Britain clinches $5 billion Gulf trade deal in shadow of Iran war
The British government said the deal would be worth £3.7 billion ($4.96 billion) each year in the long term, more than double a previous estimate that it would be worth £1.6 billion
International News via Reuters:
Britain said on Wednesday it had secured a trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council worth $5 billion a year in the long run, deepening economic ties with allies in a region dealing with the fallout from the Iran war.
The deal with the GCC, which consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, comes after U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran in February triggering Iranian attacks on other countries in the region, putting strain on energy and food supplies.
“At a time of increased instability, today’s announcement sends a clear signal of confidence – giving UK exporters the certainty they need to plan ahead, Britain’s Trade Minister Peter Kyle said.
The British government said the deal would be worth £3.7 billion ($4.96 billion) each year in the long term, more than double a previous estimate that it would be worth £1.6 billion, as the final deal went further on both trade liberalisation and service sector commitments than previously expected.
The deal will remove 93% of GCC tariffs on British goods, equivalent to the removal of £580 million worth of tariffs by the deal’s tenth year, with two-thirds of the tariffs being removed as soon as the deal comes into force.
The government said that autos, aerospace, electronics and food and drink would be among the sectors to benefit, with cereals, cheddar cheese, chocolate and butter all becoming tariff-free.
In return, Britain has lowered tariffs to the GCC, though the countries’ main exports to Britain, oil and gas, are already tariff-free.
On services, Britain locked in current access to the GCC so businesses could expand without facing new barriers, while Gulf countries can also grow their own service sectors through the deal.
GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi said following the signing that the agreement had a framework designed to achieve “tangible and measurable” economic benefits for businesses, investors and citizens of the seven signatory countries, according to a statement by the GCC.
He said the agreement spans trade in goods and services, financial services, digital trade, investment protection, telecommunications and others.
The deal doesn’t change or weaken British environmental or data protection standards, and also doesn’t contain any language around human rights, the UK government said. Some campaigners had warned the British government against ignoring human rights in any deal with the GCC.
Tom Wills, director of the Trade Justice Movement said that “by failing to negotiate any enforceable human rights protections within the deal, the UK has taken a moral step backwards.”
The agreement does contain an investor protection chapter to extend provisions to the three GCC states that weren’t previously covered by such treaties and it includes Investor-State Dispute Settlement, a mechanism that Wills also criticised for allowing Gulf investors to sue the British government.
($1 = 0.7464 pounds)
Reporting by Alistair Smout and Menna Alaa El-Din; Editing by Chiara Rodriquez
EU Commission finds treatment of Gaza flotilla activists unacceptable
Israeli police forced activists who were aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla to kneel on the ground in rows with their hands tied behind their backs while Ben-Gvir looked on
International News via Reuters:
The European Commission found the treatment of the Gaza flotilla activists shown in a video released by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is “completely unacceptable”, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
“Every detained person must be treated with safety, dignity and according to international law,” spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said in a post on X. “We call on the Israeli government to ensure the protection and dignified treatment of these activists, including several EU citizens,” he added.
Israeli police forced activists who were aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla to kneel on the ground in rows with their hands tied behind their backs while Ben-Gvir looked on, drawing criticism from foreign leaders and even from inside Israel’s own government.
The activists were detained after their flotilla was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters on Tuesday and later taken to an Israeli port.
Reporting by Inti Landauro, Editing by Franklin Paul
Former Cuban President Raul Castro charged with murder in US
The indictment against Castro, returned in federal court in Miami on April 23, charges him with one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of aircraft, court records show
International News via Reuters:
Former Cuban President Raul Castro has been indicted in the United States on murder charges, court records showed on Wednesday, in a major escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign against the island’s communist government.
The indictment against Castro, returned in federal court in Miami on April 23, charges him with one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of aircraft, court records show. Five other people are also named as defendants in the case.
The charges stemmed from a 1996 incident in which Cuban jets shot down planes operated by a group of Cuban exiles, U.S. acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at an event in downtown Miami on Wednesday to honor victims of the incident.
“My message today is clear: The United States and President Trump does not and will not forget its citizens,” Blanche said to applause in a packed auditorium of government officials and Cuban Americans in Miami.
Cuba’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Castro, 94, last appeared in public in Cuba earlier this month, and there is no evidence that he has since left the island or that the government would allow him to be extradited.
The indictment comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed for a regime change in Cuba, where Castro’s communists have been in charge since his late brother Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959.
Trump in a statement earlier on Wednesday called Cuba a “rogue state harboring hostile foreign military” and framed his administration’s actions regarding the Caribbean island as part of a broader effort to expand U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere.
“From the shores of Havana to the banks of the Panama Canal, we will drive out the forces of lawlessness and crime and foreign encroachment,” Trump said at a Coast Guard Academy event in New London, Connecticut.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Monday that the island does not represent a threat.
The indictment marks a new low in relations between the longtime Cold War rivals.
After taking power, Fidel Castro struck an alliance with the Soviet Union, then seized U.S.-owned businesses and properties. The U.S. has since maintained an economic embargo on the nation of about 10 million.
The two sides have talked intermittently over the years. Diplomatic relations briefly improved during former Democratic President Barack Obama’s second term, but Trump, a Republican, has taken a harder line.
RUBIO OFFERS $100 MILLION IN AID
Members of Miami’s large Cuban American community gathered outside the city’s Freedom Tower ahead of the ceremony.
“We all hoped for a long time, for many years that this would happen,” said Bobby Ramirez, a 62-year-old musician who left Cuba in 1971 when he was seven years old.
The ceremony is taking place on the anniversary of the end of a four-year U.S. military occupation of Cuba on May 20, 1902, which itself followed centuries of Spanish colonial rule. Cuba’s government does not consider the date to mark the country’s independence day, arguing that it remained subservient to Washington until the 1959 revolution.
In a post on X, Diaz-Canel said that in Cuban history, May 20 signified “intervention, interference, dispossession, frustration.”
Under Trump, the U.S. has effectively imposed a blockade on Cuba by threatening sanctions on countries supplying it with fuel, triggering power outages and exacerbating its worst crisis in decades.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier on Wednesday offered Cuba $100 million in aid, and blamed Cuba’s leaders for shortages of electricity, food and fuel. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called that offer cynical, citing the “devastating effect” of the economic blockade.
TRUMP HAS SAID CUBA ‘IS NEXT’
Born in 1931, Raul Castro was a key figure alongside his older brother in the guerrilla war that toppled U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.
He helped defeat the U.S.-organized Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, and served as defense minister for decades. He succeeded his brother as president in 2008 and stepped down in 2018, but remains a powerful behind-the-scenes figure in Cuban politics.
He was defense minister at the time of the 1996 incident.
The two small planes that were shot down were being flown by Brothers to the Rescue, a group of Miami-based Cuban exile pilots who said their mission was to search for Cuban rafters fleeing the island.
All four men aboard were killed. Portraits of the four were displayed behind Blanche as he spoke in Miami’s Freedom Tower, which served as a refugee center for Cubans in the 1960s.
The Cuban government has argued the strike was a legitimate response to the planes intruding on Cuban airspace. Fidel Castro said Cuba’s military had acted on “standing orders” to down planes entering Cuban airspace. He said Raul Castro did not give a specific order to shoot the planes.
The U.S. condemned the attack and imposed sanctions. The Justice Department charged three Cuban military officers in 2003 but they were never extradited.
The International Civil Aviation Organization later concluded the shootdown took place over international waters.
The filing of the criminal case against a U.S. adversary like Castro recalls the earlier drug-trafficking indictment of imprisoned former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, an ally of Havana’s.
The Trump administration cited that indictment as a justification for the January 3 raid on Caracas by the U.S. military in which Maduro was captured and brought to New York to face the charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
Trump in March threatened that Cuba “is next” after Venezuela. Diaz-Canel said on Monday that any U.S. military action against Cuba would lead to a “bloodbath.”
Reporting by Jana Winter in Washington; Additional reporting by Maria Alejandra Cardona in Miami, Andrew Goudsward and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff in Washington, Brendan O’Boyle in Mexico City and by Jonathan Stempel and Michelle Nichols in New York; Writing by Luc Cohen; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Nick Zieminski, Rosalba O’Brien and Daniel Wallis
Police make urgent appeal to road users: ‘Slow down’
Eight fatalities so far this year exceeds the statistical norm
Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police, Arthur Glasford, Operations – “The Bermuda Police Service (BPS) is deeply saddened by the three recent road fatalities and by the fact that eight people have lost their lives on our roads in the past five months, a figure that surpasses the statistical norm for our island.
On behalf of the Service, I extend our sincere condolences to the families and friends of the deceased and to all those affected by these tragic events.
We make a direct and urgent appeal to all road users to exercise greater caution, slow down, and obey posted speed limits. Drive to the conditions — reduce speed in poor weather, on narrow roads, and in areas with pedestrians.
Avoid distractions — place mobile phones out of reach and keep your full attention on the road. Never drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs; plan alternative transport if you will be drinking.
With the Bermuda Day Holiday period upon us, I wish to make it clear that the BPS will be conducting previously scheduled roadside sobriety checkpoints across the island from Thursday, 21st May at 5:00pm until Sunday, 24th May at 4:00am, and will maintain a visible presence island wide.
These measures are intended to deter dangerous behaviour and to keep everyone safe while travelling.
Small changes in behaviour save lives. The BPS remains committed to working with partners and the community to make our roads safer for everyone.”
Europe must break China’s grip on rare earths pricing to spur investment, sector body says
China dominates critical mineral supply chains and sets prices through opaque domestic markets
International News via Reuters:
Europe must build its own pricing system for specialty metals and rare earths to reduce reliance on China and unlock investment in mining and processing, industry expert Bernd Schaefer of the EIT told Reuters on Wednesday.
China dominates critical mineral supply chains and sets prices through opaque domestic markets, leaving Western developers without clear benchmarks, complicating investment decisions and delaying already higher-cost projects in Europe.
The EU has a target to mine at least 10% of its annual requirements of strategic raw materials by 2030 and rely on a single third country for no more than 65% of its annual needs.
EIT RawMaterials, an agency partly funded by the EU, is collaborating with digital platform Metalshub, it said last month, to create a European index to foster innovation in new minerals mining, refining and recycling projects in the bloc.
Schaefer said it would, however, take time to create an index with representative prices. The index would aim to provide transparent, market-based price benchmarks for critical minerals traded outside China, giving investors clearer signals on profitability and helping underpin financing for new projects.
“My understanding is that this would require trading a volume of a minimum 10% of the traded volume (non-China)…depending on the raw materials,” Schaefer said. “What we are getting from China is neither representative nor, in strict microeconomic terms, a price,” Schaefer said.
Schaefer said an index could be broader than just Europe, with collaboration from other traders, such as in the United States, Australia, Canada or Britain.
It was difficult to say whether the EU would meet its critical mineral diversification goals due to a lack of transparent data on volumes and growth expectations, he said.
The EU announced its 3 billion euro RESourceEU action plan in December to speed up diversification of the bloc’s supply chains and reduce its overreliance on China.
Concrete action has been slow with the exception of a pilot joint EU stockpile led by Italy, France and Germany. The countries have shortlisted metals including tungsten and gallium as the first to go into storage.
Without building domestic processing and transparent pricing, Europe risks remaining dependent on Chinese benchmarks — and seeing any new raw material output flow straight back into China’s supply chain, Schaefer said.
Reporting by Julia Payne;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle
New Bermuda Tourism Authority CEO announced
Global tourism executive, Jan Hutton, has been named by the Bermuda Tourism Authority as its newest CEO
Full news release from the Bermuda Tourism Authority:
The Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) has selected Jan Hutton as its next Chief Executive Officer.
Ms. Hutton is a respected global tourism leader and most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW). She is a trusted advisor to governments, businesses, and international organisations driving destination competitiveness.
In appointing Ms. Hutton, the BTA Board recognised a people-centric transformation leader working at the intersection of destination strategy, AI innovation, and sustainable growth. Her career spans more than two decades across the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, her roles have included Managing Director within Ogilvy Group, Director at Nielsen Company, Chief Marketing Officer roles at Deloitte Consulting, South African Tourism, Destination Gold Coast, and Destination NSW. With global corporations such as Salesforce, Barclays, BHP Group having also shaped her career, she is widely regarded as a trusted voice for destinations navigating economic uncertainty and evolving consumer behaviour.
Ms. Hutton has been recognised with numerous industry accolades, including ‘Most Impactful Women Shaping Australian Travel & Tourism (2025)’, ‘Most Influential CEO in Tourism Strategy’ (2023), ‘Top 100 Global Travel Marketing Experts’ (Travelstart), and ‘Top 50 Brand Marketer’ (SKIFT). She has also served on Australia’s THRIVE 2030 ‘Reimagining the Visitor Economy’ panel as Director on the GIFT (Griffith Institute for Tourism) Advisory Board.
Ms. Hutton will be joining the BTA team on July 1, dedicating her early weeks to listening and learning from the team, industry partners, and community leaders.
BTA Chairman William “Billy’ Griffith added: “The BTA Board of Directors welcomes Ms. Hutton and looks forward to working with her for the ongoing advancement of our tourism product. She brings a wealth of experience in destination marketing, digital transformation, and visitor economy strategy across three continents. Her expertise will help drive the BTA mission of making Bermuda a premier destination for visitors. Ms. Hutton joins the BTA at a critical time when new significant foundations are being laid in our visitor economy — new hotel capacity, airlift development, and product investment. Her role is to make sure the marketing and commercial strategy is ready to capture and capitilise on what’s coming.”
Ms. Hutton said: “I’m genuinely honoured to be joining the BTA, and I don’t take lightly the responsibility that comes with this role. Before I do anything else, I’m here to listen. The BTA team has been holding the line through a difficult period — they know this destination, they know this industry, and their perspective is essential. I’m coming in with eyes open.
Acting CEO Erin Wright will resume her role as Chief Operating Officer once Ms. Hutton takes up the position.
Mr. Griffith added: “On behalf of the Board, I want to sincerely thank Erin for her dedication and leadership during her time as Acting CEO. She has provided critical stability and continuity for the organisation during a significant transition period, while ensuring the BTA continued to deliver on its core mandate and strategic priorities. Under her leadership, the organisation strengthened key stakeholder relationships, advanced important initiatives, and successfully recruited several senior leaders that will help support the BTA’s next phase of growth and transformation. The Board is deeply grateful for her commitment to the organisation, the industry, and Bermuda during an especially demanding time.
“Bermuda is a rare destination — one with genuine emotional resonance, a loyal visitor base, and a proud tourism legacy. That legacy matters, and so does what comes next. Global destination marketing has entered the most transformative period any of us have seen — driven by AI, shifting traveller values, intensifying competition, and a fundamental reset in how people choose where to go and why. No destination gets a free pass through that. There is real work to be done.
“Bermuda competes in one of the world’s most demanding tourism corridors. We have to earn our place every time. I’m here to do that work, alongside the team, our industry partners, and the community who are at the heart of everything we do. This is a shared endeavour, and I’m proud to be part of it.”
US group says Starbucks plastic cups marked recyclable end up in trash
Vermont-based Beyond Plastics attached location trackers to 36 single-use polypropylene cups earlier this year and placed them in recycling bins inside Starbucks’ cafes across the country
International News via Reuters:
Starbucks’ plastic single-use cups it often serves in U.S. cafes are not as recyclable as the company claims, an environmental nonprofit group said on Wednesday.
Vermont-based Beyond Plastics attached location trackers to 36 single-use polypropylene cups earlier this year and placed them in recycling bins inside Starbucks’ cafes across the country. None of the cups were tracked to a recycling facility, the group said. Instead, 33 ended up in landfills, incinerators, or on their way to either. Three were last seen in sorting facilities.
The cups prominently feature a recycling icon and are depicted as recyclable on in-store recycling bins. Starbucks in February announced that its polypropylene cups were considered “widely recyclable” in the United States following a designation from a labeling group, How2Recycle.
A Starbucks spokesperson said on Wednesday that the company questioned the methodology of Beyond Plastics’ study, though she did not provide details.
Industry groups including the Association of Plastic Recyclers, which represents mechanical recyclers, say the tracking devices themselves may cause discarded items to be diverted from recycling streams. The Starbucks spokesperson said recycling depends on local infrastructure, which, she said, is “why we work closely with others, including the recycling companies, to help expand access and help improve the system.”
Starbucks in 2020 committed to making 100% of its customer packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by the end of the decade. In 2024, Starbucks allowed U.S. customers to provide their own cup for mobile and drive-through orders. Under CEO Brian Niccol, the company’s policy is to serve in-store customers with reusable ceramic mugs, though Beyond Plastics said many in-store customers are still given plastic cups.
Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics’ president and a former Environmental Protection Agency official, said the group is urging Starbucks to stop calling its plastic cups recyclable, and also to completely switch to fiber-based cups, as the company has done in some markets. If such a switch were made, “it would be one of the most significant plastic-reduction corporate policies in the world,” she said.
The Iran war has driven up prices worldwide for plastics, which are made from oil or natural gas, Reuters reported in April.
Beyond Plastics said the U.S. recycling rate for plastics is under 6%, and most is not polypropylene plastic, which the group said has few processing facilities equipped to recycle it.
Reporting by Waylon Cunningham in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis
Britain plans to let parliament approve key energy, infrastructure projects, Treasury says
“For too long, vital infrastructure delivery has been delayed by judicial reviews of projects,” a Treasury spokesperson said in a statement
International News via Reuters:
Britain’s finance minister Rachel Reeves is expected to unveil reforms giving parliament the authority to approve critical energy and infrastructure projects and better protect them from judicial reviews, the Treasury said on Wednesday.
“For too long, vital infrastructure delivery has been delayed by judicial reviews of projects,” a Treasury spokesperson said in a statement.
“She (Reeves) is clear that parliament must take back control to get Britain building the power plants, wind farms and grid connections that will bring bills down, strengthen our energy security, and deliver growth in every part of our country.”
Reporting by Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru
Police seek six-foot suspect in boat fire probe
Officers appeal for witnesses after a man was seen leaving the vessel near Barr’s Bay Park
Bermuda Police Service (BPS) inquiries continue regarding a suspicious boat fire that occurred around 12:30am Monday, 30th March 2026.
Apparently, the vessel involved was docked in waters near Barr’s Bay Park, in the City of Hamilton, when the fire started onboard, causing damage.
It is understood that a suspect, described as a male over six feet tall, dressed in all black with a hoodie, was seen leaving the boat via the park, heading along Pitts Bay Road, then Woodbourne Avenue, on foot, just prior.
Bermuda Fire & Rescue Service personnel attended the scene, extinguished the blaze and conducted their initial inquiries.
At this time, the investigating BPS officer is appealing for any additional witnesses or individuals who may have relevant information, video footage, or who were in the area at the time of this incident, to please come forward.
Members of the public who can assist are encouraged to contact Constable India Cheeseman by calling 211, or e-mailing icheeseman@bps.bm.
