The Aruba Tourism Authority recently had the great pleasure of recognizing Goodwill Ambassadors of Aruba. The honorees were respectively honored with a certificate for their years of visits, loyalty, and love for the island of Aruba.

The honorary certification is presented on behalf of the Minister of Tourism as a token of appreciation and to say “Masha Danki” to guests who have visited Aruba 10, 20, or 35 years or more consecutively.

Emerald Ambassador (35>years consecutively visiting Aruba)

The honorees were:

Ms. Shelby Buelow from Libertyville Illinois, United States.

On behalf of the Aruba Tourism Authority, we would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to the honorees for their continued visits to the “One Happy Island”.

Bucuti & Tara will welcome the Caribbean’s first restaurant led by a chef honored with both a Michelin star for culinary excellence and a Green Michelin star for sustainability

EAGLE BEACH—Epicurean excellence meets environmental elegance this summer as Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, Aruba’s premier adults-only oasis, prepares for the opening of Terra by Jeremy Ford. This boundary-breaking restaurant will be helmed by Chef Jeremy Ford, whose Miami-based Stubborn Seed holds a prestigious Michelin Star and was recently further distinguished with a coveted Michelin Green Star for sustainability. This latest achievement means Ford is bringing this pedigree of one of the rarest and most respected culinary combinations in the world to Aruba, making it a first for the island and the region.

The Rarest of Stars for Sustainability in Fine Dining

Ford, the winner of Bravo television’s Top Chef Season 13, is the mastermind chef behind a shared portfolio of culinary hot spots including Miami, Las Vegas, and the Florida Keys. The James Beard Foundation nominee’s Miami-based Michelin Star restaurant joins a new elite level with the recently earned Michelin Green Star, an honor bestowed only for the finest in culinary sustainability.

Few chefs or establishments in the world can claim both. Ford’s meticulous approach to sustainability—from responsible sourcing to waste reduction, energy-efficient operations, and community collaboration—will further shape the fine dining experience of Terra by Jeremy Ford. Guests will delight in unique flavors backed by the most stringent sustainability standards that care for them as much as they do the planet.

A Destination Dining Experience Rooted in Responsibility

Terra by Jeremy Ford will be a culinary destination for resort guests and locals alike, offering an experience that transcends traditional fine dining by placing equal importance on flavor, origin, and sustainability. The menu will celebrate the bounty of Aruba and the region through seasonally evolving dishes, regenerative cooking techniques, and ingredients sourced both locally and from Ford’s Farm, the chef’s 5.5-acre organic farm in Homestead, Florida. This hands-on venture allows Chef Ford to cultivate vibrant vegetables and aromatic herbs with care, ensuring every plate is a direct connection between the land and the plate.

What makes Terra truly unique is that it is being built with the island, for the island. This is not an imported concept, but a one-of-a-kind culinary vision created with local chefs, farmers, fishermen, and artisans. Chef Ford is developing Terra in partnership with third-generation Aruban hospitality pioneers Maurice and Karim Neme, whose family legacy has helped shape Aruba’s tourism identity for decades. Their deep ties to the community ensure that Terra will be a heartfelt tribute to Aruba’s culture, ingredients, and environment.

Guests can expect an unparalleled dining experience where elevated culinary techniques, sustainable sourcing and the island’s natural beauty come together in harmony. Terra by Jeremy Ford promises to be a landmark for destination dining in the Caribbean, born from a shared legacy of excellence and sustainability, and brought to life at the iconic Bucuti & Tara, the resort that redefined eco-luxury for the world.

By MATTHEW LEE

AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats of attempts to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and possibly other officials using technology driven by artificial intelligence, according to two senior officials and a cable sent last week to all embassies and consulates.

The warning came after the department discovered that an impostor posing as Rubio had attempted to reach out to at least three foreign ministers, a U.S. senator and a governor, according to the July 3 cable, which was first reported by The Washington Post.

The recipients of the scam messages, which were sent by text, Signal and voice mail, were not identified in the cable, a copy of which was shared with The Associated Press.

“The State Department is aware of this incident and is currently monitoring and addressing the matter,” department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters. “The department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously take steps to improve the department’s cybersecurity posture to prevent future incidents.”

She declined to comment further due to “security reasons” and the ongoing investigation.

It’s the latest instance of a high-level Trump administration figure targeted by an impersonator, with a similar incident revealed in May involving President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles. The misuse of AI to deceive people is likely to grow as the technology improves and becomes more widely available, and the FBI warned this past spring about “malicious actors” impersonating senior U.S. government officials in a text and voice messaging campaign.

The hoaxes involving Rubio had been unsuccessful and “not very sophisticated,” one of the officials said. Nonetheless, the second official said the department deemed it “prudent” to advise all employees and foreign governments, particularly as efforts by foreign actors to compromise information security increase.

The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“There is no direct cyber threat to the department from this campaign, but information shared with a third party could be exposed if targeted individuals are compromised,” the cable said.

The FBI has warned in a public service announcement about a “malicious” campaign relying on text messages and AI-generated voice messages that purport to come from a senior U.S. official and that aim to dupe other government officials as well as the victim’s associates and contacts.

This is not the first time that Rubio has been impersonated in a deepfake. This spring, someone created a bogus video of him saying he wanted to cut off Ukraine’s access to Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service. Ukraine’s government later rebutted the false claim.

Several potential solutions have been put forward in recent years to the growing misuse of AI for deception, including criminal penalties and improved media literacy. Concerns about deepfakes have also led to a flood of new apps and AI systems designed to spot phonies that could easily fool a human.

The tech companies working on these systems are now in competition against those who would use AI to deceive, according to Siwei Lyu, a professor and computer scientist at the University at Buffalo. He said he’s seen an increase in the number of deepfakes portraying celebrities, politicians and business leaders as the technology improves.

Just a few years ago, fakes contained easy-to-spot flaws — inhuman voices or mistakes like extra fingers — but now the AI is so good, it’s much harder for a human to spot, giving deepfake makers an advantage.

“The level of realism and quality is increasing,” Lyu said. “It’s an arms race, and right now the generators are getting the upper hand.”

The Rubio hoax comes after text messages and phone calls went to elected officials, business executives and other prominent figures from someone who seemed to have gained access to the contacts in Wiles’ personal cellphone, The Wall Street Journal reported in May.

Some of those who received calls heard a voice that sounded like Wiles, which may have been generated by AI, according to the newspaper. The messages and calls were not coming from Wiles’ number, the report said. The government was investigating.

By ERIC TUCKER

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump leapt to the defense of Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday in the face of mounting criticism from far-right influencers and conservative internet personalities over the Justice Department’s abrupt refusal to release additional documents from the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation.

When a reporter attempted to ask Bondi about Epstein at a White House Cabinet meeting, Trump headed off the questions and scolded the journalist: “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years.”

“At a time like this,” he added, “where we’re having some of the greatest success and also tragedy with what happened in Texas, it just seems like a desecration.”

The comments appeared to signal continued job security for Bondi and amounted to a striking rebuke of members of Trump’s base who have called for her resignation and mocked her for what they believe to be her failed commitment to release incriminating files from the Epstein investigation. A supposed Epstein “client list” that Bondi once intimated was sitting on her desk for review does not exist, the Justice Department acknowledged in a two-page memo Monday that further riled conservative critics who’d been hoping for proof of a government cover-up.

The pressure is on Bondi

Bondi has faced pressure after a first document dump she hyped failed to deliver revelations. Far-right influencers were invited to the White House in February and provided with binders marked “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” and “Declassified” that contained documents that had largely already been in the public domain.

After the first release fell flat, Bondi said officials were poring over a “truckload” of previously withheld evidence she said had been handed over by the FBI and raised expectations of forthcoming releases.

But after a months-long review of evidence in the government’s possession, the Justice Department said in Monday’s memo that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.” The department noted that much of the material was placed under seal by a court to protect victims and “only a fraction” of it “would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial.”

The only evidence disclosed as part of the memo was a video meant to definitively prove that the wealthy financier had taken his own life in jail in 2019, but even that disclosure did little to quiet conspiracy theorists who believe he was killed.

It’s not a happy development for online detectives

The department’s client list revelation was especially dismaying for conservative influencers and online sleuths given that Bondi in a Fox News interview in February had intimated that such a document was “sitting on my desk” for review. Bondi insisted Tuesday that she had been referring to the Epstein case file as being on her desk, as opposed to a specific client list.

“That’s what I meant by that,” she said.

She also defended her earlier public statements suggesting that the FBI was reviewing “tens of thousands” of videos of Epstein with “children or child porn.” The Associated Press published a story last week about the unanswered questions surrounding those videos and the Justice Department’s refusal to provide clarity.

The memo Monday did not suggest that the videos in the government’s possession depicted Epstein with children, instead referring to images of Epstein as well as more than 10,000 “downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography.”

“They turned out to be child porn downloaded by that disgusting Jeffrey Epstein,” she said.

But she did not explain why the department could not release other files from the “truckload” of evidence she said was delivered to the agency months ago.

On July 3rd, representatives from Casago Aruba visited the EPI School of Hospitality and Tourism to host an informative presentation about their established hospitality scholarship program. The session aimed to raise awareness among students about opportunities for further education at the University of Aruba and to encourage them to pursue careers in the island’s growing tourism industry.

Casago Aruba’s four-year scholarship, which fully funds tuition at the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management Studies at the University of Aruba, has already been supporting the development of local talent. The recent visit to EPI reflects the company’s continued commitment to outreach and educational support within the community.

Although the presentation was held at EPI, the scholarship remains open to all eligible students in Aruba who are passionate about hospitality and meet the selection criteria.

Eligibility Requirements:

Casago Aruba views education as a cornerstone of sustainable tourism and continues to invest in initiatives that uplift local youth. By reaching out directly to students, the company hopes to inspire the next generation of hospitality professionals and strengthen Aruba’s position as a world-class destination led by homegrown talent.

Students interested in applying are encouraged to contact the University of Aruba for more information.