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WILLEMSTAD – During a parliamentary debate on the economic development of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, Dutch MP Peter van Haasen of the PVV emphasized the importance of economic self-reliance for the islands, while strongly opposing the planned CO₂ tax on airline tickets from 2027 — unless the Dutch Caribbean is granted an exemption.  Van Haasen opened his remarks by referencing the original Charter of the Kingdom, signed by Queen Juliana, which declares “relying on our own strength” as a principle. According to the MP, that principle contrasts sharply with the hundreds of millions of euros the Netherlands sends…

Manta, Ecuador CNN  —  “One more trip,” he says. “And then I’ll stop.” He’s a fisherman by trade, born and raised in the coastal city of Manta — a place once known for tuna and tranquility. But these days, the fish are harder to find. The trips are longer. And the money, he says, just isn’t there anymore. “As a fisherman, in a month you can make $300,” he says. “But with the drug, the white one… that’s the money, brother!” One trip, running cocaine by sea to Mexico, pays $60,000, he says. Half up front. Half when you make…

When it comes to signing off on budgets and large-scale activities, Chief Marketing Officers are rarely far from the conversation. Their opinion of the affiliate channel counts, and this year Awin has called on one of the biggest authorities in business and tech to share it.    On Tuesday, April 15, at 15:30 GMT, Nikhil Lai (Senior Analyst, Performance Marketing –  Forrester) will join Robert Davinson (Global Head of Content – Awin) for a special webinar outlining the views and uses of the affiliate channel among marketing leaders.   Register for the webinar today.   What to expect  Attendees will pick up…

Pope Francis died content and grateful after a busy day tending to his beloved flock, the Vatican said Tuesday in an account of the pontiff’s final hours and last words. “Thank you for bringing me back to the Square,” Francis whispered to Massimiliano Strappetti, his personal health care assistant since 2022, who had encouraged him to make the outing, the Vatican recounted. Working till the end, Francis had already met briefly with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Easter morning. But he wasn’t done. Pope Francis greets cardinals during a surprise appearance at the end of the mass for Palm…

WILLEMSTAD – New U.S. import tariffs could significantly weaken the financial resilience of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, according to the latest scenario analyses from the Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (CBCS). The monetary union’s import coverage ratio is projected to drop to just above the critical threshold of three months, due to rising import costs and a projected decline in tourism.  In the bank’s baseline scenario—where U.S. trade partners do not retaliate—the union’s import coverage is expected to fall from over four months in 2024 to exactly three months by 2028. Should a global trade war unfold, the…

The view of Nanjing Road East Pedestrian Mall, the main shopping street in Shanghai.Bruce Yuanyue Bi | The Image Bank | Getty ImagesAsia-Pacific markets climbed Wednesday, after all three key benchmarks on Wall Street advanced overnight on optimism that U.S.-China trade tensions could ease.This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump indicated that final tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. “won’t be anywhere near as high as 145%.” However, he added that the duties “won’t be 0%.”Trump also said he has “no intention” to fire Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell before his term ends, alleviating investors’ concerns over the central bank’s…

xAI’s Grok chatbot can now answer questions about what’s in view of your smartphone’s camera, similar to real-time vision features available for Google’s Gemini and ChatGPT. On Tuesday, xAI announced the launch of Grok Vision, which lets users point their phone at objects like products, signs, and documents and ask questions about them. Grok Vision is accessible from the Grok app for iOS, but not the Grok Android app just yet. GROK CAN SEE WHAT YOU SEE—LITERALLY Grok’s voice mode comes with camera access, letting users point their phone at something and ask, “What am I looking at?” The Vision…

Rome CNN  —  Pope Francis, the first Latin-American pontiff, renowned for his outspoken advocacy for the poor and insistence on a more welcoming Catholic Church, has died at the age of 88. Francis was a pope of firsts – the first pontiff from the global south, the first Jesuit to be chosen as leader of the Catholic Church and the first to call himself Francis. Before taking up office, he had never lived or worked in Rome. A disruptor and outsider to the church’s establishment, his reforms faced strong resistance from powerful minorities within Catholicism and political forces without. Francis…

Anysphere, maker of AI coding assistant Cursor, is growing so quickly that it’s not in the market to be sold, even to OpenAI, a source close to the company tells TechCrunch. It’s been a hot target. Cursor is one of the most popular AI-powered coding tools, and its revenue has been growing astronomically — doubling on average every two months, according to another source. Anysphere’s current average annual recurring revenue is about $300 million, according to the two sources.  The company previously walked away from early acquisition discussions with OpenAI, after the ChatGPT maker approached Cursor, the two sources close…

Mayor Adams on Tuesday echoed Trump administration talking points on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident whose accidental deportation to El Salvador has become a major flashpoint in the ongoing fight over the president’s hardline immigration agenda. Adams’ comments, made alongside Trump border Czar Tom Homan, came as the NYPD and the FBI announced the arrests of more than two dozen Venezuelan immigrants linked to the Tren de Aragua street gang. The mayor spoke about Abrego Garcia’s case without actually naming him, accusing him of being a gang member. President Donald Trump’s ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan speaks at a press…