News and Information From The Bahamas

The Federal Centers for Disease Control say that patients who received blood-derived drugs dispensed by a cancer clinic in the Bahamas were exposed to a virus associated with acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. The patients at the clinic, the Immunology Researching Center Ltd. in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, were also exposed to hepatitis, the United States agency said in a statement Tuesday. The clinic was ordered closed July 17 by the Bahamian Health Ministry.

The heads of government of the Commonwealth nations opened a weeklong meeting here today with an apparent majority seeking to increase pressure on South Africa to end apartheid. But Britain, which once dictated policy to the Commonwealth members when they were colonies or dominions of the British Empire, has indicated that it is opposed to taking further measures against South Afica. Thus, in the meetings over the next few days, which are to take place behind closed doors, as is customary at th...

The Commonwealth conference here, now in its second day, has developed into a lobbying session on South Africa, with Britain trying to persuade most of the other members that discussion is likely to be more effective than sanctions in eliminating apartheid Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher avoided the subject of South Africa when she opened today's closed-door meeting with a wide-ranging speech on world issues. But she had previously spent 45 minutes talking mainly about South Africa with Prime ...

LEAD: A Government witness in the drug trial of a reputed leader in Colombian cocaine trafficking testified Tuesday that he had been told the defendant paid $88,000 a month in protection money to Bahamian Prime Minister Lynden O. Pindling.

In 1988, eight Democratic members of Congress formed a company to buy a tiny island in the Bahamas -- an old pirates' lair with pink beaches and palm trees -- with the idea of turning it into a resort. One of them was Matthew F. McHugh, the upstate New York Representative who is now leading the ethics committee investigation of the House bank affair. Two of the others were Robert J. Mrazek of Long Island and Edward F. Feighan of Ohio, who figure prominently in that affair and who are now appeal...

A cache of emeralds, gold and silver found off Bimini in the Bahamas has raised the hopes of treasure hunters that they have finally located a Spanish galleon said to have sunk with a huge cargo of gold and silver coins more than 200 years ago. In an interview published today in The Miami Herald, Rick Meyer, who has led a five-year, $3 million search for the galleon Santiago el Grande, said: "It all matches up -- the carbon dating, the size of the ship, the maps from the archives. There's no wa...

US State Department clears Orlando Hernandez, one of best pitchers ever on Cuban national baseball team, Alberto Hernandez, another baseball player who is no relation to Orlando, and Noris Bosch, who Orlando Hernandez says is his girlfriend, to enter US; Orlando Hernandez and seven companions defected Cuba in small boat the day after Christmas; after being rescued by US Coast Guard on Dec 30, they were taken to Freeport and placed in custody of Bahamanian Government; they were later ferried to ...

Chief Warrant Officers David E Guido and Daniel P Riddell and Sgt William E Westgate are charged with involuntary manslaughter for taking Guido's wife, Pam, and Riddell's wife, Rebecca, for unauthorized ride on their Army helicopter, which crashed July 6 on Grand Exuma Island, Bahamas; both women were killed and three men seriously hurt in crash

Bahamas' governing party warns Robert F Kennedy Jr, a lawyer for Natural Resources Defense Council, to stay out of local dispute over luxury housing development in historic Clifton Cay

Three luxury cruise ships operated by Premier Cruise Lines, American company that abruptly went out of business, are seized by authorities in Bahamas and Canada, and at least 1,450 passengers are put ashore; Rembrandt and Sea Breeze are seized in Halifax, and Oceanic is impounded in Nassau; recording on Premier's telephone says company says lender has taken possession of ships pursuant to ships' mortgages; stranded passengers seek accommodations on other ships