JAMAICA – MONTEGO BAY, St James — Bahamasair commenced twice weekly flights between Nassau and Montego Bay on Sunday, and received a warm welcome from Jamaican tourism officials, who praised the carrier for the direct air link between the two Caribbean states that Sandals Resorts International Executive Chairman Adam Stewart described as “superpower tourism destinations”. “As a sixth-generation Jamaican in the tourism business, having this connection between these two countries, first and foremost, unlocks the ability between our two economies for locals to do business; to trade; to visit family, friends; for school and education — which has been one of the main thoroughfares for us over the years,” Stewart, who chair’s Jamaica’s Tourism Linkages Network, said at the welcome ceremony at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. “But, of course, for those of us in the tourism business it allows us to split sales and expand the reach of a single trip by connecting these two superpower tourism destinations,” added Stewart, who is also executive chairman of the Jamaica Observer.

He commended the airline’s chair, Tanya Pratt, and Managing Director Tracy Cooper for their vision in establishing the route, saying, “You are going to be in great hands coming to Jamaica… We are going to make sure this is an incredibly successful route. (Jaicaobserver)

Photo: Chairman of Tourism Linkages Network and executive chairman of Sandals Resorts International Adam Stewart (right) and The Bahamas’s Minister of of Immigration and National Insurance Alfred Sears share lens time at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay on Sunday.

AUSTRALIA – Australian senators on Monday voted to censure an Indigenous colleague, who yelled at King Charles III during a reception in Parliament House last month. The censure of independent Senator Lidia Thorpe is a symbolic gesture that records her colleagues’ disapproval of her conduct, during the first visit to Australia by a British monarch in 13 years. The motion was carried 46 votes to 12. Government leader in the Senate, Penny Wong, said Thorpe’s outburst sought to “incite outrage and grievance”. “This is part of a trend that we do see internationally which, quite frankly, we do not need here in Australia,” Wong told the Senate.

Thorpe launched an expletive-laden rant at Charles following his speech during his visit to Canberra and Sydney. “You are not our king. You are not sovereign,” Thorpe yelled at Charles as she was led by security guards from the reception. “You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us: our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people,” she added.  Following her censure, Thorpe said she would repeat her rant if Charles returned. “If the colonising king were to come to my country again, our country, then I’ll do it again,” Thorpe told reporters. “And I will keep doing it. I will resist colonisation in this country. I swear my allegiance to the real sovereigns of these lands; First Peoples are the real sovereigns. You don’t have some random king rock up and say he’s sovereign,” she added. Senator Mehreen Faruqi, a member of the minor Greens party, opposed the censure motion.

“The bubble of white privilege that encapsulates this parliament is a systemic issue,” Faruqi said. “That’s why we are here today, debating a Black senator being censured for telling the truth of the British crown’s genocide on First Nations people and telling it the way she wants to.” The vote took place before Thorpe arrived on a flight from Melbourne. Thorpe said she had wanted to be in Parliament for the vote, but government senators refused to wait. Indigenous people account for fewer than 4% of Australia’s population and are the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic group. (Jamaica- Gleaner/ Photo AP)

RUSSIA – President Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russia with long-range missiles supplied by the US has sparked a furious response in Russia. “Departing US president Joe Biden… has taken one of the most provocative, uncalculated decisions of his administration, which risks catastrophic consequences,” declared the website of the Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Monday morning. Russian MP Leonid Slutsky, head of the pro-Kremlin Liberal-Democratic Party, predicted that the decision would “inevitably lead to a serious escalation, threatening serious consequences”.Russian senator Vladimir Dzhabarov called it “an unprecedented step towards World War Three”. Anger, yes. But no real surprise. Komsomolskaya Pravda, the pro-Kremlin tabloid, called it “a predictable escalation”. What really counts, though, is what Vladimir Putin calls it and how the Kremlin leader responds. So far he’s stayed silent. But on Monday President Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that “if such a decision has been taken it means a whole new spiral of tension and a whole new situation with regard to US involvement in this conflict”. Mr Peskov accused the Biden administration of “adding fuel to the fire and continuing to stoke tension around this conflict”. (BBC)

Photo: Putin previously said Moscow would view the move as “direct participation” of Nato countries in the Ukraine war. (Getty Images)