ROAD TOWN, Tortola — Businessman Richard Branson on Wednesday urged Caribbean countries to be more LGBT-friendly as a report said anti-gay laws cost the region’s 12 English-speaking nations up to $4.4 billion a year in lost tourism and emigration. “Business can be a driving force for social, environmental and economic

MIAMI — Elsa strengthened into the first hurricane of the season early this morning as makes its way towards the U.S. Virgin Islands, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. The Category 1 storm unleashed heavy rains and winds on Barbados and then on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which are struggling

BRIDGETOWN — Tropical Storm Elsa formed early this morning east of the Windward Islands and is expected to pass south of the U.S. Virgin Islands tomorrow, according to the latest forecast models. It is currently projected to pass 220 miles south of the U.S. Virgin Islands late tomorrow. “There is

MIAMI —The National Hurricane Center is monitoring two tropical waves in the Atlantic; including one that is better organized as of today and showing improved odds of development. In the mid-Atlantic, disorganized showers and thunderstorms associated with a tropical wave continue to move west at about 15 to 20 mph,

SAN JUAN — The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Tezanos repatriated 38 migrants to the Dominican Republic Friday, following the interdiction of an illegal voyage Thursday in Mona Passage waters near Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico. The interdiction is the result of ongoing efforts by Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG)

TEGUCIGALPA — Honduras will receive 1.5 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the United States today as part of an initial delivery of doses through the COVAX international vaccine-sharing program, White House officials told Reuters. The shipment is part of 80 million U.S. doses that President Joe Biden

Can the Caribbean avoid being caught up in the accelerating east-west struggle for global influence? Is the region likely to find itself in a bidding war, “dancing to the rhythm of dollar diplomacy,” as Jamaica’s former Prime Minister Bruce Golding has suggested? Reading the communiqué from the recently held G7

ST ANDREW, Jamaica — At a Rastafari farming community high up in the hills above Jamaica’s capital, dreadlocked locals gather at the temple to worship and celebrate with Bible readings and traditional drumming and chanting. No COVID-19 protocols are in place. This isolated community of around 100 people called the

NASSAU — Two young unvaccinated passengers on a Royal Caribbean International cruise out of the Bahamas tested positive for the coronavirus, the cruise line said. The passengers, who were younger than 16 and traveling in the same group, left Adventure of the Seas before the end of the cruise on

MIAMI — Forecasters continue to monitor an area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms over the far eastern Atlantic that are associated with a strong tropical wave that left the coast of Africa on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said. Development, if any, of this system should be slow to occur