BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The Middle East seems on the verge of another war or at best a long period of instability. Last week, Israel reportedly made air strikes on Syria, a development which has already attracted wide condemnation in the Arab world. Egypt on Sunday condemned the attacks, with the Arab League also demanding that the United Nations Security Council act to stop what it called “Israeli attacks”. It says the air strikes “violated international law and principles that will further complicate the situation”.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The Organisation of American States (OAS) regional experts meeting on the project “Expanding the Socio-Economic Potential of Cultural Heritage in the Caribbean”, got under way at Amaryllis Hotel yesterday.
OAS Representative to Barbados, Francis McBarnette, pointed out to participants that the OAS of today represents a hemisphere of vast cultural diversity, whether referring to architecture, paintings, music, sculpture, craft work, cinema cuisine, literature or religion.
“All these forms are relevant, ever evolving, and dynamic,” he stressed.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Some visitors to Barbados have been giving the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) negative reviews on various websites. And they are especially critical about the attitude of customs and immigration officers. Discerning travellers are going on websites such as Britishexpats.com, TripAdvisor.com and Barbados.airport-authority.com, to name a few, to write their experiences for the world to see. “A special kind of hell” was how one British visitor writing on TripAdvisor.com last September described the GAIA.
BRIDGEETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Legendary fast bowler Michael Holding believes the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) represents an excellent opportunity for the development of professional cricket in the region. The 59-year-old, known for his strident criticism of the shortest form of the game, said the CPL was special as it had the potential to birth a new generation of professional cricketers in the Caribbean. He has signed on as the ambassador for the development programme.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados is moving to establish a hotel innovation fund to provide low-cost finance to hoteliers and other stakeholders in the tourism industry, Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Chris Sinckler has announced.
“I recently had discussions with the chairman of the National Insurance Board, Dr. Justin Robinson, and he has assured me that very shortly we will be able to bring our sector stakeholders and players in to begin to fashion the Hotel Innovation Fund that we had announced in the Financial Statement and Budgetary proposals of last year.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Apparently now more disposed to striking a militant posture to influence decision-making processes at the Caribbean Community Secretariat, Secretary General Irwin LaRocque made a spirited intervention at last week’s ministerial meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED).
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Advocate -The year 2012 was hot! In fact, it was ranked among one of the top 10 warmest years on record, says Omar Baddour, Climatologist with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). This, despite the cooling influence of La Niña early in the year. He recently indicated that extreme weather and climate events were also noted last year, such as Tropical Storm Sandy which hit the United States and the Caribbean.