KINGSTON, Jamaica — A life-changing $81 million Lotto jackpot is waiting to be claimed by an anonymous ticket holder from the parish of Portland, Jamaican gaming operator Supreme Ventures Limited has confirmed. The winning combination — 02, 15, 24, 30, 35, and 36 — was purchased on Saturday, May 2, 2026, at Exquisite Tavern, a small local retailer in the coastal town of Buff Bay, Portland. The outlet now joins a long list of lucky Jamaican vendors that have sold a jackpot-winning Lotto ticket.
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Simeone laughs off ‘cheaper’ hotel switch ahead of CL semi-final
LONDON, England – Ahead of the decisive second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final between Atletico Madrid and Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, Atletico head coach Diego Simeone has laughed off widespread speculation that the club’s last-minute switch of London hotels was driven by bad-luck superstition.
Back in October during the group stage of this season’s competition, Atletico stayed at the Marriott Hotel near London’s iconic Regent Park ahead of their away fixture against the Gunners – a match that ended in a bruising 4-0 defeat for the Spanish side. With the two legs of the semi-final deadlocked at 1-0 apiece after the opening clash in Madrid, Simeone and his squad opted to skip the familiar Marriott this time around, setting up their pre-match base at the Courthouse Hotel in the Shoreditch district of East London, hundreds of meters across the British capital from their original accommodation.
Multiple sports outlets had previously reported that Simeone ordered the hotel swap out of a fear that staying in the same venue that hosted the squad before their 4-0 group-stage defeat would bring negative fortune to his side ahead of the make-or-break second leg. But when pressed on the reasoning for the change during a pre-match press conference on Monday, the famously intense Atletico boss delivered a blunt, straightforward response that shut down the superstition rumors entirely.
“The hotel was cheaper. That’s why we changed,” Simeone told reporters.
Beyond the off-pitch hotel talk, there is positive fitness news for Atletico ahead of Tuesday’s high-stakes clash: in-form forward Julian Alvarez, who bagged a penalty in the first leg to level the tie, has shaken off a recent injury concern and will be available for selection. The Argentine, who has notched 20 goals across all competitions this campaign, missed Atletico’s La Liga win over Valencia last weekend but made the trip to London with the rest of the squad.
Speaking about Alvarez, a former Manchester City striker who spent years competing in the English Premier League, Simeone highlighted his unique value for the upcoming fixture. “Julian Alvarez is important in this game because he knows the English league very well,” Simeone said. “He played really well last week, and I hope he can bring what he needs in the game tomorrow. As coaches, we have to think about what could happen but it is down to the players. We have to manage our emotions and play as well as possible.”
The match also carries extra personal significance for Atletico legend Antoine Griezmann, who is set to depart the club at the end of the season to join MLS side Orlando City. If Atletico fails to progress to the Champions League final in Istanbul, Tuesday’s clash will mark the 35-year-old’s final appearance in European football’s most prestigious club competition. Across his two stints with Atletico, Griezmann has racked up 212 goals in 494 appearances for the club, cementing his status as one of the greatest players in the club’s modern history.
When asked about the potential milestone of his last Champions League outing in Europe, Griezmann said he was putting that thought aside to focus entirely on the result. “It is not something I am thinking about. I am looking forward to the game tomorrow,” he explained. “I hope we can have the right attitude, and play with the right pressure, and build on our second-half performance from the first leg.”
Looking ahead to the tie, Griezmann said Atletico remains fully focused on reaching the final, a goal every aspiring young footballer dreams of. “Every time we start a Champions League campaign you can see yourself lifting the trophy — and any child in their bedroom would do the same,” he said. “We are just two games away now and we have to get it right — tactically, defensively, and going forward. And, of course, we need more goals.”
With the tie evenly poised, both sides will take the pitch at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night knowing just one 90 minutes stands between them and a spot in the 2024-25 Champions League final.
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Suspected hantavirus cases to be evacuated from cruise ship
Off the coast of Cape Verde’s capital Praia, a major international public health emergency involving the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius has moved toward a partial resolution this week, after days of stalled negotiations to evacuate severely ill people onboard. Three people have already died from suspected hantavirus infection, a rare zoonotic disease most commonly transmitted to humans via exposure to infected rodents’ urine, feces, or saliva.
On Tuesday, the vessel’s Dutch operator Oceanwide Expeditions announced a coordinated plan to evacuate two gravely ill crew members and a close contact of one of the deceased passengers to the Netherlands for urgent medical treatment. Once this evacuation is complete, the ship will be allowed to continue its journey north, with plans to dock in one of Spain’s Canary Islands—either Gran Canaria or Tenerife—after a three-day voyage, according to the operator. Discussions with Spanish health authorities are still ongoing to finalize arrival arrangements, after Spanish officials previously requested full health data from the vessel before approving docking.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the evacuation plan is moving forward. Ann Lindstrand, WHO’s representative in Cape Verde, told reporters that the operation is logistically complicated: an ambulance will transport the three evacuees from Praia’s port to the local airport, where a dedicated evacuation plane will wait to carry them to Europe. She added that the ship is expected to depart Cape Verdean waters in the middle of the night once the evacuation is completed.
The outbreak first raised alarms on Saturday, when global health officials were notified of three deaths linked to suspected hantavirus among the ship’s company. MV Hondius departed Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 on an expedition voyage bound for Cape Verde, carrying 88 passengers and 59 crew members representing 23 nationalities. Cape Verdean authorities refused the ship permission to dock after the outbreak was declared, forcing all remaining passengers and crew into isolation off the coast while global health teams scrambled to coordinate a response.
To date, WHO has confirmed two cases of hantavirus infection – one a fatality, and a second a British passenger currently in intensive care in Johannesburg, South Africa. Five additional cases are still under investigation, bringing the total suspected and confirmed cases to seven. Along with the three deaths, one patient is in critical condition in Johannesburg, three people remaining onboard have experienced mild symptoms, and one of those three has already recovered and become asymptomatic.
The timeline of the outbreak has left epidemiologists working to trace the origin of the infection. The first person to develop symptoms fell ill on April 6, just five days after the ship departed Argentina. The first two deaths were a Dutch couple: the husband died on April 11, and his wife accompanied his body off the ship at Saint Helena, a remote Atlantic island, before flying to Johannesburg, where she died on April 27 after developing gastrointestinal symptoms. A third German passenger died on Saturday.
Contact tracing is already underway for the 82 passengers and six crew members on the Airlink flight that carried the deceased Dutch woman to Johannesburg. A representative for the airline confirmed South African health authorities have requested all flight contacts reach out to public health officials for monitoring.
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told reporters Tuesday that investigators are still working to confirm the exact strain of hantavirus involved, though the working hypothesis is that it is the Andes virus – the only hantavirus strain previously documented to spread between humans. Van Kerkhove added that there are no rats onboard the MV Hondius, eliminating a potential onboard reservoir for the virus, and the WHO currently believes the original infections likely occurred off the ship. The Dutch couple had traveled through South America before boarding, and the ship’s expedition itinerary includes frequent shore stops on Atlantic islands for birdwatching and other outdoor activities, meaning infection could have occurred during a shore visit. Investigators also believe limited human-to-human transmission may have occurred between close contacts onboard.
At this stage, WHO has emphasized that the current risk of widespread transmission to the global population remains low. South African researchers are currently conducting genetic sequencing on virus samples to confirm the strain and help guide the ongoing public health response.
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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.
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Police dog assists in breakthrough in murder investigation
Investigators probing the fatal stabbing of a 38-year-old hotel worker in western Jamaica scored a critical breakthrough this past Friday, May 1, 2026, when a specially trained police service dog tracked down key evidence tied to the crime, law enforcement officials confirmed. The victim has been publicly identified as Kadene Beswick, a long-time Catherine Hall, St James resident who worked in the local hospitality industry.
The first call for assistance reached local police dispatch just after 12:30 a.m. that day, with responders rushing to a residential address in the Catherine Hall neighborhood following reports of a violent incident, according to Area 1 Crime Superintendent Jermaine Anglin. When officers arrived at the scene, they found Beswick’s body on the property, positioned on her back and bearing multiple obvious stab wounds.
A full homicide investigation was launched within minutes of the first responders’ arrival, with detective teams immediately rolling out standard and specialized forensic protocols to build a case. Over the course of the initial investigation, law enforcement interviewed multiple persons of interest and witnesses, while forensic teams combed the surrounding area for clues that could identify and connect a suspect to the attack.
The investigation hit a major turning point when the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Canine Division was called in to assist with the search. The trained police dog quickly picked up a scent that led investigators to hidden evidence, including the bladed weapon authorities believe was used to kill Beswick, as well as items of clothing directly linked to the suspected perpetrator. The recovered evidence is now set to undergo forensic testing as detectives work to build a complete case ahead of potential charges, with the investigation still ongoing as of the latest updates.
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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.
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Gov’t allocates roughly $250m for pre-hurricane mitigation works
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Facing a growing trend of more intense extreme weather events across the Caribbean, the Jamaican government has set aside $246 million in targeted funding to carry out pre-hurricane mitigation work across the island ahead of the 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season. The bulk of the planning and investment centers on clearing clogged drainage systems and complementary flood-reduction projects that officials say will cut potential damage when storms arrive.
In an official public statement released Tuesday, the responsible ministry outlined how the total budget will be distributed across administrative and national levels. On average, each of the island’s constituencies will receive approximately $2 million to deploy for drain clearing operations in high-risk, priority communities. This 2026 funding allocation matches the increased budget levels rolled out last year, a policy shift that boosted local parliamentary capacity to lead community-level mitigation work ahead of hurricane season, allowing for faster, more targeted action at the neighborhood level.
The remaining portion of the total $246 million budget will go to Jamaica’s National Works Agency, which will take on large-scale, specialized mitigation projects that exceed the scope of constituency-level drain clearing. These national projects include interventions in areas that require specialized technical expertise, heavy industrial construction equipment, or landscape modifications that cross local administrative boundaries.
Robert Nesta Morgan, the minister with oversight for public works, emphasized that the early, consistent funding reflects the current administration’s commitment to proactive disaster planning, practical resilience-building, and reducing the impact of storms on Jamaican communities. “We are acting before the storms come,” Morgan explained. “Last year, the Government increased the allocation to constituencies for pre-hurricane mitigation, and this year we have maintained that strengthened level of support. This will allow critical drain cleaning to continue in communities before the peak of the hurricane season.”
Morgan went on to note that Jamaica has already seen a clear increase in the intensity of rainfall events in recent years, putting unprecedented strain on existing drainage infrastructure, gullies, roads, bridges and other critical public assets. This pre-hurricane mitigation programme, he added, is just one part of a broader, government-wide resilience strategy that includes ongoing road repairs, bridge retrofitting, gully stabilization projects and improved inter-agency coordination to respond to weather events.
Under the terms of the current programme, local members of parliament will work in close consultation with municipal authorities and technical engineering teams to map out priority drainage sites and critical areas that require urgent clearing. All projects will prioritize communities that face the highest risk of flooding, repeated drain blockages, and inadequate stormwater runoff management.
While routine drain maintenance rarely draws major public attention, Morgan stressed that it is one of the most cost-effective, impactful measures the government can take to cut flood risk, protect private and public property, and limit storm damage during periods of extreme rainfall. “We cannot prevent hurricanes, but we can reduce the damage they cause by preparing properly,” he added.
Beyond government-led infrastructure work, the administration is calling on Jamaican residents to support the mitigation effort by changing harmful waste disposal habits. Officials warned that dumping of household garbage, bulky waste, construction debris and other discarded materials in drains, gullies and natural waterways remains one of the leading causes of preventable flooding during heavy downpours.
Morgan closed by reaffirming that the government will continue collaborating with parliamentarians, municipal corporations, the National Works Agency and other key stakeholders to ensure all mitigation work is targeted to the highest-need areas and completed well ahead of the 2026 hurricane season peak.
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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.
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Saka ends Arsenal’s 20-year wait to reach Champions League final
LONDON – After two decades of near-misses, unmet expectations, and years of lingering underachievement, Arsenal’s men’s first team has booked their spot in the 2025 UEFA Champions League final, with homegrown star Bukayo Saka delivering the decisive goal in a 1-0 semi-final second leg victory over Atletico Madrid at a sold-out, electricity-charged Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
Mikel Arteta’s young squad locked in their place in the May 30 final in Budapest with Saka’s 44th-minute strike, capping a gritty aggregate win of 2-1 following a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Madrid last week. For Arsenal, it marks the first time the club has advanced to the showpiece European final since their iconic 2006 loss to Barcelona, and sets the stage for what could become the most successful season in the club’s 138-year history.
The north London side will wait for the winner of the other semi-final tie between defending champions Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, who will contest their second leg in Munich on Wednesday with PSG holding a narrow 5-4 aggregate lead heading into the decider. It’s a full-circle moment for Arsenal, who were eliminated by PSG at the semi-final stage of last year’s competition.
For a club that has not lifted a major European trophy since the 1994 European Cup Winners’ Cup, and has never claimed the Champions League title, Tuesday’s win was far more than just a match result. It was a cathartic release for long-suffering fans who have watched the club fall short of major silverware for six years, and endured a string of late-season collapses that left critics labeling the current side “nearly men” and “serial chokers” just a few weeks ago, after a rough patch of four defeats in six games across all competitions.
Fittingly, it was Saka – the poster child of Arsenal’s youth-focused rebuild under Arteta, and a talent developed entirely in the club’s Hale End academy – who stepped up as the match-winner. The game got off to a frenetic, nerve-wracking start for the Gunners: Atletico threatened twice early on, with Julian Alvarez dragging a shot just wide and Giuliano Simeone’s close-range effort deflecting past the post. But Arsenal weathered the early storm, taking control of the match and breaking the deadlock just before halftime.
Viktor Gyokeres’ intelligent off-ball run stretched Atletico’s defensive shape, before he played a low cross into the box to Leandro Trossard. Trossard created just enough space to fire a low effort toward goal that Atletico keeper Jan Oblak could only parry straight into the path of Saka, who reacted faster than any of his markers to slot the ball into the net from four yards out. The Emirates Stadium erupted into a roar that shook the stands, with Arteta jubilantly punching the air in celebration as thousands of fans waved red flags in a roiling sea of joy.
Atletico pushed hard for an equalizer in the second half to level the aggregate score, but Arsenal’s defense held firm. Gabriel Magalhaes made a desperate last-ditch tackle to deny Simeone what looked like a certain equalizer, and keeper David Raya produced a spectacular save to turn away a powerful long-range strike from Antoine Griezmann, ensuring Arsenal held onto their clean sheet and their aggregate lead.
Now, the club is 90 minutes away from claiming their first ever Champions League crown, and just three Premier League wins away from securing their first English top-flight title since 2004, when Arsene Wenger’s legendary Invincibles completed an unbeaten season. The Gunners, who currently sit atop the Premier League table, got a crucial boost to their title hopes on Monday, when title rivals Manchester City dropped points with a draw at Everton. Arteta’s side will secure the league title if they win their remaining three matches against West Ham United, Burnley, and Crystal Palace, putting them on course for an unprecedented domestic and European double – a feat that would even outshine the Invincibles’ iconic 2004 campaign if they see it through.
Thousands of Arsenal fans gathered outside the Emirates hours before kick-off, greeting the team’s arrival with flares, flags, and deafening chants, a show of unwavering support that underscored how badly the club’s fanbase wanted this historic milestone. Just weeks ago, after their late-season slump, critics questioned the team’s mental strength and whether they could shake off the pain of past failures. Now, those negative labels and painful memories are on the verge of being erased forever.
Arteta, who previously admitted he visualized winning the Champions League with Arsenal even in the toughest early days of his tenure, is now just one win away from turning that daydream into a glorious reality for the club and its long-suffering supporters.
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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.”