Teen killed in road accident

A TEENAGE motorcyclist became the island's 14th road fatality of 2008 on Monday, which was also his 19th birthday. Officers reported that around 3 p.m., David Small Jr., was on a motorcycle travelling west along Warwick Lane in Warwick, when he collided with a tan Hyundai SUV coming from the opposite direction. The teenager was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The driver of the SUV, a 54-year-old Smith's parish man, was not injured.

Visitor arrivals drop 22 percent in Q3

ACCORDING to a report announced this week, visitor arrivals fell 22 percent between July and September and those that did come, spent less. A sharp decline in cruise ship visits and the global economic crisis are the key factors behind the slump, the Premier Ewart Brown told a press conference on the third quarter 2008 tourism statistics. However, air arrivals have so far withstood the effect of the credit crunch and remained virtually unchanged, dipping marginally from 97,875 in the three months last year to 97,477 in the same period this year. Of these, the number of business visitors increased six percent from 10,599 to 13,828; while those here on vacation slipped 11 percent from 68,144 to 63,284. Cruise ship passengers tumbled more than a third, from 175,148 to 114,233; with the total number of tourists dropping from 273,242 to 211,917.

New money issued

THE Queen has been moved as the main image on Bermuda's bank notes following the first redesign of the Island's currency for more than 30 years. The new notes were unveiled by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) this week and the designs "incorporate a distinct Bermudian look with the use of bold colours, as well as local scenes, flora and fauna". According to the BMA the new banknotes also feature "some of the most up-to-date anti-counterfeiting technology". It is the first redesign of Bermuda's note currency since the Bermuda dollar was issued in 1970. The notes will be available for the public to use early in 2009 - the 400th anniversary of Bermuda's settlement by Sir George Somers and the 40th anniversary of the BMA.

Police return BHC files to Auditor General

AUDITOR General Larry Dennis has been reunited with the Bermuda Housing Corporation files, which Police confiscated during a high-profile raid on his office last summer. The swoop saw him arrested and locked up overnight - despite his protestations that he was simply the receiver of information, not the distributor. Police have never revealed how the master copies of the dossier detailing allegations about key Government figures relating to the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) affair went missing after the investigation concluded in 2004. Extracts of the report were carried by ZBM and this newspaper last year, revealing that Dr. Ewart Brown and former Premier Jennifer Smith were among the public figures investigated by Police examining allegations of corruption at the public housing quango.

School bullying leading to gangs

ACCORDING to a long-serving Ministry of Education staffer bullying in Bermuda's schools is leading to teenage gangs and graduating into serious social unrest, not high school diplomas. The staffer said he needed to speak-out after watching more of his students get their GED in Co-Ed than their diplomas from high school. "They take the licks before entering the gang, but they don't have support from home or great grades so their rap becomes everything. Anything that insults your manhood you will draw down (fight) for it and when you get out (of high school) you will die for it. Maybe within the last seven or eight years children have taken on much more of the territorial mentality. It's a system problem and that's where people are not making the connections. Curriculum is going to benefit (from the reform) but right now I have a better chance of a kid getting it (a degree) through Co-Ed than school."

Reclaiming land at Dockyard for new pier

WORKS Minister Derrick Burgess has signed an agreement allowing land to be reclaimed from the sea at Dockyard to build a pier for mega cruise ships. It paves the way for the second phase of a project to accommodate Panamax and Post-Panamax ships capable of holding many thousands of visitors, which could transform the old naval town into yhe new tourism hub of Bermuda. Mr. Burgess has signed an agreement between Government and the West End Development Corporation (WEDCO), which outlines 8.2 acres of land adjoining North Breakwater in Dockyard. It states that the land will be used for a pier, ground transport area, terminal building and a new 36-foot wide bridge to replace the existing 25-foot North Arm Bridge. The project has been contracted with Correia Construction.