Bahamas News

One of Coastal Carolina Universitys many study-abroad opportunities allows students a chance to get field experience in shark biology at the Bimini Biological Field Station in the Bahamas.

Students on the trip, hosted by CCU’s Marine Biology Department, will experience personal encounters with several species of sharks.
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PraiseFest Ministries, a volunteer-run evangelistic mission based in Northport, Alabama, has chartered Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas on May 29, 2006 for a 4-night cruise to the Bahamas. Cruise with a Cause has been designed to combine a family vacation experience with a faith-based opportunity allowing guests to participate in a mission effort on Grand Bahama Island.

This unique cruise will feature onboard concerts from well-known contemporary Christian music artists, a variety of popular speakers like wrestler Steve Bordon (aka Sting) and Josh McDowell, workshops catering to various age groups to prepare them for their island adventure, Christian- oriented entertainment shows as well as Royal Caribbean’s onboard activities.
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The dispute has been going on for many years, some say from the early days of Freeport’s development when the visionary pioneers of the Magic City concluded that Freeport’s industrial growth was not moving at the pace they had envisaged and began focusing on also developing the planned city as a tourist resort.

Indeed, even before big-time gambling was introduced in Grand Bahama in the early 1960s, taxi drivers began agitating through the Grand Bahama Taxi Union for greater access to the Freeport area, which was established as a private enclave under the Hawks-bill Creek Agreement, signed August 4, 1955. That agreement gave the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) virtually full autonomy over the area it planned to develop, and although there have been some modifications to it over the years, Freeport is still very much a private development. It is this fact that has been central to the on-going dispute between taxi drivers and tour operators in Grand Bahama.
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The Bahamas is a hotspot for investment in hotels and resort development by international entrepreneurs. These investments have been responsible for some $8 billion in direct investment. A positive aspect of this foreign direct investment has been the fact that funds have been disbursed throughout this archipelago. This has been a good thing for several reasons.

Firstly, it addresses the issue of migration from the Family Islands to the urban centers of Nassau and Freeport. Secondly; these developments have created jobs in the Family Islands thereby alleviating poverty in those Family Island communities, which have long survived on traditional or pothole farming. Finally, these developments bring infrastructural improvements.
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The hotel sector is on an energy-conservation drive in a bid to beat spiralling fuel costs, as sky-high oil prices threaten The Bahamas tourism industry.

Frank Comito, Executive Vice President of The Baha-mas Hotel Association, said his members are doing everything they can to keep prices down and rooms filled.
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The Snoop Dogg hosted Rappers Challenge Texas Hold Em Tournament, a single-day $2 million prize pool event scheduled to run on a cruise ship leaving Miami May 5th, has been postponed.

The tournament’s organizers, Hold ‘Em Productions, claim the ship they planned to use lost it’s certification, and that the tournament will be held in November 2006 in the Bahamas.
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Tourism and financial services will greatly complement each other as the Bahamas prepares to face globalisation, senior executives from the Ministry of Tourism and Bahamas Financial Services (BFSB).

The director-general of tourism, Vernice Walkine, and the BFSB’s chief executive, Wendy Warren, told the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce’s Globalisation Conference that the two leading industries will have to work together and develop solid brands for their industries and the nation.
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A Nassau resident has consented to a US court order requiring him to comply with a subpoena issued by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), having previously argued that the SEC had no jurisdiction over him because he lived in the Bahamas.

Dean Sheptypcki agreed to the Order after the SEC produced evidence contradicting his argument.
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Bahamas-based shipping companies are carefully monitoring rising global oil prices, warning yesterday that if they remain over $70 per barrel they might have to pass surcharges to the consumer.

Some of the companies base their bunker charges on WTI, or the Western Texas Intermediate, which is a light, sweet crude oil that is the underlying commodity of the New York Merchantile Exchange’s oil futures contracts.
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The Ministry of Financial Services and Investments and Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) have announced that the second Small Business Forum and Trade Show will be held from May 4-6 at the College of the Bahamas (COB).

The forum will give small businesses in the Bahamas the opportunity to express their concerns in a workshop where models of successful companies will be highlighted.
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