19 Government interventions are holding down fuel and electricity costs for households, with motorists paying about 50 cents a litre less at the pump than market rates would otherwise dictate, Minister of Energy Business Development and Commerce Kerrie Symmonds has said. The measures, introduced in this year’s Budget, have kept petrol prices below what they would otherwise have been, said the energy minister.  The government continues to absorb 50 per cent of the fuel clause adjustment and cap value added tax (VAT) at 7.5 per cent on the first 250 kilowatt-hours of electricity. Symmonds said: “In the context of shielding consumers, let me say to you that right now, you are paying $4.01 at the petrol pump for gasoline. Ideally, if it weren’t for the budgetary interventions in March, you would be paying $4.57 cents at the petrol pump, and had the technical advisors of the ministry had their way...

32 Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams says a comprehensive public education campaign will be critical to the success of the Human Tissue Transplant Bill, as he sought to reassure Barbadians that the legislation contains robust safeguards against abuse, organ trafficking and unethical transplant practices. Speaking during debate on the proposed legislation in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, Abrahams acknowledged that Barbadians have no established culture of organ donation and that many people remain fearful about donating organs after death. The legislation itself requires a public education programme to help people understand the benefits of transplantation and the safeguards designed to protect donors and recipients, he added. “Because the drafters of this legislation understand that there is a culture shift, it is embedded in the legislation itself. Clause 8; the council shall establish a program to educate the public on A, human tissue transplantation and its uses and benefits, and B,...

0 As efforts intensify to improve literacy levels among youth, a veteran educator has called for greater support for students with learning difficulties, including more specially trained teachers to meet their needs. Founder of the Astra Babb Reading Clinic, Dr Astra Babb, said while teachers receive training to educate the typical learner, many require additional specialised instruction to effectively support students with exceptionalities. As she opened a five-week summer reading programme at the Barbados Community College on Monday, Dr Babb told Barbados TODAY that more must be done to equip teachers with the skills needed to work with children who learn differently. “All the teachers are not trained in how to teach children with autism, really,” she said. “When the teachers go to get trained, they are more or less focused on the typical child at the training institution, but I think I’m hearing now that the Government is putting...

312 Prime Minister Mia Mottley has declared that Barbados has completed its economic rehabilitation and is entering a new phase of tourism-driven growth, marked by a surge in hotel development and a strategic shift branded as “Tourism 3.0”. Mottley made the announcement at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Royalton Vessence resort in Holetown, St James, where she framed the country’s post-crisis recovery as a structured transition from stabilisation to expansion. Royalton Vessence at Holetown St, James “Put simply, if the body is bleeding, stop the bleeding,” she told the audience of investors, officials and industry figures. “When you stop the bleeding, do the transformation, do the operation, and when you finish the operation, get into recuperation, and when you finish recuperating, get into physiotherapy. We are at the point now where we passed the physiotherapy with the opening of this royalty business over the course of the last few...

14 An arrest warrant remains in effect for a man accused of multiple sexual offences against a minor, after he failed to attend court on several occasions. Jeffrey Harcourt Roach, now 60, of Manning Land, Bank Hall, St Michael, is charged with two counts of indecently assaulting a boy by masturbating him sometime between January 1 and 30, 2018; indecently assaulting the boy by performing oral sex on him between January 1 and 30, 2018; attempting to bugger the same boy, a minor under the age of 16, then aged 13, between January 1 and 30, 2018; and procuring the child to have sex with him on January 27, 2018. When the case was previously called in the No. 5 Supreme Court, Roach’s surety had said that he was unaware of the accused’s whereabouts. Justice Pamela Beckles said that Roach has missed several court dates and that a warrant remained...

30 More than 130 boys enrolled in a five-week summer reading programme at the Barbados Community College have been urged to make the most of the opportunity to strengthen their reading and comprehension skills. Founder of the Babb’s Reading Clinic, Dr Astra Babb, also called for greater introspection into the factors contributing to reading challenges in Barbados, particularly among boys. Dr Astra Babb. (Photo Credit: Lourianne Graham) The clinic, established nine years ago to help address literacy challenges among boys, has continued to grow annually. Dr Babb said demand for the programme now exceeds its capacity, with parents continuing to call to register their sons even after the clinic surpassed its intended limit of 100 students. As the summer programme opened at the Barbados Community College auditorium on Monday, Dr Babb said she understood the desperation of parents whose sons continued to struggle academically: “I understand the desperation of some...

245 Despite processing 750 000 transactions worth $1.3 billion within its first month, the BimPay platform is facing operational issues largely attributed to financial institutions, Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados Dr Kevin Greenidge has said, as the regulator moves to enforce stricter standards and protect customers from delays and errors. Dr Greenidge reported a failure rate of 0.2 per cent since the platform went live on June 12, acknowledging ongoing problems including delayed salary payments, difficulties accessing tokens, inconsistent spending limits and transaction delays, despite strong uptake of the new instant payment system. He told journalists: “In the last month, that 0.2 per cent failure represents salaries that did not reach a worker[‘s] account on pay day. It represents pensions that do not reach a pensioner on time, and that is what a failed payment is… Where institutional payments have been failing, we at the Central Bank have...

306 A stepfather who admitted to sexually abusing his stepdaughter more than two decades ago has been given an effective prison term of just over six and a half years, after an 18-year starting sentence was reduced for mitigating factors. The man, whose name was withheld to protect the complainant’s identity, pleaded guilty to a charge of buggery committed between June 1 and June 30, 2001. The court heard that the child was subjected to multiple forms of penetration. Delivering sentence in the No. 5A Supreme Court, Justice Christopher Birch said the man’s conduct was “systematic, degrading and humiliating”, stressing that he had abandoned his fundamental duty to protect the child in his care. “It cannot be denied that the now convicted man, in this case, embarked on a course of action against the complainant that was systematic, degrading and humiliating,” the judge said. “He not only failed in his...

6 Although she found Barbados and Nevis to be culturally similar, Erica said it was the small differences that stood out most. She enjoyed the warmth of Barbadian hospitality, hearing locals say “yes please”.The “Win a Trip to Barbados” competition gave Erica Doras-Pemberton the getaway she had hoped for, having entered with the firm belief she would win. Her faith paid off when the Nevisian and her husband, Winston, were rewarded with a five-night, six-day Barbados escape courtesy of TEMPO Networks, interCaribbean Airways and Divi Southwinds Beach Resort.Drawn from thousands of entries submitted across the Caribbean, the 32-year-old said she was most looking forward to creating new memories in Barbados, an island she had visited once before, while introducing her husband to it for the first time. She also anticipated travelling with interCaribbean Airways, documenting the trip through photos and videos for their children back home, experiencing the resort and...

16 (The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of this publication.) Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well” – Ecclesiastes 11:6 As I look back on eight and a half decades of living, what stands out is not one headline achievement, but the winding, curious path that brought me here. From my secondary school days to today, I have worn many hats: student, cricketer, photographer, scout, biometrician, business consultant, Rotarian, traveler and columnist. At school, friends pinned on me the old label, “jack of all trades, master of none.” For years, that phrase sat heavily. Today, I wear it as a badge of honour. We live in a time that applauds narrow...