Immigration policy must address Bermuda’s historic injustices
Bermuda’s declining birthrate must be seen in the context of historic past injustices based on race.
This from statistician Cordell Riley, who spells out the challenges of growing the population.
Mr. Riley says the way in which declining birthrates and rising death rates reshape economies is a Western phenomenon.
Here in Bermuda, race must be a central part of the conversation, Mr Riley says.
From his quiet home to a shooting spree at school, a Thai teenager’s deadly rampage
By noon, bodies lay strewn at the 14-year-old’s school — five more dead and 23 wounded — before he turned the gun on himself, ending Thailand’s worst mass shooting since 2022
International News via Reuters:
The boy shot his grandparents dead at dawn on Friday in their two-storey house bordering rice fields on the outskirts of Bangkok. Each was killed by a single gunshot to the head, a Thai police official said.
By noon, bodies lay strewn at the 14-year-old’s school — five more dead and 23 wounded — before he turned the gun on himself, ending Thailand’s worst mass shooting since 2022.
Police Colonel Thadsakorn Konthong, superintendent of Bang Bua Thong Police Station, said the boy killed his elderly relatives at around 5 a.m. local time (2200 GMT Thursday).
“The firearm and the bullets belonged to the grandfather,” Thadsakorn told Reuters. “An initial inspection found signs that the firearm had been searched for inside the grandfather’s bedroom.”
The three of them lived together in the house in Bang Bua Thong, surrounded by trees and ringed by a concrete fence in a quiet neighbourhood, a 90-minute drive from central Bangkok.
A canal runs by at the front and an empty plot of land lies behind. In the yard hangs a red and white Nazi flag that police said belonged to the teenager’s uncle.
The whereabouts of the boy’s parents remain unclear.
After shooting his grandparents, the teenager boarded the school van that came to fetch him at home, said Thadsakorn. He carried the gun and dozens of bullets with him.
The Debsirin Nonthaburi School, where the boy studied, lies around 18 km (11 miles) from the house, or a 45-minute drive. Last year, the school had an enrolment of around 3,100 students, taught by 147 teachers, according to district authorities.
His first class began at 8:30 a.m., followed by another at 9:20 a.m.
About half an hour into the boy’s second class of the day he drew out the gun and began shooting again, police estimate.
At 9:57 a.m., the Plai Bang Police Station overseeing the area where the school is located received a phone call about a shooting, an official said.
As the shots rang out, one 18-year-old student initially thought he was hearing fireworks going off, before a teacher told him to evacuate. Some ran out in their socks or bare feet, clutching sheets of paper and mobile phones.
Others took cover under their desks, weeping as they lay on the floor listening to the sound of the firing, according to a video posted on social media and verified by Reuters.
TEACHERS TARGETED
The teenager is believed to have first shot teachers on the sixth floor of the building where he studied, killing three of them, said Police Major General Dejrapee Kongdee, commander of the Nonthaburi Provincial Police.
One was a female Thai language teacher who he shot in the eye, according to a timeline of the incident shared by Thai police. The gunman then appears to have continued down a corridor, shooting at students.
“He then walked down the stairs and encountered the school’s deputy director and the director’s secretary, who were going up the stairs to check on the situation,” Dejrapee told Reuters.
“The attacker shot and killed both of them on the staircase.”
The boy began walking towards another building but appeared to change his route after seeing police arrive, and he fled into a four-storey structure, Dejrapee said.
When he arrived at the school, emergency worker Kiatikhun Verapongpradith, 47, said the scene was chaotic as his team began treating students with wounds to the back, chest and arms.
“We were evaluating the sort of weapons he had,” he said, referring to the gunman. “Therefore, we could not rush inside. The police then took a team with shields up there.”
After evacuating students and teachers from the school, police began clearing the building floor-by-floor, until they found the teenager on the fourth floor, where he had already shot himself, said Dejrapee. The time was around 10:40 a.m.
“He was still alive, so they performed CPR and rushed him to the hospital,” he said.
The 14-year-old died soon after.
In all, he had used at least 26 bullets. Another 34 rounds were found in his possession.
‘STRESSED FROM HIS STUDIES’.
The boy’s motives remain unclear.
“He was stressed from his studies,” Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters after he visited the school, echoing what one police official told Reuters. “His actions were deliberate. From what we saw he had a plan.”
After the Songkran festival in April marking the start of Thailand’s traditional New Year, the teenager had posted a picture of his grandfather’s gun and that the weapon had a permit, Anutin said.
In addition to studying at school in the week, the 14-year-old attended tutoring classes over the weekends and enjoyed playing shooting games at the end of the day until midnight, Dejrapee said.
“The student was described as quiet, not very sociable, and fairly good academically,” he said.
Friday’s rampage has renewed scrutiny of gun regulations in Thailand, Southeast Asia’s largest gun-owning nation with roughly 15 firearms per 100 residents.
Anutin, who tightened gun laws when he was interior minister following a previous mass shooting, said he will propose a new law to restrict the carrying of firearms by the public.
“As much as possible, we have to create an atmosphere of safety,” he said.
Additional reporting by Napat Wesshasartar and Chayut Setboonsarng; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Hugh Lawson
Bermudian firm expands its retail footprint
A Bermudian company is continuing to expand its presence with a new range of feminine-care products now available at CVS.
While Best, Periodt has previously been featured for its menstrual-care products, this latest launch highlights a new chapter for the company as it introduces additional products to a wider retail audience.
Spain plans burials, seeks identities of those killed in Ceuta migrant rush
For the vast majority who won’t be named before then, staff have taken fingerprints and DNA samples and will keep working to connect the bodies with names, and then with relatives
International News via Reuters:
Police and forensic scientists have drafted in extra staff to try to identify the bodies of 80 migrants found after last week’s mass rush into Spain’s Ceuta enclave, as desperate families wait for news of missing loved ones.
Most will be buried in Ceuta in the coming days, officials said.
For the vast majority who won’t be named before then, staff have taken fingerprints and DNA samples and will keep working to connect the bodies with names, and then with relatives.
‘WE HAVE HEARD NOTHING MORE’
The influx and associated fatalities overwhelmed Ceuta’s five-man forensic team, which dealt with just 76 deaths in the whole of last year. Eight extra staff have been drafted in from the mainland and a bigger morgue has been set up at a former military hospital.
“We have faced such a number of victims that it has overwhelmed our operational capacities,” said team director Manuel Aparcero, who was called to certify the deaths of migrants as they were brought onto the beach on July 30.
As his team kept working a week on, families posted messages on social media, watched news reports and kept close to phones, hoping their relatives would finally get in touch.
Jamal Bahloul, 26, said his 22-year-old brother Mohamed, a construction worker, left his home in Tangier and was last in contact on July 30.
“We have heard nothing more,” said Bahloul. “We don’t know whether he is in Ceuta or he died.”
Other relatives are gathering at the Moroccan side of the border to press officials for answers and visit local morgues.
Around 72,000 people illegally entered Ceuta from Morocco in a 24-hour period, according to Spanish estimates.
Autopsies revealed many of the 80 people whose bodies were brought ashore in Spain died from cardiopulmonary arrests — a common feature of drownings, pathologists said.
Just four have been identified through fingerprints already in Spanish databases or through DNA samples, and tests are being run to confirm the identities of another four, according to a statement from a local court issued late on Thursday.
Spanish police have shared the fingerprints of all those who died with the Moroccan authorities, and have opened an office by the border where relatives can file a missing persons report and supply DNA samples.
A total of 19 reports had been filed by Thursday, according to the court statement.
Efforts to identify the migrants are being conducted under a mass accidents protocol that is usually applied to traffic accidents or natural disasters primarily affecting Spaniards, such as the Adamuz rail disaster in January.
Charities have in the past criticised the government’s failure to apply the same measures to incidents involving migrants, such as the 2024 sinking of a migrant boat near the Canary Islands in which 57 people were believed to have died.
All the migrant bodies will be buried in Ceuta in the coming days unless a relative asks for a body already identified to be repatriated, Aparcero said. Bodies can also be later exhumed to be transferred abroad if authorized by a judge.
After the autopsies, forensics teams have been cleaning the bodies in accordance with the Muslim rites, Aparcero added. “We respect their ideology and religion.”
Reporting by Joan Faus in Barcelona, Zakia Abdennebi in Rabat and Jaime Lopez in Ceuta; Additional reporting by Rachael Kennedy, Nahla Ibrahim, Edward James Carron, Ahmed El Jechtimi, Maria Laguna and Magdalini Gkogkou Writing by Joan Faus; Editing by Aislinn Laing and Andrew Heavens
Trump to host mining CEOs as administration seeks minerals for defense supply chains
The White House needs critical minerals to replenish weapons stockpiles depleted during the Iran conflict and reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese supply chains
International News via Reuters:
U.S. President Donald Trump will convene executives from some of the world’s largest mining companies at the State Department on Friday as his administration intensifies efforts to secure domestic and allied supplies of critical minerals, a cornerstone of its national security and industrial policy.
The White House needs critical minerals to replenish weapons stockpiles depleted during the Iran conflict and reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese supply chains.
U.S. forces have burned through large numbers of precision-guided missiles and air-defense interceptors during the five-month-long Iran war. Defense officials and lawmakers have warned that replenishing some inventories could take years given existing production constraints, even as the Trump administration has disputed reports of significant shortages.
Supplies of minerals including rare earths, tungsten, germanium and scandium are essential for manufacturing precision-guided missiles, fighter aircraft, armored vehicles, infrared sensors and other advanced weapons systems, according to Pentagon officials and defense companies.
The White House frequently uses roundtable events to showcase support from corporate executives, surrounding Trump with industry leaders who praise his policies and highlight the administration’s economic priorities. The format allows companies to publicly endorse White House initiatives while giving Trump a platform to emphasize his efforts to boost investment, manufacturing and U.S. competitiveness.
EXECUTIVES AND TOP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS
The gathering will include some 200 people, a White House official said. The executives at the round table include Vickey Peacey, president of Resolution Copper, which is controlled by Rio Tinto and BHP; Jim Litinsky, CEO of rare earths producer MP Materials; Tom Albanese, chairman of deep-sea mining firm American Ocean Minerals; Robert Friedland, chairman of copper miner Ivanhoe Mines; and Jesse Gary, CEO of Century Aluminum, which is developing an Oklahoma smelter, a White House official told Reuters.
The gathering will also include top administration officials Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and National Security official David Copley, the official said.
The administration is also seeking to address a shortage of engineers, geologists, miners and technicians needed to expand the domestic mining industry.
The Department of Energy is expected to host representatives from all 14 accredited U.S. mining schools to promote mining careers and encourage more students to enter the field. The agency will announce $180 million in grants to help boost educational programs, the official said.
Officials have pointed to China’s extensive network of mining universities as a key advantage in its dominance of global mineral production.
Since returning to office, Trump has launched a $12 billion strategic minerals stockpile, backed equity investments in companies developing U.S. mines and processing facilities, and sought to limit defense contractors from relying on supplies from China.
The administration says government support is needed to counter decades of Chinese investment that left Beijing dominant in the mining and processing of many strategic minerals.
Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Nia Williams, Kirsten Donovan
UK’s Harworth rejects Peel Holdings’ $787 million bid on valuation grounds
Shares in Harworth were up 1.1% at 180p by 14:14 GMT, taking gains to 25% since the bid was disclosed on Thursday
International News via Reuters:
Harworth Group on Friday rejected a takeover proposal from its largest shareholder, Peel Holdings, saying the bid fundamentally undervalued the British land and property regeneration company.
Here are some more details:
• The board said the bid, which values the London-listed developer at about £582.9 million ($787.15 million), opportunistically targets the gap between its share price and asset value.
• Shares in Harworth were up 1.1% at 180p by 14:14 GMT, taking gains to 25% since the bid was disclosed on Thursday.
• Peel Holdings — part of British businessman John Whittaker’s Peel Group, which holds a nearly 30% stake in Harworth — offered 172.5 pence in cash per share for the portion it does not already own.
• South Yorkshire-based Harworth said it remains confident in its ability to deliver “attractive” long-term returns for shareholders.
• The company also said it is focusing its investments on higher-return land and industrial projects, and has already approved in principle plans to cut costs over the medium term.
($1 = 0.7405 pounds)
Reporting by Tuhina in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore
Heavy rains drench Beijing as China braces for Typhoon Dolphin
The extreme rains come as China readies for Typhoon Dolphin, which is expected to make landfall along the country’s eastern coast from Sunday to Monday
International News via Reuters:
Multiple districts in Beijing issued heavy rainfall warnings on Friday evening with authorities warning residents of disasters including floods in the city centre and also mudslides and landslides in agricultural and mountainous areas.
• The extreme rains come as China readies for Typhoon Dolphin, which is expected to make landfall along the country’s eastern coast from Sunday to Monday.
• Beijing’s Dongcheng, Xicheng, Haidian, Chaoyang, Tongzhou and Pinggu districts all issued heavy rain warnings expecting hourly rainfall to exceed 50 millimeters.
• The highest rainfall occurred in Miyun district in northeast Beijing on Friday afternoon where precipitation reached 99.5 millimeters.
• Authorities said they have deployed more than 2,000 staff to help with the flooding around Beijing.
• Typhoon Dolphin is expected to bring heavy to torrential rains to multiple regions, authorities said.
• Heavy rains and floods in China’s northwestern province of Shaanxi collapsed roads, damaged bridges, and power and communications infrastructure on Thursday, prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.
• China’s eastern and southern provinces have been preparing for Dolphin, suspending ferry routes, halting construction and evacuating fishing boats.
• Meanwhile high temperatures are widespread with central and eastern regions posting temperatures exceeding 38 degrees Celsius. The latest heat-wave has also swept through northeastern China and broken records on the nearby Korean Peninsula.
Reporting by the Beijing newsroom and Maxim Shemetov; Writing by Farah Master; Editing by Kirsten Donovan
Seven passengers on boat intercepted near Kinshasa test negative for Ebola
Authorities stopped the vessel in Maluku, about 65 km (40 miles) upstream from Kinshasa, on Wednesday after a 32-year-old man who had travelled on board late last month died in northwestern Mongala province
International News via Reuters:
Congolese health authorities said on Friday that seven passengers travelling on a river boat intercepted near Kinshasa had tested negative for Ebola, easing concerns the virus may have spread on board after the death of a passenger suspected of having the disease.
Authorities stopped the vessel in Maluku, about 65 km (40 miles) upstream from Kinshasa, on Wednesday after a 32-year-old man who had travelled on board late last month died in northwestern Mongala province.
All 300 passengers underwent temperature checks and clinical screening on Thursday and authorities deployed a mobile laboratory to the site, Reuters reported.
Only seven were tested for Ebola because people infected with the disease are not considered contagious before they develop symptoms, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, head of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, told Reuters.
“All the tests we carried out on the seven passengers from the boat who presented symptoms resembling malaria, such as fever and headaches, were negative for Ebola,” Muyembe said.
The boat was decontaminated and passengers were provided with food and medical assistance, provincial health official Isabelle Lumbwe told Reuters.
Videos posted on social media showed passengers protesting after the vessel was intercepted and prevented from continuing its journey.
SCREENING EXPANDED AFTER ALERT
Lumbwe said health services have been instructed to screen all boats arriving in Kinshasa following the alert, as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the virus to the capital of more than 17 million.
An Ebola outbreak was declared on May 15 and has now surpassed 4,000 cases, including 1,850 deaths, across five provinces in eastern Congo, according to the latest government data.
Reporting by Fiston Mahamba in Goma and Clement Bonnerot in Dakar; Editing by Jessica Donati and Susan Fenton
US stocks, bonds rally after soft jobs report; yen bounces back
U.S. stocks rose on Friday, led by technology and consumer discretionary shares, and Treasury yields fell, reflecting ebbing expectations that the Fed will raise rates at next month’s meeting
International News via Reuters:
Global stocks headed for their strongest weekly gain since May after a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report eased fears of an imminent Federal Reserve rate hike, while strong earnings and AI enthusiasm outweighed concerns about the Iran war.
U.S. stocks rose on Friday, led by technology and consumer discretionary shares, and Treasury yields fell, reflecting ebbing expectations that the Fed will raise rates at next month’s meeting. Among major gainers around midday were SpaceX, up 12% on Friday and 19% for the week despite a large share lockup having been lifted on Thursday, and Tesla, up 3.8% for the day and 6.4% for the week.
The Nasdaq rose 1.3% near midday and the dollar fell, giving the Japanese yen a reprieve. The yen strengthened to 157.70 per dollar after earlier nearing 159, a level widely seen as a potential trigger for policy intervention.
MSCI’s All-World index has risen 2.4% this week, the most in three months, and was steady on Friday. Europe’s STOXX 600 was up 0.6% on the day and 2% for the week, led by gains in healthcare and technology shares.
The U.S. payroll report showed employment fell by 23,000 jobs, confounding expectations in a Reuters poll for an increase of 80,000. Analysts said the data gave the Fed more room to keep rates unchanged next month while assessing upcoming economic indicators, including next week’s U.S. inflation report.
“History doesn’t repeat, but sometimes it rhymes,” said Lindsay Rosner, head of multi-sector fixed-income investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in New York. “For the third time in as many years, July jobs data saw a mid-summer loss of momentum. While incoming inflation data will be the ultimate arbiter, slowing jobs growth helps support a September hold.”
TRADERS DOUBT FED RATE RISE
Money markets had been evenly divided on the prospects of a Fed rate increase next month before the payrolls report. After the data, the implied probability of a hike fell to about 40% from roughly 55% earlier.
“This morning’s report cast some cold water on the idea that the jobs market is as rock solid as people have been talking about,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management, in Charlotte, North Carolina. “The weak jobs report means the Fed can no longer focus exclusively on inflation. It has to balance price stability against full employment, making it much more likely to stay on hold at its next meeting.”
“All things being equal, that’s good for the stock market. This is one of those ‘bad news is good news’ situations: bad news in the labor market could be good news for the stock market because the Fed is going to be on hold.”
Conflict in the Middle East flared up again after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis attacked Saudi Arabia, a major oil exporter. Riyadh warned that coordinated attacks by the Houthis and Iran-backed Iraqi militias were imminent.
Brent crude futures reversed course on Friday to fall 0.7% to around $82 a barrel, as investors largely shrugged off Saudi Arabia’s warnings.
Iran, meanwhile, is reviewing a preliminary bill that would bar U.S., Israeli and other “hostile” vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported on Thursday, citing a lawmaker. The draft bill would impose fines of up to 20% of a ship’s cargo value for violations.
Treasury yields fell after the soft jobs report, though they bounced off their early morning lows at midday Eastern time. The 2-year note yield fell 5 basis points to 4.20%, while the 10-year yield dropped 2 basis points to 4.64%.
Likewise, the U.S. currency slipped alongside rate expectations, pushing the dollar index down 0.3% to 99.61 and lifting the yen.
Gold moved inversely to the dollar, rising to its highest in around six weeks this week while the U.S. currency hovered near six-week lows. Bullion has gained nearly 7% this week, its strongest weekly performance since mid-January, when it hit a record $5,594. It was last up 2.6% at $4,414 an ounce.
Additional reporting by Stella Qiu in Sydney. Editing by Alex Richardson, Colin Barr, Mark Potter and Sanjeev Miglani
Italy defies Spanish demand to lift border curbs over Ceuta crisis
Italy swiftly responded, saying it would not accept “ultimatums or impositions” from Madrid, adding that it would keep in place its suspension of Schengen rules for non-EU nationals arriving from Spain until at least August 15
International News via Reuters:
Spain threatened on Friday to impose restrictions on travellers from Italy unless Rome lifts by Sunday the border controls it introduced last week following a mass influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
Italy swiftly responded, saying it would not accept “ultimatums or impositions” from Madrid, adding that it would keep in place its suspension of Schengen rules for non-EU nationals arriving from Spain until at least August 15.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s conservative government had previously said the more robust travel checks would remain in force until the end of the month.
The Spanish government said Italy’s decision to reintroduce controls on arrivals from Spain was “unjustified, contrary to the interests of the European Union and discriminatory against the Spanish population”.
It promised to adopt “proportionate measures” against Italy unless Meloni rolled back the new constraints by Sunday.
However, in a toughly worded statement, Meloni’s office said Spanish authorities had themselves warned of a new migrant influx into Ceuta on August 15. It said it would only reconsider its decision once it was certain there was no new migration wave, no security or terrorism risk to Italy and no irregular migrants heading towards European territory.
Spain’s Civil Guard has said it is aware of calls online for a fresh border crossing attempt at Ceuta on August 15, however it is not clear how many people might take part.
SPAIN ACCUSES ITALY OF IGNORING FACTS
As many as 72,000 people rushed to cross the border last week and dozens died in the attempt. Most have since returned to neighbouring Morocco but hundreds of unaccompanied minors remain in Ceuta.
Italy, which does not share a land border with Spain, justified its decision to partially suspend the EU’s border-free Schengen arrangements to prevent any of the migrants who entered Ceuta from travelling to Italy.
There has been no indication that any of them want to travel to Italy, or have the money to pay for an airline ticket.
Madrid said the Italian move was based on “spurious arguments” that lacked any factual basis because the migrants who entered Ceuta irregularly could not gain access to the Schengen area.
ITALY AND SPAIN SPLIT ON MIGRATION POLICY
The dispute between the two EU allies marks a new low in relations between the right-winger Meloni, and Spain’s Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez.
Meloni has positioned herself as one of Europe’s leading advocates of tighter immigration controls, while Sanchez has generally defended a more liberal approach and recently backed a large-scale regularisation programme for undocumented migrants.
“I think what we’re saying is reasonable. What doesn’t hold water at all is Italy’s stance towards Spain. The impression is that Ms Meloni is on a crusade,” Spain’s Youth Minister Sira Rego told Spanish public broadcaster TVE1.
In Friday’s statement, the Spanish government said Italy had registered the highest number of “irregular crossings in recent years”, with figures that have been double those of Spain.
Reporting by Victoria Waldersee and Crispian Balmer; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Kirsten Donovan
MOMs Bermuda anti-violence awareness motorcade set for this weekend
MOMs Bermuda founder, Nicole Fox is inviting the community to the event this Saturday starting at the Cedarbridge Academy to usher support for those lost to violence
MOMs Bermuda is hosting its 7th annual Motorcade in memory of their loved ones lost to violence.
Founder and lead organiser Nicole Fox is seeking the wider community’s support on Saturday to offer hope that families can overcome trauma, grief and shame.
Jasmine Patterson has the details.
