World News

Preferred Hotel Group – the family-owned company that manages and operates global travel and hospitality brands including Preferred Hotels & Resorts, Beyond Green, Historic Hotels of America, Historic Hotels Worldwide, PHG Consulting, and Beyond Green Travel – is pleased to announce a new leadership appointment within its Latin America team.

Macron’s presidential victory in France will lead to a strengthening of the Franco-German axis, although the French are likely to see further internal divisions across the country post-election, according to political economists at Birmingham City University.

Dr Steve McCabe said: “Macron’s victory in being the first French president to achieve a second term in office in 20 years feels hollow. For sure, gaining 58.55% of the vote against Le Pen’s 41.45% is sufficiently large. However, that four in ten voted for Le Pen is worrying.

Two unique EML partners in Europe, REPX and Epipoli, have teamed up to deliver AC Milan's private label gift cards distributed by Italian retail industry market leader, Epipoli.

EML Payments Limited's client REPX has launched an initial rollout of 20,000 private label gift cards designed specifically for dedicated fans of the Serie A top-flight Italian football side, AC Milan.

This week, Rohingya refugee children on Bhasan Char in Bangladesh are receiving vaccinations through a routine childhood immunisation programme.

UNICEF provides technical and financial assistance to the Government of Bangladesh in support of childhood immunisations on Bhasan Char.

Baha Mar announced its five-year anniversary with a calendar of exciting activations. Welcoming more than one million guests since opening on April 21, 2017, Baha Mar has much cause to celebrate. Major milestones include opening three world-class oceanfront hotels, Grand Hyatt, SLS and Rosewood, the largest Casino in the Caribbean, over 45 distinct restaurants and bars, launch of the $200 million luxury waterpark Baha Bay, and creation of the industry-leading Travel with Confidence program, which aims to provide a safe and healthy environment for guests during these unprecedented times.

Australia, New Zealand and the US have raised concerns on security in the Pacific, after China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands.

The deal was signed this week, fuelling fears China may seek to build a naval base in the Pacific nation. The Solomon Islands had rebuffed last ditch efforts by Australia - its biggest aid donor - to stop the deal.

Atlas Renewable Energy (Atlas) marks a new milestone with the development of its first wind power project with a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Enel Generación Chile S.A. for 1.3 GWh/year. The portfolio's three wind projects total 417 MW throughout Chile, helping accelerate its clean energy transition.

The IMF (International Monetary Fund) has said that the war in Ukraine will severely set back the global economic recovery with the UK hit harder than most.

The conflict is driving up prices for food and fuel which the international body expects to slow growth globally – having already cut its global forecast and also downgraded its outlook for the UK.

As former UK Prime Minister Theresa May was questioning the “legality, practicality and efficacy” of the home secretary Priti Patel’s plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame is on a visit to Jamaica to strengthen the already strong ties between the two nations, with a focus on developing political and business cooperation between the two nations.

It’s important for the history of the Caribbean region to accurately reflect the lives of the trailblazing men and women who should serve as inspirational heroes for our children to admire and emulate.

One example is Dame Ruth Nita Barrow, the first female Governor General of Barbados and sister of Barbados’ founding father Errol Walton Barrow.

Merle Oberon, a Hollywood star of the black and white era, is a forgotten icon in India, the country of her birth.

Best-known for playing the lead in the classic Wuthering Heights, Oberon was an Anglo-Indian born in Bombay in 1911. But as a star in Hollywood's Golden Age, she kept her background a secret - passing herself off as white - throughout her life.

UNWTO has partnered with the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry (MECTHI) of Zimbabwe to launch the country’s first National Tourism Satellite Account (TSA). The Account shows the size and significance of the tourism sector for the Zimbabwean economy, based on the last available pre-COVID-19 data and on data gathered before the formal transition of national currency from US dollar into the Zimbabwean Dollar.

Priti Patel could face an exodus of staff from the Home Office following the announcement of a controversial immigration deal with Rwanda, unions have warned.

The deal, which has been deemed “unworkable” by the UN refugee agency, was signed off by the Home Secretary using a ministerial direction due to concerns raised by civil servants .

Leading rural insurer NFU Mutual has joined re-insurer Flood Re’s Build Back Better programme, reaffirming its commitment to supporting flood victims with resilient repairs able to withstand further flooding.

NFU Mutual launched its Flood Resilience Repair scheme in November 2017, which is available for all home insurance customers with buildings cover.

Recent international measures designed to cripple the Russian economy could stymie efforts by Jamaica to collect millions of U.S. dollars in future bauxite levy revenues from UC RUSAL at a time when the aluminum giant already has a backlog of monies owed.

Even before the invasion of Ukraine, the country’s mining ministry revealed that only late last year did the company begin settling its bauxite production levy debt to the Government of Jamaica that has been outstanding since 2018.

Mia Amor Mottley, QC, is a Barbadian politician and attorney who has served as Prime Minister of Barbados since 2018 and as leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008. Mottley is the eighth person to hold the office of Prime Minister in Barbados and the first woman to hold either position. She is also Barbados’ first prime minister under its republican system, following constitutional changes she introduced which abolished the country’s constitutional monarchy.