Norwegian Cruise Lines ? which has just agreed to part pay $200 million in port charges to refurbish docks in New York ? said yesterday it will continue to sail to Bermuda from other US destinations for the next few years.

Norwegian Cruise Lines Ltd. and Carnival Corp. signed letters of intent with the city to pay a minimum of $200 million in port charges through 2017 to improve the main terminal and build a new pier in Brooklyn which can take three ships.

The agreement calls for the companies to bring at least 13 million passengers to Manhattan and to the new Brooklyn pier through 2017.

In return for bringing in the 13 million passengers and revenue guarantees, Norwegian and Carnival will receive preferential berths and lines fee reductions.

Norwegian spokesman Susan Robison told The Royal Gazette yesterday the cruise line is continuing to sail to Bermuda from Boston, Philadelphia and New York - and these routes have been agreed for 2005-06.

When asked if the company would only be sailing from New York in the future, she said the company was not talking yet about long-term planning.

"We've just made the announcement. We're not talking about long-range planning right now," she said. New York will spend $150 million to renovate the terminal, which was completed in 1935 and has not had a major overhaul in thirty years.

And once the renovations are complete in 2009, the terminal will be able to accommodate three large cruise ships at the same time.

Despite the cancellation of the Annual Agricultural Exhibition, public schools will still be closed on Friday ? a day set aside for several decades for children to attend the Island's biggest 'fair'.

Berkeley Institute deputy principal Carlos Symonds said the day off was set out in the schools' schedule as it is every year.

The Annual Exhibition is held over three days every year with students getting the Friday off to attend the festivities held at the Botanical Gardens.

Hurricane Fabian damaged many of the buildings at the site and this year the Environment Ministry decided to cancel the event.

Western Stars Sports Club closed its doors early on Tuesday night after a dispute over a tab threatened to get ugly as FA Cup revellers watched.

Police were called to the club around 12.10 Wednesday morning, where a bartender told them she had been in a dispute with a patron over payment for his drinks.

The man denied the allegations, however. Because of the large crowd present, Police suggested the club close down for the night. The management agreed and voluntarily closed the club without incident.

Western Stars' soccer team, the Dandy Town Hornets had won the Football Association's FA Cup Final in a replay match with the Devonshire Cougars at the National Sports Centre just hours before.

The grounds of a vacant lot on Cambridge Road will be transformed into an apartment housing development.

Twenty new Entasis Architecture designed condominiums will be built on Lot 1 on Cambridge Road, east of Long Bay in Sandys according to an application filed through the Department of Planning on April 12.

A gazebo and man made pond are also listed on the application.

A man who was charged with swinging a chair at a Police officer and trespassing on the St. Brendan's property pleaded guilty in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

The court heard that Archibald Douglas, 62, of no fixed abode, was told to leave the reception area at St. Brendan's on April 10 by a security officer who noticed he was loitering around the area.

Douglas left but then returned shortly after. He was taken to the Hamilton Police Station where he attempted to swing a chair at the head of a Police officer during questioning.

When Douglas was cautioned by Police he said, "I will tell the judge I am sorry."

Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves sentenced Douglas to six weeks in jail for trespassing and three months in jail for attempting to assault a Police officer.

It's Thursday, and still there has been no news of when the St. George's Prep appeal will be heard ? despite a promise that it would be this week.

"Again, all we've heard is what's been printed in The Royal Gazette," parent leader Nick Duffy said yesterday. "Still we wait."

Parents launched an appeal almost four weeks ago attempting to reverse a Government decision to close the second Primary One stream at St. George's Prep for September, 2004, despite the school's overwhelming popularity.

Government plans to open a second stream at East End Primary instead. Though parents applauded that move, they maintained their position that the demand was high enough in the East End for both schools to continue with second Primary One streams.

The Royal Gazette was unable to contact Richard Horseman, the lawyer handling the appeal for the 25 families involved, yesterday, however Mr. Duffy said he had received no word that his lawyer knew any more than he did.

Last week chairman of the Appeals Committee Wilbur Lowe said the appeal will probably be heard sometime this week.

"We are handling this no differently from any other appeal," he said. The appeals must be heard in order, and Dr. Lowe said there were about 14 appeals in line before the St. George's one. "They can be assured of a very fair hearing."

No detailed plans are available yet to show what engineers plan to reconstruct the Fabian damaged areas of Church Bay and Coney Island.

Both parks have been closed until October 2004 while the Department of Parks and the Ministry of Works and Engineering work together to complete major civil engineering repairing damage caused by Hurricane Fabian last September. Government stated last week that the Parks Department and the Structures Section of Works and Engineering have teamed up to develop a strategy for the repairs.

At Church Bay that will mean shoring up the cliff and creating safe access to the beach, a Government spokesperson said yesterday - however engineers are still discussing the details of how that will be done. Government did confirm that handicap access will not be a priority to the beach. Coney Island faces similar civil engineering works.

The public has been warned to take note of safety signs posted and work in progress at other parks on the Island damaged after the hurricane: Ferry Point Park, Cooper's Island Nature Reserve, Blue Hole Hill Park, John Smith's Bay, Watch Hill Park, Spittal Pond, Astwood Park, Warwick Long Bay Park, Horseshoe Bay and along the Railway Trail.

Contractors have already begun reinstatement work as a temporary solution to damage in areas such as John Smith's Bay and the car park area of Warwick Long Bay.

Health and Family Services Minister Patrice Minors is visiting the UK this week to look into the country's drug treatment and drug prevention programmes.

The Minister was invited by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), with funding provided by the FCO under its "Sponsored Visits" scheme.

A press release sent out yesterday by Government's Department of Communication and Information said Mrs. Minors' visit is an opportunity for her to gather information on the UK Government's approach to drug treatment and prevention, the reduction of the sexual abuse of children, and the treatment of sexual addiction and the behaviours that lead to sexual offences.

Visits to the Home Office, the Department for Education and Skills, HM Prison Service, several Non-Governmental Organisations, and an inner city London project to tackle the use of crack cocaine are on the Minister's schedule this week.

The Little Venice Group of restaurants said yesterday that new companies it is setting up are purely routine and will have no impact on the running of the businesses.

The group bought the Fourways Inn in Paget in 2002 and has decided to split the books between the restaurant and the cottage operations, said Little Venice finance director Teresa Chatfield. So the Four Ways Inn Limited is setting up Four Ways Cottages Limited and Four Ways Ways Operations Limited.

And La Trattoria Limited - part of the Little Venice Group - is also setting up a company TAO Limited, for its food and drink concession at Bermuda International Airport. "It is just a boring book-keeping exercise that does not affect the business. Nothing is going to change, and nothing is for sale or anything," she said.

The Little Venice group owns and operates Little Venice, La Coquille, La Trattoria, Harbourfront, L'Oriental and Fourways Inn.

Guests at the Biological Station for Research on Saturday night will have the chance to bid on a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity: a diving trip the next day with famous ocean explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau.

Mr. Cousteau is the son of the late Jacques Cousteau, the man who co-developed the Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) in 1943 and opened the underwater universe to humans.

He will be the guest speaker at the black-tie Gala Fundraising Evening at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) on Saturday. Proceeds from the gala will go towards BBSR's $25 million New Horizon Campaign, a massive fundraising initiative.

For more information on the gala this Saturday at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess, contact Vanessa Shorto at the BBSR on 297-1880 ext. 204 or email vshortobbsr.edu.