Portal:Islands

Mason in 2019

Dame Sandra Prunella Mason FB GCMG DA SC (born 17 January 1949) is a Barbadian politician, lawyer, and diplomat who is serving as the first president of Barbados since 2021. She was previously the eighth and final governor-general of Barbados from 2018 to 2021, the second woman to hold the office. On 20 October 2021, Mason was elected by the Parliament of Barbados to become the country's first president, and took office on 30 November 2021, when Barbados ceased to be a constitutional monarchy and became a republic.

Mason was a practicing attorney-at-law who has served as a High Court judge in Saint Lucia and a Court of Appeal judge in Barbados, and was the first woman admitted to the bar in Barbados. She served as chair of the CARICOM commission to evaluate regional integration, was the first magistrate appointed an ambassador from Barbados, and was the first woman to serve on the country's Supreme Court. She was the first appointee from Barbados to the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal. In 2017, she was appointed the 8th governor-general of Barbados, with a term beginning on 8 January 2018. Simultaneously with her appointment, Mason was awarded the Dame Grand Cross in the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George. On assumption of the office of Governor-General, she became the Chancellor of the Order of National Heroes, Order of Barbados and the Order of Freedom. (Full article...)

Singaporean cuisine is derived from several ethnic groups in Singapore and has developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes in the cosmopolitan city-state.

Influences include the cuisines of the Malays/Indonesians, the Chinese and the Indians as well as, Peranakan and Western traditions (particularly English and Portuguese-influenced Eurasian, known as Kristang). Influences from neighbouring regions such as Japan, Korea, and Thailand are also present. The cuisine has a medium spiciness range, mostly due to the influence from Indian and Malaysian cuisines. (Full article...)

• ... that the pine tree on the flag of Norfolk Island is native to the territory and is its official tree?
• ... that Saunders Island has a lava lake and is populated by penguins?
• ... that a Rhode Island TV station broadcast for 14 months and then was off the air for 26 years before returning?
• ... that the 1929 book The Magic Island by William Seabrook is considered the first popular English-language work to describe a zombie?
• ... that because the capital of The Gambia is on a small island, its population has overflowed into Serekunda in the nearby municipality of Kanifing?
• ... that Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility is listed on the National Register of Historic Places?