Kendrick Christie, President of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Bahamas Chapter asserted that "Value Added Tax (VAT) is viable in The Bahamas."

"Business owners must be responsible with the information they purport as facts," says Christie. "A lot of what I am hearing is at best anecdotal. The reality is the government is being prudent by aggressively tackling tax reform as the current tax system, led by customs duties experience high levels of leakage," Mr. Christie explained. "VAT allows for enhanced checking ability for internal and external auditing and analysis that can be useful in business strategy."

Mr. Christie's comments come as the Bahamas debt is expected to reach just over $5 billion by June 30.

A leading environmental lawyer and consultant for Save The Bays has called for the urgent passage of an environmental protection act, saying it will not only protect a fragile and often threatened environment but could lead to new economic prosperity by unleashing a host of profitable enterprises.

Romauld Ferreira, popular TV show host and one of the Caribbean's top environmental lawyers, said legislation and regulations that protect the environment "provide governments with the ability to develop industry in a manner which is sustainable and respects the environment." Further, he said, legislation that protects also enables - unlocking incentives for the development of clean energy, green solutions, prudent waste management and construction without destruction.

Cliché, though it may be, heart disease remains the number one killer of persons around the world. Typically when you hear of a fight it's between two persons. However, the fight against heart disease is one where many are battling this disease with as many aids as possible. The aids include, doctor's nurses, hospitals, support staff, family support, volunteers, support groups, prayers and necessary financial resources. For many, in particular children, a lack of financial support for heart care can lead to immediate death.

Recently, some parents and children joined forces with The Heart Ball Committee and The Heart Foundation, in both Nassau and Grand Bahama to take a stand against heart disease in children and fight for the life of a child.

In an effort to foster government and civil society collaboration on rehabilitation and corrections programming in The Bahamas, the U.S. Embassy's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Section partnered with the National L.E.A.D. Institute to deliver a corrections-focused study tour for sixteen Bahamian government and civil society representatives January 10-19 in North Carolina.

The study tour and observation training opportunity was led by the National L.E.A.D. Institute, a nonprofit organization that provides programs for at-risk youth as well as post-prison/correctional facility inmates, and was funded in part under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), a security partnership which seeks to assist governments in improving prison conditions and in increasing educational opportunities for at-risk youth.

25% of all deaths in the Bahamas were directly related to heart disease, according to The Department of Statistics in 2009. Today, heart disease remains the major cause of death in The Bahamas. It is also the main cause of death around the world. February is celebrated annually as Heart Month. The year 2014 marks the anniversary of the 50th Heart Ball. The Sir Victor Sassoon (Bahamas) Heart Foundation and The Bahamas Heart Association want you to get involved, help to save a life, and to keep your heart healthy.

The Bahamas Heart Association, The Heart Foundation, with the aid of the Heart Ball Committee and sponsors, have jointly scheduled several events during heart month to create awareness of heart disease, to help persons live heart healthy lifestyles and to help raise funds to repair children's hearts. The public is invited to attend these events.

Kids of all ages brought out their riding toys last Friday at the Sandals Foundation sponsored Trike-A-Thon Bahamas in aid of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The young participants, who attend Tambearly School and the Lyford Cay International School, participated in the annual St. Jude trike-a-thon tradition, which consists of a week-long curriculum covering riding-toy safety for day care centers and pre-schools across the United States and in the Bahamas.

The proceeds from this year's registration fee and donations are still being collected and tallied and will go directly to St. Jude, where several Bahamian children have received and are receiving treatments for varying health issues.

January 10th 2014, The Bahamas celebrated its first Majority Rule Day. A day that speaks to the empowerment of Bahamian people to address inequalities, discrimination and social ills within our nation. For the ladies of the Eta Psi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (AKA), this day was best suited to launch its 2014 Anti-Human Trafficking Campaign. As a prelude to Global Human Trafficking Awareness Day (January 11th 2014) the members of the sorority paused to discuss this growing issue, alarming statistics and the chapter's commitment to awareness, advocacy and action.

In an effort to bring awareness to the international issue of human trafficking with special attention to women and children victims, the chapter launched its Denim and Pearls initiative. Led by the Social Justice & Human Rights and Connections committees the members posed in their denim and pearls with signs calling attention to raising international statistics.

One hundred Bahamian young men and women attended Monday's opening ceremony of the Leadership Development Institute (LDI), an independent, non-profit training institute supported by Baha Mar. The opening ceremony is the culmination of five LDI community meetings that were held over the past three weeks and attracted about 3,500 people who wanted to learn more about the training program.

These men and women, the first ever LDI class, received words of encouragement from Sarkis Izmirlian, Baha Mar's CEO and Chairman, who remarked: "We can build the walls but unless we have the right men and women to create the Baha Mar experience, we will not have succeeded."

Thirty British sailors from the HMS Richmond along with the Nassau Sunrise Rotary Club teamed up to participate in the building project at the Bahamas Association for Social Health's (BASH) Earth Village in Chippingham, January 30, 2014. The adult male residential substance dependency treatment and rehabilitation facility is managed by Terry Miller.

Volunteers are pictured painting some of the recreational areas.

(BIS Photo/Patrick Hanna)

The Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce Annual Installation Banquet for its 2013-2014 elected Board Members will be held this Saturday, February 8th at the Grand Lucayan Resort.

The guest speakers for the event will be The Hon. Khaalis Rolle, Minister of State for Investment in the Office of the Prime Minister and Mr. Alexander Sokoloff, Political - Economic Specialist from the US Embassy in The Bahamas. Mr. Barry Malcolm, returning President of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce, will be inducted for his second year of service and will be on hand to address the business community on pressing local issues.

Taking the leap of faith, Gateway Travel Agency owners Mr. Jonathan and Mrs. Dedra Campbell have embarked upon their second business venture in anticipation of the economic surge that is excepted to hit Grand Bahama Island.

We are all familiar with the famous Gateway Travel commercials that are aired on ZNS TV 13 featuring two women off on their vacation, only to end up at their hotel that does not exist, in the middle of nowhere. However, once they visited Gateway Travel and spoke to the vacation specialist, their vacation in paradise was complete and they worried no more.

Written by Sophie Paine, IB1 student from Lucaya International School

On the 23rd of January, 2014, I travelled to Chicago, Illinois along with five other students and two teacher advisors from Grand Bahama's Lucaya International School to attend the Chicago International Model United Nations (CIMUN) conference, coordinated by the Model United Nations Development Organization.

Model United Nations is essentially a simulation of the real United Nations and it aims to educate students at both high school and university level on the issues of diplomacy and international politics. Each club is assigned a different country to represent. In our case, we were allotted Switzerland. Teams then spend months familiarizing themselves with their respective countries and carry out research pertaining to the topics which will be debated at the conference.

As the saying goes, 'give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime'. With this in mind the Grand Bahama Shipyard (GBS) is gearing up for their 4th Annual Fishing Tournament, that supports local schools on the island and helps them improve their teaching resources.

Currently work is being completed on one of the three schools that benefited from proceeds from last year's tournament: Bartlett Hill Primary School. At Bartlett Hill Primary, where Gia Walker is the principal, the Shipyard helped build, buy and assemble a new playground for the preschool, paint picnic tables, refurbish their tuck shop, including providing them with a new freezer, refurbish the existing playground, donate twelve new basketballs, and paint a new logo on the basketball court.

When the HSGB has to postpone a formerly popular event like our ladies lunch, we know it's time to be worried. With our deepest apologies to those awesome 22 ladies who did buy tickets, we simply could not afford to hold the event for so few people and still hope to benefit our animals at all. Our fundraising committee is conferring and regrouping to come up with a fabulous alternative which will be announced soon. We hope that our local supporters will be excited and come out for a fun event to help our animals! And of course those who already purchased tickets can get a refund at any time, or hold onto their tickets which will be valid for the TBA event.

Don't forget the annual HSGB Dog Show will be held on Saturday, March 1st, at the shelter grounds on Coral Road - mark your calendars for this ever-popular event!

Thanks to economics we are forced to make some really hard decisions lately. In an effort to give every animal a chance, we have undertaken a herculean effort to photograph every one of our dogs and puppies and we have almost all of them posted now, on our Facebook albums. See below for the links.

After months of discussions and meetings, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce licensees have made a decision to go forward with a Judicial Review and instructed their legal council to prepare final submissions on whether the new Budget fees and regulations implemented under the Customs Managements Act, which came into effect July 1, 2103, were lawful under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement (HCA).

After having exhausted all other means, the Chamber has been left with no option but to defend itself, its members and the GBPA licensees from the enormous costs that the new 2013 fee/tax structures have created on doing business. "We had hoped that initial reports and based on previous comments by the Prime Minister, that these fees would be reversed, but they have not come to fruition," said President of the Chamber Barry Malcolm. "We need to defend the constraints of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement that we live under, and our members are demanding action to protect the business model set up in Freeport."

I was a student nurse-midwife at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (CPMC) in New York City when, as I received a baby at birth, the thought occurred to me that my hands were the first human hands to touch the whole of that baby. This was an overwhelming realization for me. I began to question the message my hands sent to the emerging baby as he/she was born. To this day, I try to make sure that my hands, as they embrace the newly born, send a message of utmost gentleness, welcome and awe for this never-been-before gift to the world. Through the years, I shared that same sense of urgency with the student nurses I taught. A like accountability now resides with the birth doulas of Doula Delight.

Later, during my nurse-midwifery internship at the CPMC, the most perplexing question ever asked of me was posed by a seconds-old baby girl that I had just eased into the world. This baby did not cry. She was pink and lively. She looked at me for some time. She seemed to ask, "Don't you know who I am?" Her penetrating stare was un-nerving. I stood studying her perplexing gaze, appreciating that this was no ordinary question that she asked me. It was not until years later that I "reasoned" to the answer of the question I believe that baby asked me.

A new radio show will be take on uncharted territory for call-in talk shows this week when ZNS launches 'Voice of the Bays: The Environment Speaks' Thursday, February 6 at 3 pm with three hosts who plan to touch on everything from the undersea world to responsible development.

The show features the familiar voices of environmentalists Joseph Darville, Save The Bays Director of Education, Gail Woon, founder of EARTHCARE Bahamas, and Nikie Severe, Youth Environmental Ambassadors. Its airing, said Darville, is made possible through a grant from Save The Bays, the people's environmental movement sweeping the nation, while other sponsors will come on board as the show gains popularity, he believes.

The 2013/ 2014 Heart Ball Committee presents the 50th Annual Heart Ball, under the theme "Celebrating the Golden Anniversary of a Vision .... Championing the Cause of Children!" an entertaining and exciting fundraiser to benefit the Sir Victor Sassoon (Bahamas) Heart Foundation. Funds donated to The Heart Foundation help to repair the hearts of children in The Bahamas.

On Saturday February 15, 2014, the 50th Annual Heart Ball is set to take place at Melia Nassau Beach Resort and will feature a performance by Grammy Award winning artist, Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Award winner and two-time Billboard winner, Mr. Rik Carey. Mr. Carey is a Bahamian artist, music producer, song writer, proprietor and drummer. He is best known for his lead vocals in Baha-Men. As an up and coming artist, his art pieces have also been on display throughout The Bahamas.

The Grand Bahama Performing Arts Society will present world renowned jazz and blues vocalist, author and composer Joan Cartwright in concert at the Grand Bahama Sailing Club on Friday, February 7th at 7:30pm; and she will also conduct a vocal workshop and seminar at the same venue on Saturday, February 8th at 3pm.

Joan was born in Queen's New York, but has Bahamian roots. Her father is from Long Island, so she is excited to come home to share her swinging brand of jazz and blues with us. Ms. Cartwright has toured five continents and 16 countries including the United States, eight European countries, Jamaica, Brazil, Mexico, Ghana, Gambia, South Africa, China and Japan.

The world famous Royal Bahamas Police Force marching band, recently wowed a crowd of thousands as they not only executed the military precision steps they are known for, but performed a lively modern line dance, during their halftime performance at a Miami Heat game in the American Airlines Arena, Thursday January 23rd.

The band's performance was a part of a Bahamas Domination night at The Heat vs Lakers game. The Domination included audience in attendance for the battle between the NBA rivals, being exposed to The Bahamas through a number of means. Vignettes of Heat 2013 Training Camp in The Bahamas on Jumbotron video clips; Bahamas messaging, an ad in Heat magazine, and announcements encouraging people to visit Bahamas booths that were located on two levels of the arena.

Sammy the Snail - a caricature created to teach children that it's better to express emotion than keep it stored inside -- is crawling his way through Nassau and this week, his story won the hearts and smiles of children at McDonald's on Marlborough Street when author Allie MacPhail signed copies during the fast food restaurant's popular weekly McHappy Hour.

"This is definitely the rocking-est book signing I've ever done" MacPhail said as youngsters grabbed books like hard-fought prizes and fries like long-awaited treats. "I never knew a book-signing could feel so much like a party. This is great."

There have been great strides made in pageantry in The Bahamas, and the Grand Bahama Beauty Pageant Organization has several highlights this past year to add to the country's successes. Lashanda Wildgoose competed and came second runner-up in Jamaica at the Miss Global International in 2013, and this year traveled to Colombia for the Miss Coffee International Pageant. Shequera King had the opportunity to travel to Africa and go down in history as the inaugural Miss Heritage World title holder.

The Miss Grand Bahama committee works hard behind the scenes ensuring their mandate is met, and they are in stride with their mission, that being to help transform young women of Grand Bahama through pageantry to become true ambassadors for their country.

Report as of January 30, 2014

South Andros: Captain Rosewell Rahming reports having plenty of wahoo strikes but only being able to land one 50lb fish on Monday while fishing between the Bluff and the South Bight of Andros.

Nassau: Wahoo are being caught along the edge along with some smaller mahi off shore on weed lines. There are yellowfin tuna offshore under the schools of bonita. The best bet is to try for them late in afternoon.

North Abaco: There are continuing reports of medum sized wahoo being caught through out the week.

With a record of $90,000 in cash and prizes at stake and an anticipated 40 teams angling for some of that total, Smackdown IV hosted by the historic Bimini Big Game Club Resort & Marina should make teams shout Wahoooooooo!!!

The tournament, scheduled for February 27th through March 1st, features $10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second and $2,500 for third (a guarantee based on 35 boats participating). Teams can also claim prize monies for Biggest Fish, Heaviest Three Fish and Grand Total Heaviest Fish.

Minister of Sports Dr. Daniel Johnson, while at Bahamas Night at American Airlines Arena, predicted a "breakout year" in sports tourism for The Bahamas.

As the Miami Heat wound down its 109-102 victory in the latest meeting with the Lakers, Dr. Johnson pointed out that several large-scale sporting events will be held in The Bahamas in 2014. The year began with the start of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour at Paradise Island, when Jessica Korda won the second annual Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic.

YMCA Executive Director, Karon Pinder-Johnson praised Sir Jack Hayward and The Grand Bahama Port Authority, Limited (GBPA) for its partnership in a recent Energy Savings & Efficiency project.

Geared at assisting the community support facility, and reduce its electrical operations cost which totaled $130,000.00 in 2012, the project proved to be quite successful, Pinder-Johnson revealed. "The YMCA has always grappled with its electrical bill. In fact, at one point the organization acquired arrears totaling approximately $50,000.00.