Bahamas Morning Briefing: News Headlines – Monday, November 9, 2026

By Michael Elijah Muhammad Clare

Monday, November 9, 2026

Good morning, Bahamas. A long-term gas deal could put Grand Bahama on the Caribbean energy map, the government is pushing to keep aircraft maintenance money at home, and Washington wakes up to a new White House chief of staff. Here is everything you need to know to start your week.

The Bahamas

11-year LNG deal backs planned Grand Bahama hub

US-based Excelerate Energy has signed an 11-year deal to supply liquefied natural gas to AxDo Bahamas, a new joint venture between Swiss energy company Axpo and Bahamas-based Domicisle LNG. The agreement, announced on Thursday, November 5, covers up to 16 trillion British thermal units of LNG a year and makes AxDo the anchor customer of a planned offshore storage and distribution terminal near Grand Bahama. The hub is meant to fuel ships, including cruise vessels, along with power plants and other buyers across The Bahamas and the wider region. First deliveries are expected in 2027 from Excelerate’s operations in Jamaica, with a floating storage unit planned for Bahamian waters in 2028.

The planned supply link from Jamaica to the Grand Bahama hub. Route and hub position are illustrative.

Government pushes for the country’s first aircraft maintenance facility

Energy, Utilities and Aviation Minister Jobeth Coleby-Davis says the Airport Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas are working with Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) on the country’s first Part 145-certified maintenance, repair and overhaul facility, built to US aviation rules. She said Bahamian aircraft are now sent abroad for heavy maintenance, taking millions of dollars with them, and a local facility would keep that money, the jobs and the skills at home. Eighteen Bahamian students will receive study grants at MTSU under a new aerospace workforce programme, and the University of The Bahamas is planning an aerospace department in partnership with MTSU. The minister also announced a partnership with Nashville International Airport ahead of Southwest Airlines’ first flight to Nassau, scheduled for June 5, 2027.

What a home-grown maintenance hangar could look like.

Attorney General and spending watchdog clash over NIF legal advice

Attorney General Wayne Munroe says his oath of office prevents him and former Attorney General Ryan Pinder from revealing the legal advice given to the government on accounts set up in the National Investment Fund’s name, and that the oath cannot be waived. Opposition leader Michael Pintard, who chairs Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, wants the government to waive privilege and argues the committee can still ask factual questions, such as who prepared the borrowing resolution and what records exist on the transfers. Munroe says he has answered more of the committee’s questions than any other witness and points to a borrowing resolution passed in the 2024-2025 mid-year budget as the legal authority for the spending. The finance minister has previously confirmed that nearly $311 million was spent through the accounts.

The main figures in the NIF debate, as publicly stated. The $965 million total is an upper estimate.

92 new officers join the Royal Bahamas Police Force

The Royal Bahamas Police Force welcomed 92 new constables last week after six months of training. Thirty-six officers from C-Squad passed out in Grand Bahama on Wednesday, followed by 56 recruits from A and B squads in New Providence, which Commissioner of Police Shanta Knowles said included an all-female squad. The force is still working to close a manpower shortfall that has been put at about 2,000 officers.

New constables by squad.

Works Ministry defends AI road-scanning system

Works Minister Clay Sweeting is standing by the ministry’s AI road assessment software, which costs about $45,000 a year and uses smartphones mounted in vehicles to film and grade road conditions. He says the system, called Visala, tracks far more than potholes, including cracking, rutting, faded markings and missing signs, and will help hold road-patching contractors accountable. The ministry plans to pave 60 to 100 miles of road in its next cycle, up from about 25 miles a year, and says a tool for residents to report potholes and drainage problems directly is on the way.

How the road-scanning system works. Road colours are an example, not survey data.

Police seize 71 pounds of suspected marijuana; armed robbery under investigation

Drug Enforcement Unit officers executing a search warrant at a St James Road home, off Kemp Road, seized about 71 pounds of suspected hydroponic marijuana with an estimated street value of $142,000 last Thursday. A 54-year-old man was arrested. Separately, police are investigating an armed robbery on Baillou Hill Road, where a woman says two people approached her on Thursday, one of them armed, and took a bag containing cash and personal items.

Caribbean

Grenada’s NDC wins a second straight term in a landslide

Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell’s National Democratic Congress won 14 of Grenada’s 15 seats in last Thursday’s general election, according to provisional results. The party took 61% of the valid vote, up from nine seats in 2022, and it is the first time the NDC has won back-to-back general elections. The New National Party kept one seat, St George North West, retained by Dr Adrian Joseph.

Seats and vote share from the provisional results, with 2022 for comparison.

Commonwealth summit closes in Antigua with more than US$500 million in pledges

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, wrapped up last week with more than US$500 million in new partnership and investment commitments for renewable energy, youth skills, trade and economic growth. Leaders adopted a communiqué under the theme “Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth” after meeting from November 1 to 4. During the summit week, Prime Minister Philip Davis urged Commonwealth nations to band together when negotiating with global technology giants, warning that smaller economies risk losing control of their citizens’ data.

Diwali lights up Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname

Hindu communities across the southern Caribbean celebrated Diwali, the Festival of Lights, which fell on Sunday, November 8 this year and is a national public holiday in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname. Families lit rows of clay deyas to mark the victory of light over darkness. In Guyana, where the holiday fell on a Sunday, today is being observed as a day off.

Diya lamps for the Festival of Lights.

Barbados Food & Rum Festival serves up a full programme

The 2026 Barbados Food & Rum Festival kept the island busy late last week with a street parade at Oistins, cooking demonstrations and a sold-out rum bus tour that stopped at Mount Gay Distilleries. Its signature Rise & Rum breakfast beach party was held again at Copacabana Beach Club on Bay Street.

USA

Stephen Miller takes over as White House chief of staff

Stephen Miller begins today as President Trump’s White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles, who Trump said is moving to his political operation. Miller, a longtime Trump adviser, has served as deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser and has been a key figure in shaping the administration’s immigration policy. The change comes days after Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate in the November 3 midterm elections.

Two Senate races are still too close to call

Six days after Election Day, the Senate races in Mississippi and Alaska remain uncalled, though neither will change which party controls the chamber. In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom led Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,574 votes in AP figures on Friday evening, with thousands of affidavit ballots still under review; affidavit voters have until November 10 to verify their identity, and counties must certify results by November 13. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola holds a narrow lead over Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, and a ranked-choice tabulation could follow on November 18.

The Mississippi count as of Friday evening, and the dates to watch. Counting continues.

Judge puts Trump’s planned arch on hold

A federal judge has blocked construction of President Trump’s planned 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery for 14 days, hours after the National Capital Planning Commission gave the project final approval late last week. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan sided, for now, with Washington, D.C., Virginia and a group of Vietnam War veterans who sued to stop the project, finding that it likely violates federal law. The White House praised the commission’s vote and criticized the judge’s order.

Trump says Dana White press secretary offer was a joke

President Trump announced on Saturday that he had offered UFC chief Dana White the job of White House press secretary, then told reporters on Sunday he was “only kidding.” White, who said he was flying to Washington, is still expected to meet the president today, though Trump said the meeting is not about the job. The post has been vacant since October, when Katie Zacharia left after five days in the role.

Around the World

Eisenkot gets the first chance to form Israel’s next government

Israeli President Isaac Herzog formally gave opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the mandate to form a government on Sunday, after 67 of the Knesset’s 120 members recommended him, compared with 46 for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Eisenkot, a former army chief who leads the Yashar party, now has 28 days to build a coalition, with a possible 14-day extension. The mandate does not guarantee that he will become prime minister.

Poland opens terrorism probe after Krakow shooting

Polish prosecutors have opened a terrorism investigation after a 24-year-old gunman opened fire in Krakow’s historic Main Market Square on Saturday, killing six people. About 15 others were wounded, including two police officers who tried to stop the attack, and three more bodies were later found at the suspect’s home. Officials say the suspect was likely influenced by far-right ideology, and Poland has begun two days of national mourning.

Russian strikes cut power to 850,000 in Ukraine ahead of new talks

Russian strikes on energy facilities left more than 850,000 people without electricity on Sunday, including over 600,000 in the Dnipropetrovsk region and about 250,000 in the Kharkiv region, where power was later restored. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of stepping up attacks to pressure Kyiv ahead of US-brokered talks with Russia and the United States in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday.

ANC slumps to its worst-ever result in South Africa’s local elections

Final results announced on Sunday give the African National Congress 30.76% of the national vote, down from 45.59% in 2021 and the party’s worst election result. The Democratic Alliance took 24.64% and won an outright majority in Cape Town, while the MK Party, with 9.76% nationally, came first in eThekwini. With no party holding a majority in the other big metros, coalition talks now begin.

Final national results, with 2021 shown where comparable.

COP31 climate talks open today in Turkey

Nearly 200 countries gather from today in Antalya, Turkey, for the COP31 UN climate conference, which runs through November 20. Turkey is hosting and presiding while Australia leads the negotiations under an unusual shared arrangement, with climate finance and the move away from fossil fuels high on the agenda. The United States is not taking part in the negotiations, though a congressional delegation is attending.

That’s your Monday morning briefing. Have a safe and productive week, Bahamas.

Sources

Associated Press; AFP; NPR; CBS News; CNN; NBC News; ABC News; PBS NewsHour; Axios; The Hill; The Washington Post; UPI; ARTnews; CNBC; ESPN; Fox News; Mississippi Today; Mississippi Free Press; Democracy Docket; The Times of Israel; Jewish Telegraphic Agency; The Media Line; Al Jazeera; RTÉ; Notes from Poland; Türkiye Today; The Citizen; BusinessTech; MyBroadband; Daily Investor; Hürriyet Daily News; UN Convention to Combat Desertification; Excelerate Energy company announcement and SEC filings; Business Wire; Jamaica Observer; Ship & Bunker; Engine; Manifold Times; Commonwealth Secretariat; Antigua Observer; Office of the Prime Minister of Canada; Now Grenada; Caribbean National Weekly; The Rio Times; Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation; ICT Pulse; ETV; public holiday calendars for Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname; public remarks by Bahamian government ministers and the Royal Bahamas Police Force.