him in the Bahamas,” George said. “Our thoughts are with the Robbins family, and we ask that you keep them in your thoughts as well.”

The trip was not sanctioned by the school. But 10-15 students from the Laboratory School and several from high schools in the Baton Rouge area accompanied Robbins on the trip. The group stayed at Atlantis Resort.

Robbin’s parents arrived in the Bahamas on Thursday afternoon.

Associated Press: The Supreme Court has ended the nation’s constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place for nearly 50 years in a decision by its conservative majority to overturn Roe v. Wade. Friday’s outcome is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.

The decision, unthinkable just a few years ago, was the culmination of decades of efforts by abortion opponents, made possible by an emboldened right side of the court that has been fortified by three appointees of former President Donald Trump.

Both sides predicted the fight over abortion would continue, in state capitals and in Washington, and Justice Clarence Thomas, part of Friday’s majority, called on the court to overturn other high court rulings protecting same-sex marriage, gay sex and the use of contraceptives.

West Virginia’s lone clinic performing abortions stopped after Friday’s decision.

The ruling came more than a month after the stunning leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito indicating the court was prepared to take this momentous step.

It puts the court at odds with a majority of Americans who favored preserving Roe, according to opinion polls.

Source: Associated Press

More than one hundred leaders around the world, including the country’s Prime Minister Philip Davis, gathered in Glasglow, Scotland to fight climate change and address the increase in greenhouse gases which according to experts, are having an adverse effect on small island nations like the Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica, where hurricanes are intensifying in frequency and strength.

Leaders like US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson are agitating for countries to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions. However, one cannot help but notice that these leaders and dignitaries are increasing the usage of these gases and can be accused of not practicing what they preach.

Fox News has dubbed the conference, “gas-guzzling get-together.”

Biden arrived in Glasgow in a 21-vehicle motorcade, including 4 planes and a Marine One helicopter, leaving behind his carbon footprint, which contributes to climate change. His arrival in Scotland follows his stay in Rome where an 85-vehicle motorcade accompanied him while releasing tonnes of fumes in the air.

Yet, he preached from the stage in Glasglow, “…No more time to hang back or sit on the fence or argue among ourselves.”

The British press counted more than 400 private jets that are not climate-friendly which huddled on the runway carrying dignitaries and celebrities to Glasgow. Some used limousines, using tonnes of carbon dioxide.

“Conservative predictions suggest the fleet of private jets arriving for COP26 will blast out 13,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in total — equivalent to the amount consumed by more than 1,600 Britons in a year,” the British newspaper the Daily Mail reported.

One individual uses only 8 tonnes of carbon dioxide in one year.

The British Royal Family was also present preaching for countries to do more to combat climate change and Queen Elizabeth delivered a speech by video, “Time for words, have moved to a time for action,” she said.

But her family burns 3,810 tonnes per year, according to reports. This indicates that they are a part of the problem.

The world’s richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was also present advocating that “we must all stand together to protect our world.”

Critics have lambasted him for failing to implement green policies at Amazon, and his journey into space this year, has chalked up a significant amount of fossil fuels.

World leaders have failed to deliver on climate change as the summit has had 25 other summits without solutions to the climate change problem.

They seem not to have the solution to keep the planet from heating up above 1.5 degrees Celsius.

China, was not present at the summit even though it produces the greatest amount of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

At the summit, leaders are praised for their lofty statements and rhetoric but if climate change is real, the small island nations will continue to suffer at the hands of richer nations until concrete proposals are presented and world leaders practice what they preach.

The first shipment of Pfizer will arrive in the country on Thursday.

397,000 doses were donated to the Bahamas by the US government and are a part of nearly 837,000 doses delivered to Caribbean countries.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis announced in the House of Assembly on Wednesday that the country will receive 128,700 doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Thursday.

The vaccines are due to arrive by flight at 1:30pm tomorrow.

“Along with the doses we will receive tomorrow, the vaccine supplies we already received, and other doses on the way, over the next weeks and months we will have the capacity to vaccinate all Bahamians and residents who wish to receive the vaccine,” said Minnis

“Our vaccine supply will allow us to give a significant percentage of our population protection. This will in time lessen the likelihood that we will have large-scale surges that cause extremely high hospitalizations.”

Minnis noted that the Pfizer vaccine will be available to adults and to 12- to 17-year-olds with the consent of a parent or guardian.

Minnis thanked the US Government for the generous donation, including the assistance of the US Embassy in Nassau, and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), for facilitating the donation.

The Associated Press and CNN have announced Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States as he surpassed the 270 electoral votes, the number required to win.

Why it matters

The 78-year-old will be the oldest president of the United States, but President Donald Trump says the election is far from over as he challenges the election in court amid allegations of election fraud.

What Joe Biden says

• Biden in a press statement on Saturday stated, “I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris.”
• He has campaigned as a unifier as the USA appears divided over race and the handling of the coronavirus. He said, “The voters made it clear, they want the country to come together and not pull apart.”

What Donald Trump says

• Trump indicated that he will not concede as he issued a statement saying, “The simple fact is this election is far from over.”

Key Points

• Kamala Harris as vice president is expected to be the first black woman in that role.
• Donald Trump was at a golf club when the news broke that Biden was the projected winner.
• Biden is expected to give a victory speech tonight at 8 pm, as president-elect.
• Biden is coming in as president during COVID-19 and economic challenges.
• Election results are recorded as close as Trump challenges votes in Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
• Trump is arguing discrepancies in vote counts, access to votes and fraud.

Featured image: thenation.com