Latest news with #Barbuda
BBC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Townsend joins National League side Eastleigh
Goalkeeper Nick Townsend has joined National League side Eastleigh following his departure from Newport Antigua and Barbuda international was offered a new deal by The Exiles, but decided to leave Rodney Parade after seven years and 209 who was voted Newport's Supporters Player of the Year for the last two seasons, was out of contract this 30-year-old former Barnsley keeper joins an Eastleigh side that finished 13th in the National League last season."It's exciting for me and my family to have a fresh start down here," Townsend told the club's website.
Forbes
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Antigua Celebrates Cuisine And Opens Door To Caribbean Heritage Month
Antiguan-American Chef Claude Lewis worked with local culinary students to host a talk and demo at ... More Fab Fest. Antigua is beautiful. Antigua is too beautiful. Sometimes the beauty of it seems unreal. Sometimes the beauty of it seems as if it were stage sets for a play, for no real sunset could look like that….excerpt from Antiguan-American author, Jamaica Kincaid, in her essay, 'A Small Place'. As Caribbean Heritage Month moves into full swing in the United States, there was an unofficial prelude over in Antigua and Barbuda during a month-long celebration in May. For the third year in a row, Antigua and Barbuda Culinary Month, organized by the tourism board, has corralled local and visiting chefs, along with other hospitality professionals to highlight the bounty of the region's cuisine and talent with tastings, forums, and demos all of which was made electric by local music and daily revelry. The celebration launched on May 4 with restaurants across the island featuring special prix fixe menus for Restaurant Week. On the same day, the Cedar Valley Golf Club went from a fairway for pitches, putts, and drives to a village green full of stalls for a food, art, and beverage fair. Known more officially as FAB FEST, the fair was an 'everyone's invited' experience with face-painting and games for kids or mixology and cooking demonstrations for adults. A parade of dancers on stilts in tradition costumes added to the color and energy that initiated the month-long, hyper-focused lens on Antigua and its cuisine. Antiguan dancers kick off Fab Fest, which began the month-long May celebration of the region. Just as Kincaid pointed out in her essay, 'A Small Place,' Antigua is a complex place with a torrid history, yet it is underscored by a thoroughfare of perseverance and beauty that seems unreal yet undeniable. In the same way, the bounty of fruit and vegetables, for example, seem unreal in their brightness or sweetness or color with an undeniably more flavorful taste than the same bite from other places. From soursops and saltfish, black pineapple and pumpkin, plantains and coconut, or ackee and tamarind, products and their caretakers--from farmers and vendors, got center stage during the month-long celebration. This year the fête returned with local and visiting chefs who partnered with a number of restaurants around the island to curate unique culinary experiences that take local ingredients and dishes and elevate them to star-studded plates. Antiguan-American chef and former Food Network Chopped Champion Claude Lewis, joined forces with London-based Antiguan chef, Andi Oliver, and culinary students from the region's Hospitality Training Institute (ABHTI) for a fine-dining, multi-course homage to the island at Blue Waters Resort. When talking to some of the chefs who have 'come home' to pay tribute, there's an array of emotion surrounding the experience. On the one hand, they have planted roots elsewhere, and yet celebrating the land of their parents, their ancestors, is an unquestionable act of pride and celebration. 'Being invited for culinary month is an honor,' Chef Lewis said. Lewis, who has most recently led Freetown Road Project in Jersey City, an eatery named after the location in Antigua where his parents are from added, 'It's important for me to bring awareness to the vibrant culture of Antigua and Barbuda.' Chef Andi Oliver and Chef Althea Brown at Blue Water Resort Collaboration Dinner, May 8. Being able to do so with Chef Oliver and the team of students from ABHTI not only brought a range of culinary expertise together, but validation that a small island is worthy of a big culinary moment. 'It was truly an inspirational experience which I'll be bringing back to New York City in the form of my new Restaurant Rasta opening late summer early fall,' Lewis continued. Chef Oliver, also the author of the popular The Pepperpot Diaries--part cookbook, part memoir--agreed that the event was emotional and special, adding on her Instagram, 'We called upon our ancestors and they helped us bring plates full of inspiration to our tables.' Another collaborative dinner which brought two esteemed Antiguan-born chefs together--Chef Kareem Roberts and Chef Kerth Gumbs--proved similarly festive and noteworthy. Held at the newly reopened Rokuni restaurant in Sugar Ridge, the two chefs, based in the U.K., came together to create a high-end celebration of local ingredients. Roberts, head chef at the award-winning The Burleigh Arms , was seen throughout his time in Antigua shopping at the local markets before his event and gushing over the variety, the color, the taste which can only be described as moment of real pride. 'Being a part of Culinary Heritage Month is a bespoke honour—and something of a full circle moment for me. When I left Antigua in 2010, I was in search of the very things this event now offers: exposure, structure, and inspiration. Back then, I was a young, hungry cook with few reference points, hoping to find my place in the wider culinary world. To now see those resources being built at home is more than fulfilling—it's a quiet reassurance that the next generation of Antiguan culinarians will begin their journey with a head start I never had." Chef Kareem Roberts with culinary students at Rokuni Collaborative dinner in Antigua, May 9. 'Returning home has taught me that the real narrative lies in the ingredients—and in the hands that offer them. If you were to ask me to describe the soul of Antiguan food, I would urge you to look no further than the central market on a Saturday morning. It is a living archive of culture: a cacophony of food, history, resilience, and honesty. I could wax lyrical about the quality of the produce here, but there is nothing more powerful than the presence of the people—the hands that present you with their best. These are hands that have fed families, turned soil, braided hair, and built communities.' Amidst the special evening dinners there were daily street tours and cooking demos, all celebrating the hyper local offerings of farmers, vendors, and restauranteurs. Chef Althea Brown of Caribbean Paleo was on board to highlight the many intersections and cultures that make up Caribbean cuisine. Originally from Guyana, now the U.S., Brown hosted a Caribbean roti-making class. 'I was honored to be invited back for a second year, to share about the heritage of the Caribbean roti. I hosted Baylay–a hands on roti-making master class. Baylay is a Guyanese creole word that means to roll out roti dough. The class featured little anecdotes of British indentureship and how it shaped Guyana's culinary heritage," Brown noted. Each participant made their own Guyanese oil rotis and then ate their creations with chicken curry and channa and aloo curry, further illuminating the many cultural influences that make up Caribbean cuisine. 'Although this experience doesn't fall under fine dining umbrella of the culinary month, I love that Antigua sees the value in highlighting this culinary tradition that made its way from Guyana and Trinidad to the rest of the Caribbean. ' Chef Kerth Gumbs of Fenchurch restaurant in London, amidst his collaborative dinner with Chef Kareem ... More Roberts during Antigua and Barbuda Culinary Month, May 9. Although Kincaid's essay, 'A Small Place' delves deeply into Antigua's dark, complicated history, peeking from the corners of each page, like a ray of sunlight is the realization that a remarkable wealth of beauty, pride, and creativity can come from it as well. The Antigua and Barbuda Culinary month and the energy surrounding it, is just one example of how one small place can create a powerful, reverberating experience that goes well beyond those unreal sunsets and too beautiful blue waters.
Travel Weekly
04-06-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Four islands, four approaches to Airbnb
Arnie Weissmann Of all the disrupters that have entered the travel industry so far in the 21st century, none has been as disruptive -- and ubiquitous -- as Airbnb. Hospitality companies that must adhere to strict local development guidelines and pay bed taxes have begged regulating jurisdictions to level the playing field by addressing unregulated vacation rentals. Communities that lost housing stock to Airbnb conversions have seen rents increase and the fabric of their neighborhoods thin. The residents of some cities blame the company for contributing to overtourism. Municipalities, even countries, have responded. This year Spain will implement regulations that include requiring that a permit be obtained before a property can become a vacation home. Oahu and New York have banned stays of less than 30 days. Amsterdam capped the number of nights a host can rent to 30 per year. Airbnb issues become more complicated for countries whose economies are tourism-dependent. This week was Caribbean Week, when tourism ministers and the heads of destination promotion bureaus descend on New York to raise awareness of their islands. In a series of back-to-back-to-back-to-back interviews with representatives of Caribbean islands, I found that they each looked at Airbnb's presence differently. Antigua and Barbuda was the most supportive of vacation rentals. "They are good for us," said the country's tourism minister, Max Fernandez. "We have seen a plethora of interest, and that means that a lot of people are getting involved in the industry. If you don't have people from all strata involved in tourism, especially in terms of ownership, then it's not sustainable, and sustainability is the key." To keep housing affordable as more properties convert to vacation rentals, Fernandez said the government is supporting a large-scale home-building initiative. "It's about creating a balance," he added. Airbnb serves another supportive role, Fernandez believes. "In economic downturns, the high-end is less likely to be affected. But at the same time, we believe that short-term rental properties like Airbnb can offer the kind of mix to make it balance out," he said. "That's the way we are looking at it." On Anguilla, vacation rentals are regulated for two reasons, tourism minister Cardigan Connor said. First, they are monitored to see if they meet required standards, and second, guest information is gathered to help keep track of where visitors are staying in case of a hurricane. "Anything that happens on the island is a responsibility of government," Connor said. "And as long as proprietors of the Airbnb properties understand that, then they know we're protecting each other as well as guests." St. Martin -- the French side of the island -- creates its balance by actively looking for unregistered vacation rentals but in some instances allowing them to operate in neighborhoods where they're not supposed to be. "We need 3,500 rooms," said St. Martin tourism minister Valerie Damaseau. "We see that there's a lot of purchasing of villas and vacation rental homes. They're listed [on Airbnb's platform] but are registered to us as their personal home. We know that some are not fully paying their taxes. "So we have several teams that visit these sites; they're just going to show up," she continued. "The situation exists, and we want to structure it. We don't want visitors who stay in these properties to say that they're not good, so we can assist the homeowner to make sure that the product is as renovated as possible and that it has the amenities that everyone is seeking." Many of the St. Martin vacation rentals are in areas where they're forbidden to be, but Damaseau is not shutting them down. "We're working on some text to try to regulate them," she said. "We need those rooms to bring [the island inventory] up to 3,500. We shut our eyes because those extra rooms have saved us over the years. We'll tighten the screws a little, but we need to find the right balance." "Villas are a tricky one," said Turks and Caicos tourism minister Zhavargo Jolly. "It's a catch-22. We're a high-end luxury destination, but we get six or seven people staying in a villa because it's less expensive than six or seven hotel rooms. But then they can't afford the amenities that generate the [per person] revenue we expect. And they complain about the affordability of the island." Paul Pennicook, CEO of Experience Turks & Caicos, added that it's one reason they are focusing on the travel trade, which doesn't typically attract the same clients as Airbnb. "Also, with the Airbnb scenario, we're not ever sure that everyone is paying their fair share of taxes. But I had a discussion with Airbnb and got a commitment that they were willing to collect taxes for us," he said. "But they're not prepared to give us the details about who they collected the taxes from; they'll just send a lump sum. My attitude is: just take the money."
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Brooklyn Nets jersey history No. 14 - Norvel Pelle (2021)
The Brooklyn Nets have 52 jersey numbers worn by over 600 different players over the course of their history since the franchise was founded in 1967 as a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA), when the team was known as the "New Jersey Americans". Since then, that league has been absorbed by the NBA with the team that would later become the New York Nets and New Jersey Nets before settling on the name by which they are known today, bringing their rich player and jersey history with them to the league of today. Advertisement To commemorate the players who played for the Nets over the decades wearing those 52 different jersey numbers, Nets Wire is covering the entire history of the franchise's jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team. The 16th of those 52 different numbers is jersey No. 14 which has has had a total of 29 players wear the number in the history of the team. Detroit Pistons guard Rodney McGruder makes a jump shot against Brooklyn Nets center Norvel Pelle and guard Bruce Brown during the first half at Little Caesars Arena, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. The 25th of those players wearing No. 14 played in the Brooklyn Nets era, big man alum Norvel Pelle. After starting his pro career in the G League, Pelle would go unselected in the 2014 NBA draft and play overseas and in the G League until he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019. The St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda native would play the first seasons of his pro career with the Sixers before he'd sign with Brooklyn in 2021. His stay with the team would span just three games, ending when he signed with the Sacramento Kings that same season. Advertisement During his time suiting up for the Nets, Pelle wore only jersey No. 14 and put up 2.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, and a block per game. All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference. This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets jersey history No. 14 - Norvel Pelle (2021)
Wall Street Journal
20-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Venezuela Frees U.S. Air Force Veteran in Overture to Trump
Venezuela released an imprisoned U.S. Air Force veteran to American officials, people familiar with the negotiation said, a move Caracas hopes could improve bilateral relations and encourage the Trump administration to allow Western oil companies to continue operating. President Trump's envoy Ric Grenell oversaw the release of Joseph St. Clair Tuesday during a handover with Venezuelan authorities in Antigua and Barbuda, people with knowledge of the negotiation said. St Clair was expected to arrive in the Washington area aboard a private chartered jet later Tuesday.
