The National Insurance Board (NIB) is going after more business owners who have neglected to pay insurance contributions, according to NIB Director Algernon Cargill.

"There are several businesses that NIB continues to prosecute because they failed to pay their contributions on time," Cargill said during an interview with The Nassau Guardian yesterday. "And there are also several warrants of arrest for several prominent Bahamians who have refused to pay their contributions and the police are dealing with that matter."

Since last year NIB has been taking a no-nonsense approach and continues to prosecute delinquent employers, after an amnesty the company extended for them to come in and settle accounts ended on December 31, 2008.

Among the more prominent business operators prosecuted last year were Jones Communications Network CEO Wendall K. Jones, Global United CEO Jackson Ritchie, Solomon's Mines Managing Director Mark Finlayson and More 94.9 FM Director Galen Saunders.

Click here to read more in The Nassau Guardian

Twenty-one-year-old Redwood City, California, resident Brian J. Hogan, the man identified by Wired.com as the guy who found — and later sold — Apple's missing iPhone in a bar last month, has a message for Apple, the engineer who originally lost the precious gadget, and the tech world at large: Sorry about that.

Following a trail of "clues" on social-networking sites and confirming his ID with a source "involved in the iPhone find," Wired named Hogan on Thursday as the bar patron who made off with Apple's top-secret iPhone prototype and then sold it to Gizmodo for $5,000 after an Apple software engineer left the precious phone on a bar stool.

Up until now, Hogan's identity has been a mystery to the public, but the 21-year-old college student (or at least, he was a college student as of 2008) may have sensed that he was in trouble after all the hoopla over Gizmodo's gigantic iPhone scoop last week and the subsequent fallout, including a raid on Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's house by San Mateo sheriff's deputies armed with a search warrant.

Hogan has now lawyered up, and in a statement released through his attorney, the young man says he "regrets his mistake in not doing more to return the phone," and that he thought his $5,000 deal with Gizmodo was only "so that they could review the phone," Wired reports.

According to Hogan's attorney's statement, Hogan didn't see the lost iPhone until another patron at the Redwood City bar came up and asked him if it was his; Hogan apparently then asked a few other patrons if they'd lost the device before heading out, iPhone in hand, according to Wired.

Initial reports had it that the man who'd taken the iPhone tried repeatedly to call the Apple Care support line to return the phone, but according to the statement in the Wired story, Hogan never personally called Apple, although a friend of his offered to. The owners of the bar where the iPhone was lost also told Wired that Hogan never bothered to call them about the lost hardware, although the anguished Apple engineer who mislaid the iPhone "returned several times" to see if it had turned up.

Meanwhile, CNET is reporting that Hogan had help in finding a buyer for the lost iPhone. The "go-between," according to CNET: 27-year-old Sage Robert Wallower, a UC Berkeley student who "contacted technology sites" about the handset. Wallower told CNET that he "didn't see it or touch it in any manner" but knows "who found it," adding, "I need to speak to a lawyer ... I think I have said too much."

No one has been charged yet in the case of the lost iPhone, but a deputy district attorney for San Mateo County tells Wired that Hogan is "very definitely ... being looked at as a suspect in theft." (In California, finding a piece of lost property isn't a case of "finders keepers"; if you find a lost item and keep it without making "reasonable" efforts to find the real owner, you could be charged with a crime.)

Gizmodo's Jason Chen also has yet to be charged; law-enforcement officials have reportedly said they'll hold off on searching the computers and servers seized from Chen's house until they decide whether California's shield law for journalists applies to him.

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NASSAU, Bahamas -- US Ambassador Her Excellency Nicole A Avant in conjunction with the Ministry of Labour and Social Development invited TV personality, author and Access Hollywood host Shaun Robinson to visit the Willie Mae Pratt Centre for Girls, Saturday, April 24.

Ms Robinson presented all the girls at the Centre with copies of her book, “Exactly As I Am: Celebrated Women Share Candid Advice with Today’s Girls on What It Takes to Believe in Yourself”.  She also signed all of the books.

Ms Robinson said she wrote the book because so many young women think celebrities’ lives are so perfect because television makes it appear as if it is the case.  But she stressed to the girls that many times that is not the case. 

She also talked about some of the issues young black women face.  “One of the things I wanted to tell you young ladies today is that oftentimes society tries to define us as black women.

Ms Robinson added, “They try to define our needs and our intelligence and tell us that they have to validate us for us to be worthwhile and I am here to tell you that we have to start validating ourselves, not to look at anyone else for our value but to know that we are special and that we matter.”

She said God gave everyone everything they need to succeed in life.

Ms Robinson also had the girls from the Centre quote excerpts from interviews she did with celebrities such as Oprah, Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah and India Arie for her book.

The idea was to get girls in the Centre to read the quotes from women who look like them and who have become successful in their careers, so that they could find inspiration and gain more confidence.

The US Ambassador said she will continue to work closely with the Government in bringing other celebrities to bring encouragement and help to others.  Ms Avant also told the girls at the Centre, “You are special, valuable and important – no matter what happens or whatever somebody tells you, you are important, valuable and beautiful.

“While I am here in The Bahamas, I am here to serve you in the best way that I can and you will always have my support,” Ms Avant said.

Minister of State for Labour and Social Development the Hon Loretta Butler-Turner acted as Mistress of Ceremony during the event at the Centre.

After months of preparation for Census 2010, the Department of Statistics is launching its Census work on May 3rd with the Oath of Secrecy Ceremony.  Approximately 1,100 persons will gather at the Kendal Isaacs Gym to solemnly commit themselves to the work and to swear that all information received during the course of their field work will be held in strictest confidence.  The ongoing work of the department depends on its integrity and the public trust that the information given by them is not divulged to anybody or entity.  The Department takes this seriously hence this public declaration. 

The Oath of Secrecy will be administered by the Chief Justice, Michael Barnett.  This will be preceded by a brief charge re honesty and integrity by the President of the Christian Council, Pastor Patrick Paul, and will be followed by a prayer by the head of the Baptist Community (the largest denomination in the country), Rev. William Thompson.   Prior to this solemn part of the ceremony, a presentation on `Safety Tips’ will be made by Assistant Commissioner, Glen Miller, and the keynote presentation will be made by the Minister of State for Finance, Zhivargo Laing.

The Press is invited to cover this important event which takes place at 5:30 p.m. at the          Kendal Isaacs Gym on May 3rd, Census Day.