BRIDGETOWN — Barbados stopped pledging allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II today as it shed another vestige of its colonial past and became a republic for the first time in history. Several leaders, dignitaries and artists, including Prince Charles and Rihanna, attended the ceremony that began late Monday in a popular

PARIS — The French government will send police reinforcements, including an elite SWAT team, and extend a curfew in the French island of Guadeloupe after two weeks of unrest, the overseas territories minister said on Monday. Police have been shot at and stores looted in protests against plans to make

NASSAU — The U.S. Virgin Islands is reveling by investor interest in the territory and the wider Caribbean. Attending the recently concluded annual Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference & Operations Summit (CHICOS) in The Bahamas, USVI Tourism Commissioner Joseph Boschulte was encouraged by the strong sense of hope and optimism that permeated the

PARIS — France’s minister for overseas territories will hold crisis talks on its Caribbean islands starting today, an official said, as the government looks to defuse tensions after more than a week of unrest stemming from its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic there. “I don’t think we will return to

PARIS — France has postponed a mandatory coronavirus vaccination requirement for health workers in Guadeloupe and Martinique, after the measure spurred several days of widespread protests and unrest in the French Caribbean territories. In a statement today, the French health ministry said the implementation of the vaccination requirement – also in

BASSE-TERRE — French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said today that several members of the police force had been injured as a result of civil unrest during protests against COVID-19 protocols on France’s Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. “In Guadeloupe and Martinique, our security forces as well as journalists have

FORT-DE-FRANCE — Authorities on the Caribbean island of Martinique ordered a curfew on Thursday after protesters looted shops and set up burning barricades as demonstrations against COVID-19 protocols spread across France’s overseas’ territories. Martinique and neighboring Guadeloupe have been hit by violent unrest over the last week after the government

BRUSSELS (AP) — A slew of nations moved to stop air travel from southern Africa today, and stocks plunged in Asia and Europe in reaction to news of a new, potentially more transmissible COVID-19 variant. “The last thing we need is to bring in a new variant that will cause

JOHANNESBURG — South African scientists have detected a new COVID-19 variant in small numbers and are working to understand its potential implications, they said today. So far, 22 positive cases have been identified in South Africa, according to the country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases. The variant is displaying mutations

BRIDGETOWN — Barbados, a former British colony, will next week ditch Queen Elizabeth as head of state, breaking its last remaining imperial bonds with Britain nearly 400 years since the first English ship arrived at the Caribbean island. Barbados casts the removal of Elizabeth II, who is queen of Barbados