Power has been restored and Harbour Road has been reopened
BELCO crews worked through the night, and with repairs now largely complete, traffic is expected to be flowing normally again this morning — following major disruption across Paget and Warwick on Thursday.
It all began when a car struck a utility pole near Lover’s Lane on Wednesday night, cutting power to more than 20 homes and forcing a full closure of part of Harbour Road.
Morning rush hour descended into gridlock, with eastbound traffic diverted via Chapel Road and westbound via Lover’s Lane. Tailbacks stretched to Warwick Long Bay, and some commuters reported delays of over two hours getting into Hamilton.
The disruption continued into the evening as repair work forced the westbound lane to remain closed.
BELCO has thanked the public for their patience and is reminding motorists to use caution around any remaining work areas.
TheBermudaFlyer: 10-year-old boards tonight’s Bermuda-bound flight without a ticket forcing cancellation
The Bermuda Flyer reporting that British Airways Flights a security issue involving a 10-year-old solo passenger forced the Bermuda-bound flight to be cancelled.
TheBermudaFlyer post about the incident on social media:
“British Airways Flight 159 and 158 have been cancelled this evening after a problem with a young passenger prevented the London to Bermuda flight from departing.
According to passsenger reports, a 10 year old solo passenger was discovered on board the aircraft without a valid ticket after boarding.
The flight was delayed while London Heathrow police were called to deal with the issue. After a 5 and a half hour delay, the flight was cancelled.
British Airways is expected to send two flights tomorrow to deal with the delayed passengers. The same aircraft scheduled for today’s flight will be used tomorrow, with passengers bags kept on board overnight.”
Bermuda’s nightlife is getting a boost thanks to Lost Society, a collective founded by four music lovers on a mission to bring world-class house music to the island. Their goal? To put Bermuda on the map with elevated events and global talent.
We caught up with one of the founders, DJ and producer Korie Minors, who shared how it all began and what’s next.
Lost Society is turning up the heat tomorrow night at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, bringing in two Canadian musicians, Hatiras and Virgil Thomas. Here’s what they say fans can expect.
Lisbon’s trams running up and down its steep hills also date back to mid-20th century and have a similar structure
International News via Reuters:
The death of at least 16 people in an historic cable car that derailed in Lisbon has exposed flaws in the “old charm” image of the Portuguese capital, which is brimming with tourists but runs on quaint but creaking infrastructure.
In Wednesday’s crash, railcar left the track at a turn and hit a building just metres from its twin at the bottom of the steep 265-metre slope, leaving a mangled wreckage with bodies trapped inside. The traction cable linking them had snapped.
Jorge Silva, vice-president of the Portuguese association of civil protection technical experts, said a car made of a more modern material, such as carbon fibre, rather than metal and wood – the same design used since 1914 when the line was electrified – would have made the crash less violent and deadly.
“The pieces are rigid enough to withstand oscillation and normal service, but they’re not designed to withstand the impact in the event of a derailment, become twisted, leaving the passengers more exposed,” he said.
Lisbon’s trams running up and down its steep hills also date back to mid-20th century and have a similar structure, he said.
“Investment should be made in renovating the carriages, using more modern materials, even if preserving their historic shape,” he said.
Silva said an investigation would show to what extent the pendulum cable system played a role in the crash.
The time-tested technology has had to cope with a tripling in the number of passengers on the “Gloria” funicular line in the past decade to more than 3 million people annually, as tourism booms.
The two cars, each capable of carrying around 40 people, alternately climb the slope and descend as electric motors pull the cable linking them.
Manuel Leal, leader of the Fectrans union, told local TV that workers had complained that problems with the tension of the cable had made braking difficult, but that it was too early to say if that was the cause of the crash.
The municipal transport company Carris said all maintenance protocols have been carried out. Silva said more rigorous and frequent maintenance and inspection was likely to be needed to prevent future accidents with current heavier use.
But modernisation attempts in the earthquake-prone city have also concerned engineers and architects, fearing a reoccurrence of the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755.
Many houses in downtown Lisbon built not long after 1755 with then-pioneering interconnected internal structures and pillars to withstand quakes have lately been adapted in a way that could compromise their original anti-seismic structures, several engineering experts told Reuters.
While newer houses built after 1958 must have seismic-resistant structures by law, no anti-seismic reinforcement is required for old buildings being renovated.
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck southeastern Afghanistan on Thursday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences said, the third tremor in the same region since Sunday
International News via Reuters:
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck southeastern Afghanistan on Thursday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences said, the third tremor in the same region since Sunday, when one of the country’s deadliest quakes in years killed more than 2,200 people.
Reuters was not immediately aware of any damage from Thursday’s quake.
The tremor, at a depth of 10 km (six miles), followed the earlier quakes that flattened villages in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, left tens of thousands homeless and injured more than 3,600 people.
Survivors have been left without shelter as aid groups warn of dwindling resources, with the United Nations and other agencies citing a critical need for food, medical supplies and shelter.
More than 5,500 sign petition to safeguard Southlands from development
The fight to save Southlands reached the steps of Sessions House this afternoon.
After weeks of rallying to protect the green space from proposed development, 25-year-old Nekorrah Raynor gathered enough support to formally present the public’s case to Government.
Specifically, campaigners are calling for an immediate halt to proposed development plans within the park and for Southlands to be upgraded to a Nature Reserve, a move they describe as both an environmental and moral obligation to future generations.
Minister Adams accepted the petition, joined by Cabinet Office and Digital Innovation Minister Diallo Rabain, and Senator Mischa Fubler.
Nekorrah said the signatures represent more than 5,500 people who want to protect the natural and community aspects of Southlands National Park in perpetuity, and to reclassify it from a Class B to a Class A protected Nature Reserve.
Minister Adams praised the effort, noting it was commendable that such advocacy was being led by a young Bermudian. But he stressed that no conclusion has yet been reached, and the process must continue its course.
U.S. private payrolls increased less than anticipated in August, while weekly jobless claims came in higher than expected, in the latest data suggesting easing labor market conditions
International News via Reuters:
Wall Street and world stocks were mostly higher on Thursday, and U.S. Treasury yields fell, as a cooling U.S. labor market and dovish comments from Federal Reserve officials pointed to a likely interest rate cut this month by the central bank.
U.S. private payrolls increased less than anticipated in August, while weekly jobless claims came in higher than expected, in the latest data suggesting easing labor market conditions.
Traders on Wall Street and in Europe pushed equities up despite Chinese bourses tumbling overnight on reports that Beijing wanted to cool a red-hot stocks rally, especially the tech sector. [.EU] [.N]
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all gained between 0.4% and 0.6%, while the FTSEurofirst 300 rose 0.6%.
Oil prices extended their weak week after a Reuters report that OPEC+ officials are looking at increasing output targets this weekend, while the dollar was drifting ahead of Friday’s crucial jobs report. [O/R] [/FRX]
Several key Federal Reserve officials have bolstered expectations of an imminent U.S. rate cut in recent days. Money markets are now pricing in a near-100% chance that one will be delivered at the Fed’s meeting in just under two weeks.
European bond buyers nudged down the German 30-year bond yield to 3.3%. France’s was down a touch more at 4.39%, having hit 4.523% on Tuesday, its highest since June 2009, on worries that its government could collapse again.
“We believe bond investors are focusing on the long-term sustainability of current deficit growth rates,” Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said in a client note on Thursday. “Meanwhile, the U.S. economy is slowing, which puts some downward pressure on yields.”
SALESFORCE SHARES SLUMP
One outlier to the pre-payrolls lull was a 5% slump in Salesforce shares after third-quarter revenue disappointed Wall Street’s analysts due to lagging monetization of AI-powered products.
While AI euphoria has driven the main U.S. indexes to repeated record highs this year, momentum has ebbed since numbers from Nvidia and others failed to wow investors.
Overnight, the main action had been in China following a report that regulators were preparing cooling measures for equity markets.
Beijing blue chips fell as much as 2.6%, while the tech-heavy STAR 50 index, which soared nearly 30% last month, dropped more than 6% in its worst day since April. [.SS]
In the U.S., payrolls are not until Friday – keeping investors on edge – but traders watched the nomination hearing of Stephen Miran, U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick to replace resigning Fed board member Adriana Kugler. Miran told U.S. senators that no one in the Trump administration has asked him to promise to cut interest rates if he is confirmed as the Fed’s newest policymaker.
Concerns over Fed independence have done nothing to relieve pressure on major governments’ debt prices, so there was relief that an auction of 30-year Japanese bonds had gone smoothly in Tokyo overnight.
Australian shares advanced 1%, recovering from their biggest one-day sell-off since April, while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 ended 1.5% higher. [.T]
India’s benchmark Sensex rose as much as 1% as markets reopened after the government slashed levies on several goods to fire up consumption and counteract U.S. tariffs.
Wednesday’s Federal Reserve “Beige Book” had painted a mixed picture of the U.S. economy, which appeared to underscore monetary policymakers’ concerns. Analysts at ING called it “bleak” and said it was littered with warnings about the inflationary effect of import tariffs on prices.
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes inched down to 4.178% in early U.S. trading with the more rate-sensitive 2-year yield at 3.59%, around its lowest level since the start of May.
The dollar edged up 0.4% against the yen to 148.6, keeping within the trading range where it has stayed since the beginning of August.
It was also fractionally higher against the euro at $1.1637. In commodities markets, Brent crude dipped another 0.8% to around $67 a barrel and gold edged back 0.25% after hitting a record high of $3,578.5 an ounce on Wednesday. [GOL/]
Reporting by Lawrence Delevingne in Boston and Marc Jones in London. Editing by Kevin Liffey, Jan Harvey and Matthew Lewis
Armani combined the flair of a designer with business acumen as he directed a company generating some 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in annual turnover
International News via Reuters:
Designer Giorgio Armani, who helped to put Italy at the forefront of global fashion and dressed Hollywood stars, has died at the age of 91, the company that he founded and led for five decades said on Thursday.
Armani combined the flair of a designer with business acumen as he directed a company generating some 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in annual turnover.
“With infinite sorrow, the Armani Group announces the passing of its creator, founder, and tireless driving force: Giorgio Armani,” the fashion house, which has remained proudly independent for 50 years, said in a statement.
“We, the employees and the family members, who have always worked alongside Mr. Armani, commit to protecting what he built and to carrying his company forward in his memory, with respect, responsibility, and love,” it added.
The designer had been unwell for some time and was forced to drop out of his group’s shows at Milan’s Men’s Fashion Week in June, the first time he had missed one of his catwalk events.
Actress Julia Roberts, who famously wore an Armani men’s suit for the 1990 Golden Globes, posted a picture of herself with the designer on Instagram with a broken heart emoji. “A true friend. A legend,” she wrote.
Armani remained the sole owner of his company and worked with a tight-knit group of long-time colleagues and members of his family.
“He treated everyone as equals and felt at ease among young people. He’d invite us to birthday parties and dinners at his villa in Broni (northern Italy), groups of us: tailors, mailmen, sales assistants,” said Mauro Barbieri, who worked as a warehouse man for Armani in Milan for 32 years.
“He would laugh with us and was really down to earth,” Barbieri told Reuters.
A funeral chamber will be opened on Saturday and Sunday in Milan, the city he made his home, to allow well-wishers to pay their respects. His funeral will be held on Monday in private.
ATTENTION TO DETAIL
Known as “Re Giorgio” – King Giorgio in his native Italian – the designer famously oversaw every detail of his collection and all aspects of his business, from advertising to fixing models’ hair as they headed out on to the runway.
The company had been planning an exhibition and other events during Milan Fashion Week this month to honour the 50th anniversary of the company Armani founded with his romantic partner Sergio Galeotti in 1975.
Family members, including nieces Silvana and Roberta as well as his nephew, Andrea Camerana, and his right-hand man Pantaleo Dell’Orco are expected to run the company from now but his death raises inevitable questions about its future.
Armani’s minimalist style, particularly for jackets, was an instant success in the United States in the late 1970s and 1980s, particularly among women, who found in his aesthetic a perfect balance of elegance and strength in what was back then still a masculine-led working world.
“His clients usually continued wearing his style for decades. They married into his philosophy, especially professional women,” said Virginia Hill, a dress and fashion historian based in Italy.
Reporting by Elisa Anzolin and Lisa Jucca; Editing by Keith Weir, Joe Bavier and Ros Russell
President, Chris Furbert said the project, set for opening in 2026, will provide more than 600 permanent employment opportunities for Bermudians.
Left to right – RJ Jackson, PDSI Project Manager; Kiaran MacDonald, Fairmont Southampton CEO; Bro. Arnold Smith, BIU Chief Union Organizer; Sis. Renee Jones, BIU Treasurer; Chris Maybury, Ownership Group; Bro. Chris Furbert, BIU President; Margaux Mielcarek, Gencom SVP of Development; Marcus Jackson, PDSI Lead Field Project Manager; Sis. Kryshae Furbert-Wilson, BIU Education Officer. Photo: BIU
Full press release from the Bermuda Industrial Union:
Executives from the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) recently joined representatives from Westend Properties for a tour of the renovation and construction work taking place at the Fairmont Southampton property.
The transformative renovation of the Fairmont Southampton, one of Bermuda’s most iconic resorts, is advancing steadily, marking a significant step toward revitalising the property as a leading luxury destination in the region.
BIU President Chris Furbert said: “As we toured the property, we could see significant progress has been made in recent months. At the main hotel, demolition is largely complete, and renovations are underway. Exterior improvements, including roof repairs and replacement are ongoing, and plaster demolition on the hotel façade is substantially complete across all wings.
“The Ocean Club’s full transformation is well advanced, including entire roof replacement and repairs to the existing structure. Foundation work for new structures is substantially complete, and the new open air beach-side restaurant, pool facilities, changing rooms and back of house areas are being constructed.
“The building permit for the new Wastewater Treatment Plant has been secured, and demolition of existing components is underway, with the plant project remaining on track for timely completion.”
There are currently more than 250 workers on site and since the start of the renovation project more than 400 skilled individuals have been involved, including more than a dozen Bermudian businesses and more than 150 Bermudians, spouses of Bermudians, and PRCs who are contributing directly or through subcontractors.
President Furbert added: “This commitment to local employment underscores the project’s role not only in revitalising a historic landmark but also in supporting Bermuda’s economy and workforce throughout the construction journey and beyond.”
“The progress we’ve seen at Fairmont Southampton is impressive.
“During the construction phase of this project there have been real opportunities for Bermudians through direct employment with the principal contractors and through the various sub-contractors that also hire Bermudians.
“This is demonstrated by the results of the jobs fair held on August 21st, 2025, where 53 Bermudians submitted applications for employment opportunities made possible through this project.The BIU has consistently advocated for the hiring of Bermudians by contractors and remains steadfast in this commitment.
“We look forward to seeing the next phase of work and continuing our support for this important hospitality investment in Bermuda’s future that will have a lasting impact on our economy.”
The BIU is looking forward to 2026, when the hotel renovations will be completed and the property will reopen, providing more than 600 permanent employment opportunities for Bermudians.
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