Free Republic

China has inked a new deal with leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean to deepen ties across almost all areas of society in what one analyst likened to a plot to 'take over' the region. As part of the deal, Beijing has committed to supplying the region with 'civilian' nuclear technology, helping to develop 'peaceful' space programmes, building 5G networks of the kind Washington warns will be used to spy on people, and to pumping in cheap loans and financing for 'elaborate development plans.' China has even pledged to build schools and fund classes teaching Chinese language and 'culture',...

China has invested more than £685billion across 42 Commonwealth member states since 2005 as the Communist Party's extraordinary bid for global power continues unimpeded. Foreign policy hawks have accused Britain of being 'completely asleep at the wheel for decades' as China expands its influence in the Caribbean and targets 'weak' Commonwealth states across the planet. By ploughing huge sums of money into poor countries such as Barbados and Jamaica, Beijing hopes to saddle them with such enormous unpayable debts that they are forced to hand over the assets used as security. In some cases, this has included ports in crucial...

China has poured billions of dollars of investment into the Caribbean while signing tax and trade deals in an attempt to wrest the region out of the West's sphere of influence and bring it under the sway of Beijing. The Chinese government has invested at least $7billion in six Caribbean nations since 2005, records show - building roads, ports and the five-star Baha Mar casino and resort in the Bahamas - though the true figure is thought to run well into the tens of billions. While some of the money arrives as part of trade and investment deals, much of...

From America’s earliest days, Caribbean Americans have contributed to the success, spirit, and character of our Nation.  For generations, their skills, knowledge, innovation, and initiative have enhanced and advanced many aspects of our society.  During National Caribbean-American Heritage Month, we celebrate the rich history and vibrant culture of the more than 4 million Americans with origins in the Caribbean.Caribbean Americans have helped improve our Nation by leading communities, advancing science and medicine, and advocating for the common good.  We are especially grateful for the Caribbean-American men and women who proudly wear our Nation’s uniform as members of the Armed...

A TEXT message with a panting tongue emoji sent from Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush “panicked” a young actress who said she felt the actor was “unsafe”. Eryn Jean Norvill said she felt “bewildered” by the message from Mr Rush in which he also wrote: “I was thinking of you as I do more than is socially appropriate”. Ms Norvill told the Federal Court she “probably panicked” when she received the message “because I believed Geoffrey to be unsafe”. Mr Rush, 67, is suing The Daily Telegraph over a series of articles late in 2017 which reported that a young actress...

Business owners on one of the Caribbean islands ravaged by Hurricane Irma say the government needs to send in the Marines -- literally -- and increase patrols to combat the thieves and looters running rampant at Sint Maarten's shopping destination. Elsewhere on the island, men armed with guns and machetes are terrorizing residents and tourists alike, while some wait on piers to steal the bounty of boats and ships carrying aid to the devastated community.

A New Zealand woman has died on the Caribbean territory of Sint Maarten after the blast from a powerful jet engine knocked her to the ground. The incident happened at the famous Princess Juliana International Airport, which is just metres from the beach. Beachgoers can walk up to the airport fence as planes take off. Police said the 57-year-old woman had been holding on to the fence before the force of the jet engines threw her backwards, causing serious injury.

Islam had an estimated 3 million adherents in Latin America and the Caribbean as of the end of last year, marking an increase of nearly 25 percent from the 2.3 million who were residing there in 2010, a Breitbart News analysis of U.S. Department of State (DoS) data shows. Among the Muslims in the region are people who emigrated from Muslim majority countries – including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, and Pakistan – and locals who converted. Most of them are recent migrants and descendants of those who made the journey years and even generations ago, namely Palestinians, among others....

Dina Spector October 17, 2014 Thousands of passengers are trapped aboard a Carnival Magic cruise ship with a Dallas health worker who may have handled specimens from Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian patient with Ebola who later died at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The US Centers for Disease Control alerted the cruise operator on Wednesday that a passenger on the ship was a lab supervisor at the hospital where Duncan was treated, USA Today reports. The unnamed woman, who was traveling with her husband, has agreed to remain isolated in a cabin, the State Department said in statement, while the...

WASHINGTON D.C., United States, Sunday June 1, 2014, CMC – President Barak Obama has proclaimed June, 2014 National Caribbean-American Heritage month, stating that the US is expanding cooperation with its Caribbean partners, in promoting social justice and prosperity throughout the Americas. He said during National Caribbean-American Heritage Month, America will honour Caribbean Americans’ history, culture, and ‘essential role in the American narrative’. He said the US is seeking to, “create new educational opportunities for young people across the Caribbean basin, as well as for Caribbean Americans in our own communities”. “We are also working to advance commonsense immigration reform that...

It's not every fruit that gets its own international symposium. Then again, the jackfruit is not your typical fruit. It's got a distinctive, musky smell, and a flavor that some describe as like Juicy Fruit gum. It is the largest tree fruit in the world, capable of reaching 100 pounds. And it grows on the branches — and the trunks — of trees that can reach 30, 40, 50 feet. (Trunk-growing is a good thing because it reduces the odds of a jackfruit bopping you on the head.) Jackfruits are also a nutritional bonanza: high in protein, potassium and vitamin...

An Associated Press videographer saw the wrecked hospital in nearby Petionville, and a U.S. government official reported seeing houses that had tumbled into a ravine. No further details on any causualties or other damage were immediately available. "Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken," said Henry Bahn, a visiting official with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "The sky is just gray with dust."

A major magnitude 7.3 quake hit the impoverished country of Haiti Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The epicentre of the quake, which was initially reported a magnitude 7.0 off the coast, was located inland, six miles (10 km) west of Carrefour, close to the capital Port-au-Prince and was only 20.5 miles (30 km) deep. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere....

WASHINGTON (AFP)--The United States risks losing influence to China because it is too slow to deliver aid to needy nations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Thursday. Speaking to a congressional committee, Clinton cited the example of an emergency deal signed by China last month to help bail Jamaica out of its financial crisis. "They (Jamaica) have just signed a memorandum of understanding with China...and now they have got a government-to-government relationship with China," Clinton said. "We have to be sure we have in place the safeguards so that the money goes where we intend it to go," Clinton told...

POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe – Protests that have nearly shut down the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique are not just about demands for lower prices and higher wages: For demonstrators they are no less than a battle against the vestiges of slavery. Afro-Caribbean islanders — most of whose forbears toiled in the sugarcane fields under the yoke of slavery more than 160 years ago — not only resent France's handling of the global economic crisis, they have long resented that slaveholders' descendants control the economy on both islands. They also suspect that businesses earn too high a profit on goods,...

Earthquake Details Magnitude 7.3 Date-Time Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 19:00:19 UTC Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 03:00:19 PM at epicenter Location 14.921°N, 61.264°W Depth 145.4 km (90.4 miles) Region MARTINIQUE REGION, WINDWARD ISLANDS Distances 21 km (13 miles) NW (322°) from Le Morne-Rouge, Saint-Pierre, Martinique 22 km (14 miles) NNW (336°) from Saint-Pierre, Saint-Pierre, Martinique 23 km (14 miles) WNW (296°) from Le Lorrain, La Trinité, Martinique 41 km (25 miles) NNW (331°) from FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique 269 km (167 miles) NW (319°) from BRIDGETOWN, Barbados Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 5.7 km (3.5 miles); depth +/- 6.9 km (4.3 miles)...

CASTRIES, St. Lucia — Hurricane Dean barreled across the eastern Caribbean Saturday and took aim at Hispaniola, Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, with forecasters saying it could turn into a monster Category 5 storm within 72 hours. With sustained winds now at 150 mph, Dean left behind floods, debris and at least three deaths on the islands of St. Lucia, Martinique and Dominica on Friday. The first hurricane of the Atlantic season, the Category 4 Dean was expected to gain power as it moves across the warm waters of the Caribbean through the weekend. The National Hurricane Center in Miami...

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is approaching his wary South American neighbors about developing a nuclear energy program, raising questions in Washington about his atomic ambitions. ADVERTISEMENT Chavez, a self-described socialist revolutionary fiercely opposed to the U.S. administration, says he wants to cooperate with Argentina, Brazil and possibly Iran to develop nuclear energy as part of his drive for regional integration. But energy experts estimate it will take his government at least five years of studies, training and investment to develop a sustainable nuclear energy project in Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter. "Nuclear energy is...

However, Johnny loves “France and [to] be living in a tiny village with nothing around. There is still the possibility to live a simple life. You can go to the market, walk about, buy fruits and vegetables -- the things they did 100 and 200 years ago. We have moments when we're sitting in our house and our kids are playing, and we look at one another and think, 'Thank God we escaped.’” For Johnny, buying a cucumber or a cabbage from a market is primitive living and living and being in America is a place and state of being,...

On Dec. 4, 2002, the Associated Press (AP) reported how Fidel Castro has given up smoking his beloved cigars, despite the Caribbean Island fame and investment in that tobacco product. Now Castro is critical of rum drinking as well, in the name of advocating for the well-being and public health of his people. Speaking to a group of medical students the previous evening, the Maximum Leader, who the AP cited as the Cuban "President" Castro, rhetorically asked the question, "How much damage has rum caused any society? … How many deaths from the irresponsibility of accidents and alcoholic drinks?" The...