Aegon, the Dutch international financial services holding company, launched the awards in 2025 as part of its “Live Your Best Life” programme that aims to bolster the local community.

The scholarship, available for up to five outstanding students pursuing education in Canada and the United States, is worth up to $30,000 per year and is renewable for up to three years.

It is open to any student with Bermudian status and aims to help close educational gaps for those who require financial support to pursue their studies

Aegon explained it is keen to support students interested in careers in healthcare, shaping our built environment, the trades and the technology sectors; it is particularly keen to reward people who are committed to returning to Bermuda after graduation to live and work.

The company – which stepped up its presence in Bermuda in 2023 – has a philosophy that they are members of the community themselves, and it is in their interest to help other community members live their best lives.

Aegon said it recognises education as a crucial element for people to achieve their full potential. By doing so Aegon aims to contribute to the prosperity of the entire country.

Tibor Leeuwenburgh, Aegon’s country executive in Bermuda, said: “With our Live Your Best Life community investment programme – with the great support of the Bermuda Foundation – we want to contribute to the growth and wellbeing of Bermuda’s vibrant community.

“We are excited to work together with partners that offer financial and social opportunities to help more people live their best lives. Moreover, we’re inspired by the ambition and resilience of these students and proud to support them in their journey.”

The Live Your Best Life programme is centred around education, financial and social empowerment, and has also included $60,000 grants, through the Bermuda Foundation, to Age Concern Bermuda, Connectech Coding and the Family Centre.

Aegon has connections to Bermuda as far back as the 1970s and established a presence here in 2005 through its subsidiary Transamerica Life Bermuda.

This relationship has been deepened since, when Aegon’s legal seat switched to Bermuda in September 2023.

Aegon says it has a long history of community involvement in the places where it operates and wanted to continue that tradition here with the legal seat change.

This scholarship was awarded in 2025 to Anijahe dos Santos Martin, Paulo Aguiar, Kylie Butterfield, Keiazia Burchall-Busby and Milahn Powell.

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As a child, Ms Burchall-Busby’s rare bleeding disorder was misdiagnosed – meaning her condition was not properly treated, which left her feeling helpless and invalidated.

After her haemophilia was correctly identified and her health improved, she grew into a star student with a passion for medical science, determined to make life better for future patients than it was for her.

Mr Burchall-Busby, now 24, is a recipient of scholarship awards from Bermuda Hospitals Board, the University of West Indies and Aegon. She is studying medicine at the University of Medicine in Grenada.

“From an early age, medicine has been at the forefront of my aspirations, shaped by my experiences as a patient,” she said.

“Throughout my younger years, as a haemophiliac female, I faced the challenges of misdiagnosis firsthand. This opened my eyes to the disparities in healthcare and the importance of staying current with medical advancements.”

Ms Burchall-Busby said women with blood disorders are often overlooked or diagnosed later due to “misconceptions and gaps in awareness”.

She explained: “My initial prognosis was determined due to the overlapping symptoms and longstanding assumptions that haemophilia primarily affects males.”

This resulted in physical challenges such as ineffective treatment and unmanaged bleeding symptoms.

It also led to “feelings of invalidation and helplessness” that are often underrecognised in patient care.

She said: “These experiences motivate me to provide holistic, patient-centred care, to advocate and ensure that every patient’s needs are met with both compassion and expertise.”

Catalyst for care

Navigating the healthcare system during her childhood exposed Ms Burchall-Busby to the consequences of diagnostic gaps and disparities in care, particularly for patients whose conditions fall outside what is typically expected.

Rather than discouraging her, this experience became the catalyst that inspired her to serve others.

She explained: “Those experiences showed me the profound impact that compassionate, patient-centred care can have on patients and their families, inspiring me to emulate my physicians and provide the same care to others facing similar challenges.”

She wants to improve care in our community by incorporating precision medicine to provide care tailored to each patient’s unique needs.

It’s been a long journey already. At Bermuda High School, she focused on science-intensive courses, which led her to specialise in genetics at Western University, with a minor in microbiology and immunology.

As a genetics specialist, she was captivated by the intricacies of genetic research and its role in the advancement of medicine.

Pursuing a career in medicine comes with significant financial challenges, however, and opportunities for scholarships in the medical field are limited.

But Ms Burchall-Busby said: “The combined support of the BHB Scholarship, Aegon Scholarship and the UWI Scholarship played a pivotal role in supporting my studies this year by providing both financial assistance and resources for a financially demanding path.

“Beyond finances, these awards represent a reminder that I am not on this journey alone. The internal recognition that came from receiving these scholarships were deeply validating, not only in my abilities and potential, but also the acknowledgement of the effort I have dedicated to my goals and the committees’ decision to invest in me.”

After graduating, she has her eyes on a career in haematology, and she has a strong passion for working with children.

“I hope to return to Bermuda to give back to my community and build a career focused on compassionate, patient-centred care while integrating advances in precision medicine,” she said.

“My aspiration is to be a physician who not only treats disease but also contributes to a more equitable and responsive healthcare system for future generations.”

Embracing challenges

She already has some impressive experience under her belt.

During the pandemic, she worked on the frontline as a laboratory technician through the Department of Workforce Development’s Summer Employment Programme, processing Covid-19 tests and providing results to the community.

“This role allowed me to contribute directly to public health efforts while developing my laboratory skills under high-pressure conditions,” she said.

After that, she dived deeper into the study of genetics with the new Caribbean-based genomics company, CariGenetics, started by Dr Carika Weldon.

She began as an intern under the Department of Workforce Scholarship and later transitioned into the Graduate Trainee Programme, before being offered a full-time position and then promoted to senior laboratory technician.

She played an active role in genetic research addressing the underrepresentation of Caribbean ancestry and biodiversity in the scientific community, with a focus on breast and prostate cancer, and genetic studies of the Bermuda cedar and the Bermuda petrel.

The development of medical science, of course, can have wonderful benefits for us all.

“After spending time pursuing research, I believe that as the medical field continues to evolve, the way we care for patients must evolve alongside it,” Ms Burchall-Busby said.

“Medicine is increasingly moving toward personalised and precision-based approaches, driven by a growing understanding of how genetics, environment and individual variability influence disease and treatment.

“By embracing this shift, I hope to contribute to care that is more thoughtful and tailored to each patient, ultimately improving outcomes and strengthening trust within our community.”

One challenge for this high achiever might be keeping her feet on the ground – yet she’s got that covered through her love of dancing.

She represented Bermuda at Carifesta 2017, and it still plays a key part in who she is today.

“Staying connected to dance in this way allows me to remain grounded, maintain balance and reconnect with a passion that has shaped my discipline, creativity and work ethic,” she said.

“This also reinforces my love for mentorship and working with youth. Even without dancing regularly, the lifelong lessons I gained through dance continue to influence how I manage stress, stay motivated and approach my studies with resilience.”

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The protest against segregated seating in cinemas, launched on June 15 by the Progressive Group, struck a fatal blow against racial discrimination in two short weeks — something that various parliamentary committees and commissions had failed to do over the years.

Minus the closing of theatres by owners on day nine of the Boycott, the first sign of victory came from hoteliers, who on June 28, announced they would “accept reservations for dining, dancing and entertainment from local residents without discrimination.”

High-end restaurants in Hamilton followed suit the next day, and one day later, theatre owners announced that cinemas would reopen on July 2 and patrons could sit anywhere they liked.

There was praise all around for the dramatic change.

A statement from the then anonymous Progressive Group members said: “We are appreciative

of the fact that the hotels, restaurants and theatres are desegregated. The people of Bermuda are to be thanked, indeed congratulated for the striking display of solidarity shown since June 15th. The day should become for Bermuda what Emancipation Day was for the world.”

But the struggle for equality was far from over.

Discrimination

Blacks were welcome in hotel nightclubs and restaurants, but not for overnight stays. Some restaurants were still refusing to serve Black patrons.

In August 1960, the dust from the boycott having long been settled, The Bermuda Recorder reported the experience of two visiting couples, one White, the other Black, who had gone to the upscale Penthouse restaurant on Front Street for lunch.

Both couples left with a bitter taste in their mouths when told the restaurant did not serve Blacks. The tourists were on a taxi tour and asked their driver to suggest a place for lunch.

The driver told the Recorder: “I honestly believed they had stopped this business of discriminating.”

Two weeks later, the case of a Black American family who had booked a five-day stay at Castle Harbour Hotel hit the headlines. The couple, travelling with their 10-year-old son, were being assigned a room when the hotel manager intervened, telling them, “in no uncertain terms that Negroes were not acceptable as room guests,” the Recorder reported.

After a two-hour standoff, the family agreed to an offer of accommodation at the Princess Hotel in Hamilton. In an attempt to seek redress from the hotel, the couple met with Bermuda tourism officials, MP E.T. Richards and the US Consul General.

The next month, a similar incident took place involving 15 passengers, most of them Black Bermudian college students, but also Black Americans.

They were denied accommodation at Castle Harbour after their New York-bound flight was forced to return to Bermuda.

The Royal Gazette reported that White passengers on the same flight were given rooms, which led to some Black hotel staff walking off the job.

Kenneth Richardson, a student at Howard University, said the White passengers were checked into rooms, “but they told us it was the policy of the hotel not to accept coloured people.”

The Black passengers declined the hotel’s offer to dine in Castle’s restaurant, electing instead to be

transported to the Bermudiana Hotel in Hamilton.

Castle’s manager John Fischbeck described the situation as “very unfortunate.” He told the Gazette: “We have 2½ floors closed for renovation and it is sometimes hard to accommodate people at short

notice. There was some confusion as to whether meals only were wanted or whether accommodation was required. We were quite prepared to serve meals.”

Legal wrangling

As Bermuda grappled with a changing racial reality, a parliamentary Joint Select Committee was considering a motion, proposed by E.T. Richards in March 1957, to abolish the 1930 Hotel-Keepers Protection Act.

Lawyer Mr Richards, later Sir Edward and Bermuda’s first premier, called for the act to be abolished and replaced by a law that would make it illegal, and punishable by a hefty fine and imprisonment, for a hotelier to refuse accommodation to anyone on the grounds of race, creed or colour.

He told Parliament of “the embarrassment, insult and humiliation suffered in Bermuda by Negroes, Jews and other non-Caucasian races by virtue of the policy of racial discrimination enforced by hotel keepers and others.”

Sir Edward had first-hand knowledge of this injustice. In Richards’ biography Peaceful Warrior, author J. Randolf Williams wrote that Barbados premier minister Sir Grantley Adams had to be put up at

Government House, and the Government minister with whom he was travelling accommodated at Richards’ residence, because they could not stay in a White-owned hotel.

This happened nine days before he placed his motion before Parliament, but there were similar incidents involving Caribbean leaders whose flights landed in Bermuda in transit.

MPs, the majority of them White, gave the usual reasons for maintaining the status quo—it would harm the tourist trade. Their proposal of a Joint Select Committee was a tried and true delaying tactic.

However, in December 1960, a majority report recommended that racial discrimination in hotels and restaurants be outlawed. But when the report was debated in Parliament in January, MPs voted to exclude hotels from the bill.

There were heated exchanges in both the lower and upper Houses between White and Black members. Black physician Dr Eustace Cann, a member of the Legislative Council (now the Senate), said: “The coloured people want a legal guarantee that no one shall humiliate them in public with the aid of the law. We must be sure this does not happen again.”

He was incensed when White LegCo member Frederick Misick called for the words “race, creed and colour” to be removed from the bill.

In the end, White MPs won the day. The bill that was signed into law in March 1961 applied to restaurants only. Two months later, Joseph Rego, owner of the Arcade Restaurant, pleaded guilty to a charge of refusing to serve a Black patron. He was fined £25.

The Hotel-Keepers Protection Act was revised in 1967. In 1969, one year after Bermuda’s first election under universal adult suffrage, Parliament passed the anti-discrimination Race Relations bill.

Members of the Opposition Progressive Labour Party voted against the bill, arguing it did not go far enough. The Race Relations Act was eventually repealed and has been replaced by the 1981 Human Rights Act.

The post The long battle against racism appeared first on RG Magazines.

That promise became conditional on him not being toppled by former finance minister Curtis Dickinson in a leadership challenge that October. 

The Premier insisted that he would be no lame duck, telling The Royal Gazette: “I’ve always said that I will serve only two full terms as leader of the Progressive Labour Party.

“The Progressive Labour Party’s terms for leaders are for four years. I will serve, if elected … until 2026 and I will not stand again for party leader.”

He cited family reasons and a pledge he had made to his wife, Kristin. 

In January, looking ahead to the political landscape of 2025, The Royal Gazette raised the question of whether Mr Burt would, if not publicly, anoint a successor.

The General Election of February 18 resulted in a win for the PLP, keeping Mr Burt comfortably in the top job. 

During the late-night celebrations on Court Street, he reminded the public of his intentions to step down in October 2026. Until then, he reaffirmed his commitment to serving Bermuda and ensuring that his government continues to work for the people.

Before the election, an unnamed former politician predicted that Mr Burt would likely step down after two thirds of his term.

The observer further opined that Zane DeSilva, a PLP backbencher, would attempt to challenge Mr Burt, but lose.

It was that same embattled backbencher who put himself forward for the position of deputy leader of the PLP — in competition with Michael Weeks and Diallo Rabain. 

Despite still being embroiled in the Savvy Entertainment loan saga, Mr DeSilva won, assuming the position previously held by Walter Roban.

Mr DeSilva won the backing of the PLP delegates at St Paul AME Church hall in March, as he saw off the challenges of first Mr Rabain, and then Mr Weeks in a tightly contested second vote.

Mr DeSilva said on the night: “I’ve spent a lot of time with a lot of different organisations in the country and I’ve spent a lot of time with our people — I know their heartbeat, I know what they feel. I don’t forget where I came from.”

One longtime observer of politics in Bermuda said: “I imagine the Premier will pitch himself as a bridging candidate to ensure a seamless political transition from his premiership to whoever will take over from him in the next PLP leadership election.

“Depending on the outcome of the General Election, that may be potentially brought forward.

“I imagine his heir apparent will be made clear during the election campaign, though of course the election results will determine the potential pool of candidates for that leadership election.”

In May, in an interview with CITV during the Bermuda Day celebrations, Mr Burt reiterated that come October 2026, he will no longer be leader of the PLP.

In September, Scott Pearman, the Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs, wrote an op-ed in the Gazette warning Mr Burt about his “victory lap”.

He said: “What a tight grip David Burt must have on the PLP if he and he alone can dictate when he steps down …

“Beware the victory lap, Premier Burt. Now that people know you are leaving, some may seek to hasten your departure. And others will naturally have cause to reflect, and to judge a departing premier by his record.”

Speaking at the PLP gala in November, Mr Burt said it was a “personal tragedy” that he was unable to bring Bermuda to independence as the leader of the party.

At the 62nd annual event, he said it would also stand as a tragedy for the party if the island refused to become a full member of the Caribbean Community, better known as Caricom.

Mr Burt noted that the gala at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club would be his last at the helm and urged that PLP members select a successor who would prioritise the party.

He told the gathering: “I cannot tell you the amount of times that I have had to swallow my pride because I must put party first — the amount of times I have had to hear the anger from my friends and supporters while inviting someone into the Cabinet who may not have supported me, because I know how important it is to put party first.”

Mr Burt added that the PLP was committed to free and fair internal elections, and urged the party to get behind whoever was elected to take the leadership.

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Alexa Lightbourne said the Affordable Bermuda Agenda — which took effect on November 1 — was a “concrete step towards cost-of-living relief”.

She said the ministry had been given “a clear mandate to address the cost of living” in February.

The Affordable Bermuda Basket runs through to July 31, 2026 at Lindo’s and MarketPlace stores across the island.

BGA, Viking Foods, Butterfield & Vallis and Dunkley’s are among the other participants in the scheme.

Under the savings plan are a list of products for reduction on supermarket shelves, which Ms Lightbourne said included “the everyday items that families rely on”, such as baby formula, rice, toiletries, dairy products and cleaning supplies.

The plan included an Essential Goods Relief Initiative element in which wholesalers have committed to apply a 10 per cent reduction in the cost of designated brand products supplied to retailers.

The agenda said that retailers had agreed to apply a further 10 per cent reduction at the shelf.

It said consumers would guarantee savings on participating brands for a nine-month period. 

The scheme came after a meeting in August with retailers and wholesalers to develop and advance practical solutions to mitigate the cost of living.

It followed research and analysis conducted by the ministry on possible recommendations shared at the Cost of Living Summit held in June.

Michael Fahy, the Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, said the savings blueprint “falls woefully short on tangible long-term solutions” to lower the cost of living on the island.

He also claimed that the plan was “glossy” and lacked detail and he recalled a deal negotiated by the One Bermuda Alliance in 2013 for a 10 per cent reduction of all groceries on Wednesdays.

Mr Fahy, who served as Minister of Home Affairs at the time, told the Senate a year later that the grocers suffered financially because of the weekly discount, and could not continue the programme.

He said that the OBA could do better than the Government’s savings scheme, such as its proposal for targeted electricity reductions for low-income earners.

At the summit in June, business leaders in the retail, wholesale and utilities sectors pledged to take action to reduce the cost of living.

In the House of Assembly, Ms Lightbourne described the summit, which attracted more than 250 attendees, as “a significant milestone” of “candid and constructive dialogue”.

She said that it had “inspired” government policy and showed the importance of collaboration.

After the summit, Mr Fahy said he learnt nothing new from the event and questioned why the Government had repeatedly failed to introduce simple legislation that would ease cost-of-living challenges.

The Cost of Living Commission was to review the summit’s outcomes which Ms Lightbourne said would “contribute to the public communications of the ministry’s affordability strategy, including its implementation road map and regulatory reform timeline”.

She said her ministry was working to process summit feedback to combine with survey data.

Residents were later urged to complete a series of online surveys through questionnaires that were devised after the June summit.

The surveys covered the four “most critical aspects of daily life” — imports, housing, utilities and food.

Kim Wilkerson, the Minister of Justice, told the Upper House in November that working with wholesalers and retailers in tackling Bermuda’s cost of living had yielded success.

John Wight, the Vice-President of the Senate, questioned if the Government would consider legislation to “force” providers to lower costs.

Ms Wilkerson said: “We believe it’s in our best interest to collaborate as much as possible, so the idea of a legislation to force the hand of the suppliers of food isn’t contemplated immediately.”

A free web-based platform was launched to assist consumers in comparing local and overseas prices, and uncovering savings in a “meaningful, data-driven way”.

The Pure NonCents Calculator gives businesses the insight and consulting pathways to refine pricing, sourcing and operations for better efficiency, its founder Michael Pearman said.

“Pure NonCents isn’t about blame — it’s about shared insight and identifying opportunities for improvement,” Mr Pearman said.

The platform helps consumers make smarter purchasing decisions while enabling businesses to assess their competitiveness and identify opportunities for improvement.

Mr Pearman told The Royal Gazette that he had built the platform “so it gives both consumers and businesses better information”.

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Gencom, the owner of the Fairmont Southampton, continued redevelopment of the island’s largest hotel over the course of 2025.

The hotel’s closure in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, and loss of its 593 guest rooms, sent ripples throughout the island’s tourism and service sector.

Ground was broken on the redevelopment in late 2024 and continued throughout 2025 as the company worked to get the hotel ready to welcome guests in 2026.

Workers, however, faced tragedy in April when Thomas Lauwaske Jones, a 56-year-old father of three, was killed in an industrial accident at the site.

In August, the company said more than 150 Bermudians, spouses of Bermudians and permanent resident’s certificate holders had been involved in the redevelopment project, and job fairs were held to identify prospective employees before the hotel’s scheduled reopening.

In September, Diallo Rabain, the Minister of the Cabinet Office and Digital Innovation, announced that a revised special development order for the project had been completed.

The SDO, officially gazetted in November, laid the groundwork for the construction of up to 159 tourist accommodations and up to 91 residential units in buildings of two to four storeys on the property.

The order specified that development of the new units could not begin until the hotel itself has reopened.

The SDO also proposed the creation of three conservation areas, including a 4.9-acre area next along the South Shore, a 1.4-acre site north of Turtle Hill and 1.2 acres to the north of the hotel.

The project also included a realignment of South Road and improvement works to the Railway Trail.

While concerns were raised about a lack of clear guidance on what changes had been made from earlier versions of the SDO, the Government said the order had been strengthened with “strict conditions and enhanced regulatory clarity”.

The Ministry of the Cabinet Office and Digital Innovation said a “comprehensive suite of environmental safeguards” came with improvements to the site through the creation of protected areas and woodland restoration, and “stringent” wastewater treatment standards.

Farther east, The Loren Group announced that it had purchased the Elbow Beach Hotel in Paget, with plans for a “comprehensive redevelopment” of the site. Work is expected to start in 2026.

The Elbow Beach Hotel closed in early 2020 and went into liquidation in October 2023, by which time the main hotel building was understood to be in a state of disrepair.

The Loren Group, which previously redeveloped the Pink Beach hotel property, said that it intended to run both properties as a single hotel in two locations.

It was subsequently announced that the main hotel building would be demolished as part of the project, with a 75-key building to be built on an area occupied by tennis courts.

The project would also include a combination of 27 estate homes and cottage-style accommodations.

Stephen King, the co-owner of The Loren Group, said that it was hoped that work would be completed on the site in late 2028 so that the hotel is ready for the 2029 season.

A third hotel project also made headway in 2025, with Ay Ay Holdings Bermuda Ltd receiving planning approval to convert the vacant Victoria Hall in the City of Hamilton into a nine-storey hotel referred to as Sankofa House.

Planning documents for the project suggested that the 94-room hotel would employ 40 workers, with about 16 staff for a restaurant at the site.

The proposal for the hotel initially received an “obligatory refusal” because of its number of storeys and lack of setbacks — buffer areas that separate buildings or structures from the road — but the Department of Planning expressed support for the proposal, which was approved on appeal.

Figures released by the Bermuda Tourism Authority showed the island’s hotels had enjoyed slightly increased occupancy in the first nine months of the year along with increased revenue.

The BTA said that hotel occupancy was up by about 1 per cent year-on-year, while revenue per available room rose by 11.6 per cent.

It was estimated that air visitors injected $247.9 million into the Bermuda economy in the first three quarters of 2025, an increase of 0.5 per cent year-on-year.

However, visitor arrivals fell overall, with a 1.3 per cent drop in air arrivals reported and a 5.5 per cent drop in cruise arrivals.

The decline was blamed in part on storm activity in the Atlantic, which forced several cruise ships to divert to alternate destinations.

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The year also came with heightened deterrence and prevention: police staffing increases, a weapons amnesty, an expansion of security CCTV in public areas and a police crackdown on violent crime using Operation Sentinel, which came with a surge in stop-and-search measures.

Police were frank with the public that their efforts could cause inconvenience to the community.

Darrin Simons, the police commissioner, was equally frank when he warned that gang members were improving their methods — and there were “new individuals who have risen up and taken on this behaviour”.

The high-profile Crime Stoppers rewards of up to $50,000 for confidentially shared information, announced in September, came in the wake of two public double murders that stunned an island weary from more than two decades of shootings and gun murders.

An anonymous donor backing the unprecedented reward said: “Silence helps the criminal — so speak up and help solve the violence that is destroying some families and keeping them hostage in their own homes.”

Those words had begun to fit reality for all too many of the island’s residents.

May 2025 began with an “indiscriminate” attack on Legends, a small neighbourhood sports bar in Somerset, by what appeared to be group of assailants caught on security camera footage.

The attack, which by most metrics qualified as a mass shooting — something Bermudians would typically associate with far larger countries — claimed two lives and left three others injured.

Jasmin Smith, 32, and Shaquan Williams, 29, were shot dead in the attack. It prompted outrage from the community.

Three months later, during an otherwise typical summer afternoon in Hamilton on August 12, a gunman on the back of a motorcycle opened fire on a group on the corner of Court Street and Dundonald Street.

Two men, Nakai Robinson, 18, and Natrae Eversley, 23, were murdered. A third man, 24, was treated in hospital for his wounds.

The attack came mere days after shots were brazenly fired outside the Southampton Rangers Sports Club. Police carrying out a licence check had left just minutes earlier. A 19-year-old was injured.

With the grim landmark of a second public double murder, the island wanted action.

Andrew Murdoch, the Governor, and David Burt, the Premier, convened Governor’s Council meetings to marshal resources against a particularly indifferent, public criminal whom Mr Burt branded “community terrorists” — a term some criticised and others supported.

The activist Gina Spence-Virgil spoke for many when she told The Royal Gazette: “What we see now isn’t just shootings. Bermuda has moved into the multiple shootings environment.”

Police highlighted rampant gang tensions, even as Operation Sentinel yielded arrests and seizures of drugs along with prohibited weapons.

In September, a gun attack on a Devon Spring Road residence in Devonshire left a man wounded.

However, a targeted killing, openly conducted in daylight, came on September 16 mere yards from the scene of the Court Street double murder and prompted renewed public disgust.

Janae Minors, 37, was fatally shot that afternoon when a gunman walked into her Dundonald Street shop, Beauty Monster, and opened fire.

Ms Minors was a mother of two, aged 16 and 18.

The police commissioner acknowledged the ripple of trauma across the community, with Mr Simons offering sympathy to the many left “frustrated, apprehensive and angry”.

Police and government officials accompanied by the Governor reacted with town hall meetings on violence in the community. Mr Murdoch told the Gazette that Britain had offered to fund the deployment of specialist equipment and law enforcement officers in Bermuda for a period of up to six months.

However, in late November, Mr Burt said while attending a Joint Ministerial Council of British Overseas Territories leaders in London that Britain needed to better understand the types of violent crime that Bermuda and others in the region were contending with.

Mr Burt said: “We are not dealing with European-style crime. We are dealing with American-style crime.” 

He said Britain should do more to assist, pointing out that the island’s internal security was the responsibility of the British Government and Government House.

The year came with two high-profile Supreme Court trials for gun murder.

Kiari Tucker, whose trial for the 2017 fatal shooting of Marlon Steede began in January, dominated headlines up to his conviction the following month. He was dealt a life sentence for the killing.

Another high-profile trial opened in April for QuaZori Brangman, Jukai Burgess, Aaron Perinchief and Nasaje Anderson, who denied charges that they murdered 19-year-old Letrae Doeman in July 2022.

All had their names cleared after a six-week trial — leaving Mr Doeman on the list of unsolved murder cases.

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Bermuda had reached the final stage of qualifying for the first time after winning 2-1 away in Cuba in June, when Djair Parfitt and Reggie Lambe struck to ensure the Gombey Warriors would take on some of Concacaf’s giants as they attempted to grace the biggest tournament in the world. 

So, when the Reggae Boyz rolled into town led by Steve McClaren, the former Manchester United assistant manager and England manager, anticipation was high that Bermuda could upset one of the region’s superpowers, especially with Nahki Wells back leading the attack. 

In front of nearly 5,000 passionate supporters, including a significant number supporting the Caribbean country, Jamaica struck an early blow in just the sixth minute before going on to win 4-0 and bring Bermuda hopes crashing back to earth.

The Gombey Warriors showed plenty of heart through the rest of the six-game group, eventually picking up a sole point in a battling 2-2 draw away to Trinidad & Tobago last month.

The final home game, a crushing 7-0 defeat by Curaçao, featured the international retirement of Reggie Lambe, an attacking midfield stalwart over three decades. Lambe, who turns 35 in February, made his debut for the country at the age of 16, was the first Bermudian to reach 50 caps and holds the record for most appearances — 63 with 14 goals.

It was not only Bermuda’s footballers attempting to reach the pinnacle of their sport in 2025, as the national team cricketers travelled to Canada with the aim of getting to the ICC T20 World Cup, which takes place in India and Sri Lanka in February 2026.

But the Americas Regional Final got off to the worst possible start with Bermuda bowled out for just 95 runs, their fourth-lowest score in a T20 international, as they attempted to chase down Canada’s total of 205.

It was a tournament of highs and lows for Bermuda, who finished second behind Canada in the four-team group but also suffered a first-ever defeat by Cayman Islands. 

Former captain Delray Rawlins finished as the tournament’s third-highest run scorer with 200 runs across the six games, with Dominic Sabir and Derrick Brangman the island’s leading wicket-takers with six apiece.

Bermuda’s netballers are candidates for team of the year after an uplifting performance at the Battle of the Isles tournament in Sint Maarten and Sint Eustatius in October. A runner-up finish to Canada in their first international tournament for seven years — largely made possible through their own initiative — was sufficient to earn the Longtails an all-time high ranking of 20th by World Netball.

In an odd-numbered year, there were no major Games to focus on at senior level, with a pared-down Commonwealth Games (Glasgow, Scotland) and the Central American Caribbean Games (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) scheduled for 2026.

So, while the more familiar names took time out of the spotlight, some of the country’s budding stars got the stage to themselves at the Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, Paraguay, in August. 

Bermuda sent 24 athletes across seven sports ― archery, athletics, cycling, golf, rugby sevens, sailing and swimming ― with three medals won across the 14 days of competition.

The first to stand on the podium to watch the Bermuda flag raised aloft was Jack Harvey, who won a bronze medal in the 100 metres backstroke. He was followed a few days later by former junior world champion Sebastian Kempe, who won silver in the ILCA 7 sailing fleet. Sprinter Caitlyn Bobb rounded out the medals with silver in the 400 metres. 

Away from the international stage, Somerset retained the Cup Match trophy after a tempestuous match at Wellington Oval finished in a draw. 

A stalemate was always likely to be on the cards after the final day’s play was delayed by three hours as heavy rain made its way across the island.

Somerset’s personal milestones included captain Terryn Fray scoring half-centuries in both innings, and Tre Manders and Dion Stovell making 59 and 65 respectively in the first innings. 

Rawlins batted superbly for St George’s, falling just two runs short of his century when an attempted nudge down the leg side against Malachi Jones rebounded off his hip and on to the stumps, while Zeko Burgess took five wickets in Somerset’s first innings.

After several unsavoury incidents on the pitch over the course of the two days, St George’s issued an apology for the behaviour of their players, with former captains Onias Bascome and Macai Simmons sanctioned for their conduct. 

Otherwise for the East End Club, it was a case of back to the future, as Neil Paynter ended the year as president after the sudden resignation of Mishael Paynter for personal reasons in October. 

The more senior Paynter, who had previously led the club for 22 years, has committed to being in charge only until St George’s next host Cup Match in 2027. 

In domestic football, North Village completed the double after winning the Premier Division and beating Devonshire Cougars 2-0 in the FA Cup Final. 

In regional competition, cyclist Nicholas Narraway was crowned Caribbean time-trial champion, beating Conor White into second, while Gabriella Arnold picked up silver in the women’s road race and bronze in the time-trial. 

The women’s beach volleyball team of Hailey Moss and Megan Hands, and the men’s team of Benjamin Barnett and Sean Tucker won silver medals at the Eastern Caribbean Championships.

Bermuda won two medals at the Carifta Track and Field Championships with Cameron Adkins finishing runner-up in the under-17 boys 1,500 metres and Tatiana Sousa also winning silver in the under-17 girls javelin.

Thomas Cechini pulled off a hat-trick of bronze medals in the Carifta Aquatic Championships after finishing third in the 200, 400 and 1,500 metres freestyle. 

Bermuda picked up 11 medals, including golds for Rory Shepherd and Naomi MacGuinness, at the Carifta Triathlon and Aquathlon Championships in Trinidad & Tobago.

The post Sport: World Cup heartache but plenty of medals appeared first on RG Magazines.

While the Government used the latest available statistics to highlight there was growth in the past four years, there was no substantive explanation as to why that growth has diminished over the past three.

Gross domestic product at constant purchasers’ prices was up 6.3 per cent for 2022, up 4.3 per cent for 2023, but provisionally up just 1.9 per cent in 2024. These are the most recent estimates of GDP using 2013 benchmarks.

There has been dramatic growth in the insurance and reinsurance sectors of international business, the main driver of the economy. The industry has grown to rival the Government as the island’s largest employer.

Tourism continues to catch its breath from the pandemic and major hotel closure

Emerging from the plague of 2020, the rest of the decade was expected to be the “Roaring Twenties”, but there are already mixed economic signals, in part caused by the Fairmont Southampton and Elbow Beach closures.

David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, reported in early December a strong labour market, job growth, projected higher government revenue and an increase in corporate income tax revenue that had been anticipated.

His government is reporting no unemployment (1.4 per cent) and Jason Hayward, the Minister of Economy and Labour, forecasts continued growth for 2026.

Inflation appears to be a key concern in the year ahead, but the island faces a continually shrinking retail sector, which puts many jobs on the line. The hospitality sector is moving into the annual slowdown, although there has been word already from restaurants that 2025 was concerning.

The year behind us saw no abatement of food insecurity for a rising number, as a lack of affordable housing remains in the news.

The bright spot is the expected hotel beds coming with the Fairmont Southampton fully online within the next year. Elbow Beach Hotel may also return, although with a limited number of keys.

With the Government reporting several months in arrears — the unemployment number is more than a year old — any rise or fall in our economic fortunes is usually experienced long before it is reported.

Digital assets

Bermuda enters 2026 with a digital assets regime that is far more mature than when the island first set out to regulate the sector in 2018. 

But the coming year brings challenges: a significant global shift towards regulated stablecoins and tokenised finance, new compliance requirements at home and the high-stakes regional anti-money-laundering evaluation — the evaluation last held shortly after David Burt first took office as premier and finance minister.

He has continued to frame Bermuda as an early mover in the sector, recently telling The Royal Gazette: “Digital asset frameworks globally have basically copied from what it is that we’ve done here.

But global competition is no longer theoretical. The United States has enacted the Genius Act, officially known as the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, which sets out its first comprehensive stablecoin framework. Britain, the European Union and Singapore have advanced their own regimes, and several are due to come fully into force during 2026. What was once an unregulated space is now falling into place across leading financial centres.

At the same time, Bermuda is preparing for its own structural changes. The Beneficial Ownership Act 2025 has overhauled the island’s ownership-transparency framework, expanding reporting obligations to nearly all entities. Enforcement begins in mid-2026. At the same time, amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Act are expected to strengthen suspicious-activity reporting rules, widen the scope of regulated trustees and advisers, and formalise risk assessments on areas such as proliferation financing.

These changes are arriving just months before Bermuda undergoes its next mutual evaluation by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. That assessment, beginning in October 2026, will judge whether the island has strong rules on paper and whether they are enforced effectively.

The Premier has repeatedly emphasised the strength of Bermuda’s regulatory philosophy. Speaking at the PwC Insurance Summit 2025, he said: “I haven’t used that word [crypto] since 2017.

He went on to explain the Government’s preferred terminology: “We’ve used the words ‘digital assets’. We look at it more broadly when it comes to digital finance because we recognise that the digitisation of finance is here.

In short, there is a shift in how the Government wants the sector to be viewed: no longer focused on speculative trading but on broader applications, including payments, tokenisation and regulated stablecoins.

In 2026, that framing becomes more important. The Bermuda Monetary Authority is advancing a new Payment Services Act, which would bring wallet providers, payment-processing platforms and hybrid digital asset payment businesses directly into a licensing regime. The authority also released a discussion paper on asset tokenisation this year.

Industry observers say these steps will matter as global rules tighten. The Genius Act in the United States prohibits interest-bearing payment stablecoins, while Bermuda’s regime continues to allow them under regulated conditions. The European Union is phasing in its own stablecoin rules with reserve, disclosure and governance requirements.

In 2026, Bermuda’s beneficial-ownership refinements seek to keep the island aligned with global standards before the CFATF evaluation. The POCA amendments seek to strengthen areas where global assessors have increased their expectations, including supervision of trustees, reporting of suspicious activity and regulation of financial flows.

The compliance burden is increasing. Companies must ensure that their ownership structures are disclosed under the new Beneficial Ownership Act, that their anti-money-laundering governance meets the upcoming POCA standards and that their business models fit within whatever final form the Payment Services Act takes.

The stakes are high. A strong CFATF evaluation builds Bermuda’s credibility with correspondent banks, institutional investors and international regulators. A weaker one could hinder cross-border operations for financial and digital asset businesses, and affect how Bermuda’s regulatory regime is viewed around the world.

Still, Mr Burt, and many in the industry, argue that Bermuda’s early start leaves it well prepared. “There is advantage to being first at the table,” Henry Tucker, managing partner at Harneys Bermuda, has told the Gazette.

The island has built a full licensing regime for exchanges, custodians, wallet providers, token issuers and stablecoin operators, and has built supervisory capacity that some newer entrants are still developing. The Government continues to position the island as a premium, regulated hub rather than as an anything-goes offshore outlier.

As Mr Burt said in November 2025: “I think that you would compare Bermuda regulations to anywhere around the world and see that we are best in class.”

Taxation

United States’ import tariffs have dominated headlines, with taxes even placed on goods from uninhabited islands.

Bermudian retailers are turning away from American suppliers as the average tariffs have been 15.5 per cent, and even as high as 50 per cent.

Most of everything that comes from the United States has gone up in price,” said Mia Chambray, who runs natural beauty store Cassine with her mother, Jennifer Page. “We have had no break from our suppliers.”

As a result, Cassine prefers to do business elsewhere as much as possible.

We are trying to buy from Europe, offering different goods in small batches,” Ms Chambray said.

Despite the challenges, Cassine reported having a good year.

The beauty industry has taken multiple hits from the tariffs introduced in April.

The majority of make-up is imported to the US from South Korea, France and Canada, all countries on US president Donald Trump’s tax list.

The industry is taking a further smash from a 50 per cent tax on imported aluminium, used to make beauty product tops and tubes.

Perfumer Isabelle Ramsay-Brackstone, of Lili Bermuda in St George, cancelled her US supply contracts to focus on Europe.

“It does add to the cost without that transit point,” she said. “Instead, I get a lot of goods straight from Italy and Poland without transiting through the United States.”

Shawn Grant, vice-president of retail operations at Masters Home Centre, has seen the cost of hardware go up 20 per cent this year.

Construction has also felt the American tax heat. A recent tax on imported lumber, particularly from Canada, has pushed up the cost of cabinetry.

Jennifer and Paul Frias, of Frias Carpentry, said they are now going directly to Canada for cabinet supplies.

“We are not using our US supplier any more,” Mrs Frias said. “Our supplier in Canada has a superior cabinetry line as well as countertops, backsplashes and hardware. Prices are very reasonable.”

At the end of 2024, one of the biggest issues for local retailers was high shipping costs.

Twelve months later, it is still a problem.

Ms Page, of Cassine, said shipping and duty can sometimes cost the same as the item they are buying.

She questioned why small businesses in Bermuda do not get duty relief.

“We are paying the same fees as large retailers like Gibbons Company and we are just four people,” she said. “There is no tiered system and no incentive for small business to survive.”

Small businesses were also looking forward to the reopening of the Fairmont Southampton and the start of renovations to the Elbow Beach Hotel in the wake of its purchase by The Loren Group.

Many retailers have reported very little revenue from cruise visitors.

The post Business: Economic growth slows again appeared first on RG Magazines.

By 2025, the island’s bills to its creditors totalled about $3.2 billion. Brutal interest payments had for many years exceeded the dimensions of the biggest government ministries.

A seemingly unshakeable debt had ballooned over different administrations, such that the late journalist and economic analyst Larry Burchall coined a suitably menacing name — Nanci, from the trickster spider in African and West Indian folklore — depicted as gobbling up cash in non-negotiable costs and payments.

Mr Burt appeared to have an early Christmas present for Bermudians, with a plan to divert 70 per cent of revenues from the fledgeling corporate income tax into a debt-busting plan that would wrestle it down below $2.5 billion by the 2027-28 fiscal year.

With a mere two months until he would deliver the 2026-27 Budget in the House of Assembly, this meant Mr Burt got to be the bearer of good news.

The island’s high cost of living loomed large throughout 2025, but the extra spending associated with Christmas had it weighing even more on the minds of Bermudians.

It was enough for Kim Wilson, the Minister of Health, to come out with a pointed warning on December 11 for residents who might be struggling to find cheer in the season.

When it came to the financial toll of spending on gifts, Ms Wilson warned: “It’s probably more important to be present rather than to buy a present.”

The challenges faced by some residents in putting an affordable roof over their family’s heads was one of the top issues of 2025. 

Zane DeSilva, the Minister of Housing and Municipalities, unveiled one of the Government’s plans on the evening of December 16, when an occasionally sceptical audience at Boaz Island in Sandys got a look at the modular housing programme to be piloted in their neighbourhood.

Describing himself as “hellbent” on reckoning with Bermuda’s dearth of affordable housing, Mr DeSilva told the gathering: “We cannot have people living in cars and tents, people living on top on one another — we cannot have that.”

Not all attendees took to the prospect of trailer-like modular homes next door, but Mr DeSilva was adamant at exploring new options for a long-term solution to Bermuda’s housing needs.

The year brought the island closer to the first phases of universal healthcare in 2026. Early in December, Ms Wilson told MPs of extra benefits for residents getting added to the existing basic health insurance packages.

However, premiums were set to rise in 2026 thanks to a substantial pay deal negotiated with hospital staff requiring payments of about $38 million to unionised employees.

Despite the prospect of good revenues coming from the CIT, Mr Burt made it clear that the Government could not “underwrite” mandatory premiums indefinitely.

Behind the seasonal celebrations, the spectre of gun violence lurked.

Although there were no injuries reported after a home on Angle Street in Pembroke was fired at on the night of December 2, the sixth fatal shooting of the year came on the night of December 18.

Again, a residence was fired upon — this time at Spruce Lane in Pembroke — claiming the life of 40-year-old Jahmel Mallory, who was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after police found him unresponsive inside the home.

Michael Weeks, the Minister of National Security, pleaded with the community to help authorities and to “stop pretending this is just another headline”.

Another of the Bermuda’s pernicious problems was driving. 

On December 22, the island mourned its tenth road death of the year when police identified Jai Simmons, 17, who had been injured in a crash along with another 17-year-old in the early hours of October 29.

Police decried the island’s driving culture with a pointed announcement on December 14 by Chief Inspector Robert Cardwell after a weekend of chaos on Bermuda’s roads left a litany of serious injuries.

There were 14 crashes recorded in a single day. Mr Cardwell also highlighted close to 200 arrests for impaired driving for the year.

The year closed with a milestone for The Royal Gazette with the retirement of Dexter Smith after 10½ years as the newspaper’s first Black Editor.

It marked the end of an era for Mr Smith after a lifetime in the newspaper business, beginning with his work as a teenager in the pressroom of the Gazette before starting out as a reporter covering sport.

Mr Smith was sports editor for the Gazette and then the Mid-Ocean News, and spent 13 years with The Times in London before making his return to the island and taking on the leadership of its daily.

The post December: Promising preview for the coming Budget appeared first on RG Magazines.