Precision Electrical Sales & Services Inc, a hardware store at Bridge Cot, St George is on fire.
Four fire tenders are at the scene.
More details as they come to hand.
Chief Medical Officer: Use protective measures against measles
The Ministry of Health and Wellness is urging Barbadians to take all precautions to prevent the spread of measles within the population after the Region of the Americas, which includes Barbados, lost its certification for being a measles-free area.
Chief Medical Officer, The Most Honourable Kenneth George, said the decertification occurred because of the persistent transmission of measles in some provinces in Canada.
“As the public may be aware, there has been an increase in the incidence of measles cases in South America, Latin America, the United States of America and Canada. Prior to the loss of the designation, the region had made progress with respect to measles elimination. And, because we live in an interconnected world where there is free movement of people, the risk of measles entering Barbados is real,” Dr. George warned.
Measles is a highly infectious disease that can result in devastating outcomes including pneumonia, and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). While infants and young children are at most risk, the disease is seen in all ages. The disease is transmitted through the air or via droplets from the nose, mouth, or throat of infected persons.
Initial symptoms, which usually appear 10 to 14 days after infection, include high fever, rash usually accompanied by a runny nose, bloodshot eyes, cough and tiny white spots inside the mouth.
Members of the public are urged to protect themselves from the disease by:
- Ensuring children have two MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccines at 12 months and 18 months old. The measles vaccine is one of the most effective vaccines available. A two-dose schedule is 97 per cent effective in preventing measles for life;
- Reporting any unusual fever with rash to their physician;
- Using handwashing as a means of prevention.
The public is urged to ensure that infants are up to date with all their vaccines and to contact a polyclinic or primary care physician for further guidance. (BGIS)
New vehicle tint regulations take effect tomorrow
Motorists are being reminded that Barbados’ new tint regulations come into force tomorrow, December 1.
In a statement on the deadline, the Barbados Licensing Authority urged vehicle owners to pay close attention to the required tint percentages, noting that the rules are designed to improve visibility into vehicles while still allowing reasonable sun protection.
Under the new law, front windows on the driver and passenger sides must allow at least 25 percent of light to enter, while rear windows and the rear windscreen must allow at least 20 percent. The legislation permits a margin of error of three percentage points when tested.
For the front windscreen, the lowest allowable tint is 70 percent. Visor tints must be no darker than 25 percent. Vehicles with windscreens three feet or less from top to bottom may have visors up to six inches, while larger windscreens may use visors up to ten inches.
Metallic and mirrored tints will no longer be allowed.
Public Service Vehicles, including minibuses and route taxis, must follow the same tint rules as private motorists.
Medical and business exemptions may be granted under specific circumstances, but applications must be submitted with supporting documents. Forms are available on the BLA website.
The Authority is advising all motorists to have their current tint professionally measured to ensure compliance. Free tint testing is available at the sites in Oistins, Christ Church and West Terrace, St James. (PR)
Two juveniles injured in shooting at Vauxhall
The police at Oistins Station are investigating a shooting that occurred along Vauxhall, Christ Church, on Saturday.
Initial investigations indicate that a group of people was gathered outside a residence when an individual approached and discharged several gunshots, injuring two juveniles.
The victims were transported by private vehicle to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where they are receiving medical treatment.
Investigations are ongoing.
Authorities are appealing to anyone with information to contact the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-8477, Police Emergency at 211, or the Oistins Police Station at 418-2612 or 418-2604.
Police investigate unnatural death in St. Philip
The police are investigating an unnatural death that occurred along Work Hall, St. Philip, on Saturday.
Initial investigations indicate that a male was involved in a dispute at a residence, where he sustained injuries. He subsequently left the residence but collapsed a short distance away.
Ambulance personnel responded but found no signs of life.
A medical doctor pronounced the man dead at the scene.
The body has been identified by a relative as Damon Corbin, 30, of Work Hall, St. Philip.
Authorities are continuing investigations and are appealing to anyone with information to contact the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-8477, Police Emergency at 211, or the District ‘C’ Police Station at 416-8200 or 416-8204. (AM)
‘Defeat not a sign of regional shift’
The sweeping 14-1 defeat of Dr Ralph Gonsalves in St Vincent and the Grenadines has triggered intense debate across the Caribbean about whether a broader political shift is emerging, yet, experts warn that drawing parallels with Barbados or other upcoming elections may be dangerously misleading.
Political scientists Peter Wickham and Devaron Bruce, speaking with the Sunday Sun yesterday, said Dr Godwin Friday’s New Democratic Party’s (NDP) landslide victory – ending Gonsalves’ unprecedented 24-year hold on power – was undeniably a watershed moment. However, they cautioned that the Vincentian outcome is rooted in factors that simply do not exist elsewhere in the region.
Wickham said the impulse to see the St Vincent result as part of an anti-incumbent “wave” should be treated with scepticism.
“There’s a feeling on some people’s part that you have a change election in one, there’s a change election in the other. I tend to distinguish elections one from the other,” he said, recalling that Grenada’s sweeping 2013 change of government did not replicate in Barbados days later.
He argued that the conditions surrounding Gonsalves’ fall – specifically the strength and readiness of the opposition – made St Vincent a poor comparison to Dominica, Antigua or Barbados.
“St Vincent and the Grenadines had a strong opposition that was led ably and held a large number of seats that made a difference. I can’t see that happening in Dominica if an election were called tomorrow because the opposition is a lot weaker. The same could be said for Antigua, and certainly for Barbados.”
He also dismissed the idea that Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre’s government in St Lucia faces a similar fate.
“I think that the result and the outcome in St Lucia will be very different,” he said.
Bruce was equally firm that Barbados is not poised for a Vincentian-style shift.
“If people look at St Vincent closely enough, they would see that Ralph was teetering on electoral loss for the last three cycles. He had a one- to threeseat majority. It really only took a small swing for government to change,” he said.
He stressed that the Democratic Labour Party would require a swing “three times as much” as the NDP achieved to return to Government in Barbados.
“On that basis, the two are not comparable. Barbados needs a much larger swing. That would be a heavy lift in any instance,” Bruce said.
He pointed out that Bridgetown and Kingstown will now have to mend what he characterised as “a very negative way to start a relationship”, referring to tensions between the Barbados Labour Party and the incoming Vincentian government linked to alleged campaign involvement by Barbadian operatives.
“But, it’s one that certainly can be improved and grown,” he added.
Bruce said the wider region should watch closely to see whether Prime Minister Friday maintains Gonsalves’ staunch positions on sovereignty and hemispheric diplomacy – especially on Venezuela, where Gonsalves had been one of CARICOM’s most influential voices.
Both analysts said one of the clearest lessons from the Vincentian outcome is the danger of building a political movement entirely around a single personality.
Bruce described Gonsalves’ long tenure as a cautionary reminder that leadership fatigue eventually reaches even the most loyal voter bases.
“The longer an individual remains in power, the more complacent and arrogant they become, and that behaviour seeps through onto the electorate in a negative way,” he said, advising that political organisations must prioritise succession planning and renewal.
He warned against any Caribbean nation allowing itself to reach a point where one party alone appears capable of governing.
Wickham reiterated that while the St Vincent result will reverberate politically, it does not automatically foreshadow a domino effect.
“As with all comparative analysis, we have to take into account the peculiar features on the table. The playing fields across the region are uneven and the peculiarities matter,” he said.
Bruce added: “This is really a wait-and-see circumstance for the region.” (CLM)
Mottley urges Barbadians to renew commitment at Independence ceremony
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has called on Barbadians to renew their commitment to the country, urging citizens to fall in love with Barbados again.
Speaking at Kensington Oval, during the 59th Independence Day Parade and National Awards Ceremony, the Prime Minister said the nation stood at an important moment in its history and needed unity, discipline and collective effort to not only overcome challenges, but reach its development goals.
“I ask you today, all of you… to do something profound; to fall in love with Barbados again,” she told the crowd. “For when we fall in love again, love will help carry us and give us the passion that we need to keep going.”
Mottley also tied the call to the national goal of becoming a world-class society.
“We believe that it is entirely possible for us to be world class by 2030, in the delivery of service to each other. We believe that these missions will and can be attained by 2030. But this is only a signpost, for we all know that beyond 2030, we must continue that journey to be the best that we can be.”
The Prime Minister lauded Barbados’ second President, The Most Honourable Jeffrey Davidson Bostic, who was installed this morning, calling him “a true son of the soil” whose life represented service and quiet leadership.
“You are now our Head of State, and it gives me great joy to address you as Your Excellency,” she said. “In our darkest hours, you captured what this nation needed – no retreat, no surrender.”
She told the new President his example could help inspire citizens to take greater responsibility for their homes, communities and the direction of the country.
Mottley also addressed the fight against crime, noting that law enforcement could not solve the problem alone.
“The choice not to glorify violence by signs or actions or lyrics. The choice not to turn away when a young person is drifting into trouble, but instead to guide and to open doors. And I have every confidence, Your Excellency, that your example will be one that will inspire so many,” she said. “We cannot, my friends, build this Barbados alone.”
The Prime Minister congratulated all national awardees and singled out teams that helped Barbados get removed from the OECD and FATF blacklists. She said their work allowed the country to conduct commerce without fear or favour.
In a lighter moment, she celebrated the Barbados Pride cricket team which won the Regional Super50 Cup yesterday.
“Let them hear you,” she told the crowd. “Let them know we want it in 2026, and 2027, and 2028, and every year thereafter.”
As the nation moves toward its 60th anniversary in 2026 and further into its life as a republic, Mottley urged Barbadians not to become discouraged by economic or social pressures.
“Know that this weariness, that even if you think it is there, comes not from standing still or going downhill, but it comes from us climbing the mountain of achievement and progress that we must do as a people.
“You know, each of us knows that there is always a moment when we say, ‘I don’t know if I can make it, I don’t know if I have anything left’, but we all know that if we push and push and push, we can find that ability to keep going and to keep rising.”
She ended by calling on citizens to live the words of the National Pledge.
“Let us commit to do credit to our nation wherever we shall go. May God bless Barbados.” (AM)
Benjamin Netanyahu seeks pardon from Israel’s president
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the country’s President, Isaac Herzog, for a pardon over corruption cases he has been battling.
The president’s office said Herzog would receive opinions from justice officials before considering the request “which carries with it significant implications”.
Netanyahu has been standing trial for the past five years on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in connection with three separate cases. He denies wrongdoing.
He said in a video message that he would have preferred to see the process to the end but national interest “demanded otherwise”.
The Israeli opposition says he should admit guilt before seeking a pardon.
Early this month, US President Donald Trump urged Herzog to “fully pardon” Netanyahu.
At the time, Herzog made it clear that anyone seeking a pardon had to submit a formal request.
On Sunday, his office released the request and a letter by Netanyahu himself, in light of “the importance of this extraordinary request and its implications”.
It offered no indication of when the president might reach a decision.
In 2020, Benjamin Netanyahu became the first serving Israeli prime minister to stand trial:
- In the first case, prosecutors alleged that he had received gifts – mainly cigars and bottles of champagne – from powerful businessmen in exchange for favours
- He is accused in a second case of offering to help improve the circulation of an Israeli newspaper in exchange for positive coverage
- And in a third, prosecutors have alleged that he promoted regulatory decisions favourable to the controlling shareholder of an Israeli telecoms company in exchange for positive coverage by a news website.
Netanyahu has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and branded the trial as a “witch hunt” by political opponents.
In Sunday’s defiant video message, he claimed that the cases against him were collapsing, but that the process was tearing Israel apart from within.
“I am certain, as are many others in the nation, that an immediate end to the trial would greatly help lower the flames and promote broad reconciliation – something our country desperately needs,” the prime minister added.
Netanyahu said he was being required to testify before court three times a week, describing that as “an impossible demand.”
A pardon, he insisted, would help Israel fend off threats and seize opportunities by fostering “national unity”.
His political opponents have accused Netanyahu of attempting to conflate his interests with those of the state.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said there could be no pardon without an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse and Netanyahu’s immediate retirement from political life.
Yair Golan, a left-wing politician and former deputy commander of Israeli forces, said “only the guilty” sought pardon.
According to Israel’s Basic Law, the president “has the power to pardon criminals and reduce or transmute [alter] their sentence”.
However, Israel’s High Court of Justice has previously ruled that the president can pardon an individual before they are convicted if it is in the public interest or if there are extreme personal circumstances.
Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party and his supporters have always supported a pardon for their leader.
But for many in Israel – especially on the left – it would be seen as another move away from the country’s sense of itself as a robust democracy with a strong legal system.
Public concerns over the government’s plans for judicial reform brought hundreds of thousands out on to the streets in protest for many months before the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023 which triggered the most recent Gaza war.
In a separate case, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant last year for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity that have allegedly been committed during the war between Israel and Hamas.
Netanyahu has condemned the move as “antisemitic”. (BBC News)
Three now The Most Honourable
Central Bank Governor Dr Kevin Greenidge, cricket legend Joel “Big Bird” Garner, and economist and philanthropist Dr Kurt Lambert will from today carry the title of Barbados’ highest honour – The Most Honourable.
They head the list of honourees as the country marks its 59th year of Independence, and fourth as a parliamentary republic, when the annual Independence Day Ceremonial Parade takes place at Kensington Oval this morning.
The three received the Order of Freedom of Barbados, presented “for distinguished and extraordinary service to Barbados, the Caribbean diaspora or to humanity at large”.
Greenidge was awarded “for his exceptional, people-centred leadership in economic policy and central banking, and his outstanding transformative achievements in guiding reforms under the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation programmes”.
When contacted last night, Greenidge, who has been Governor of the Central Bank since 2023, told the Sunday Sun: “I feel deeply honoured and humbled. This is a tribute to all who poured into my life and a call to serve Barbados with even greater dedication.”
Garner has been honoured for his “outstanding leadership as a distinguished sports administrator, sterling service to national cricket development and extraordinary contribution to West Indies and Barbados cricket as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history”.
From his fearsome deliveries in the 1970s and 1980s to his leadership as Barbados Cricket Association president, selector, director, and West Indies team manager, the six-foot-eight cricketing titan’s legacy is as enduring as it is influential. His record still astonishes: 259 Test wickets at 20.97 and 146 One-Day International wickets, including his legendary 1979 World Cup final performance.
Last night, he said he too was “humbled and honoured” to be recognised as one of the people who brought joy and respectability to the region.
“I want to share this honour with all of those who graced the fields with me and who were part of my journey through the years, all of those I played with – some still here around and some not around. You can’t do it by yourself, you are part of a squad and part of a team. I share with them all the accolades I would receive,” he said. Lambert is being awarded “in recognition of his exemplary leadership in health care, finance and social investment, significant socio-economic achievements whilst pioneering major enterprises and unwavering dedication to advancing impactful philanthropic initiatives”.
Global in reach but Barbadian at heart, Lambert represents a new generation of internationally respected leaders who never relinquished their roots. A mathematician, economist, investor and philanthropist, he has built enterprises and initiatives across continents, but his greatest symbol of service remains the clinic he established in 2011 on family land in Chadderton Road, Carrington Village, St Michael.
Professor Benedict Okechukwu Oramah, former president and chairman of the African Export-Import Bank, will receive the honorary Order of Freedom of Barbados award in recognition of “his dedication, pivotal role and strategic leadership in expanding trade and investment relations between the member stars of the African Export-Import Bank and Barbados”.
The Order of the Republic – the second highest honour – has gone to George Nelson McDonald Fergusson, for leadership in maritime affairs and tourism development – from the Barbados Port to the creation of iconic vessels like the Jolly Roger and Harbour Master; Faith Adele Marshall-Harris, for decades of work in child protection, introducing transformative juvenile reforms and advocacy to strengthen legislation and safeguards for vulnerable children; and Dr Christopher Austin Maynard, for medical excellence, Barbados’ leading ENT specialist, service as an Independent senator and the provision of pro bono care for the vulnerable.
The Gold Award of Achievement goes to 33 members of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and International Business Unit Economic Substance Team, whose rigorous work led to Barbados’ removal from both the FATF grey list and EU blacklist.
Musical legend Wendy Lerlene Alleyne, Barbados’ “Queen of Song”, was one of five honoured with the Silver Trident of Excellence – hers for five decades of artistry and cultural influence.
Seven will receive the Barbados Bravery Medal dr for courage in life-threatening circumstances: Four rescuers – Shawn Christopher Green, Jelani Ian Aziel Griffith, Reshelle Amanda Griffith and Rashad Akile Jules – who saved 104-year-old Beryl Whitney from a house fire in Amity Lodge, Christ Church on October 26; 2024; Jeremy Adrian Payne and Roger Ricardo Springer – who braved rough seas to save five people in St Peter on February 11,2024, and Shawn Christopher Greene – who fought off ten vicious dogs to save his cousin on June 15 last year. (NS)
Barbados installs second President during Independence Day Parade
The Most Honourable Jeffrey Bostic was officially installed as Barbados’ second President this morning at Kensington Oval, during the annual Independence Day Parade and National Awards. Scenes from the mornings proceedings.
Pictures by Reco Moore.
