Detective Inspector Tiffany Caisey of the Bermuda Police Service said sexual assault often happens when consent is withdrawn and not respected by perpetrators
A spike in sexual assault cases reaching local authorities has prompted a call for the public to know the law around consent.
Detective Inspector Tiffany Caisey of the Bermuda Police Service said sexual assault is not limited to strangers and can occur between friends or those who are in established relationships, including marriages.
Eckerd College overhauls nine-point deficit to secure runner-up silverware in 17-team fleet
Bermudian sailors PJ Rodrigues and Jordan Vieira played pivotal roles as Eckerd College staged a dramatic final-day surge to finish second overall at the Atlantic Coast Tournament.
Competing in a 17-team collegiate fleet, the Tritons overhauled a nine-point deficit on Sunday afternoon, climbing two spots on the leaderboard to secure the runner-up silverware with 98 points.
Light breezes and a tricky up-course current tested the fleet on day one. Rodrigues partnered Peyton Seidle in the A Division aboard 420s, while Vieira teamed up with Avery Guck in the B Division sailing FJs. A race win by Vieira and Guck in the day’s final rotation kept Eckerd in the hunt, sitting fourth overnight on 73 points.
The crews swapped boats for Sunday’s racing amid a cold westerly breeze and wind postponements. Trailing third place heading into the closing stages, both Eckerd pairings delivered back-to-back top-five finishes to propel the team onto the podium.
Rodrigues and Seidle took second in the A Division on 54 points, while Vieira and Guck claimed third in the B Division on 44, each combination finishing inside the top half of the fleet in nine of their 10 races.
Local favourite falls to American Carel Ngounoue at Joell Stadium to end Bermuda’s singles hopes
Local favourite Trey Mallory suffered an agonising three-set defeat on day two of the ITF M15 tournament at the WER Joell Tennis Stadium, ending Bermudian interest in the singles draw.
Back-to-back days of weather-affected scheduling in Pembroke saw organisers racing to clear the backlog, with home supporters packing the courts to rally behind Mallory.
The Bermudian flew out of the blocks against American Carel Ngounoue, dominating the baseline exchanges to sweep the opening set 6-1. However, Ngounoue responded sharply, raising his consistency to take the second 6-3 before breaking late in a tense decider to clinch a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Elsewhere in the singles draw, Barbadian veteran Darian King was ruthless, dismantling Canada’s Volodymyr Gurenko 6-1, 6-0 in under an hour. Compatriot Kaipo Marshall pushed Poland’s Kacper Szymkowiak the distance before falling 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, while American Matt Kuhar recovered from a set down to oust Jamaican challenger John Chin 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. Qualifier Kian Vakili also advanced, edging fellow American Gray Voelzke 7-5, 7-6.
Marshall secured redemption later in the afternoon, partnering Stephen Slocombe to an entertaining 6-4, 6-7, [10-5] match-tiebreak triumph over Canadian fourth seeds Gurenko and Niels Peter Van Noord to reach the doubles quarter-finals.
Under-15s bounce back from heavy Tajikistan defeat with clinical six-goal display in Baku
Bermuda’s Under-15 national team produced a stunning response to adversity at the FIFA U-15 World Cup and Festival in Baku, rebounding from an early play-off loss against Tajikistan to dismantle Macau 6-1.
The young Gombey Warriors endured a punishing morning fixture on Pitch 2B at the Hovsan Competition Complex, suffering a 7-1 defeat to a disciplined and physically imposing Tajikistan side that dictated tempo from the outset.
Despite being put firmly on the back foot, Bermuda kept battling, and forward Stephen Astwood provided a bright spark by finishing neatly for a consolation goal.
Any lingering disappointment was swiftly erased hours later on Pitch 4B. Bermuda took complete control against Macau, combining incisive passing with clinical finishing.
Adam Barritt paced the attack with a fine brace, while Astwood added his second goal of the day. Solo strikes from Ryley Martin, Legend Robinson, and Chaz Edmead sealed an emphatic victory, ensuring the squad closed the day on a resounding high.
Regional leader Emiliano Garcia-Page said the death toll had risen to 69 people and that human remains had been found during overnight rescue efforts
Cranes at the site of the collision the day after two high-speed trains crashed between the towns of Mora and Orgaz, near Toledo, Spain, October 29, 2026. REUTERS/Ana Beltran
International News via Reuters:
Rescuers picked through mangled carriages on Thursday in a grim search for victims of Spain’s second fatal high-speed train crash this year, as the death toll rose to 69 and hopes of finding further survivors faded.
After cranes worked through the night to lift parts of the wreckage of Wednesday’s crash, emergency workers were seen carrying what appeared to be a body wrapped in a blanket from one of the trains in the central Spanish province of Toledo.
Regional leader Emiliano Garcia-Page said the death toll had risen to 69 people and that human remains had been found during overnight rescue efforts. Work now involved crane operations, particularly on a carriage that was still overturned.
“We do not believe there could be any more fatalities beneath that one, but I say this with caution,” he said.
UNIONS BLAME LACK OF FUNDING
Meanwhile, train drivers in Spain went ahead with a previously planned strike to press for more investment in railway safety a day after Europe’s deadliest train accident since a 2013 derailment in Spain’s Santiago de Compostela.
“We will continue demanding the necessary measures to make this sector safe again … It must have all the safety systems required to maintain the quality standards we have always had,” said Diego Martín of the train drivers’ union SEMAF.
“We cannot tolerate, under any circumstances, this type of incident happening again. Everyone should be able to travel without the risk of suffering this kind of accident,” he added at Madrid’s Atocha railway station.
The crash, which followed another fatal accident in January involving the same rail companies on the same line, has also upended campaigning for a November 29 snap election, with the leaders of Spain’s two main parties suspending campaign events.
Spain’s government has declared three days of national mourning for those killed in the crash, which Transport Minister Oscar Puente said happened after several trains stopped due to a signal failure. A state-run Renfe train was then authorised to proceed at normal speed, even though there was a stationary Iryo-operated train ahead, Puente said on Wednesday.
Unions have already blamed a lack of funding and will to improve safety, saying that talks after the accident in January were abandoned in April. Meanwhile, the government has said that the decision to authorise the Renfe train to continue its journey was “inexplicable”.
POPE SENDS CONDOLENCES
Pope Leo sent his condolences to the families of those killed, wished a speedy recovery to the injured and conveyed his support and comfort to all affected, the Vatican said, adding he had also encouraged rescue workers to continue their efforts.
Of those injured, authorities said 57 remained in hospital.
The crash prompted a major operation, which Spain’s interior ministry said involved the deployment of more than 800 military and police personnel, over 200 vehicles, three helicopters, a mobile command post, drones, mounted units and search dogs.
As investigations began, a judge in Toledo barred anyone not involved in emergency, security, healthcare or judicial work from the crash site with a 2-km (1.2-mile) exclusion zone in both directions along the Madrid-Seville high-speed rail line.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who travelled to Toledo to take part in a meeting to monitor and coordinate the emergency response, said authorities were working “day and night” to support the victims and their families and to “get to the bottom of every last detail of this tragedy”.
Meanwhile, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, leader of the centre-right People’s Party, which is currently leading in polls, was due to visit the town of Urda, where local people rushed to help with rescue efforts in the aftermath of the crash.
FOREIGN NATIONALS AMONG CASUALTIES
Spain’s foreign ministry said 42 foreign citizens from seven countries were involved in the crash, information available so far showed, of whom one was killed and at least seven injured.
Wednesday’s accident has added urgency to a debate about safety on Spain’s railways, Europe’s longest network and until recently a source of pride in the country.
Train drivers would go ahead with their strike to press for structural changes in railway safety, SEMAF said, adding that it was studying further action.
Renfe said the strike caused significant disruption to rail services, adding that passengers could change or cancel tickets free of charge and would be notified of affected services.
Reporting by Charlie Devereux, Corina Pons, Emma Pinedo, Elena Rodriguez and Mireia Merino; Additional reporting by Gianlucca Semeraro; Writing by Alexander Smith; Editing by Alex Richardson
Europe’s STOXX 600 was up 0.5% despite a 1% slide in Nasdaq futures and some erratic trading in Asia after Alphabet’s hefty cash burn looked set to wipe nearly $400 billion off its shares later
FILE PHOTO: President of European Central Bank Christine Lagarde poses with a model of a Euro coin after a signing ceremony on the adoption of the euro by Croatia in Brussels, Belgium July 12, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
International News via Reuters:
Europe’s government bond and stock markets rallied on Thursday as traders waited on the European Central Bank’s next move and for results from Amazon and Intel after Alphabet’s shares became the latest to be hammered by AI spending worries.
Europe’s STOXX 600 was up 0.5% despite a 1% slide in Nasdaq futures and some erratic trading in Asia after Alphabet’s hefty cash burn looked set to wipe nearly $400 billion off its shares later.
Both the euro and euro zone government bond market yields were edging lower, meanwhile, as oil and natural gas prices dipped ahead of what is widely expected to be a pause in the ECB’s rate hike cycle in Frankfurt later.
There was also breaking news that ECB President Christine Lagarde had confirmed, after months of speculation, that she was to step down early and leave her post in February.
Wednesday had also seen a rally in US Treasuries after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh struck a more confident tone on the inflation outlook following the Fed’s decision to keep rates steady.
RBC’s European Macro Strategist George Moran said his bank expects the ECB to hold rates at 2.50%, with a further final hike to 2.75% in December, although money markets are pricing as many as three additional increases.
“Widening sovereign spreads — particularly for France — give the ECB cover to avoid further aggressive tightening,” Moran said, despite the recent surge in energy prices.
The main gauge of French concerns — the yield gap between Paris’ government bonds and triple-A-rated German Bunds — was at 153.50 basis points on Thursday, having hit a near 15-year high of almost 178 basis points last week.
Lagarde’s February departure from the ECB meanwhile means French President Emmanuel Macron and other European Union leaders will be able to fill one of the bloc’s most powerful economic positions before France’s presidential elections in the spring.
It is a vote that opinion polls point to far-right candidate Marine Le Pen winning.
“This is driven, I would presume, by the French election,” SEB Investment Management’s head of asset allocation, Carl Hammer, said. “Clearly politics is having an increasingly important role for central banks.”
BIG SPENDERS, BIG FALLS
Overnight, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped nearly 0.5%, while Japan’s Nikkei ended up more than 1% after another day of swings. [.T]
The region’s bigger test had come from earnings. Samsung reported another set of record results thanks to booming demand for its memory chips, but it was silent on plans to boost returns, which sent its shares down 4%.
That weighed on South Korea’s KOSPI index, which fell 1.2% after a nearly 7% surge a day earlier. Another AI darling, SK Hynix, continued to surge though as its plans to return about $75 billion to shareholders this year took its two-day gain past 15%.
Nasdaq futures were pointing to a fall for US markets later. [.N]
Alphabet was down 10.5% in premarket trading after the company reported disappointing results in the firm’s core search business and a massive acceleration in cash burn as it poured resources into building out AI.
That focus on AI spending will continue on Thursday too with both Intel and Amazon due to report their earnings after US markets close.
SEB’s Hammer added that rising costs of developing AI were making the outlook “definitely more challenging” for asset allocators following the years-long stock market bull run.
“We are keeping a constructive view as of now (on equities) but it’s getting more complicated … the bulk of the risks in portfolios are driven by the AI infrastructure cycle.”
OIL DIPS
Macro data is set to keep coming too, with both US personal consumption expenditures figures — the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation — and US Q3 GDP data due to be released later.
Forecasts are centred on a 0.3% monthly rise in the core measure of PCE inflation, picking up from a 0.2% gain the previous month.
Markets are still 80% priced for a rate rise in December despite Wednesday’s dovish comments from Warsh, which led to a steepening of the Treasury yield curve. The 2-year Treasury yield fell about 5 basis points overnight and was last at 4.68%.
The dollar was flat against its major peers after a 0.2% dip on Wednesday following the Fed decision.
Ahead of the ECB, the euro was hovering around $1.1145, having fallen almost 2% this month against the dollar and 2.5% against sterling. [GVD/EUR]
Data also show investors have built up their biggest short position on the euro in a decade, one that is currently worth almost $19 billion.
In the commodity markets, Brent futures fell 1% to $114 a barrel after the Wall Street Journal reported US Vice President JD Vance had sent a letter to Iranian Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei in an effort to revive peace negotiations.
Qatari mediators have also presented Iran with a new draft deal to end the war, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, though a senior Iranian official dismissed what had been presented as unacceptable ideas that did not amount to an offer.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.3% to 10,782.19 points by 1004 GMT, while the midcap FTSE 250 also climbed 0.3%
A worker walks near an LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) branded cube inside the LSEG headquarters in Paternoster Square, London, Britain, September 8, 2026. REUTERS/Toby Melville
International News via Reuters:
London’s blue-chip index rose on Thursday, supported by gains in the energy sector, while investors awaited crucial inflation data in the US to gauge the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.3% to 10,782.19 points by 1004 GMT, while the midcap FTSE 250 also climbed 0.3%.
• Shell rose 3.2%, leading gains on the FTSE 100 after the oil major reported its highest quarterly profit since 2022, and increased its share buyback program
• Energy stocks outperformed the broader market, with the sector climbing nearly 2.8% despite a dip in oil prices
• Conversely, Haleon slid 15.6%, set for its biggest one-day fall since its IPO in 2022 after the consumer health company cut its organic revenue growth forecast
• Haleon’s slide put the pharma sector on track for another session of sharp declines, after GSK’s results on Wednesday disappointed
• Declines in pharma and banks limited the overall rise. Banks were dragged down by a 4.3% fall in Lloyds Banking Group after it reported muted third-quarter results
• Finance minister John Healey’s less-than-feared tax hikes in his budget on banks and gambling firms had sparked a rally in their stocks on Wednesday
• British defence firms BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce gained 2.6% and 1.1% respectively, extending gains after Healey said “reprioritisation” would fill a £4.7 billion ($6.3 billion) gap in Britain’s Defence Investment Plan
• The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, bringing Thursday’s personal consumption expenditure figures under scrutiny
• National Grid rose 1.1% after the power grid operator said it plans to invest about £400 million ($531 million) to extend the life of the electricity link between Britain and France until at least 2050
• WPP gained 2.1% after the ad group said its turnaround plan was on track after reporting a smaller decline in third-quarter like-for-like revenue
Reporting by Darshan Kumar and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed
Brent crude futures declined $1.27, or 1.1%, to $114.05 a barrel by 0922 GMT
A pumpjack, used to help lift oil from a well, in the Permian basin near Midland, Texas, U.S., October 8, 2025. REUTERS/Arathy Somasekhar
International News via Reuters:
Oil prices fell on Thursday, paring gains made a day earlier, as hopes for peace talks took the edge off renewed concerns over Middle East supply disruptions from escalating regional conflict.
Brent crude futures declined $1.27, or 1.1%, to $114.05 a barrel by 0922 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down $1.51, or 1.5%, at $101.27.
Brent rose 1.3% and WTI gained 3% on Wednesday.
US Vice President JD Vance sought to revive peace negotiations by sending a letter to Iranian Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday, citing US officials and people familiar with the matter.
“Oil prices are under pressure today amid renewed diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.
Qatari mediators have presented Iran with a new draft deal to end the war with the US and Israel, an official briefed on the negotiations said, but a senior Iranian official dismissed it as unacceptable ideas that did not amount to an offer.
Iran’s foreign minister said on Wednesday Tehran continued to give diplomacy a chance to succeed and flagged the possibility of completing its seven-day plan in less than a week if adopted.
Concerns over intensified attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis and fears the US may launch an attack on Iran following its midterm elections set for November 3, limited the decline, however.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the group towards the kingdom’s eastern region early on Thursday, as hostilities between the two sides show no signs of abating.
The Houthis attacked Aden airport on Wednesday, Yemeni government forces said.
The attack came a day after the Houthis said they hit Saudi Arabia’s biggest oil refinery with a missile, stepping up strikes against the world’s second-largest crude producer after the United States.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that three tankers hit sea mines, exploded and caught fire while attempting to use an unauthorised route south of the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours.
Some expectations of rising crude and diesel production from Russia also kept a lid on prices.
“Since the October 15 strike on the Ryazan refinery, there have been no further confirmed attacks on Russian refining infrastructure,” JPMorgan analysts said in a note late on Wednesday. “The silence has allowed Russian refinery runs to rebound by 350,000 barrels a day last week, to 4 million barrels a day.”
The US Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that energy firms pulled 1.9 million barrels of crude from storage during the week ended October 23, versus analysts’ forecast of a 15,000-barrel build in a Reuters poll.
But gasoline stockpiles rose by 3.9 million barrels, against analysts’ expectations for a draw of 0.9 million barrels.
Additional reporting Trixie Yapp and Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus, Kirsten Donovan
Statement by Diallo Rabain, Minister of Education:
Part 3 – Does the Minister Hand Pick the Education Authority Board?
One of the questions being asked about the Education Authority is whether the Minister will be able to hand-pick its Board.
It is a fair question.
The legislation says that members are appointed by the Minister. But focusing only on the word “appointed” misses an important part of how the system is designed to work.
There is a difference between making the formal appointment and controlling who gets through the selection process.
The Minister does not simply pick nine people
The legislation establishes a process for selecting the initial members of the Education Authority Board. A process that is to be developed by the Board of Education.
The criteria for those appointments must cover qualifications, competencies, scoring, applications, interviews and vetting. Those criteria must be published, and the vacancies must be advertised. Initial appointees must satisfy the established criteria.
There is another important safeguard.
The Minister may propose changes to the selection criteria, but the Board of Education is not required to accept those proposals.
So, while the Minister ultimately makes the appointments, the legislation does not create a process where the Minister simply selects whoever he or she wants.
That distinction matters.
Expertise is built into the Board
The legislation also specifies the type of expertise that must be represented.
That includes expertise in modern educational practice and systems transformation, supporting vulnerable and at-risk students, as well as experience drawn from the private, public and voluntary sectors in areas such as accounting, human resources and entrepreneurship. Bermuda College is also represented.
In other words, we are not simply looking for people to occupy nine seats.
We are building a Board around the skills needed to govern a modern public education system.
Politics is deliberately kept off the Board
There is perhaps an even clearer answer to concerns about political influence.
Members of the House of Assembly and Senate are specifically disqualified from serving on the Education Authority Board.
That is deliberate.
If the objective were to establish another political body, there would be little reason to exclude politicians from serving on it.
The objective is the opposite: to establish professional governance around public education.
What about the first Chairman and CEO?
There is one important distinction during the establishment of the Authority.
The legislation provides transitional arrangements for the appointment of the first Chairman and first Chief Executive Officer.
That is part of getting a completely new organisation established.
It should not, however, be confused with how the institution is intended to operate on an ongoing basis.
For example, the legislation establishes a structured process for selecting the Chief Executive Officer, involving advertised criteria, applications, interviews and recommendations through a Search and Selection Committee.
The real safeguard
No appointment system can guarantee that everyone will agree with every person selected.
That is not the test.
The real question is whether the process is designed to prevent appointments from simply becoming an exercise in political preference.
That is why the legislation provides for published criteria, advertised vacancies, defined expertise, assessment and vetting, while expressly excluding legislators from membership of the Board.
The Minister performs the formal appointment.
But the people appointed must emerge through the process established around that appointment.
That is an important distinction between ministerial appointment and ministerial control.
And if we are serious about taking the day-to-day governance of public education further away from politics, that distinction is exactly what we should want.
A former Deputy Chair of the One Bermuda Alliance says the ousting of party leader Robert King by OBA MPs raised questions about ‘the value placed on the democratic voice of membership’
The One Bermuda Alliance has lost another former executive – and the controversial ousting of former party leader Robert King played a significant role in their decision to quit.
Joseph Marable, former OBA Deputy Chair and their candidate for Hamilton West in the 2025 general election, has resigned from the party.
He will continue to stand as an independent candidate in Constituency 6.
Mr Marable said in a statement that he believes he can best serve the community without the constraints of party affiliation.
He told Bermuda Broadcasting that he holds no grudges towards anyone in the OBA.
While he said he is grateful for the relationships that have developed, “…gratitude for those relationships can’t require me to remain silent in regards to my fundamental principles…
“Over the past year, I’ve become increasingly concerned about the direction, internal culture and priorities of the party.”
The circumstances surrounding the ousting of Robert King as OBA leader were particularly troubling, Mr Marable says.
“His removal following his election by the party members raised some serious questions in my mind, about the value placed on the Democratic voice of membership.”
Mr Marable’s resignation comes less than two months after former party leader and MP for Smith’s North, Robert King, also quit the party and became an unaffiliated member of parliament.
Mr King was the surprise winner in last year’s internal party leadership election, but he was ousted by a majority of OBA MPs in February, and replaced with the man he had originally beaten – Ben Smith.
As an OBA candidate, Joseph Marable was soundly beaten by Wayne Furbert in the 2025 General Election. Hamilton West chose the PLP incumbent, 480 votes to 237.
On standing as an independent in C6, Mr Marable says his vision for Hamilton Parish and Bermuda remains unchanged – ‘People before Politics’, ‘Accountability Through Action’, and an ‘Unwavering Commitment to Community’.
“My resignation, is not a withdrawal from public service”, he says, “it’s a reaffirmation of why I entered service in the first place.
“I leave the One Bermuda Alliance without any bitterness toward those with whom I’ve worked, but… with a clear conscience and a firm conviction that public service must always be guided, to me, by principle greater than party or loyalty.
“My political affiliation may have changed, but my values and my purpose and my commitment to the people of Bermuda will not.”
Press Release from Joseph Marable, Independent Candidate for C6 Hamilton West:
For more than 22 years, Hamilton Parish has been my home, my workplace, and my community. Throughout that time, my commitment has remained the same: to make a meaningful and lasting difference in the lives of the people around me.
Whether through operating Crawl Hill Esso TigerMarket or working alongside our schools, churches, and community organizations, I have always believed that genuine service begins with listening, understanding people’s needs, and taking action.
My philosophy of leadership is simple. Leadership is not about standing above people and pointing out what is wrong. It is about standing alongside them, supporting them, empowering them, and taking responsibility for making things better.
Over the past three years, my involvement with the One Bermuda Alliance has been a journey of both opportunity and challenge. I am grateful for the relationships I have built, the experiences I have gained, and the people who have supported me along the way.
However, this journey has also led me to reflect deeply on the direction of politics in Bermuda and the role I wish to play in shaping our country’s future.
Like many Bermudians, I have grown increasingly concerned about the divisions created by partisan politics. Too often, political disagreements overshadow the practical needs of the people we are elected, or aspire, to serve.
I also recognize that accountability begins with ourselves. It is easy to point fingers, but meaningful leadership requires us to examine our own decisions, acknowledge where we can do better, and have the courage to make changes.
After careful consideration, personal reflection, and conversations within my community, I have made the decision to resign from the One Bermuda Alliance and pursue my political aspirations as an independent.
This has not been an easy decision, nor is it one I have taken lightly. It is a decision rooted in my belief that I can best serve Hamilton Parish and Bermuda by remaining focused on people, practical solutions, and meaningful results, without the constraints of party affiliation.
I hold no ill will toward my former political colleagues. I respect those who dedicate themselves to public service, regardless of their political allegiance. My decision is not about opposition to any individual or party. It is about choosing the path that I believe will allow me to make the greatest contribution.
My vision for Hamilton Parish and Bermuda remains unchanged.
· People Before Politics
o I am committed to working with anyone who shares a genuine desire to improve the lives of Bermudians. Good ideas do not belong to one political party, and meaningful progress requires cooperation, mutual respect, and a willingness to put our country first.
· Accountability Through Action
o Public service must be measured not simply by promises or political statements, but by what we actually accomplish. I believe in honest communication, personal accountability, and delivering practical solutions that make a difference in people’s everyday lives.
· An Unwavering Commitment to Community
o Hamilton Parish is my home. Its people are my neighbours, friends, customers, and extended family. Regardless of political outcomes, my commitment to this community and to Bermuda will remain steadfast.
I recognize that becoming independent does not automatically create solutions. It brings greater personal responsibility to listen, build partnerships, take action, and earn the trust of the people I seek to represent.
Life is a journey, not a destination. We all face challenges, make mistakes, and encounter moments that require us to reassess our direction. What matters most is whether we have the humility to learn, the courage to change, and the determination to keep moving forward.
As I begin this new chapter, my door remains open, my commitment remains strong, and my focus remains firmly on the people of Hamilton Parish and Bermuda.
I look forward to reconnecting with residents, listening to their concerns, and sharing initiatives that I believe can bring meaningful and lasting benefits to our communities.
My political affiliation may be changing, but my commitment to serving people has not.
Keep hope alive.
Joseph Marable
Fmr. Deputy Chair of OBA
Independent Candidate for Hamilton West Constituency 6
The bill forecasts economic growth of 2.1% in 2027, a slight slowdown from the 2.3% projected for this year
FILE PHOTO: Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at UN headquarters in New York City, US, September 24, 2026. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo
International News via Reuters:
Portugal’s parliament on Wednesday approved the centre-right minority government’s 2027 budget bill at first reading despite opposition from far-rght party Chega after the opposition Socialist Party abstained to avert a political crisis.
The bill forecasts economic growth of 2.1% in 2027, a slight slowdown from the 2.3% projected for this year.
It targets a budget surplus of 0.1% of gross domestic product next year, after a balanced budget in 2026, despite a cut in the corporate tax rate to 18% from 19%, tax reductions for lower-income households and higher pension spending.
The budget was backed only by 89 lawmakers from the Social Democrats and two members of the centrist People’s Party, which together form the ruling coalition. A total of 79 lawmakers voted against and 60 abstained, including 58 Socialists.
This is the second time Prime Minister Montenegro’s government has depended on Socialist support to pass a budget, with 60 lawmakers from far-right Chega and a smattering of others from parties including the Liberal Initiative, the far-left Livre, the Communists, and the Left Bloc voting against.
The bill must now pass a second and final vote on Nov 24 after committee discussions and amendments.
Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Victoria Waldersee
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