Police are investigating an unnatural death at a home in Westbury Road, St Michael.
Reports are that a 57-year-old woman died by suicide earlier today.
More details as they come to hand.(AC)
Wanted man to appear in court
UPDATE:
Frederick appeared before Magistrate Manila Renee in the District ‘A’ Criminal Court #2, on Monday.
He was not required to plead to the indictable offences and was remanded to the Barbados Prison Service (Dodds). He is scheduled to reappear on Monday, March 23, 2026.
***
A man who was the subject of a wanted notice is scheduled to appear in court today.
Turvy Frederick, 28 years, of no fixed place of abode, was arrested and charged with brandishing a firearm and aggravated robbery at Bhamjees Trading, both alleged to have occurred on January 14, 2026.
Frederick is scheduled to appear in the District ‘A’ Criminal Court.
He was the subject of a wanted man notice issued on January 19 and was taken into custody on February 20. (PR/SAT)
Cartel henchmen unleash violence after top drug lord killed in Mexico
Members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the most powerful and feared criminal organisations in Mexico, have unleashed a wave of violence across 20 Mexican states.
They torched businesses and erected burning blockades in retaliation to the killing of their leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, better known as “El Mencho”, who died in custody on Sunday shortly after being captured by Mexican special forces.
El Mencho, Mexico’s most wanted man, was seriously injured in a firefight between his bodyguards and the military commandos deployed to capture him.
He died while the military was transporting him from the town of Tapalpa, in Jalisco state, to the capital, Mexico City.
At least six of El Mencho’s security guards were also killed in the operation, while three members of the Mexican military were injured, the defence ministry said.
As news of El Mencho’s death spread, members of his cartel launched attacks in many towns and cities where the CJGN is active.
In some towns, they blocked roads by throwing spikes and nails on to the tarmac – in others, they commandeered buses and other vehicles they then torched in the middle of the road.
Cartel members also set alight dozens of banks and local businesses such as pharmacies.
Footage recorded by locals showed plumes of smoke rising above several towns and cities, including the beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, which is popular with tourists.
In Guadalajara – one of the host cities of the forthcoming Fifa World Cup – travellers at the airport could be seen running and crouching on the floor in panic.
News site Milenio reported that the panic spread when a group came running into the airport to seek shelter after they had heard gunshots ring out from the nearby highway.
Their reporter said that he had seen a burnt-out car on the highway but that rumours that shots had been fired inside the terminal had been dismissed by the authorities.
In many towns, streets were deserted as local authorities told residents to seek shelter in their homes.
The scenes that unfolded on Sunday reminded many of the violence that erupted in the state of Sinaloa after the capture of another notorious drug lord – Ovidio Guzmán López – in 2019.
The street battles between members of his Sinaloa cartel and the security forces were so fierce that the Mexican authorities decided to free Guzmán López, who is the son of jailed drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, to prevent further bloodshed.
While Guzmán López was re-arrested in 2023 and extradited to the US, where he has pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges, retaliatory attacks by cartels have since become the norm following high-profile arrests.
In Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, tourists were told to shelter in place on Sunday.
Videos showed black smoke billowing from burning cars in several neighbourhoods, with one tourist describing the scene as looking “like a war zone”.
Around 300 visitors were stuck at the Puerto Vallarta’s airport after flights were cancelled due to the violence.
To ensure their safety, they were transferred to the city centre in a convoy with a heavy police escort.
The UK Foreign Office asked visitors to the town to “exercise extreme caution” and follow local authorities’ advice, including orders to stay indoors.
Sara Morales, who is on holiday in Puerto Vallarta with her children, said that they had been asked to leave Las Glorias beach.
“I was very afraid because I didn’t know what was happening,” she told Mexican newspaper El Economista.
The US state department has urged its nationals to shelter in place until further notice in the states of Jalisco, Baja California, Quintana Roo and areas of Guanajuato, Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.
The governor of Jalisco, where Puerto Vallarta is located, declared a “code red”, halting all public transport and cancelling mass events and in-person classes.
El Universal newspaper said that more than 250 incidents of roads being blocked had been reported across the affected Mexican states.
Security officials say that 90% of the blockades have been lifted but tension remains high, especially in the CJGN’s stronghold of Jalisco.
They added that 25 people had been arrested, 11 for their alleged participation in violent acts and 14 more for alleged looting and pillaging.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged people to stay “calm and informed”. She added that “in most parts of the country, activities are proceeding normally”.
She praised Mexico’s security forces for the operation in which “El Mencho” was captured.
The Mexican president has come under pressure from the Trump administration to do more to combat the powerful transnational drug trafficking groups which are based in her country.
US Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said late on Sunday night that El Mencho was a “top target for the Mexican and United States government as one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into our homeland”.
The Mexican Ministry of Defence said that the raid aimed at capturing El Mencho had been carried out by the Mexican army, with support from the country’s National Guard and Air Force.
It added that “complementary information” provided by the US had helped seize the drug lord.
The US State Department had offered a $15m (£11.1m) reward for information leading to his capture.
Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, described the operation as “one of the most significant actions undertaken in the history of drug trafficking” to CBS, the BBC’s US news partner. (BBC)
Call for check on SurePay fee
The Barbados Consumer Empowerment Network (BCEN) is so concerned about a move by the owners of SurePay to charge a fee on over-the-counter bill payments, that it is asking the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) to review the matter.
Executive director Maureen Holder issued a statement last night in response to an advertisement on Page 6A of yesterday’s SUNDAY SUN which stated that a 30 cents (VAT inclusive) fee per transaction is coming to “offset rising processing costs”.
“SurePay (Barbados) Ltd announces the introduction of a nominal convenience fee on cash and cheque payments made over the counter at all SurePay outlets, effective March 16, 2026. This adjustment is necessary due to additional imposed cash and cheque handling and related charges, which have significantly increased operational costs,” the ad stated.
It explained that the fee “will assist in offsetting the substantial charges now levied on large cash deposits and for cheque processing”. The business has about 38 locations across the island.
SurePay director Anthony Yearwood was quoted as saying the charge was “both necessary and carefully considered”.
However, Holder said BCEN was worried about the inconvenience and extra costs many SurePay customers will now face.
“While we acknowledge that private service providers face rising operational and banking costs, over-the-counter bill payment is not a ‘convenience’ for many Barbadians. It is a necessity. Thousands of consumers, including seniors, low-income households and those without access to digital banking, rely on in-person payment options to meet essential obligations such as utilities and telecommunications. The decision by SurePay to introduce a per-transaction fee on over-the-counter bill payments comes at a time when households are already under pressure from rising food, utility, transport and housing costs,” she wrote. Holder added that BCEN believes access to basic bill payment should remain affordable and inclusive. “Any changes to pricing structures must be guided not only by business costs, but by fairness and consumer protection. It unreasonable to ask Barbadians to pay a fee simply to pay their bills. While the amount may seem small, the principle and precedent deserve serious scrutiny, especially in a high cost-of-living environment.
“A flat per-transaction fee, even a small one, has a disproportionate impact on households already under financial pressure and risks deepening financial exclusion. Consumers should not be penalised for lack of access to digital tools or banking services.”
BCEN has called on the FTC to look into the move.
“We also urge the Fair Trading Commission to review the broader consumer impact of new transaction fees on access to essential services. This issue must be understood in context. SurePay’s prominence did not arise in a competitive vacuum. Utility companies such as Barbados Light & Power Company, Barbados Water Authority and Flow Barbados have reduced or closed centrally located, walk-in payment points. Consumers were pushed toward third party payment channels as a result. When fee-free access points disappear, fees on the remaining channels operate less like ‘convenience fees’ and more like charges on necessity.”
Holder noted that SurePay pointed to rising bank processing costs for cash and cheques, but she maintained that if payment trends are moving online, front-office and cash-handling costs should be falling over time.
“Consumers are entitled to ask whether these new costs genuinely justify passing fees to customers, especially when SurePay already receives payment from utility companies to collect bills on their behalf. This raises a serious fairness concern: are consumers now being asked to pay twice for the same service?
“Utility rates already include customer service and billing costs. Charging again at the point of payment shifts costs onto households for functions already captured in regulated utility charges. The cumulative impact is not trivial. A household paying three utility bills monthly could pay more than $10 a year in new transaction fees,” she stated.
The BCEN executive director said their objection was not about opposing business sustainability, but drawing a clear line between reasonable cost recovery and placing new barriers in the way of basic economic participation.
“If transaction fees on paying bills become normalised, the cost of living will rise not through one dramatic increase, but through a steady drip of small charges that add up for families already stretched.
“This matter deserves public scrutiny and regulatory attention by the [FTC]. Access to essential services should not quietly become another point of financial strain for those with the fewest alternatives,” she argued.
(SG/PR)
Trump says he will increase his new global tariffs to 15%
US President Donald Trump has said he will impose global tariffs of 15%, as he has continued to rail against a Supreme Court ruling that struck down his previous import taxes.
Trump said on Friday that he would replace the tariffs scrapped by the court with a 10% levy on all goods coming into the US.
But on Saturday, he announced on Truth Social that this would be increased to the maximum allowed under a never-used trade law.
That law allows these new tariffs to stay in place for around five months before the administration must seek congressional approval.
The 10% tariffs were set to come into force on Tuesday, 24 February. It’s unclear if the increased 15% would also be imposed starting then. The BBC has contacted the White House.
The new 15% tax rate – a temporary solution under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act – raises questions for countries such as the UK and Australia, which had agreed a 10% tariff deal with the US.
Trump said his administration had reached the decision to raise the levy following a review of the Supreme Court’s “ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday”.
In a 6-3 decision, justices on the highest US court found that the president had overstepped his powers when he introduced sweeping global tariffs last year using a 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The US has already collected at least $130bn (£96.4bn) in tariffs using IEEPA, according to the most recent government data.
Immediately following the ruling, Trump said that he was “ashamed of certain members of the court” and called the justices who rejected his trade policy “fools”.
Trump’s tariffs are a key plank of his economic policy, which he has said will encourage businesses to invest and produce goods in the US rather than overseas. But the high court’s decision marked a significant check on his power and a major blow to his second-term agenda.
The US president has argued his tariffs are necessary to reduce the trade deficit – the amount by which imports exceed exports – but the US trade deficit reached a fresh high this week, widening by 2.1% compared to 2024 and hitting roughly $1.2 trillion (£890bn).
Drew Greenblatt, owner of Marlin Steel Wire Products, a steel fabrication plant in Baltimore, said he was “very disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision.
“It is a setback for poor people in America that had a chance to climb into the middle class with great manufacturing jobs,” he told the BBC.
But John Boyd, a soybean farmer from Virginia and founder of the National Black Farmers Association, said: “This is a huge win for me and a big loss for the president.
“I don’t care how you look at it, President Trump lost on this.”
Yet Allie Renison, a former UK government trade adviser and director at SEC Newgate, said: “While it may seem like a good day for free trade, I think trade actually just got a lot messier.”
She said that businesses are now facing “much more of a patchwork approach” to tariffs under the Trump administration.
It means that US businesses will have to pay a 15% tariff to import most goods into America under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.
But some products will be exempted such as critical minerals, metals and pharmaceuticals.
Meanwhile, separate tariffs on steel, aluminium, lumber and automotive parts and sectors – introduced using a different US law – remain in place, untouched by the Supreme Court’s ruling.
On Friday, a White House official said countries that previously reached trade deals with the US, including the UK, would face the global tariff under Section 122 rather than the tariff rate they had previously negotiated.
However, the UK’s deals around steel, aluminium, pharmaceuticals, autos, and aerospace sectors – which represent most of its trade with the US – were not impacted.
The UK government said it expects Britain’s “privileged trading position with the US” to continue and that it is a “matter for the US to determine” whether those deals still stand.
William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, has said he feared that the president’s response to the Supreme Court ruling “could be worse for British businesses”.
The new 15% import tariffs are “bad for trade, bad for US consumers and businesses” and will “weaken global economic growth”, the leader of a UK business group said.
The chairman of the European Parliament International Trade Committee told BBC Newshour he would call for a pause in ratifying a trade deal between the EU and US after Trump’s announcement.
The committee was due to vote on the deal on Tuesday, but German Social Democrat MEP Bernd Lange said fresh tariffs raised “several issues” that needed clarifying.
The Supreme Court ruling opened the door for consumers and businesses to seek refunds from the unlawful tariffs, though the high court did not make a decision on whether reimbursements should be issued.
On Friday, Trump indicated that refunds would not come without a legal battle which, he claimed, could take years. Companies and trade groups have already vowed to seek such reimbursements.
But Neil Bradley, chief policy officer at the US Chamber of Commerce, said: “Swift refunds of the impermissible tariffs will be meaningful for the more than 200,000 small business importers in this country and will help support stronger economic growth this year.”
While the National Retail Federation, which represents millions of American businesses, urged the courts “to ensure a seamless process to refund the tariffs to US importers”.
US Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat representing Washington state, has written a letter to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, asking whether the administration has a plan to refund businesses.
“Given this Administration has illegally collected hundreds of billions of dollars from American businesses, that now must be refunded, I am requesting detailed information about how the Administration plans to fairly and expeditiously reimburse the payors of those tariffs,” she wrote in a letter to Bessent.
But Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, argued that if Democrats push for refunds, it could backfire and help Republicans in the next election cycle.
He said it could be a boon for the US business community that would make the economy “roar” ahead of the midterm elections in November. (BBC News)
Sammy: My soldiers are ready for war
West Indies will welcome back ace allrounder Romario Shepherd to the flock for today’s all-important Super 8s match-up against Zimbabwe at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The business end gets cracking for both teams at the famous Wankhede Stadium at 7pm local time (9:30am Barbados Time).
Daren Sammy, the West Indie head coach and two-time World Cup winning captain, announced the return of the 31-year-old which is welcomed news for Windies fans.
The powerfully-built seam bowler had heavy strapping on his right knee and looked sharp in the nets at the Wankhede on Saturday and again yesterday which signaled his readiness for the crucial showdown.
Sammy also said his team is respectful of the Zimbabwean fast bowling attack, which is well schooled and drilled by West Indies legend Courtney Walsh.
“He practised well yesterday. He bowled quite well, you know, hit the ball very, very cleanly. The good thing for us is that everybody is available for selection. So I’m glad to know and happy to know that all my soldiers are ready to go out to war,” Sammy said. He was speaking to journalists at the official ICC pre-match media briefing. (PS)
Holetown Festival ‘a success’
Vendors were the first to declare this year’s
Holetown Festival a success – even as they began drafting their wish lists for next year’s landmark 50th edition.
From seasoned stallholders to relative newcomers, the consensus was clear: business was good, the energy was strong and the crowds turned out. But with the golden anniversary approaching, vendors are hoping for improvements – particularly more generous booth spaces and stronger economic conditions to maximise their returns.
Tara Cobham, of Cobham’s Creations, participating for her second year, said the early drizzle did little to dampen the mood.
“The rain fell a little bit at the beginning, but that did not deter people, which was a good sign. The atmosphere has been very, very good,” she said.
Ras Bhingi, owner of Tuff Gong Cobblers and a vendor since the festival’s inception, reflected on its growth.
“It has developed into an international festival, practically on everybody’s agenda,” he said, expressing hopes for more foot traffic next year.
However, a representative from Donri’s Variety pointed to a key challenge: space.
“The space here is very limited when it comes to walking,” she noted, suggesting long-standing vendors should receive preferential consideration.
“If you want two spaces, there should be some type of accommodation for small entrepreneurs.”
Among patrons, enthusiasm was equally high – mixed with nostalgia.
Beulah Wilson, a returning attendee, praised the festival’s evolution.
“Every year it seems to get better and better,” she said. “You have tourists from all over the world coming here and I look forward to this every year.”
She was particularly touched by the tuk band performances.
Local patron Leandra Watson, who has attended the festival for about 15 years, praised the increased involvement of schools and community groups as one of the most notable positive changes over the years. Looking ahead to year 50, she called for even greater youth participation.
“If they have more positive groups coming out into these festivals to show the community, show Barbados that there are positive things that children can get into that takes them away from bad company, from violence,” she said.
An American visitor, who has been making the trip to Barbados for roughly two decades, described the event as “incredible and exciting”, citing the craft, vendors and children dancing in the streets as highlights.
“It’s just a great vibe,” she said, adding she would return “the good Lord willing”.
For some, however, something is missing. Vanessa Williams, attending for over 35 years, wants the return of the Miss Holetown Queen Of The Festival competition. (DDS)
Prime Minister Holness accepts multi-million dollar salary
The Office of the Prime Minister, (OPM) on Friday has announced that Dr. Andrew Holness will accept the full salary and emoluments attached to the office, retroactive to September last year.
That means Holness will now earn a salary of $28.5 million ( One Jamaica dollar=US$0.008 cents) – this is up from the current salary of just over $9 million.
In a statement, the OPM said that following “careful review and internal consultations,” it was agreed that the prime minister should accept the compensation structure previously set for the post.
In May 2023, Holness declined to accept the adjusted compensation package following fierce public backlash against the salary increases granted to the political directorate
At the time, the Prime Minister noted that “another prime minister in the future or a new mandate may give an opportunity to reconsider the prime minister’s salary.”
Friday’s release from OPM noted that the decision to accept the full salary was taken last year after the new administration was in place. However, its implementation was delayed due to the impact of Hurricane Melissa.
Parliament has since been advised to effect the change retroactive to September 2025.
OPM added that adjustments are to follow for the pensions of former prime ministers and their surviving spouses. Former prime ministers are paid a pension equal to the sitting head of government.
The change will benefit former Prime Ministers PJ Patterson, Bruce Golding and Portia Simpson Miller. (CMC)
Preparation has been key to Windies’ success so far, says Chase
Roston Chase strongly believes that thorough planning is one of the major reasons behind the West Indies’ success at the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The Windies are one of four unbeaten teams remaining in the tournament, having brushed aside Scotland, pre-tournament favourites England, Nepal and Italy to finish top of Group C at the end of the preliminary rounds.
However, they now face a tougher test in Group 1 of the Super Eights, where they have been grouped with the similarly unbeaten India, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Speaking after an optional training session at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday, Chase explained that the regional team was planning both on and off the court.
He promised there would be continued focus ahead of their opening match against Zimbabwe on Monday.
“That’s something else that I think we’ve been doing well; we haven’t been taking any team lightly in the World Cup.
“At the end of the day it’s World Cup cricket and every team is going to come out there with that passion and that energy to win and take the World Cup home,” Chase, who was one of 11 players who took part in the training session said.
“So, I think the preparation in terms of practicing and also the analytical side in terms of planning and being strategic in the boardroom, I think that’s what has paid off for us. Each team is a threat to us and we want to take them down.”
Chase said confidence in the dressing room was extremely high ahead of that crucial clash.
“I think the team is full of confidence having won all four group stage games and the vibe in the camp is very lovely. The guys have been working hard…every guy knows what he needs and I think that is the hallmark of the team; everyone knows their role and everyone knows what they need to do and we’ve been doing it,” Chase pointed out.
The veteran all-rounder said he had been impressed with both batting and bowling units so far.
He said he had seen major improvements since the start of the World Cup.
“I think the batting in the middle overs, that has really pleased me so far, because usually we tend to face too many dot balls in the middle against the spin. But I think we’ve been really rotating the strike well in the middle overs along with picking up the odd boundary and then we’ve been finishing lovely,” Chase said.
“I would also like to commend the guys on the bowling. I think to get 38 wickets out of the 40 possible wickets, I think that’s a good job from the team. We’ve been keeping it tight throughout the innings. Sometimes I just think that we need to tighten up on the Powerplay, and I think once we tighten up on that we’ll be great.” (CMC)
Mothers not happy with judicial system
Two mothers are demanding answers after the men accused of assaulting their young children on school premises walked free – one after being found not guilty and the other after the charge was dismissed.
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In separate interviews with the Sunday Sun, the women, whose identities are being withheld to protect their minor children, spoke of shock, anger and deep frustration, particularly as both said they were never informed that their matters had been called or concluded in court.
Both have vowed to pursue appeals.
In the first case, a man was found not guilty in the District “A” Magistrate Court of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on a nineyear-old boy. The incident dates back to May 29, 2019, with the not-guilty verdict delivered on December 5 last year.
The boy’s mother said she received a call the evening of the incident informing her that her son had been assaulted in the car park of his school. According to her account, her son was playing with two girls when a man approached him.
The man allegedly told the child to stop running with the girls before lifting him into the air, shaking him, throwing him to the ground and kicking his foot.
The child was taken to the Sir Winston Scott Polyclinic where his foot was bandaged. He was later referred to an orthopaedic specialist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The matter dragged on for seven years. During that period, the mother said she was advised by a court official to meet with the accused’s attorney to discuss a possible settlement. However, discussions collapsed when the accused insisted he would not pay any money.
She and her son eventually testified in court. However, earlier last week she learned, to her disbelief, that the case had concluded last December and the accused was acquitted.
Her anger deepened when she discovered that the school official who was first contacted after the incident had never been summoned to testify.
That official confirmed to the Sunday Sun that he attended court four times over the years, the last being in August 2024.
“I was informed last August that the court would summon me when they were ready for me to testify and they would wait until I got there,” he said.
“I never received the call.” King’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim, who represented the accused, confirmed the verdict and defended the outcome.
“He stood between her son and some girls he was chasing and the boy ran into him and fell. He never lifted him up and threw him down,” Pilgrim said.
In a separate case before the Holetown Magistrates’ Court, a 58-year-old man charged with indecently assaulting a four-year-old girl walked free on January 15 after the charge was dismissed.
The accused, a general worker at the child’s school, had been arrested after the girl reported that he took her into a bathroom cubicle and sexually assaulted her.
The child’s mother said she attended court about five times and was repeatedly told by police prosecutors that there was no file. On her last visit she was advised not to return unless summoned.
After hiring an attorney in May 2025 to write the Commissioner of Police about the “missing file”, she said she received no response. It was only after seeking a second legal opinion that she learned the case had already been dismissed.
“I broke down and cried,” she said.
She maintained that her daughter identified the accused by name and that two doctors documented trauma to and bleeding from the child’s private parts.
Pilgrim, who also represented that accused in the matter, said he successfully made a no-case submission under Section 31:2 of the Sexual Offences Act.
“If there is no corroboration in the evidence of a child, then the case cannot go forward,” Pilgrim said.
Section 31 states: “An accused shall not be liable to be convicted on the sworn evidence of a child unless that evidence is corroborated by other material evidence implicating the accused.”
The mother questioned the interpretation.
“What more corroboration do they need?” she asked, adding, “I am not going to rest until I get justice for my child,” she vowed.
Child rights advocate Faith Marshall-Harris described the outcomes as deeply troubling.
“I am devastated by these outcomes. Our children are not safe. We at the Child Helpline receive reports of child abuse at the rate of almost one a day and the tragedy is that these children rarely receive justice.
“They are not being heard; no one appears to be listening. An alarming amount is occurring on school premises and not always perpetrated by children on children as we are often led to believe.
“Because children are often the only witnesses, these cases come to nought, as a person in authority once said, ‘All children tell lies’.”
She added: “We have a brand new Child Protection Act which seems to have done little to abate the abuse of children: Even when there is medical evidence in relation to sexual abuse, the cases are thrown out because no adult witnessed the abuse as if it is likely to be perpetrated in the presence of adults. This is despite the legislation making reference to corroboration by ‘other material evidence’.”
Marshall-Harris warned that without reform, children and caregivers might stop coming forward.
“Only when we have a societal shift in our attitude to children and their concerns will we truly be able to keep children safe. Fewer and fewer children and their carers are prepared to come forward because of the lack of support and the fear of victimisation.
“This is a new and alarming trend. We must take steps to strengthen the law to prevent a normalisation of abuse of children, including ensuring that DNA evidence is routinely gathered to secure convictions.” (MB)