The event will be followed by a celebration in the school’s courtyard
MSA is excited to announce its 2nd annual 5k Color Me Run/Walk, which will take place on Friday, May 30, starting at 6:00 PM. The event will be followed by a celebration in the MSA Courtyard. As participants walk or run each mile, they will be dusted with a different (washable) color, adding to the fun and excitement!
The route will guide our walkers and runners along Dundonald Avenue, Cedar Avenue, St. John’s Road, Pitts Bay Road, Serpentine Road, and Woodlands Road. We kindly ask motorists to exercise caution while passing, as many young families will be participating this year. Additionally, we have added a mini route of just over a mile for our younger participants.
The post-Run/Walk celebration will include bouncy castles, food trucks, and drinks available for purchase and donation. A DJ will be on hand to create a lively atmosphere. MSA is partnering with DeGraff’s Lunch Wagon and Kebobs on the Curve for this event. Several student groups will also be fundraising by selling snow cones, popcorn, cotton candy, and hot malasadas, along with fun party items and temporary tattoo body art. Furthermore, the MSA Alumni Association will host an adult juice bar.
We would like to extend our thanks to our title sponsor, Luso, for providing water for the stops, and to Bermuda Rentals for supplying the bouncy castles and equipment.
The group attended a reunion last month at Rustico in Flatt’s drawing several former classmates
Its been several decades since the former Robert Crawford all-boys school closed in Prospect but the spirit of the school lives on.
Several classmates attended a reunion at the Rustico Restaurant in Flatt’s last month to celebrate the good ol’ days and reflect on their lives as many inch towards retirement age.
We spoke with committee members to discuss the close bonds formed over the years and the importance of brotherhood.
De Couto: “…this may be the first Budget debate where no Ministers even tried to defend their own financial plan.”
Douglas De Couto Photo: OBA
Statement by Dr. Douglas De Couto, MP for Constituency 25, Warwick North East & Shadow Minister of Finance
Last Friday, Members of Parliament wrapped up their detailed debate on the Ministry of Finance’s budget. We heard from Premier Burt and Junior Minister Furbert about the Ministry’s spending plans, and had the chance to ask detailed questions. But as usual, some of the most important questions were the ones the Government didn’t answer at all. The lack of response started earlier, on May 9, when we presented the Opposition’s official reply to the Budget. This reply kicks off the General Economic Debate. Normally, Government MPs would speak up during this debate to defend the Government’s budget and economic performance. But this time, the Premier and Minister of Finance left halfway through our presentation, and didn’t return. After a few OBA MPs spoke in support of our reply, no Government Minister got up to defend their own budget. As far as I know, this may be the first Budget debate where no Ministers even tried to defend their own financial plan. A big part of this year’s Budget depends on the new Corporate Income Tax (CIT). It’s the start of a trend where Bermuda will rely more and more on taxes from international businesses. That’s why we focused many of our questions on the CIT—to judge how solid the Government’s estimates really are. While we got a few answers, many key questions were ignored. For instance, we asked: How many companies will actually be paying the CIT? This matters because if lots of companies are paying, we’re in a safer position. But if most of the tax is coming from just a few companies, we’re at risk. If even one or two of them leave or stop paying here, the Government’s income could take a big hit. The Premier said he was confident in the estimates, but didn’t — or wouldn’t — give a number. That’s a basic question, and it should be easy to answer. We also asked if an independent review had been done on the Government’s CIT projections. In finance and insurance, it’s standard to double-check major forecasts by having someone else review the numbers or even use a different approach. This helps confirm the assumptions and improves confidence. From what the Premier said, it doesn’t look like that was done. Lastly, we asked how the Government will decide how much of the CIT revenue to put aside in the “tax refund reserve fund” and how much to use for spending. This reserve is important because some of the tax collected might need to be refunded after companies file their 2025 returns in late 2026. Again, the Premier didn’t answer. We had hoped this debate would leave us feeling confident in the CIT forecasts and comfortable with the budget overall. Instead, the Government’s refusal to answer even basic questions raises more concerns than it resolves. I encourage you to ask your MP the same questions we asked — and see if you can get clearer answers.
Press release: CedarBridge Academy proudly recognised the outstanding efforts of its 16 Peer Leaders who have successfully led the Peer Forward Program throughout the 2024–2025 academic year. In partnership with Mirrors Bermuda, these dedicated students have played a pivotal role in inspiring their peers and fostering a strong college-going culture within the school community. The team comprises an equal number of students from S3 and S4, eight from each year group, who committed their time and leadership to organising school-wide initiatives focused on post-secondary awareness and readiness.
The primary aim of the Peer Forward Program is to increase the number of students applying to and enrolling in post-secondary institutions through peer-to-peer support and leadership. The program seeks to cultivate an enduring culture of academic ambition and opportunity by empowering students to guide and motivate one another.| The activities and campaigns they designed centred around three focus areas:
Connect (engaging with peers and building a college-going culture), Apply (supporting college and job application processes) and Financial Aid & Scholarships (providing valuable information on funding opportunities).
In addition to planning and executing these initiatives, Peer Leaders tracked and documented participation and outcomes. This included collecting data on S4 students’ college and university applications submitted, acceptance offers received, job applications completed, and scholarship applications submitted. The insights gathered have contributed to shaping a clearer understanding of the post-secondary landscape for CedarBridge Academy students.
To celebrate their achievements, the Peer Leaders hosted a year-end networking luncheon, where they had the opportunity to present their progress, share personal impact stories, and reflect on their transformative journey in the program. The Minister of Education, the Hon. Crystal Caesar, attended the ceremony and commended the students for their leadership, initiative, and the tangible impact their work has had on their school community.
Minister Caesar shared, “ The Peer Leaders at CedarBridge Academy are to be commended for their dedication and commitment in the service to their fellow students. They have provided exemplary service and are trusted resources for their peers desiring to enrol in post-secondary institutions. Their support has impacted students navigating their future education journey.” “We are incredibly proud of our Peer Leaders and the positive example they’ve set,” said Kenneth Caesar, Principal of CedarBridge Academy. “Their passion and commitment have supported their classmates and strengthened our school’s college readiness culture in meaningful, lasting ways.” As the Peer Forward Program grows, CedarBridge Academy remains committed to providing opportunities for student leadership and empowering young people to shape their futures through education.
Britain has in recent years emerged as the global epicentre for scams and fraud
FILE PHOTO: Buses cross Waterloo Bridge as skyscrapers in the City of London financial district are seen behind, in London, Britain, May 15, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
Image text
International news via Reuters:
Britain’s financial sector saw a record 3.31 million fraud cases in 2024, up 12% on the year before, according to data from industry body UK Finance released on Wednesday, as criminals responded to efforts to combat complex scams by ramping up high-volume, low-value attacks.
That increase led to a total of 1.17 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) being stolen in 2024, unchanged from the year before, as firms showed limited progress in combating a problem that accounts for 41% of all reported crime in Britain and which banks and regulators have said threatens financial stability.
Fraud “causes severe harm to individuals, society and our economy, as the stolen money goes to serious organised crime groups, both here and abroad,” said Ben Donaldson, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance.
Britain has in recent years emerged as the global epicentre for scams and fraud, Reuters reported in 2021, as criminals take advantage of super-fast payment channels, relatively light policing of such crimes and the prevalence of the world’s most widely used language, English.
Finance industry players have since then increased efforts to fight so-called authorised payment fraud, where people are tricked into sending money to criminals via social engineering techniques.
Awareness campaigns and technology that can flag fraud have helped reduce a form of scam that spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, when social distancing measures drove more people online and into the clutches of scammers who often spoke with victims for days or weeks as they drained their funds.
Criminals in 2024 instead ramped up so-called remote purchase fraud attempts, often compromising one-time passwords to enable fraudulent purchases on e-commerce sites, the UK Finance data showed.
Yet the UK Finance data on reported fraud is just the tip of the iceberg, with fraud going chronically unreported by its victims, said Jim Winters, head of financial crime at Britain’s second-biggest mortgage lender Nationwide.
One in seven consumers in Britain is exposed to potentially fraudulent emails per day, but 43% of them would not report fraud if they were the victim or witnessed it, research from Nationwide showed.
($1 = 0.7389 pounds)
Reporting By Lawrence White; Editing by David Holmes
The Trump administration moved to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students
FILE PHOTO: Students walk on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., May 23, 2025. REUTERS/Faith Ninivaggi/File Photo
International news via Reuters:
President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered its missions abroad to stop scheduling new appointments for student and exchange visitor visa applicants as the State Department prepares to expand social media vetting of foreign students, according to an internal cable seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in the cable that the department plans to issue updated guidance on social media vetting of student and exchange visitor applicants after a review is completed and advised consular sections to halt the scheduling of such visa appointments.
The move comes as the Trump administration has sought to ramp up deportations and revoke student visas as part of its wide-ranging efforts to fulfill his hardline immigration agenda.
Several hundred protesters, including Harvard University students and professors, demonstrated in support of foreign students at the Harvard campus on Tuesday, while also protesting Trump administration efforts to cut off funding to the university.
In the cable, first reported by Politico, Rubio said appointments that have already been scheduled can proceed under the current guidelines, but available appointments not already taken should be pulled down.
“The Department is conducting a review of existing operations and processes for screening and vetting of student and exchange visitor (F, M, J) visa applicants, and based on that review, plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting for all such applicants,” the cable said.
A senior State Department official confirmed the accuracy of the cable.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce declined to comment on reports of the cable, but said the U.S. will use “every tool” to vet anyone who wants to enter the United States.
“We will continue to use every tool we can to assess who it is that’s coming here, whether they are students or otherwise,” Bruce told reporters at a regular news briefing.
The expanded social media vetting will require consular sections to modify their operations, processes and allocation of resources, according to the cable, which advises the sections going forward to take into consideration the workload and resource requirements of each case before scheduling them.
The cable also advises consular sections to remain focused on services for U.S. citizens, immigrant visas and fraud prevention.
Trump administration officials have said student visa and green card holders are subject to deportation over their support for Palestinians and criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, calling their actions a threat to U.S. foreign policy and accusing them of being pro-Hamas.
Trump’s critics have called the effort an attack on free speech rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
A Tufts University student from Turkey was held for over six weeks in an immigration detention center in Louisiana after co-writing an opinion piece criticizing her school’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza. She was released from custody after a federal judge granted her bail.
Last week, the Trump administration moved to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students. Those roughly 6,800 students make up about 27% of Harvard’s total enrollment.
The Republican president’s administration has moved to undermine the financial stability and global standing of the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university after it pushed back on government demands for vast changes to its policies.
Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Additional reporting by Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis; Writing by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Nick Zieminski and Lincoln Feast.
The company secured a 3 billion pound loan in February to stave off financial collapse
FILE PHOTO: A Thames Water logo is seen on a sign in London, Britain, February 17, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
International news via Reuters:
Britain’s Thames Water, on the brink of financial collapse, will have to pay a record 122.7 million pounds ($165.36 million) fine for breaching its legal obligations over sewage treatment and dividend payments, regulator Ofwat said on Wednesday.
The watchdog, which had previously issued a 104.5-million-pound penalty, added an additional 18.2 million-pounds to the fine after the company paid out dividends despite delivering an operational performance that caused “an unacceptable impact on the environment and customers”.
It also issued an enforcement order which would require the company to take steps to rectify identified breaches relating to its wastewater operations.
Thames, Britain’s biggest water supplier with 16 million customers, has been at the centre of a backlash over the privatised water sector, accused of pumping sewage into rivers and seas while paying out dividends and allowing its debt pile to balloon to 18 billion pounds.
“This is a clear-cut case where Thames Water has let down its customers and failed to protect the environment,” Ofwat boss David Black said in the statement.
The company secured a 3 billion pound loan in February to stave off financial collapse. On Wednesday, Ofwat said the company was seeking new buyers to fund its turnaround.
Thames, whose credit rating is currently below investment grade, is now in cash lock up and no further dividend payments can be paid without Ofwat’s approval, the watchdog, which recently received new powers to better scrutinise the industry, added.
Earlier this month the company halted a bonus scheme for its executives after ministers objected to the payouts.
In a separate statement, Thames Water said its lenders continued to support its liquidity position and that its equity raise process was continuing.
“We take our responsibility towards the environment very seriously … The dividends were declared following a consideration of the company’s legal and regulatory obligations,” it said.
($1 = 0.7419 pounds)
Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru and Muvija M in London; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, William James and Kate Holton
EU member states have increasingly been the target of cyber attacks from China in recent years
FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
International news via Reuters:
The European Union stands in solidarity with the Czech Republic, after the Czech Republic identified China as being responsible for a “malicious cyber campaign” at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The European Union and its Member States, together with international partners, stand in solidarity with Czechia regarding the malicious cyber campaign that targeted its Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in a statement.
EU member states have increasingly been the target of cyber attacks from China in recent years and China should do more to prevent them, the European Union added on Wednesday.
Kallas said the EU condemned these attacks, which she said were contrary to internationally agreed norms on how states should behave in cyberspace.
“We call upon all states, including China, to refrain from such behaviour,” she said. “States should not allow their territory to be used for malicious cyber activities.”
Kallas said the EU was ready to take further action if needed to prevent, deter or respond to malicious behaviour in cyberspace.
Reporting by Andrew Gray and Bart Meijer;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta
Leo, elected on May 8 to replace the late Pope Francis, appealed for an end to the war in Ukraine
Pope Leo XIV gestures on the day he holds a general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, May 28, 2025. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
International news via Reuters:
Pope Leo appealed on Wednesday for a ceasefire in Gaza, and called on Israel and Hamas militants to “completely respect” international humanitarian law.
“In the Gaza Strip, the intense cries are reaching Heaven more and more from mothers and fathers who hold tightly to the bodies of their dead children,” the pontiff said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
“To those responsible, I renew my appeal: stop the fighting,” said the pope. “Liberate all the hostages. Completely respect humanitarian law.”
Leo, elected on May 8 to replace the late Pope Francis, also appealed for an end to the war in Ukraine.
Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Crispian Balmer
Some 53 million jobs are projected to be created by the end of 2025
A view of an illustration outside a wood flooring sales office next to an employment agency in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 8, 2021. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo
International news via Reuters:
The United Nation’s agency for labour on Wednesday cut its global employment forecast for job growth this year to 1.5% due to a worsening global economic outlook and trade tensions.
Some 53 million jobs will be created this year, that is seven million less than previously thought as economic growth predictions were lowered to 2.8 per cent, from 3.2 per cent, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a report.
“Economic uncertainty has been high in 2025, shaped by ongoing conflicts, geo-economic realignments, and trade-related disruptions,” the report said.
Some of the 84 million jobs across 71 countries that are linked to U.S. consumer demand are increasingly at risk of disruption due to trade tensions, the ILO said. Jobs in Canada and Mexico have the highest share of jobs exposed, it added.
“If geopolitical tensions and trade disruptions continue, and if we do not address fundamental questions that are reshaping the world of work, then they will most certainly have negative ripple effects on labour markets worldwide,” said the ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo.
Reporting by Olivia Le PoidevinEditing by Madeline Chambers
Germany’s property sector hit hard times in 2022, as higher interest rates made borrowing costly
A commuter train passes by the skyline with its financial district ahead of the European Central Bank?s (ECB) governing council meeting later this week in Frankfurt, Germany, October 25, 2021. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo
International news via Reuters:
The German government on Wednesday proposed a law to extend rent controls in an effort to make housing more affordable, following through on a key pledge of the new coalition government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The measure, which extends the price controls by another four years through 2029, is fiercely opposed by property industry executives.
The rules, first introduced in 2015, cap new rentals in urban centres to 10% above comparable rents in the area.
“Housing must not become a luxury good,” Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig said in announcing the law proposal.
It is one of several measures that the new government is planning as it confronts a housing shortage for Germany’s growing population, spurred in part by immigrants from Ukraine and Syria.
Germany’s property sector hit hard times in 2022, as higher interest rates made borrowing costly. That resulted in falling prices, and it tipped some property firms into insolvency.
It has also put a strain on construction, making it hard for Germany to reach a self-imposed goal of building 400,000 apartments a year to alleviate the housing shortage.
Rolf Buch, CEO of Germany’s largest landlord Vonovia, called the rent controls counterproductive.
“This extension of the rent brake will deeply unsettle investors and put further obstacles in the way of new construction,” the ZIA property industry association said last week.
Data showed last week that the number of apartments completed in 2024 was 251,900, down 14.4% from 2023 and far off the government goal.
Germany needs to construct 320,000 new apartments each year by 2030 to keep up with demand, a study in March showed.
Reporting Christian Kraemer and Tom SimsEditing by Madeline Chambers and Bernadette Baum
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