As excitement builds around the FIFA World Cup, which starts on Thursday, sports bars and pubs on the island are preparing for a boost in business.
Kendal Trott spoke with owners and managers, who confirmed that the progress of teams like Portugal, England and Brazil will be critical to how much extra custom is generated.
He said the two U.S. pilots involved in the incident were both safe and uninjured
International News via Reuters:
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Iran had shot down a U.S. Apache helicopter that was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz overnight and vowed to respond, but gave no other details.
“I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
He said the two U.S. pilots involved in the incident were both safe and uninjured.
“Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack,” he added.
His remarks threw into deeper uncertainty the prospects for a truce announced on April 8 in the war in the Gulf.
On Monday, Israel and Iran said they would halt attacks on each other after an appeal by Trump to end their first direct exchanges of fire since April, but Tehran warned it would resume hostilities if Israel continued to attack its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Monday’s flare-up added further strain to efforts to broker a peace deal to end the wider Middle East war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
In remarks earlier on Tuesday about the downing of the Apache helicopter, Trump had said the two U.S. helicopter crew members were “fine” following their rescue by a U.S. Navy drone, but he had made no comment about what brought the Apache down.
A U.S. Navy surface drone found and rescued the two crew, the U.S. military told Reuters. U.S. Central Command said the AH-64 Apache went down at around 3 a.m. on Tuesday (2300 GMT on Monday).
In Tehran, two Iranian air defence personnel were due to be buried on Tuesday afternoon after being killed in Israeli strikes the day before, Iran’s military said. No deaths were reported in Israel after the Iranian strikes.
Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Lincoln Feast, Ros Russell, Kevin Liffey, William Maclean, Editing by Gareth Jones
The European Commission’s decision to issue an interim measure against Meta followed complaints from The Interaction Company of California, developer of the Poke.com AI assistant, French AI startup Agentik and a Spanish rival
International News via Reuters:
Meta Platforms has been ordered by EU antitrust regulators to give rival AI chatbots such as OpenAI free access to WhatsApp while they continue to investigate whether the company abused its market power by blocking competitors from the messaging app.
The European Commission’s decision to issue an interim measure against Meta followed complaints from The Interaction Company of California, developer of the Poke.com AI assistant, French AI startup Agentik and a Spanish rival.
Those complaints prompted the Commission, the EU’s competition enforcer, to open an investigation in December. It issued charges against Meta two months later, alleging breaches of EU antitrust rules, and additional charges in April after Meta levied access fees.
EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said Meta’s fees were so high that it was not economically sustainable for competitors and the company’s justification failed to convince.
“It seems that Meta expects to leverage the vast reach and likely dominance of WhatsApp to benefit its own AI assistant and to foreclose rivals,” she told a press conference.
“It is now a critical time. AI markets are developing exceptionally fast and AI systems are expected to become an important way for consumers all across Europe to access and use AI,” Ribera said.
She said the interim order would last as long as the investigation continues or at the latest until June 2029.
Meta, which has previously pointed to AI options available via app stores, operating systems, devices, websites, and industry partnerships, criticised the Commission order.
“The European Commission has decided that OpenAI and some of the largest companies in the world can use the paid-for WhatsApp Business product for free,” a Meta spokesperson said in an email.
“This is regulatory overreach subsidised by the many European companies that pay. We will appeal.”
Meta barred rival AI services from accessing its WhatsApp for Business application programming interface, which allows companies to connect their systems to WhatsApp, in October, while exempting its own assistant Meta AI. In March it allowed the competitors back onto the platform for a fee, a move that drew the Commission’s objection.
Under the interim measure, Meta must restore rivals’ access to the WhatsApp for Business API on the same terms and conditions that applied before October, within five working days.
Meta faces a fine of up to 10% of its global annual turnover if found to have breached EU antitrust rules.
Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Mark Potter, Sudip Kar-Gupta and Chris Reese
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman at a ceremony in Houston named U.S. astronauts Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio and Randy Bresnik and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano as the Artemis III crew, which is due to launch late next year
International News via Reuters:
NASA on Tuesday named three U.S. astronauts and an Italian astronaut to serve as the crew for its next Artemis mission, a spacecraft docking demonstration in Earth’s orbit next year that will test landers from Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin for the first time in space.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman at a ceremony in Houston named U.S. astronauts Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio and Randy Bresnik and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano as the Artemis III crew, which is due to launch late next year.
“Artemis III is an incredibly exciting, complicated, and highly coordinated multi-launch campaign,” Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s Artemis program manager, said at the Houston event. “It’s going to happen in a short period of time with three of the world’s most powerful rockets.”
The mission will be a delicate dance in low-Earth orbit of multiple spacecraft involved in NASA’s complex Artemis program, the flagship U.S. effort to return humans to the moon for a long-term presence. The program faces competitive pressure from China, which is targeting its own 2030 crewed moon landing.
Though the two-week Artemis III mission will not approach the moon, it is seen as a key debut test of the two primary moon landers NASA will use on subsequent Artemis missions to put astronauts on the lunar surface.
SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon will take turns docking with NASA’s Orion, the astronaut capsule that launches off Earth atop NASA’s Space Launch System. The three spacecraft will test docking mechanisms and hover around each other.
Four U.S. astronauts flew around the moon and back earlier this year in NASA’s Artemis II mission, following Artemis I in 2022, a similar flight but without crew. The second crewed voyage in NASA’s Artemis program, Artemis III is the final mission planned before the space agency attempts to land astronauts on the lunar surface.
Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Franklin Paul and Andrea Ricci
June 1st marked the start of the 2026 hurricane season
A below normal hurricane season does not mean a lower threat level, according to forecasters at the Bermuda Weather Service.
June 1st marked the start of the 2026 hurricane season featuring El Nino conditions which are likely to frustrate the formation of storm systems in the Atlantic.
Francis Krendensor, Deputy Director of the BWS explained the technical causes behind the phenonomenon and what this means for us.
Last year saw five, category five hurricanes form – which was the second highest on record.
Mr. Kredensor said climate change is likely contributing to stronger storms, but not necessarily frequency.
He urges residents to be prepared, regardless.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the incident as “sickening” after video of the attack, which took place in north Belfast late on Monday evening, was shared widely on social media
International News via Reuters:
Police in Northern Ireland appealed for calm after arresting a Sudanese man on Tuesday over a knife attack that left one person in a serious condition and prompted calls online for protest.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the incident as “sickening” after video of the attack, which took place in north Belfast late on Monday evening, was shared widely on social media.
The incident, which is currently not being treated as terrorism, comes at a time of heightened tensions in Britain following the murder of a student who was handcuffed by police as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer, a Sikh man, falsely alleged a racist attack.
It also follows repeated protests about immigration, with populist parties saying Britain’s asylum policy had allowed dangerous men into the country. Northern Ireland saw anti-immigrant rioting last year amid anger over an alleged sexual assault.
SERIOUS INJURIES
“I understand that last night’s attempted murder will leave people feeling a range of emotions, from fear to anger,” Northern Ireland’s Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson, who has declared it a “critical incident”, told a press conference.
“I appeal for calm and the safety of all of our communities in response to this.”
He said the victim, a man in his 40s, suffered significant injuries to his eyes and slash wounds to his face and back during the “brutal” attack, with a kitchen knife found at the scene.
Footage showed a number of members of the public trying to fight off the attacker before police arrived, and they were credited by senior officers with saving the man’s life.
The suspect, a 30-year-old Sudanese national, has been detained on suspicion of attempted murder.
Police said it was understood he lived locally, having been granted leave to remain in the UK in September 2023 after claiming asylum. He had travelled to Belfast in February that year by bus from Dublin, having flown there from Paris on an unknown date.
“There is no trace of this suspect on any of our national security databases, and he was not known to the Police Service of Northern Ireland,” Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said.
Northern Ireland’s main political party leaders jointly condemned the attack, calling it “horrific”, and also called for calm, saying disturbances would only damage their communities.
“Last night’s attack in North Belfast was horrific and shocking. Many people are feeling angry, and many people are feeling deeply distressed,” First Minister Michelle O’Neill told reporters.
A widely shared post on Facebook and WhatsApp has called for protests on Tuesday evening, and in response police have promised an increased presence across the region.
“Nobody, nobody in Northern Ireland wants to see a repeat of the disorder that we have seen in recent years,” Henderson said.
Reporting by Amanda Ferguson in Belfast and Conor Humphries in Dublin; writing by Michael Holden and Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Kate Holton, Alex Richardson and Gareth Jones
In a first trip by a pope to the archipelago, beginning on Thursday, Leo will visit the port of Arguineguin on Gran Canaria, which in 2020 was criticised by a local mayor for its “subhuman conditions”
International News via Reuters:
Pope Leo’s visit to Spain’s Canary Islands, which have struggled to absorb a surge in irregular migration over the past decade, will focus attention on the treatment of migrants, local Catholic leaders said.
In a first trip by a pope to the archipelago, beginning on Thursday, Leo will visit the port of Arguineguin on Gran Canaria, which in 2020 was criticised by a local mayor for its “subhuman conditions”, when 1,000 migrants were stranded on the dockside and thousands were sleeping in the open.
On Friday, Leo will head to a centre for migrants on Tenerife and hold a meeting nearby with more than 1,000 migrants, some of whom survived the sometimes deadly journey from Africa on overcrowded boats and others who arrived from Latin America.
Jose Mazuelos, bishop of the Canary Islands, told Canarias7 newspaper that with the pope’s visit “the ‘port of shame’ can become the ‘port of hope'”.
“Let’s hope this visit helps to put an end to the Atlantic route, ensures a humane and comprehensive approach to migration, and that Europe takes a proactive role in addressing migration,” he said.
THOUSANDS DIE TRYING TO REACH ISLANDS
The pope said during his stop in Madrid on Monday a lack of help for the world’s migrants was challenging “the ethical foundation of the international order”.
The seven islands off the Atlantic coast of northwestern Africa, located more than 1,000 km from mainland Spain, received a record 46,843 irregular migrants in 2024, compared with fewer than 1,000 in 2015, according to official data.
El Hierro, one of the smallest and most remote islands, received in 2024 an influx equivalent to roughly twice its population of about 11,000.
Arrivals fell by 60% in 2025 from a year earlier to 17,788 after Spain signed agreements to tighten migration controls with countries such as Mauritania, but boats are still departing from as far as The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, adding more time at sea on the already perilous journey.
More than 3,000 people died in 2025 trying to reach the Canary Islands, according to the NGO Caminando Fronteras.
Lamine Endour, who reached the islands from El Aaiún in the disputed territory of Western Sahara in 2018, wanted to send a plea in the publicity surrounding Leo’s visit.
“I want to thank him for everything he does, but also to ask for more support for the Canary Islands, so they can continue helping migrants,” he said.
‘WE ARE ALL THE SAME’
Darwin Rivas, a priest on El Hierro who has joined emergency teams assisting migrants arriving on the island, said he believed the trip would shift the focus worldwide from border control to putting human dignity first.
“It is already moving hearts and I think it must serve to address the issue of immigration policies,” said Rivas, who moved to the Canaries from Venezuela and is scheduled to speak at one of the pope’s meetings.
In contrast to most of Europe, Spain has adopted a more open stance on migrants, introducing a programme to grant residency to more than half a million undocumented people.
The initiative, however, has drawn criticism from far-right leaders in Spain and across the continent, and the country is struggling with the slow pace of granting legal status to thousands in limbo.
It often takes months, if not years, for migrants to be processed and transferred to the mainland due to their lack of documentation. Adults can gain legal permission to stay and work in Spain, while minors who migrate alone mainly remain in the Canary Islands where they receive education and refugee support until the age of 18.
Ruth Socorro, a 57-year-old Peruvian woman, migrated to Gran Canaria with her family and will attend a meeting with the pope. According to official figures, Latin American migrants account for nearly half of all foreigners living in Spain.
“He cares because we are human beings just like anyone else; it’s just that we come from other countries and have left so much behind, but in the end we are all the same,” she said.
Reporting by Corina Pons in Madrid and Borja Suarez in Gran Canaria; Editing by Charlie Devereux and Alison Williams
Four of the five candidates to succeed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who completes his second five-year term at the end of this year, laid out their visions for the role at a time when the U.N. faces a severe financial crisis triggered by cuts from major humanitarian donors
International News via Reuters:
Several candidates running to be the next head of the United Nations called for a strengthening of human rights and respect for international law and bolstering the organisation through reforms during a debate in Geneva on Tuesday.
Four of the five candidates to succeed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who completes his second five-year term at the end of this year, laid out their visions for the role at a time when the U.N. faces a severe financial crisis triggered by cuts from major humanitarian donors.
The organisation is also contending with $4 billion in unpaid U.S. arrears, multiplying conflicts, and widespread violations of international law.
Maria Fernanda Espinosa, a former foreign affairs minister and defence minister in Ecuador, said the crisis required an energetic leader.
“This moment calls for a renaissance Secretary-General, a Secretary-General capable of restoring the U.N.’s moral authority,” she said, proposing establishing an early action hub to address conflicts as they emerge.
ERODING TRUST IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS
Rebeca Grynspan, a former vice president of Costa Rica who described herself as a daughter of peace as her parents fled Europe as refugees during World War Two, called for the U.N. to work more closely with other regional institutions to bolster peace and security.
“I am running because peace is in peril and trust in the U.N. and in international organizations is eroding,” Grynspan said.
Michelle Bachelet, the former Chilean president, placed human rights at the centre of her vision for the role. When asked by reporters after the debate if she risked being vetoed by the United States for supporting women’s sexual reproductive rights Bachelet said she would be honoured if it happened.
“Human rights are essential including sexual reproductive rights… The Secretary General has to continue the agreements the U.N. has,” she said, citing the Beijing +20, a landmark global agreement on women’s rights.
Macky Sall, former president of Senegal, told delegates via a pre-recorded video interview that he would address what he described as a fragmented international system by placing development at the centre of peace building.
“We must win the battle of development by promoting jobs for youth, women, investment, infrastructure, climate justice, and fair access to finance,” Sall said.
The fifth candidate, Rafael Grossi from Argentina, who is currently the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, chose not to send a video message.
Reporting by Olivia Le PoidevinEditing by Tomasz Janowski
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed 1.4% lower at 10,227.33 points, its weakest close since May 15
International News via Reuters:
Britain’s blue-chip FTSE 100 hit its lowest since mid-May on Tuesday, bogged down by losses in heavyweight lenders HSBC and Standard Chartered, while energy giants also lost ground amid declining oil prices as investors monitored the Middle East conflict.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed 1.4% lower at 10,227.33 points, its weakest close since May 15. The midcap FTSE 250 also shed 0.8%.
• Heavyweight energy stocks dropped 2.2% as crude oil prices slipped more than 3%. On Monday, Israel and Iran halted direct attacks on each other after an appeal by U.S. President Donald Trump.
• Energy giant BP said company veteran Gordon Birrell will lead its upstream unit and Richard Harding will serve as interim head of downstream. Its shares closed 3% lower, tracking the drop in oil prices.
• Asia-exposed lenders Standard Chartered and HSBC slipped 6.3% and 4.4%, among the biggest drags on the blue-chip index.
• JPMorgan analysts said in a note that the impact of China’s new Outbound Direct Investment regulation would be more negative for UK, Asian and Swiss banks than previously expected.
• Drugmaker GSK lost 0.5% after agreeing to buy U.S.-listed cancer drug developer Nuvalent for $10.6 billion.
• Venture capital firm Molten Ventures gained 16.1% after announcing annual results. Fever-Tree Drinks gained 5.1% after the carbonated mixer supplier said it is confident of meeting full-year market expectations for revenue and core profit and announced an increase in share buybacks.
• Inflation concerns, stemming from higher energy costs due to the Iran conflict, have had investors pricing in the likelihood of a 25 basis point interest rate hike by the Bank of England in September, according to LSEG-compiled data.
Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru
North Village Community Club (NVCC) and the Bascome Futbol Leadership Academy (BFLA) have announced a major strategic partnership aimed at transforming youth football development in Bermuda.
The collaboration marks a poignant homecoming for Bermuda legend David Bascome, who originally began his decorated football journey as a young player at NVCC.
The partnership is specifically designed to provide long-term structure, sustainability, and growth for youth pathways, with a particular focus on the BFLA Girls Academy. Players will benefit from enhanced coaching, improved facilities, and expanded local and international pathways through BFLA’s growing US network.
“As our program continues to grow, we recognize the importance of evolving to provide the very best opportunities for our players,” said Bascome, following a structural overhaul that includes a newly formed leadership board.
North Village President DevRae Tankard warmly welcomed the reunion, stating: “We’re delighted to have a son of the soil return home to continue the work he has already been doing. His commitment to youth development and leadership aligns perfectly with the values of North Village.”
The frontrunners aboard Time Machine are within touching distance of silverware after stretching their lead to a monumental margin on day three of the 2026 Annapolis to Bermuda Ocean Race.
While their podium rivals remain locked in a tense, high-seas stalemate, the blistering pace-setters have turned the 753-mile marathon into a definitive game of catch-me-if-you-can.
According to the latest tracking data, Time Machine has swallowed up an immense 732 nautical miles of Atlantic real estate. The crew has successfully broken the psychological back of the fleet, leaving them with just 51 volatile miles left to navigate before crossing the finish line at St David’s Light.
Behind the runaway leaders, Aurora remains the closest challenger in second place after logging 695 nautical miles, though they sit a substantial 80 miles adrift of the destination. They hold a fragile buffer over Tenacious, who occupies third after covering 670 miles (104 miles to finish).
Rounding out the top five, Harmony is leading the battle for fourth after traveling 693 nautical miles with 112 miles remaining. They are keeping a watchful eye on Defiance, who sits further back on 657 nautical miles logged with 126 miles of open ocean left to conquer.
