分类： politics

In a surprising turn of diplomatic events that bridges deep ideological divides, former U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva celebrated a unexpectedly constructive three-hour working meeting in Washington on Thursday, where the two ideological foes moved to ease long-running bilateral tensions.

At 79 and 80 years old respectively, the two leaders carry wildly different personal and political backstories: Lula, a leftist who rose from extreme poverty to lead Latin America’s largest economy, and Trump, a right-wing billionaire who has long pushed for aggressive U.S. dominance across the Americas. The pair have a history of public clashes on issues ranging from trade tariffs to regional geopolitics, but their meeting stretched well past its originally scheduled end time, with both leaders appearing upbeat and smiling in post-meeting photographs as they worked to identify shared ground on divisive issues impacting the hemisphere’s two largest economies.

Taking to his Truth Social platform immediately after the talks, Trump offered a positive assessment of the dialogue, writing: “Just concluded my meeting with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the very dynamic President of Brazil. We discussed many topics, including Trade and, specifically, Tariffs. The meeting went very well.” Despite historically rocky diplomatic relations between the leaders’ aligned political blocs, Trump has repeatedly spoken favorably of Lula’s charismatic political style in past comments.

For his part, Lula echoed the positive tone, telling reporters he was “very, very satisfied” with the outcome of the meeting. He even leaned into the power of visual symbolism, joking: “I always feel that a photograph is worth a great deal. And you surely noticed that President Trump smiling is better than him looking grumpy.”

The high-profile, extended meeting comes at a critical political juncture for Lula, who is gearing up for a tight October presidential election contest against Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former Brazilian far-right president Jair Bolsonaro—one of Trump’s closest ideological allies in the region. Lula, a veteran leftist leader, is currently running for a fourth non-consecutive term as Brazil’s head of state.

Relations between the two leaders hit a low point earlier this year, when Trump imposed steep sweeping tariffs on all Brazilian exports in July, framing the move as retaliation for what he labeled a political “witch hunt” against Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for his role in an attempted coup against Lula’s government. Those penalties were partially rolled back after the pair held an initial diplomatic meeting in Malaysia earlier this year, opening the door for Thursday’s full talks.

When asked if he believed Trump’s overtures would impact the upcoming Brazilian election, Lula pushed back on that suggestion. “I do not believe that Trump will “have any influence on the Brazilian elections,” he said, adding, “I think he will conduct himself like a president of the United States, allowing the Brazilian people to decide their own destiny.”

The meeting did not paper over the deep geopolitical differences that separate the two leaders. Lula has previously derided Trump’s global ambitions, once saying Trump sought to be “emperor of the world,” and has openly criticized Trump’s policy of pushing for regime change in Venezuela and his backing of Israel’s military campaign against Iran. Lula acknowledged to reporters that a single three-hour meeting would not erase those long-held divides. “He isn’t going to change his personality just because of a three-hour meeting with me. What I made a point of telling him was my perspective on things I believe far more in dialogue than in war,” Lula explained.

Notable disagreements remained on the table after the talks: Lula noted that “He thinks the war (in Iran) is already over. That’s not the reality. But that’s what he thinks and, you know, I’m not going to sit there arguing with him over his view of the war. He thinks everything in Venezuela is all sorted out.” The conversation did include moments of levity, however: Lula recalled joking with Trump that he should not revoke visas for the Brazilian men’s national football team ahead of the upcoming World Cup, quipping “because we’re coming here to win.” Lula confirmed that Trump laughed off the joke.

Beyond trade and geopolitics, the pair held extensive discussions on two pressing issues: reform of the United Nations Security Council and transnational organized crime. With public security ranking as the top policy concern for Brazilian voters ahead of the October election, Lula and Trump deepened talks on cooperative efforts to crack down on criminal networks and strengthen customs information sharing. In April, the two governments already signed an agreement to share data—including X-ray scans of shipping containers moving from the U.S. to Brazil—to combat cross-border arms and drug trafficking. Lula outlined an ambitious new plan emerging from the talks, saying Brazil is “prepared to form a working group comprising all the countries of Latin America and, perhaps, all the countries of the world, in order to create a powerful coalition to combat organized crime.”

The talks also touched on Brazil’s enormous untapped reserves of rare earth minerals—critical inputs for manufacturing a wide range of high-tech and clean energy products, which the U.S. has been racing to secure alternative supplies for outside of China. Brazil holds the world’s second-largest reserve of these strategic minerals, trailing only China. Just one day before the meeting, Brazilian lawmakers advanced a new bill that would offer incentives for private investment in rare earth exploration, with the legislation next heading to the Brazilian Senate for debate. When asked about Brazil’s approach to foreign investment in the sector, Lula emphasized an open-door policy, saying: “We have no particular preferences. Our objective is to forge partnerships — to collaborate with American, Chinese, German, Japanese, French, or any other companies — that wish to join forces with us to facilitate mining operations, process these materials, and generate the wealth that these rare earth elements offer us.”

In a new step to escalate pressure on the Cuban government, the second Donald Trump administration has announced sweeping sanctions targeting three major Cuban entities and a senior executive, framing the move as decisive action to safeguard United States national security. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is the child of Cuban immigrants, outlined the penalties during a formal announcement Thursday, saying the measures are designed to cut off access to what Washington calls illicit assets held by Cuba’s ruling government and military establishment.

The sanctions are issued under the authority of Executive Order 14404, signed by President Trump on May 1, 2026, which grants the administration power to penalize actors deemed responsible for political repression in Cuba and threats to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. Under the order, Rubio formally designated three entities for sanctions: Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), a sprawling military-controlled holding conglomerate; Moa Nickel SA (MNSA), a major nickel mining joint venture; and Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, GAESA’s top executive.

GAESA was targeted for its operations within Cuba’s financial services sector, while MNSA was sanctioned for its activities in the country’s metals and mining industry. Lastres, who serves as executive president of GAESA, was designated for her role as a senior leader of the conglomerate. Rubio described the sanctions as a core component of the administration’s broader campaign to counter what it calls growing national security risks from Cuba’s communist government, and to hold the regime and its backers accountable for their actions.

In his remarks, Rubio doubled down on the administration’s sharp criticism of the Cuban government, claiming that just 90 miles off the U.S. coast, Cuban leaders have reduced the island to economic ruin while opening it up to foreign intelligence, military, and terrorist activities that threaten U.S. interests. He added that additional sanctions designations will be rolled out in the coming days and weeks, warning that the campaign is only in its early stages.

The secretary of state positioned GAESA as the central node of what he called Cuba’s kleptocratic communist system, noting that the conglomerate controls an estimated 40 percent or more of the island’s entire national economy. Rubio alleged that GAESA operates across multiple key economic sectors not to generate broad-based prosperity for the Cuban people, but solely to enrich a small circle of corrupt ruling elites. He claimed that as ordinary Cubans grapple with widespread food insecurity, inadequate healthcare, and crumbling critical infrastructure including the national power grid, most of GAESA’s profits are siphoned off into hidden offshore bank accounts held by elite figures. Citing recent independent public estimates, Rubio said GAESA’s annual revenues likely exceed three times the Cuban state’s official public budget, and that the conglomerate controls as much as $20 billion in undeclared illicit assets globally. Lastres, he added, directly oversees the management of these hidden international assets.

Turning to MNSA, Rubio said the joint venture between Canadian firm Sherritt International Corporation and Cuban state-owned enterprise La Compania General de Niquel exploits the island’s natural resource wealth to line the pockets of regime leaders, at the direct expense of ordinary Cuban citizens. He also noted that the company operates assets that were originally seized by the Cuban government from U.S. citizens and corporations decades ago, a longstanding point of contention between the two nations.

As part of the sanctions announcement, Rubio confirmed that all property and financial interests held by the designated actors that are located within the U.S. or controlled by any U.S. person are immediately frozen, and must be reported to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the agency responsible for enforcing U.S. sanctions programs. Any entity that is 50 percent or more owned, directly or indirectly, by one or more of the sanctioned individuals or groups is also subject to the same blocking measures.

All transactions involving the sanctioned parties carried out by U.S. persons or conducted within or transiting through U.S. jurisdiction are prohibited, unless explicitly authorized via a general or specific license issued by OFAC. These prohibitions extend to any contributions of funds, goods, or services to or for the benefit of a blocked party, as well as the receipt of any such contributions from sanctioned actors.

Rubio also issued a stark warning to third-country actors, saying that any foreign individual or entity that conducts transactions with the newly designated parties, or operates in any of the Cuban sectors identified as high-risk in Executive Order 14404 — including energy, defense, metals and mining, financial services, and security — faces significant risk of being added to U.S. sanctions lists themselves. “Non-U.S. persons, including foreign financial institutions, should proceed with caution in any dealings with a party sanctioned under this authority,” Rubio said. “Actions to return assets to a sanctioned party or transfer them to another jurisdiction for potential use by the target could expose non-U.S. persons to significant sanctions risk.”

The sanctions align with longstanding U.S. trade restrictions on Cuba enforced under the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR), the foundational regulatory framework for the decades-long U.S. embargo on Cuba managed by OFAC. The CACR prohibits any person subject to U.S. jurisdiction from engaging in transactions involving property in which Cuba or a Cuban national holds an interest, unless a specific exemption or authorization is granted. All existing blocked property under the CACR remains frozen following the new designations, Rubio confirmed.

Rubio emphasized that the new sanctions advance multiple core policy objectives of the second Trump administration, not only fulfilling the authority granted by Executive Order 14404, but also advancing the goals of Executive Order 14380 — which addresses perceived threats to the U.S. from the Cuban government — and National Security Presidential Memorandum 5. That memorandum directs the executive branch to prioritize efforts to improve human rights, establish rule of law, build free market systems, and advance democratic governance in Cuba.

Veteran Jamaican attorney Howard Mitchell, who leads a government-appointed review committee probing governance irregularities at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), has sounded the alarm over a deeply entrenched culture of insufficient accountability and lax oversight that permeates nearly the entire public sector. Far from being an isolated issue at the prominent teaching hospital, Mitchell argues that the gaps uncovered during the UHWI investigation are symptomatic of broad, structural flaws that have undermined the performance and integrity of state institutions across the island.

Mitchell outlined three core drivers that allow governance failures to persist across the country’s 156 public bodies: widespread non-compliance with existing regulatory requirements, toothless monitoring mechanisms, and inadequate enforcement of established rules. To illustrate the scope of the compliance crisis, he noted that only 12 of the 156 public bodies are fully up to date on the mandatory financial and operational reports required under the Public Bodies Management and Accountability Act (PBMA). Shockingly, at least one public body has failed to submit a single required report in the 50 years since it was founded, leaving public funds unaccounted for and raising urgent questions about fiscal transparency. This lack of transparency is particularly striking, Mitchell emphasized, given Jamaica’s widely celebrated recent successes in macroeconomic management.

The review committee was convened specifically to examine procurement and governance shortcomings at UHWI, following a 2025 report from Jamaica’s Auditor General that flagged major irregularities at the facility. But Mitchell said the investigation quickly revealed that the same weaknesses extend across the entire public administration system. A primary contributing factor, he explained, is that the agencies tasked with overseeing public bodies are themselves starved of the resources, staffing, and training needed to do their jobs effectively. The Auditor General’s Department, for example, faces such significant budget constraints that it can only conduct superficial, one-off checks rather than sustained follow-up oversight. Compliance units within the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service also lack sufficient funding and capacity to drive the cultural shift needed to embed accountability across all public institutions.

Compounding the challenge is the unwieldy structure of Jamaica’s public sector, which places an unmanageable number of agencies under the supervision of individual ministries. Mitchell noted that some cabinet departments are responsible for monitoring more than two dozen public bodies, while 39 separate agencies report directly to the prime minister – a workload that makes consistent, effective oversight functionally impossible.

Over time, these persistent systemic failures have created a dangerous trust deficit that erodes public confidence in national institutions, Mitchell warned. When public bodies fail to deliver on their mandated services, the backlash falls directly on political leaders and state institutions, damaging social cohesion and undermining the legitimacy of governance. He added that political stakeholders have begun to recognize that this gap between public promises and actual service delivery is a core root of declining citizen trust.

Against this backdrop, the UHWI reform process has emerged as a critical test case for broader public sector overhaul. The review committee has concluded that Jamaica lacks the specialized local expertise to manage the complex transformation of a large teaching hospital, and is therefore recommending that the government hire an independent international change management expert to lead UHWI’s restructuring, develop a formal implementation roadmap, and enforce accountability for outcomes. Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton has endorsed the recommendation, confirming that the government will source the required expertise from the international market, as no local firm possesses the specialized experience in teaching hospital governance and service delivery needed for the project.

Mitchell stressed that the UHWI reform should not be a standalone fix. Instead, he framed the process as a critical wake-up call for Jamaica to address the accountability crisis across all public bodies, using the hospital’s transformation as a benchmark to raise standards across the entire public sector.

In the wake of Hurricane Melissa’s catastrophic October 2023 landfall, which caused $12.2 billion in damage and erased 56% of Jamaica’s gross domestic product, the Jamaican government established the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) to lead the country’s recovery and rebuilding effort. But a leading transparency and accountability advocate is sounding the alarm over gaps in the NaRRA legislation, warning that the same government overreach that was recently struck down by the country’s Constitutional Court could become legally enshrined if reforms are not made.

Jeanette Calder, executive director of the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP), laid out these concerns during a virtual address to the Kiwanis Club of Kingston on Tuesday, in a presentation titled *Trust, Power & Public Funds: Understanding the NaRRA Bill*. Calder anchored her warning in a landmark Constitutional Court ruling handed down in late April, which invalidated a 2020 environmental permit granted to Bengal Development Limited for a large-scale mining project in the ecologically fragile Dry Harbour Mountains of St Ann. The court found the permit unconstitutional after the Jamaican government overrode formal objections from the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and local communities, both of which warned the project would cause irreversible harm to the sensitive ecosystem.

Calder pushed back against common claims that the NaRRA Bill is crafted to let the government outright bypass independent regulatory agencies entirely. Instead, she clarified, the legislation lets NaRRA control those bodies through a controversial “stepping order” mechanism. Under the bill’s terms, when a regulatory body like NEPA is asked to approve a reconstruction or infrastructure project, NaRRA’s appointed chief executive officer can set a mandatory deadline for the agency to issue a decision. If the agency fails to meet that deadline, or if the CEO simply disagrees with the agency’s technical or planning assessment, the stepping order allows NaRRA to override the regulator’s ruling entirely and issue the approval itself. Critically, the legislation includes no requirement to publicly disclose when NaRRA has chosen to disregard independent technical advice from regulators.

Beyond the lack of transparency around overridden regulatory decisions, Calder identified two additional major accountability gaps in the bill: there is no explicit legal right for affected local communities to weigh in on projects that impact them, and the legislation does not codify a clear right to judicial review for contested NaRRA decisions. For Calder, this framework directly echoes the overreach the Constitutional Court condemned in the Dry Harbour Mountain case, risking embedding that same undemocratic practice into national law.

Calder also drew attention to Section 26 of the NaRRA Bill, which exempts the new authority from the 2019 Public Investment Management System (PIMS) — a regulatory framework designed to guarantee value for public money on large-scale infrastructure projects by requiring a full pre-funding appraisal before any public funds are committed. This exemption is particularly concerning, she argued, because NaRRA’s mandate extends beyond hurricane recovery projects to include a portfolio of broad “national strategic projects” unrelated to post-storm rebuilding. While Calder acknowledged that proponents argue PIMS can slow project delivery, she stressed that the exemption creates a critical accountability risk that could open the door to wasteful spending of public resources.

Perhaps the most pressing concern raised by Calder centers on governance oversight for NaRRA, which will manage a public budget totaling $6.7 billion USD, equal to roughly 1 trillion Jamaican dollars, at a time when public trust in government institutions is already low. Jamaica’s own 2012 Corporate Governance Framework requires independent governing boards for public entities to strengthen transparency, probity and decision-making effectiveness. Yet the NaRRA Bill does not include a formal governing board. Instead, the authority will be led by a single CEO appointed directly by the prime minister, supported by an advisory committee appointed by the relevant government minister.

Calder emphasized that the advisory committee holds no actual legal authority: it cannot block or reverse any decision made by the CEO, the legislation does not require the committee to hold formal meetings, and ignoring the committee’s advice carries no legal consequences. Calder acknowledged that rapid reconstruction is a critical national priority after Hurricane Melissa’s devastation, but she argued that speed should never come at the cost of accountability for public funds and democratic decision-making. She called on the government to integrate robust transparency and accountability mechanisms into the final NaRRA legislation to avoid repeating the mistakes that led to the Dry Harbour Mountain constitutional conflict.

As the 2026 fifth Annual World Protocol Matters Conference prepares to open its doors in Budapest, Hungary, later this month, two Jamaican specialists are preparing to take the global stage, bringing small-state perspectives to a forum focused on aligning international diplomatic practices and strengthening cross-border cooperation.

The annual conference has emerged as a leading global gathering for protocol practitioners, designed to unify professional standards and foster collaborative approaches to the unspoken rules that govern international relations. For many outside diplomatic circles, protocol is an invisible, overlooked part of global politics — but experts argue its impact shapes nearly every major diplomatic outcome.

Kimberley Morgan, a Jamaican diplomatic advisor and one of the two Jamaican delegates set to attend and present at the conference, shared her insights on the field’s critical importance ahead of the May 11–13 event. Morgan explained that while the public only sees the final, public moments of high-level diplomacy — such as handshake photo opportunities between heads of state — every small detail leading up to that moment is carefully calibrated through protocol. From the order of processions for visiting dignitaries to the precise placement of national flags, every choice is intentional and carries diplomatic weight.

For small sovereign states like Jamaica, getting protocol right is not just a matter of etiquette — it is a strategic tool that can make or break key diplomatic goals. “Small nation states have a vested interest in getting protocol right, as it can be a huge deal maker or breaker,” Morgan noted. Even minor missteps, such as sending a low-level official to greet a visiting high-ranking dignitary at the airport, can be interpreted as an intentional snub, sending a silent message of disapproval that damages relations before talks even begin. When executed properly, however, protocol lays a stable, respectful foundation for high-level negotiations that can lead to impactful outcomes, from mutually beneficial bilateral agreements to landmark international treaties.

Morgan will deliver her own presentation at the conference on the topic “Soft Power: Is this the New Super Power?”, but she says she is equally eager to learn from her fellow attendees. She emphasized her excitement to hear the presentation from the second Jamaican delegate, describing him as an outstanding speaker, and looks forward to exchanging ideas with other global protocol leaders. Ultimately, she plans to bring the insights and best practices she gains back to Jamaica to strengthen her own diplomatic work on the island.

The second Jamaican participant, Robert Scott, who serves as chief operating officer of Lifespan Co and also holds the position of honorary consul general for the Republic of Latvia, will present on a separate complementary topic: “The New Gravitas: Executive Presence as a Strategic Protocol Tool for 21st-Century Diplomacy”. The three-day conference will bring together protocol practitioners, diplomatic advisors, and global policy experts from across the world to explore evolving standards for diplomatic practice in an increasingly interconnected global landscape.

A high-stakes criminal trial involving 25 alleged members of the Tesha Miller-affiliated Klansman Gang saw intensifying legal battles on Wednesday, as defense teams doubled down on efforts to block prosecutors from entering a key witness statement from a deceased woman into official court evidence. The core of the defense’s challenge centers on serious unresolved questions surrounding the woman’s formal identity.

Prosecutors (referred to as the Crown in this jurisdiction) have been calling a sequence of witnesses to meet the legal criteria laid out in Section 31(D) of the country’s Evidence Act. This provision allows out-of-court statements to be admitted as evidence when a witness is unable to testify in person, a rule that applies in cases of death, severe illness, the witness being outside the court’s jurisdiction, or failure to locate the witness after exhaustive reasonable searches. The statement in question relates specifically to the 15th and 16th charges laid out in the grand indictment.

The would-be witness, identified as Shanice Roberts, passed away in February 2021. Before her death, she provided a formal statement to law enforcement investigators about the February 7, 2020 murder of Noah Smith, which occurred at Yarico Place in St. Andrew. Four of the accused — Michael Wildman, Jerome Spike, Nashuan Guest, and Geovaughni McDonald — are standing trial on charges that they knowingly facilitated the robbery and killing that resulted in Smith’s death.

Wednesday’s proceedings focused heavily on cross-examination of the detective constable who recorded Roberts’ statement on the night of the 2020 murder. Denise Hinson, the defense attorney representing Nashuan Guest, subjected the officer’s testimony to searching scrutiny. Hinson argued that the photographic exhibit entered into the record, which the detective identified on Monday as depicting the woman he interviewed the night of the killing, is actually not a photo of Roberts. The detective had previously told the Crown during his direct examination that he could recognize Roberts from her distinctive facial features, specifically noting she had a very small nose. The defense has pushed back hard, contending that the submitted photograph is too blurry for the officer to even make out the shape of her nose, undermining his identification.

Hinson’s attempt to prove that the spelling of the woman’s name recorded by the detective did not match the spelling on official court records was unsuccessful. In response, prosecutors argued that variations in spelling were ultimately irrelevant to the case, emphasizing that the Crown only needs to prove the deceased witness and the person in the photograph are the same individual, regardless of minor name spelling discrepancies.

Presiding Justice Dale Palmer ruled on the dispute, noting that recalling the witness solely to address a minor spelling discrepancy does nothing to resolve the core question of whether the person in the photo is actually Shanice Roberts. “It might not take us anywhere,” Palmer observed, later adding: “How does the spelling assist us in one way or the other even if it was a clear image?”

With the judge indicating he would not allow a witness to be recalled to address Hinson’s spelling challenge, prosecutors announced they will outline next steps for their Section 31(D) application when the court reconvenes next Monday. Hinson and fellow defense attorney Sasha-Kay Shaw, who have both formally objected to admitting the statement, are scheduled to submit written legal arguments on the matter in the coming days.

In a separate procedural ruling on Wednesday, the Crown secured judicial approval to amend the third and fourth counts of the indictment, despite fierce pushback from the defense team. The amendment corrects an incorrect date listed for the offense in question. Defense attorneys argued that the amendment would prejudice their clients — Tesha Miller, Rolando Jermaine Hall and Michael Wildman — who are named in these counts.

Justice Palmer, however, rejected the defense’s objections. He noted that there had been no disagreement over the actual date of the offense during cross-examination of the only witness called so far for these counts. Furthermore, Palmer ruled that the amendment request was filed sufficiently early in the trial proceedings, and that defense teams already have more than enough time to adjust their strategies in response. The judge concluded there was no material prejudice to the accused as a result of the change.

Following the ruling, all defendants formally entered a plea of “not guilty” when asked to respond to the amended counts. The trial is scheduled to resume later on Thursday, with additional procedural and substantive arguments expected to move the high-profile case forward.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Leaders of Jamaica’s outdoor advertising and print industries are calling for critical updates to outdated municipal signage regulations, arguing that the 48-year-old rules have failed to keep pace with the island’s rapid urban development and modern advertising innovation. Following a collaborative stakeholder gathering with the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) focused on regulating outdoor signage across the capital, IPrint Group of Companies Chairman Steven Steele laid out the case for amending the KSAMC’s 1978 signage regulatory framework. “We are now in 2026, so many decades have passed since these rules were drafted, and nearly every facet of life here has grown: our road networks, our total population, our urban centers, our overall national economy,” Steele explained. “That means these regulations are long overdue for a comprehensive upgrade.”

In attendance alongside Steele was Raul Duany, Managing Director of leading local signage firm Signtex and current President of the Outdoor Signage Association of Jamaica, who opened by affirming the core value of outdoor signage for Jamaican businesses and private individuals seeking to connect with their target audiences. But Duany also acknowledged longstanding gaps in current regulatory enforcement, noting that “Some operators blatantly erect unapproved signage across the city, while other areas that once permitted promotional signs have become strangely barren over time.”

Duany echoed widespread industry agreement that what was originally intended to be low-impact, unobtrusive advertising has now created problematic visual and physical clutter along many of Kingston’s public roadways. Even so, he welcomed the recent stakeholder meeting as a rare productive space for collaborative problem-solving, framing the dialogue as a potential catalyst for long-overdue legislative reform.

Steele echoed that positive assessment, praising the quarterly meeting format as a strong foundation for future collaboration between industry and municipal leaders. He also expressed public support for KSAMC’s ongoing enforcement efforts, which aim to protect legitimate, rule-abiding players in the signage industry. “Maintaining a fair, well-regulated industry is critically important, and that is clearly the mayor’s top priority,” Steele said. “My only core concern is the risk of uneven enforcement, but at this point, that does not appear to be the direction the initiative is taking.”

For his part, Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby confirmed that the recent gathering marks the first in a planned series of quarterly stakeholder meetings. Swaby added that the industry representatives in attendance showed clear, genuine commitment to addressing the longstanding challenges facing Jamaica’s outdoor signage sector.

Fresh armed exchanges between the United States and Iran have thrown a fragile weeks-long ceasefire into jeopardy, just days after global and regional mediators had expressed cautious optimism that a lasting diplomatic breakthrough could be reached to de-escalate soaring tensions across the Middle East.

The tit-for-tat accusations emerged hours after the violence erupted near the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global chokepoint that carries nearly a fifth of the world’s daily oil and natural gas shipments. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the military body overseeing American operations in the Middle East, said in an official post on X that Iranian forces initiated the clash, launching a coordinated assault of multiple missiles, drones, and small fast-attack boats against three U.S. Navy destroyers operating in international waters near the strait. CENTCOM confirmed that none of the American vessels suffered damage or hits, adding that U.S. forces successfully neutralized all incoming threats before carrying out retaliatory strikes on pre-identified Iranian military facilities linked to the initial attack.

The statement emphasized that the U.S. military does not seek further escalation of hostilities, but remains fully deployed and prepared to defend American personnel and interests across the region. Iran’s central military command pushed back immediately with a conflicting narrative, accusing the U.S. of breaking the truce first by carrying out unprovoked attacks on a commercial oil tanker and a second civilian vessel earlier Thursday. Tehran said its response was a proportional retaliation against American military vessels operating in the region.

The clash has upended optimistic diplomatic momentum that had built in the 48 hours before the violence. Just one day prior, U.S. President Donald Trump had stoked hopes of a breakthrough, telling reporters that a broader negotiated agreement to end the ongoing conflict was within reach, while reiterating his threat to resume large-scale bombing campaigns against Iran if Tehran refused to concede to U.S. demands.

Pakistan, which has served as the key regional mediator between the two sides, said it is waiting for Iran to formalize its position on the latest clash before moving forward with further diplomatic talks. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had delivered an optimistic address to national television just hours before the Thursday exchange, saying he firmly believed the temporary ceasefire implemented on April 8 could be transitioned into a permanent end to hostilities.

Civilians inside Iran have expressed widespread skepticism that any lasting deal will be reached, even before the latest outbreak of violence. Shervin, a 42-year-old Tehran-based photographer who communicated with AFP via messaging from the Iranian capital, said neither negotiating side has shown a genuine willingness to compromise on core demands. “This is another one of Trump’s political games; otherwise, why are so many warships and additional military forces being deployed toward Iranian waters?” he told reporters.

The U.S.-Iran ceasefire collapse also risks worsening already simmering tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border, which has been mired in low-level conflict since Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement launched retaliatory rocket strikes against Israel following the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier this year. A separate, fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah had been extended after the last round of diplomatic talks in Washington, but the truce came under renewed strain Wednesday after an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut killed a senior Hezbollah commander. Thursday, Lebanese health authorities reported 12 civilians were killed in a new wave of Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon.

Despite rising tensions, U.S. officials confirmed Thursday that a third round of indirect Israel-Lebanon peace talks is scheduled to proceed as planned on May 14 and 15. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed earlier this week that a lasting peace deal between the two countries, which have maintained a formal state of war for decades and share no official diplomatic relations, is “eminently achievable”, adding that Hezbollah’s positions remain the primary sticking point rather than fundamental disagreements between the two national governments.

Beyond the direct military clashes, the ongoing conflict has created a growing humanitarian crisis for global maritime shipping. Since the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran began with joint strikes on February 28, Iran has severely restricted transit through the Strait of Hormuz, leaving hundreds of commercial vessels and thousands of international crew stranded in the Persian Gulf region. Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the United Nations International Maritime Organization, told the Maritime Convention of the Americas meeting in Panama this week that approximately 1,500 ships and more than 20,000 international crew members remain trapped due to the ongoing closure of the key waterway.

Earlier this week, Trump ordered a brief U.S. naval operation to reopen the strait to commercial shipping, only to order the operation stand down within hours after citing reported progress in diplomatic negotiations with Iran. On Thursday, the U.S. president said he had held a productive conversation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, noting that the two sides remained completely aligned in their position that Iran can never be permitted to develop a nuclear weapon. Trump, who has repeatedly criticized European allies for failing to back his hardline policy against Iran in recent months, described the call as “great.”