A MAN who admitted to possessing an illegal firearm during his arraignment in Magistrates Court today faces up to 10 years imprisonment on his return to court in the New Year.

A MAN who was killed early yesterday morning was out on bail for abduction, kidnapping and assault and was being electronically monitored, The Tribune understands.

The GSF Development Driller 1 (DD1) -- the floating oil rig that seemed to mysteriously appear in waters off Abaco over the weekend -- now appears to be stalled south of Abaco and it is unclear what Transocean Ltd., the company that owns the rig, plans to do about it.
After days of silence from the government and amid speculation about the provenance and purpose of the rig, acting Environment Minister Jerome Fitzgerald has offered assurances that the government hasn't made any secret arrangements for oil drilling in The Bahamas.
"The fact is that the Bahamas government has not contracted, approved or commissioned oil drilling operations within the territorial waters of The Bahamas," Fitzgerald said.
The rig was initially sighted south of Abaco, and went unidentified for a time. Once identified as the GSF DD1, it was discovered that the rig appeared to have left from south of New Orleans under its own power on or about December 18, and arrived in The Bahamas on or about Christmas Eve. It has apparently been idle off Abaco since then.
The 170-person, Vanuatu-flagged rig is owned by Transocean Ltd., and is a floating rig designed to dig in what Transocean calls ultra-deepwater: it has a maximum drilling depth of 37,500 feet.
It is not clear what Transocean intends to do with the apparently stalled rig, which was built in Singapore and entered service in 2005. It is equally unclear whether The Bahamas government has been contacted about the matter by the owners or any other outside agency.
Initial attempts to get confirmation of the rig's presence and purpose from the Christie Administration were unsuccessful, and in fact, Guardian Business has yet to contact Environment and Housing Minister Ken Dorsett, under whose Cabinet portfolio oil exploration falls.
In the statement, Fitzgerald noted that, given The Bahamas' strategic location and the vast area of ocean that it covers, thousands of merchant ships, oil tankers and pleasure crafts pass through Bahamian waters annually.
"The fact is that The Bahamas government has not contracted, approved or commissioned oil drilling operations within the territorial waters on The Bahamas. This is regarded by the government as another routine passage of a sea going vessel through Bahamian waters," he said.
Fitzgerald urged the public to refrain from a "rush to judgment based on conjecture, speculation and mischief."
"The general public will be duly advised each step of the way as the country progresses through the various stages of this landmark and potentially transformational policy initiative as part of the government's promised national energy reform efforts," the minister said.
A spokesperson for Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) -- which has five licenses in The Bahamas, and a government mandate to sink an exploratory well -- was quick to assure that the mystery rig had nothing to do with BPC.

Young Bahamian Dennis D. Deveaux has been promoted to director of finance for Toyota's North American Material Handling business unit, which is responsible for Toyota's forklift and related equipment businesses.
Prior to receiving his recent promotion, Deveaux lived and worked in Nagoya, Japan and worked at the global Toyota Material Handling Group (TMHG) headquarters for four years. This role involved significant finance, cost accounting, strategic planning and procurement responsibilities for the world's largest manufacturer of forklifts and related equipment. Before his dispatch to Japan, Deveaux worked as a financial analyst at the Raymond Corporation - a $1.3 billion North American consortium of manufacturing plants, dealerships and service centers. In this former role, he led the profit planning and goal setting exercises at both the enterprise and functional levels.
In his short career, Deveaux has worked on acquisitions that have added more than $150 million in revenues, and was a leading catalyst behind an ongoing acquisition that will grow the company's asset base by $1.6 billion, adding an additional $50 million in pre-tax profitability.
Based on his past accomplishments, Deveaux is widely recognized in the Toyota (Material Handling) Group as a rising star with leadership potential. At 32, he is youngest person in the company's history to earn director-level responsibilities in any function.
Deveaux holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration (financial economics concentration) from Fisk University (2004), Nashville, Tennessee, where he earned summa cum laude Latin honors. At Fisk, he also served as a member of the 2004 University Board of Trustees (by election) and as president of the Student Government Association. His participation in numerous community-based programs was recognized when he received the 2004 Wesley Foundation Award for Leadership, Scholarship & Character. He later earned a master of business administration (MBA) degree with an emphasis in international business (2006), and a master of science degree in finance (2007), both from the E. Phillip Saunders College of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, New York.