Colors: Blue Color

The United States and Africa must “work together as equal partners,” to tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said August 8.

Blinken highlighted those challenges in a major speech delivered at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, while outlining a new U.S. strategy to advance shared goals with African nations.

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has hailed former Minister of State in the ministry Dr Henry ‘Marco’ Brown, calling him “a tourism trailblazer, who helped to lay the foundations of the sector on which we continue to build.”

Expressing his condolences to the family of the former state minister, in a statement Bartlett added: “Marco was truly a committed family man and lover of life."

The world-famous alpine resort, Banff Sunshine Village, will host its first Indigenous Days on August 27th and 28th and again on September 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

Banff National Park resides within the present-day territories of treaties 6, 7, and 8 lands, as well as the metis homeland.

Even as a recently proclaimed national monument spans thousands of hectares of sacred Native American heritage sites, tribal leaders are shaping the future of public lands and national parks across the United States.

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary, manages the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, among other bureaus, which protect America’s public lands and the infrastructure for parks and monuments.

Germany’s annual Oktoberfest festival is finally on again for this fall, following a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Oktoberfest, first held in 1810 in honor of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese, has been canceled dozens of times during its more than 200-year history due to wars and pandemics.

Dr Terrance Michael Drew has been sworn in as the fourth Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis after leading his St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) to victory in Friday’s snap general election.

The SKNLP won six of the 11 seats contested in the election held three years ahead of the constitutional deadline, with the former coalition partners, the People’s Labour Party (PLP) of outgoing prime minister Dr Timothy Harris winning one seat, the same as the People’s Action Movement (PAM) while the Nevis-based Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) won all three seats on the sister isle.

At least 25 people, including four children, have died in floods unleashed by torrential rains in eastern Kentucky, and more fatalities are expected, the state's governor Andy Beshear said on Saturday.

“This is still an emergency situation," Beshear told reporters. "We are in search and rescue mode. Again, that count is going to continue to go up.”

Vantage, an international multi-asset broker, has announced that it is launching a month-long donation drive in support of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to help refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide.

Vantage will be matching all donations from both new and existing clients, dollar for dollar, to support humanitarian efforts undertaken by UNHCR. The donation drive will run for one month until 30 August and may be extended based on client feedback. 

Jamaica Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett said the implementation of a regional visa regime among CARICOM (Caribbean Community) nations has huge economic potential for tourism recovery and development in the region. He made his remarks at the start of the inaugural Organisation of American States (OAS) high-level policy forum on building the resilience of Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs) in the Caribbean to disasters.

As he strives to drive his country into the future of motor vehicles, Jamaican Prime Minisetr, Andrew Holness, is set to replace the current motor cars used by the government, with a fleet of EVs. Disclosed by the Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Daryl Vaz in the House of Representatives, this was the government’s bid to get Jamaicans to embrace the use of electric vehicles (EVs).

Distinguished Caribbean economist Marla Dukharan was the guest speaker at a special talk hosted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Caribbean American Heritage Committee and the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion.