Carib Scope

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  • AFJ to honour three leaders for Hurricane Melissa response at Miami gala

    AFJ to honour three leaders for Hurricane Melissa response at Miami gala

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — When Hurricane Melissa swept across Jamaica, it left behind a trail of widespread destruction that stretched the island’s recovery resources to their limit. Months later, as rebuilding work continues across affected communities, the American Friends of Jamaica (AFJ) has announced a plan to recognize three outstanding contributors to the island’s storm recovery effort at its 2026 Jamaica Charity Gala. The three honorees, who come from the non-profit and private sectors, will be celebrated for their critical work delivering life-saving aid and coordinating large-scale rebuilding projects in the wake of the disaster.

    The award ceremony will take place on June 6 in Miami, where the three leaders will accept their honors before guests from South Florida’s Jamaican and philanthropic communities. The honoree list includes Michael Capponi, founder of the Global Empowerment Mission (GEM); Edward Raine, president and chief executive officer of Food For The Poor; and Norman Horne, executive chairman of Jamaica’s ARC Manufacturing Limited.

    In a statement ahead of the event, AFJ Executive Director Caron Chung emphasized that the recognition goes beyond one-time disaster response: the three leaders are being honored for both their immediate, on-the-ground action and their sustained, long-term leadership that has kept recovery efforts moving forward months after the storm passed. Chung noted that the awards also shine a spotlight on the critical partnership between private sector and non-profit organizations that amplified the Jamaican government’s national recovery work, filling gaps that public resources alone could not address.

    Capponi’s GEM was one of the first organizations to mobilize support after Hurricane Melissa made landfall. Leveraging prepositioned supply warehouses across the region and pre-established coordination networks with local and regional emergency agencies, the group moved more than one million pounds of emergency supplies into affected areas within the first seven days after the storm hit. By early 2026, GEM’s total shipments to Jamaica have grown to approximately four million pounds, and the organization has shifted its focus to longer-term recovery work, including installing temporary roofing for displaced households and repairing critical damaged community facilities.

    Under Raine’s leadership, Food For The Poor took on a core logistical leadership role in the national response effort. The organization oversaw end-to-end management of inbound aid shipments, managed all customs clearance processes for incoming humanitarian goods, and coordinated the last-mile distribution of supplies to hard-hit communities across the island. Raine’s team committed more than US$4 million to the recovery effort, established two new regional logistics hubs in Montego Bay and Spanish Town to speed up delivery, and scaled up operations to deliver food supplies to thousands of vulnerable households every day at the height of the response. Building on this immediate work, Food For The Poor has now launched a multi-phase housing reconstruction programme to help permanently rehouse families who lost their homes in the storm.

    Horne’s ARC Manufacturing filled a key gap in the relief logistics network, expanding response capacity beyond what air freight could accommodate. Working alongside AFJ and other private sector partners, ARC Manufacturing coordinated large-volume sea freight deliveries of critical supplies including food, temporary shelter materials, and clean water infrastructure that allowed relief operations to keep up with the massive need across the island.

    Beyond the award ceremony, the 2026 Jamaica Charity Gala serves as one of AFJ’s primary annual fundraising events for Jamaica-focused development initiatives based in South Florida. This year’s event will feature a silent auction of donated goods and experiences, a formal dinner, and live entertainment for attendees. All proceeds from the gala will go toward supporting AFJ’s ongoing grant programmes across Jamaica, spanning key development areas including education, healthcare, and community-led economic development.

  • WATCH: Truck driver escapes injury after unit overturns on Spur Tree Hill

    WATCH: Truck driver escapes injury after unit overturns on Spur Tree Hill

    MANCHESTER, Jamaica — A truck driver walked away with barely a scratch after a harrowing crash on one of Jamaica’s most dangerous stretches of roadway Tuesday morning. The incident unfolded just after 8 a.m. along the Spur Tree Hill main road in Manchester, when the driver lost control of their box truck while navigating a sharp bend, leading the vehicle to tip and overturn.

    The force of the rollover left the truck’s cargo hold significantly damaged, releasing dozens of boxes filled with grocery goods that spilled across the full width of the road. Local authorities have confirmed no instances of looting have been reported in the wake of the crash, a rare positive detail amid the disruption.

    This latest incident is far from an isolated event on the notoriously dangerous highway, which has seen three serious collisions in just over a month. Only two weeks prior, two elderly motorists escaped major harm when their car veered off the road and plunged down a steep cliff face near the same stretch of Spur Tree Hill. On April 7, two people lost their lives when a cement-carrying heavy truck left the roadway in another fatal crash.

    The string of crashes has reignited questions about road safety measures along Spur Tree Hill, a route long flagged by local communities as high-risk for accidents due to its winding, hilly terrain.

  • Abaco residents angry over wiped power bills

    Abaco residents angry over wiped power bills

    Six years after Hurricane Dorian devastated large swathes of Abaco, leaving thousands of residents homeless and economically shattered, anger is boiling over over the Davis administration’s last-minute pre-general election decision to erase all outstanding electricity bills for residents of Grand Cay and Moore’s Island – while leaving similarly devastated mainland Abaco communities without any comparable relief.

    Survivors across hard-hit mainland settlements including Marsh Harbour, Dundas Town, Spring City and Murphy Town have decried the selective relief as a transparent, insulting political gambit that ignores the ongoing suffering of thousands of Dorian survivors who have yet to recover from the 2019 storm.

    Neulessa Major, a lifelong Marsh Harbour resident whose home suffered catastrophic damage during Dorian, described the unequal treatment as a slap in the face to all mainland Abaco residents still picking up the pieces. Her $55,000 home roof was completely destroyed, all her personal belongings were ruined by storm surge and wind, and she was unable to move back into her repaired property until 2022. Today, she says massive outstanding utility bills burden most families and business owners across central Abaco – none of whom were offered the debt forgiveness extended to the two smaller island communities.

    “When I learned that only certain groups were getting their entire balances wiped clean, I was shocked,” Major said in an interview. “All of central Abaco was hit just as hard, with these enormous bills that people can’t possibly pay. Six years on, we still have people living in tents and temporary dome shelters. A lot of homes look finished from the street, but step inside and there aren’t even floor tiles. The government acts like everything is fine for us here, but it’s not.”

    The controversial debt cancellation came two weeks ahead of the national general election, after Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis visited Grand Cay and publicly promised the relief to voters there. Government officials defended the move, framing it as a resolution to long-running billing disruptions triggered first by Hurricane Dorian and later by the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials noted that Grand Cay and Moore’s Island residents faced unique hardships including limited banking access, extended travel and business restrictions, and that accumulated debt accrued through circumstances outside consumers’ control. The government confirmed the outstanding balances would be covered through an offsetting agreement with Bahamas Power and Light.

    But that explanation has done little to ease the anger among mainland Abaco residents, who point out they weathered the same storm and the same subsequent economic crisis, with many still struggling to rebuild. Major emphasized that many Marsh Harbour residents did not wait for government aid to begin rebuilding their homes and businesses, only to be saddled with crippling utility debt that the government has refused to address.

    She also called out the ruling Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) for a separate recently revealed government-funded gift card program that saw small $300 gift certificates distributed to Abaco residents just ahead of the vote – a move she dismissed as insufficient and politically motivated. The Tribune previously confirmed that more than $200,000 in public funds was used for the gift certificates, which bear the signatures of PLP officials despite being a government initiative.

    “A $300 gift certificate six years after we lost everything? What is that even supposed to cover?” Major asked. “A lot of people might celebrate a small handout right before an election, but that doesn’t fix what’s broken here. I was even offered $500 in cash at my door by campaign workers – I refused it. I don’t want a personal payout. I want the government to actually do something for our community.”

    Lorane Burrows, a Dundas Town resident whose home was damaged in Dorian, shared Major’s fury, noting she was forced to pay outstanding water and sewerage bills even after her storm damage left her facing major financial strain. “They need to get out,” Burrows said. “This was a slap in the face to all of us. They’ve done nothing for Abaco, nothing for people like me who are still hurting. They failed us entirely.” Burrows confirmed she and all eight voting members of her household will not support the PLP in the upcoming election.

    Rochelle Lightbourn, a 55-year-old Spring City resident who lost all her belongings when her rented home was destroyed in Dorian, argued the selective relief is a clear political calculation. “I think they’re doing this because they know they’re going to lose these districts, and they’re trying to buy back support,” she said. “It’s not going to work. I still haven’t even replaced everything I lost six years ago.”

    Lottie Williams, a 64-year-old Spring City resident who lost the entire back section of her home in the storm and had to be rescued by emergency crews, said relief should have been extended to every Abaco resident impacted by Dorian. “Ninety-five percent of the homes in Spring City were destroyed,” she noted. “I understand those outer cays have challenges, but we fought for our lives here, we came home and rebuilt on our own, and we got zero help from this government. High electricity bills affect all of us. It’s just not fair to only write off bills for two small communities when we’re all struggling. That money should have been spread out to everyone who needed it.”

    Many residents also recalled the slow, burdensome process of restoring power after the storm, noting that even long-term local residents were forced to produce extensive documentation just to reconnect service, despite the small community where most homeowners and occupants were already well-known to utility officials. For many, the compounding stress of Dorian’s destruction followed by the economic collapse of the COVID-19 pandemic left them unable to keep up with accumulated utility costs – a hardship the government has only chosen to address for a select few, weeks before voters head to the polls.

  • WHO says two hantavirus cases confirmed, five suspected on cruise ship

    WHO says two hantavirus cases confirmed, five suspected on cruise ship

    GENEVA, Switzerland – The World Health Organization (WHO) issued an official update Tuesday confirming two laboratory-verified hantavirus infections and five additional suspected cases among passengers and crew aboard a cruise ship anchored off the coast of Cape Verde, with three people already dead from the outbreak.

    In a formal statement, the UN health agency outlined that as of May 4, 2026, the cluster of infections includes one patient in critical condition and three others experiencing only mild symptoms. The vessel, the MV Hondurus operated by Dutch expedition cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions, was carrying a total of 147 people representing 23 nationalities when the outbreak unfolded during a voyage from Ushuaia, Argentina, to its destination off West Africa. The first onset of illness among those affected was recorded between April 6 and April 28, 2026.

    Symptoms of the infection reported on the ship follow the typical severe profile of hantavirus: patients initially develop fever and gastrointestinal distress, which progresses rapidly to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and life-threatening shock. Further epidemiological and clinical investigations are still underway to map the origin and spread of the virus, per WHO.

    The first two fatalities were a Dutch married couple: the husband died on board the vessel on April 11, and his wife, who had already developed gastrointestinal symptoms, disembarked at Saint Helena to accompany his remains for repatriation. She grew progressively worse during a commercial flight from Saint Helena to Johannesburg on April 25, and died after arriving at a South African emergency department the following day. Her infection was confirmed as hantavirus via PCR testing on May 4. In response to this exposure event, WHO has launched contact tracing efforts to reach every passenger who shared that April 25 flight with the infected woman, to screen for potential new cases.

    Of the seven confirmed and suspected cases, three have already left the MV Hondurus, while four remain on the stranded vessel. A third fatality, a German national, died on board on Saturday. According to Oceanwide Expeditions, a British passenger is currently receiving treatment in intensive care in Johannesburg, while two additional crew members – one British and one Dutch – require urgent medical intervention.

    The ship currently holds passengers and crew from a wide range of origins, including the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States and the Philippines, where most of the crew hail from.

    WHO experts emphasized that while the outbreak is concerning for those on the ship, the overall risk of widespread transmission to the global population remains classified as low. The agency noted it will continue maintaining active surveillance and monitoring of the situation as investigations progress.

    As a pathogen, hantavirus causes rare but often severe, potentially fatal infections in humans. Most infections are acquired through direct or indirect contact with urine, feces, or saliva from infected rodent populations. However, WHO confirmed that limited human-to-human transmission has been documented in past hantavirus outbreaks in other regions.

  • Spain says no decision taken on hantavirus cruise ship

    Spain says no decision taken on hantavirus cruise ship

    MADRID, Spain — In an ongoing public health standoff involving a cruise ship carrying confirmed cases of hantavirus, Spanish health authorities announced Tuesday that no final decision on a port of entry will be made until a full review of all relevant epidemiological data is completed. The announcement came via an official social media post from Spain’s Ministry of Health, published only moments after the World Health Organization’s top official for epidemic and pandemic preparedness, Maria Van Kerkhove, stated from WHO headquarters in Geneva that the vessel was en route to the Canary Islands.

    Spanish health officials clarified that the appropriate docking location will be determined exclusively by an analysis of data gathered during the ship’s recent stopover in Cape Verde. The ministry confirmed it has already communicated this position to the World Health Organization, emphasizing that no binding choice will be made before the review concludes.

    The situation has sparked disagreement between regional and national authorities over the optimal handling of the stranded vessel. Manuel Dominguez, vice president of the Canary Islands regional government, has publicly pushed for the ship to be diverted to mainland Spain instead of the archipelago. In an interview with local radio, Dominguez argued that the Spanish mainland holds far more extensive public health and medical resources to safely manage the situation, noting that docking elsewhere would be preferable for the Canary Islands. He added that any final decision must be made with the maximum possible public safety guarantees to protect local communities.

  • Stop interfering!

    Stop interfering!

    Political interference in Jamaica’s flagship multi-million dollar road infrastructure initiative is triggering costly project delays and rising financial risks, top government infrastructure officials have warned. The caution came from National Works Agency (NWA) Chief Executive Officer EG Hunter during a recent appearance before Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), where he outlined growing challenges plaguing the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) programme.

    China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), the lead contractor heading SPARK which includes 27 local and international sub-contractors, formally documented the issue in correspondence shared with NWA. In the letter, CHEC detailed that repeated disruptions from political actors, ranging from sitting Members of Parliament to local partisan representatives, have held up segments of road projects for months at a time. Contractors frequently face demands to alter pre-approved road alignments and design plans, which were settled through earlier public consultation processes, forcing work stoppages while disputes are resolved.

    Hunter emphasized that these unplanned changes do not just slow progress — they almost always lead to formal cost adjustment claims from the contractor, driving up public expenditure for the programme. To maintain legal clarity and project accountability, he noted that the Jamaican government, as the client, only maintains a formal working relationship with the lead contractor, not outside third parties seeking to alter project terms. He laid out a clear formal channel for concerns from elected representatives: all issues should first be directed to a constituency liaison officer, a role for which each MP was previously invited to nominate a representative. Unresolved concerns can then be escalated to project engineering staff, and ultimately to Hunter himself, who also serves as SPARK’s chief engineer.

    When contacted for further comment, Minister of Works Robert Morgan confirmed the government has already taken formal action to address the growing problem, tabling a formal Ministry Paper in Parliament outlining binding guidelines to curb unregulated third-party interference. Morgan specifically called out newly elected Opposition Members of Parliament, who have increasingly pushed to alter pre-selected road routes that were finalized through public input, creating contractual conflict between the government and CHEC. Since contractors have signed fixed-price agreements to deliver specific pre-approved work, outside interference that changes project scope puts the government in a legally and financially vulnerable position, he explained.

    Morgan pushed back against claims from some MPs that they were unaware of the new guidelines, noting that the document was properly presented to Parliament during sitting, and that MPs who missed the notification simply failed to pay attention to official business. He added that many elected officials have been directly engaging with contractors outside the approved governance framework, exposing the government to avoidable legal and financial risk.

    The formal guidelines, titled *Guidelines governing the involvement of third parties in the implementation of road infrastructure projects*, outline clear boundaries for all external stakeholders — a group that includes MPs, councillors, community residents, civil society groups, private businesses, and non-prime contractors. The framework is designed to align all third-party engagement with Jamaican law, improve transparency, protect project integrity, and eliminate unauthorized political influence.

    Under the new rules, third parties are permitted to participate in public sensitization meetings, represent constituent needs related to local infrastructure, and flag implementation challenges. MPs are also guaranteed formal notification of all contractual work taking place in their constituencies, with cross-constituency projects triggering notifications for all affected representatives. However, the rules explicitly prohibit third parties from participating in any stage of procurement or contract administration, including attempts to influence contract awards, which could constitute violations of procurement standards and criminal offenses under the Integrity Commission Act. All procurement decisions are reserved for official procuring entity leadership, accounting officers, the Public Procurement Committee, and Cabinet as appropriate. Third parties are also barred from managing project funds, signing contracts, approving payments, or overseeing project financial administration.

  • New trade order?

    New trade order?

    Against a backdrop of rising geopolitical instability and interconnected global markets, India’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has delivered a clear call to action for Jamaican business leaders: expand into new markets and build diversified supply chains, as shifting political landscapes continue to upend long-standing global trade patterns.

    Jaishankar shared his insights during a Monday ministerial luncheon hosted by Jamaica’s Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce at Kingston’s AC Hotel, where he framed modern commerce as inherently tied to global political dynamics. He emphasized that businesses can no longer afford to operate ignoring cross-border spillover effects from global crises, pointing to three major recent disruptions that have reshaped international trade: the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, and escalating tensions in the Middle East.

    “In our deeply globalized world, any crisis or conflict anywhere carries global consequences,” Jaishankar explained. “Thousands of miles can separate us from a conflict zone, but events there still shape energy prices, drive global inflation, impact national fiscal deficits, and even threaten political stability in smaller nations, as we saw after the invasion of Ukraine.”

    The minister noted that years of repeated trade disruptions have laid bare the critical risks of overreliance on a narrow set of traditional supply routes and trading partners, a risk amplified by growing global trends toward economic nationalism and domestic protectionism.

    “The COVID-19 pandemic proved that supply chain reliability cannot be taken for granted,” he said. “Years of volatile tariff policy have also shown that market access is not guaranteed. At the same time, rapid technological advancement has opened new pathways for business growth and new global partnerships. Just as we see the global political order shifting, a parallel transformation is underway in global commerce. Every nation is now actively seeking new, alternative trading partners.”

    Against this shifting landscape, Jaishankar encouraged Jamaican and Caribbean businesses to broaden their strategic outlook and carve out new positions in a rapidly evolving global economy, where nations across the world are prioritizing the development of alternative, more resilient trade networks.

    “In today’s uncertain world, the key question is how we build more strategic options, how we expand our partnerships, how we diversify our connections,” he said. “This is the same advice I give to Indian businesses: go out, explore new markets, leverage regional hubs, pursue nearshoring opportunities. You cannot afford to limit your operations to your home market in this new climate.”

    To illustrate his point, Jaishankar shared India’s own recent experience adapting to supply chain disruption. When conflict in the Gulf region threatened critical liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supplies— a primary cooking fuel for hundreds of millions of Indian households— via the Strait of Hormuz, New Delhi was forced to rapidly secure alternative suppliers. That scramble ultimately opened new, durable trade opportunities with partners across Latin America and the Caribbean, Jaishankar said.

    “Ten years ago, we would never have considered this region as a major LPG supplier, and the economic logistics would have been far too prohibitive anyway,” he noted.

    He also highlighted the fast-growing commercial ties between India and the broader Latin American and Caribbean region, where annual bilateral trade now nears $50 billion and continues to climb year over year.

    Jaishankar added that major advancements in global logistics, infrastructure development, and digital technology have dramatically eroded the barriers that geography once created for small and mid-sized economies. This shift opens unprecedented new opportunities for nations like Jamaica to deepen bilateral trade and investment links with major global economies like India, he said.

    He pointed to India’s own massive recent infrastructure expansion— including new interstate highways, expanded airports, and upgraded national rail networks— alongside its booming digital economy as proof of the country’s growing competitiveness and capacity to expand global commercial partnerships.

    As India continues to establish itself as a leading global economic power, Jaishankar confirmed that the country is eager to strengthen trade and investment ties with Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. Both regions stand to benefit from searching out new opportunities to offset global uncertainty, he said.

    “I know Jamaica has a great deal to offer, from its strategic geographic location to its growing domestic demand, to its ongoing post-pandemic recovery and national modernization agenda,” Jaishankar told gathered business leaders. “I am confident that across a wide range of sectors, we will see Indian companies, Indian expertise, and Indian innovation expand their presence here far more than ever before. I urge you to explore the mutual opportunities this new partnership can deliver.”

  • Advantage Arsenal as Man City held in six-goal Everton thriller

    Advantage Arsenal as Man City held in six-goal Everton thriller

    LIVERPOOL, England — A dramatic 97th-minute goal from Jeremy Doku rescued a 3-3 draw for Manchester City away to Everton in a crucial Monday night Premier League clash, but a shocking second-half defensive collapse has shifted the title race destiny firmly into Arsenal’s hands. The Gunners now stand on the cusp of ending their 20-year wait for an English top-flight crown, needing only to win all three of their remaining fixtures to secure the championship.

    Currently five points behind Arsenal’s lead, Pep Guardiola’s side hold one game in hand but face an uphill battle to retain their crown after their implosion at Goodison Park (officially the Hill Dickinson Stadium) on Monday. City looked set to cruise to three points after a dominant first half that ended with Doku opening the scoring, but a string of uncharacteristic basic mistakes let the hosts storm to a 3-1 lead, with young striker Thierno bagging a brace and defender Jake O’Brien adding a second with a headed goal from a corner.

    Erling Haaland pulled one back for City immediately after Everton’s third, before Doku’s sensational late long-range strike snatched a point that keeps the defending champions in the race, albeit as outsiders now. “It’s better than losing. It shows what type of team we have,” Guardiola said of his side’s late fightback after the full-time whistle. “The title wasn’t in our hands before? Wait — before this game it was, now it is not. We still have games left to play, and we will see what happens going forward.”

    Arsenal’s remaining fixtures see them travel to face relegation-battling West Ham United this coming Sunday, before hosting already-relegated Burnley and closing out the season with an away trip to Crystal Palace. The Gunners have picked up six points from two games since City’s last league outing, steadily building the pressure on Guardiola’s men ahead of Monday’s crunch clash.

    City’s first team entered the match having not played a full competitive fixture in nearly two weeks, after Guardiola made sweeping changes to his line-up for last weekend’s FA Cup semi-final victory over Southampton. Contrary to fears of rustiness, the visitors looked sharp from kick-off, pinning Everton deep inside their own half for virtually the entire opening 45 minutes.

    The breakthrough finally came two minutes before half-time, when Rayan Cherki slid a pass into Doku, who curled a clinical finish past Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford into the top right corner of the net. Before the break, Everton escaped any greater damage when Michael Keane avoided a red card for a reckless lunging tackle on Doku, receiving only a yellow card — a decision that would prove pivotal to the final outcome.

    The second half quickly unravelled for City, who failed to clear repeated warnings of an incoming Everton equaliser. City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma parried an effort from Iliman Ndiaye back into the penalty area, but Merlin Rohl failed to capitalize on the loose rebound. Ndiaye later squandered another clear chance created by a Matheus Nunes error, unable to beat the big Italian goalkeeper a second time.

    When Everton’s equaliser did arrive, it was gifted by City’s own defensive lapse: a underhit backpass from Marc Guehi put Barry one-on-one with Donnarumma, and the striker calmly slotted home to level the score. Just moments later, another careless mistake from City handed the hosts their second goal. Abdukodir Khusanov was caught in possession by Ndiaye, and though Guehi made a last-ditch tackle to stop the initial chance, O’Brien rose highest at the resulting corner to nod Everton into the lead.

    A rapid Everton counter-attack soon extended their advantage, with Barry poking home his second from a deflected Rohl cross to put the hosts 3-1 up, leaving City’s title hopes hanging by a thread. But within seconds of the restart, City pulled one back: Mateo Kovacic played a perfectly weighted through ball to Haaland, who made no mistake to cut the deficit to one goal.

    In stoppage time, Doku struck a sensational effort to level the score, dashing Everton’s hopes of claiming a huge three points that would have boosted their own push for European qualification next season. Yet for City, the late point may prove too little, too late to stop Arsenal from ending their long title drought and claiming the Premier League crown that City have held for four consecutive seasons, as they chase a seventh domestic championship in nine years.

  • Arteta warns Atletico will face Arsenal ‘beasts’ in Champions League

    Arteta warns Atletico will face Arsenal ‘beasts’ in Champions League

    LONDON – Ahead of a pivotal second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has issued a fierce rallying cry, saying his side will take to the pitch with the hunger and intensity of “beasts” as they chase a historic first appearance in the competition’s final in nearly two decades.

    Arsenal heads into the home leg with a solid foundation, having secured a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid in the opening match held in the Spanish capital last week. For the North London club, this fixture represents far more than just a single game: it has been 20 years since the Gunners last reached the Champions League final, where they ultimately fell to Barcelona in 2006. To date, the club has never lifted European football’s most prestigious club trophy.

    The result marks a second consecutive season that Arsenal has advanced to the Champions League semi-finals, a milestone that adds extra motivation to Arteta’s squad. Last year, the club was eliminated at this stage by Paris Saint-Germain, and Arteta made clear on Monday that his players are determined to go one step further in 2025.

    “We will take to the pitch as beasts tomorrow and enjoy the moment and go for it,” Arteta told reporters ahead of the game. “I can’t wait. I feel the energy among the team and our supporters. This is the moment that we want to live together. We have worked hard as a club and as a team after 20 years to be in this position again — and we are so hungry to get through to that final. It is a feeling of huge excitement so let’s push hard, because something amazing is going to happen.”

    A major boost for Arsenal comes in the form of fitness updates on key first-team players. Captain Martin Odegaard, who missed the side’s 2-0 Premier League win over Fulham this past Saturday, is fit and available for selection. German forward Kai Havertz, who has sat out the last two matches with a knee injury, is also in contention to feature.

    Beyond the Champions League milestone, the club is also chasing a long-awaited piece of major silverware. Currently leading the Premier League table, Arsenal has not won a top trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 2020, adding another layer of urgency to this run.

    When asked if he had envisioned Odegaard lifting the Champions League trophy at the final in Budapest at the end of May, Arteta said that this vision has been a core part of his plan for the club since he took the job. “I did that many years ago and it was the thing that I had in mind for this club,” he said. “You can never promise to win major trophies, but you can promise to work every single day by implementing the vision and being determined with the ideas and the decisions to make this club one of the best in Europe. Here we are. Now we have to make the next step.”

    Contrary to his approach in last season’s semi-final decider against PSG, Arteta opted against issuing a direct public call to fans to roar the side over the line this time around. Last year, he urged supporters to “bring their boots and kick every ball” alongside the team, but on Monday he noted that the stakes of the fixture speak for themselves.

    “I don’t think a message is needed. It’s what is at stake that says it all,” he said. “But, I can’t wait to live this moment with our supporters, our people, and generate something really, really special to get into that final. Let’s live this together. Go grab it and let’s make it happen.”

    The winner of the tie will advance to the May 30 final in Budapest, where they will face off against either Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain for the Champions League crown.

  • Support for education tourism push in Mandeville, but…

    Support for education tourism push in Mandeville, but…

    MANDEVILLE, Jamaica — Local education leaders in Mandeville are sounding a note of cautious optimism following a recent government announcement that the central Jamaican town has been selected as one of four national hubs for targeted education tourism development. While the broader initiative has been widely welcomed as a potential economic boost for the region, senior administrators from the area’s two largest tertiary institutions are urging authorities to prioritize long-overdue urban planning and infrastructure upgrades before the project moves forward.

    The framework for the project was laid out last month when Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett confirmed that Mandeville would receive targeted investment to grow its education tourism footprint. Now, Dr. Garth Anderson, principal of Church Teachers’ College (CTC), and Victorine Petrekin, who leads the hospitality and tourism programme at Northern Caribbean University (NCU), are calling for targeted government action to address longstanding systemic gaps that they say could derail the project’s potential.

    Mandeville has long been labeled a de facto university town, with a concentration of post-secondary institutions that dates back decades. As Anderson notes, conversations about formalizing this status stretch back years, when the area was home to an additional Catholic college that has since closed. Today, CTC, NCU and Knox Community College anchor the town’s education sector, and Anderson argues that formalizing the education tourism project could deliver far-reaching benefits beyond the classroom.

    “If we can finally move this idea of a designated university town from discussion to implementation, we can unlock ripple effects across our local economy: creating new jobs, driving investment, and even addressing some of the most persistent social ills that impact our communities and the broader Jamaican society,” Anderson explained.

    But to unlock those gains, Anderson says core infrastructure challenges must be addressed first. Foremost among these is the region’s decades-long struggle with chronic water scarcity, a crisis that has left thousands of households across Manchester and the wider south-central part of the country dependent on rainwater harvesting to meet daily needs. This water shortage, in turn, has created a housing crisis, as the town cannot expand residential capacity to accommodate the growing student population.

    “We simply do not have enough on-campus and off-campus housing to accommodate all the prospective students who want to attend our tertiary institutions,” Anderson noted. “Beyond housing, our overstretched transportation system is another critical bottleneck. Mandeville has grown far more crowded over the years, and the current transport network cannot support a large influx of new students and education tourists.”

    For her part, Petrekin emphasized that NCU has already been laying critical groundwork for a thriving education tourism sector, by training a new generation of local hospitality and tourism professionals. The university already draws a significant cohort of international students, who she says are attracted by NCU’s combination of hands-on vocational training and its strong focus on ethical and moral principles, which resonates with students from a wide range of religious and cultural backgrounds.

    Petrekin echoed Anderson’s call for targeted government investment, urging that a portion of national tourism revenue be allocated to expanding access to education for young Jamaicans interested in building careers in the sector. She noted that Manchester and Jamaica’s south coast are uniquely positioned to grow niche segments including ecotourism and rural tourism, and investing in local training would ensure that community members benefit directly from the growth of education tourism. “If we set aside a share of tourism funding to train the next generation of local workers, we will see far more young people pursue careers in this growing sector, and the entire region will benefit,” Petrekin said.

    Across the board, local stakeholders support the education tourism initiative, but their message to government is clear: infrastructure and workforce development must come first to turn the plan’s potential into tangible, shared growth for Mandeville.