CARIBBEAN

9 things to do this weekend: Boats, beaches and Caribbean cultureORLANDO, Fla. — As students around Central Florida adjust to going back to school this week, it is important to still make time for some fun. Here are some of the events going on around Central Florida this weekend. • Orlando Boat ShowThe Orlando Boat Show will be featured at the Orange County Convention Center this weekend. • Open House at Orlando ShakesThe Orlando Shakespeare Theater will hold a free open house event on Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. • Caribbean American Heritage Festival and ExpoA free Caribbean American Heritage Festival and Expo will be held Sunday, starting at 1 p.m.

The eastern Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis has elected a new prime minister after holding snap elections three years earlier than planned

Orlando’s own Dr. Phillips Center is celebrating Caribbean American heritage with a festival full of music, dancing and food.

Get ready for a last summer blowout (even though summer doesn't end until December), in just over a week when the Caribbean American Heritage Festival...

VERO BEACH, Fla. — Slow and steady wins the race. The 15th annual Tour de Turtles is officially underway at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort. The “migration marathon” sees the turtles begin from the nesting beaches of Vero Beach Resort to feeding grounds in the Bahamas, Caribbean and beyond, Disney said. Data collected during Tour de Turtles help officials make more informed decisions about sea turtle conservation methods and policies, Disney said. Since 2008, the Sea Turtle Conservancy and Disney have studied 26 sea turtles outfitted with the transmitters and released from the resort.

Seaweed is smothering Caribbean coasts from Puerto Rico to Barbados as tons of brown algae kill wildlife, choke the tourism industry and release toxic gases.

A record amount of seaweed is smothering Caribbean coasts from Puerto Rico to Barbados as tons of brown algae kill wildlife, choke the tourism industry and release toxic gases

The "extremely rare" incident is believed to have involved a blue shark off the coast of Cornwall.

Cherry Wilson looks into why sexually transmitted infection rates are higher in the black community.

The cave systems have mainly been through the efforts of volunteer cave divers working hundreds of yards (meters) inside the flooded caverns. She was discovered in 2007 by divers and cave enthusiasts who were mapping water-filled caverns north of the city of Tulum, where the train line is heading. “We are talking about the oldest remains on the continent.”The 950-mile (1,500- kilometer) Maya Train line will run in a rough loop around the Yucatan peninsula, connecting beach resorts and archaeological sites. Urbina and environmentalists and divers challenged that in court, winning an injunction that stopped the jungle rail line between the resorts Cancun and Tulum in mid-May. What that means in plain language is already visible along the highway between Cancun and Tulum where the rail line was originally projected to run as an elevated rail line.

The Mexican government has decided to invoke national security powers to forge ahead with a tourist train along the Caribbean coast known as the “Riviera Maya,” threatening extensive caves where some of the oldest human remains in North America have been discovered.

Hurricane Bonnie has weakened after becoming the first major storm of the eastern Pacific season off southern Mexico, and it’s not seen as a threat to land

A Caribbean court has ruled that a law in Antigua and Barbuda that criminalizes gay sex is unconstitutional

Hurricane Bonnie is moving in the Pacific roughly parallel to Mexico’s southern coast, after crossing over Central America from the Caribbean, dropping heavy rain and contributing to two deaths

MEXICO CITY — (AP) — Hurricane Bonnie moved roughly parallel to Mexico’s Pacific coast Monday, after crossing over Central America from the Caribbean and dropping heavy rain but causing little damage. Forecasters said they expected the hurricane to stay well out to sea and pose no threat to land as it moved generally northwestward off the coast of southern Mexico. Bonnie had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph) late Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It was centered 155 miles (250 kilometers) south-southwest of Puerto Angel, Mexico, and moving to the west-northwest at 18 mph (30 kph). This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Tropical Storm Bonnie has strengthened into a hurricane in the Pacific, a little over a day after it crossed over Central America from the Caribbean dropping heavy rain but causing little damage

A strengthened Hurricane Bonnie is moving in the Pacific roughly parallel to Mexico's southern coast, after crossing over Central America from the Caribbean, dropping heavy rain and contributing to two deaths.

Nicaragua Tropical Weather People leave the port by boat to return their communities amid the arrival of Tropical Storm Bonnie in Bluefields, Nicaragua, July 1, 2022. Tropical Storm Bonnie has formed over the Caribbean as it heads for a quick march across Central America and potential development into a hurricane after reemerging in the Pacific. The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned of the possibility of localized flash flooding along the Carolinas coast through Sunday morning. The hurricane center said a tropical storm warning was in effect for a stretch of South Santee River in South Carolina, to Duck, North Carolina, including Pamlico Sound. The fast-moving weather disturbance began drenching parts of the Caribbean region Monday but it did not meet the criteria for a named tropical storm until Friday.

The United States qualified for its first Olympic men's soccer tournament since 2008 when the Americans beat Honduras 3-0 at San Pedro Sula on Friday night in the semifinals of the Under-20 championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean. Paxten Aaronson of the Philadelphia Union, an 18-year-old brother of Leeds midfielder Brenden Aaronson, scored in the third minute. Olympic men’s soccer is limited to players under 23, with each nation allowed three wild cards over the limit. The Americans lost a 2016 Olympics qualification game to El Salvador 2-0, then were beaten 3-2 by Colombia in a two-leg playoff for another berth. The Dominican Republic also clinched a berth, defeating Guatemala 4-2 on penalty kicks following a 2-2 draw.

The city of Eustis announced its Independence Day Hometown Celebration for Friday, July 1 in Ferran Park.

A separate tropical rainstorm is drenching parts of the upper Texas coast and southwest Louisiana.

Tropical Storm Bonnie has hit the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua near the border with Costa Rica.

Venezuela Tropical Storm People take cover from the rain with pieces of cardboard in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 29, 2022. The fast-moving disturbance known merely as Potential Tropical Cyclone Two has been drenching parts of the Caribbean region since Monday without ever meeting the criteria for a named tropical storm. It was moving west at 20 mph (31 kph) and was projected to hit the Nicaragua-Costa Rica area as a tropical storm by late Friday or Saturday. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) — right at the edge of tropical storm force, through with ragged wind circulation, apparently due to its rapid advance westward. Venezuela and several Caribbean islands closed schools as the storm approached over recent days.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says a storm that has hurled rain on the southern Caribbean and the northern shoulder of South America is expected to hit Central America as a tropical storm over the weekend and eventually develop into a hurricane over the Pacific

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says a storm that has hurled rain on the southern Caribbean and the northern shoulder of South America is expected to hit Central America as a tropical storm over the weekend and eventually develop into a hurricane over the Pacific.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Wednesday will be hot and humid in Central Florida. We will have a 40% chance of scattered afternoon storms. The afternoon rain probability will bump up to 60% on Thursday and Friday. This weekend, temperatures will be in the low 90s with spotty afternoon storms. Regardless of development, it will move into Texas on Thursday, bringing heavy rain to southeastern parts of the state.

The firm said a temporary ban on parties, which was introduced in August 2020, was popular with hosts.

The government of Trinidad & Tobago has closed schools as forecasters warned that a tropical disturbance would bring heavy rains and gusty winds to the southeastern Caribbean

The 20-artist showcase represents a region where African, European, Asian and Indigenous populations have both clashed and melded.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Meteorologists are monitoring three tropical disturbances in the Atlantic basin. Potential Tropical Cyclone Two is likely to bring heavy rain and gusty winds to the southern Windward Islands on Tuesday. They said it will likely become a tropical storm near the southern Windward Islands or while moving westward across the southern Caribbean Sea. The other system is located about 1200 miles east of the Windward Islands. Disturbance, depressions, tropical, subtropical storms, hurricanesThe system is forecast to interact with another tropical disturbance.

Get ready for another hot, stormy day in Central FloridaORLANDO, Fla. — We will have another hot and stormy day in Central Florida on Tuesday. Temperatures will be in the low 90s, with a 40% chance of scattered afternoon storms. None of them are headed toward Florida. One offshore of Texas could develop as it slides back toward Texas and Mexico. The storm will move into the Caribbean on Tuesday night and stay in the southern Caribbean this week.

Officials did not identify the abducted men, but local media reported they were workers at a coastal ranch.

ORLANDO, Fla. — We will start the workweek off with hot and humid conditions in Central Florida. We will have a classic summertime pattern this week, with temperatures in the low 90s and scattered afternoon storms each day. There will be a 40% chance of afternoon storms on Monday. There is a high risk of rip currents at the beaches. Meteorologist Brian Shields said there are several tropical waves out there.

Eight bodies have been found on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, and they appear to be those of eight men apparently kidnapped from a resort on the Caribbean coast

Eight bodies were found Saturday on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, and they appear to be those of eight men apparently kidnapped from a resort on the Caribbean coast. Prosecutors in the state of Yucatan said the bodies were probably those of men reported abducted in the laid-back beach town of Xcalak. Xcalak, which is sometimes spelled Xcalac — the spelling used by prosecutors — is located on the southern tip of Mexico’s Caribbean coast, near Belize.

President Joe Biden says "it's a sad day for the court and the country" after the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the decision that legalized U.S. abortion. "The health and life of women across this nation are now at risk," he says. (June 24)

Scientists have discovered a bacterium that’s about 5,000 times larger than any other giant bacteria -- large enough to see without a microscope.

Most bacteria are microscopic, but this one is so big it can be seen with the naked eye.

Scientists have discovered the world's largest bacterium in a Caribbean mangrove swamp. The thin white filament, approximately the size of a human eyelash, is “by far the largest bacterium known to date,” said Jean-Marie Volland, a marine biologist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and co-author of a paper announcing the discovery Thursday in the journal Science. Olivier Gros, a co-author and biologist at the University of the French West Indies and Guiana, found the first example of this bacterium — named Thiomargarita magnifica, or “magnificent sulfur pearl” — clinging to sunken mangrove leaves in the archipelago of Guadeloupe in 2009.

Prosecutors say two Canadians have been found dead of knife wounds in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Playa del Carmen

ORLANDO, Fla. — The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games kicked off with the opening ceremony at Exploria Stadium on Sunday. #ShineAsOne📸: @ESPNImages pic.twitter.com/ytsDLLmuSf — Special Olympics USA Games (@2022USAGames) June 5, 2022Special Olympics USA Games President Joe Dzaluk said the games are about more than medals, they are about inclusion. “The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games truly is an incredible opportunity to come together in the spirit of inclusion and to celebrate remarkable ability and teamwork,” said Dzaluk. Read: DeSantis: Athletes allowed to compete in Special Olympics USA Games regardless of vaccination statusThe USA Games is hosted once every four years and showcases 19 Olympic-style teams, individual sports, and 30 events. VIDEO: Special Olympics USA Games torch run arrives in OrlandoMore information about the games and a schedule of events can be found here.

The head of Mexico’s Navy has admitted that the country’s Caribbean coast is facing an atypical problem with a kind of seaweed known as sargassum, and that Navy boats assigned to catch it before it drifts ashore are working poorly

ORLANDO, Fla. — Hurricane Agatha made landfall on Monday afternoon in Mexico. The remnants of Agatha may try to re-form near Cuba later this week. The leftovers of Agatha may redevelop south of us over the next few days. The remnants of Agatha could spin-up again...and potentially be named Alex. pic.twitter.com/2nU11ymNue — Brian Shields, WFTV (@BrianWFTV) May 31, 2022READ: ‘We made it’: Passengers return to Port Canaveral after cruise ship catches fireEither way, the area is a spot to watch.

An internal Home Office report suggests institutional racism at the Home Office caused the Windrush scandal.

Video: Models show Eastern Pacific hurricane could redevelop in Gulf of Mexico or Caribbean this weekORLANDO, Fla. — Models show that a hurricane in the Eastern Pacific could potentially redevelop in the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean this week. Hurricane Agatha, located in the Eastern Pacific, is forecast to become a major Category 3 hurricane on Monday before making landfall in Mexico. READ: These names are on the 2022 hurricane season listUpdate: The National Hurricane Center has now upped the chance of redevelopment from the remnants of Agatha to 40%. pic.twitter.com/mCtRaWrL4V — Rusty McCranie (@RMcCranieWFTV) May 30, 2022If the storm redevelops, it will be called Alex, which is the first name of the Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane season starts June 1.

Carnival is a celebration of emancipation in Caribbean cultures, and Orlando Carnival Downtown is seeking to bring that spirit to Florida with a weekend-long festival at Dezerland Park.

The governor of Texas says the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school posted online warnings minutes before the attack. (May 25)

Ice-T and his wife, Coco Austin, are catching heat for pushing their 6-year-old daughter Chanel in a stroller while visiting Atlantis Bahamas in the Caribbean.

Large plumes of dust are blowing across the Atlantic from the Sahara Desert.

Mexico’s president says he won’t attend next month’s Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles if the Biden administration excludes Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua

Prosecutors also issued a missing persons alert for the girl's father, Jorge Luis Aguirre Astudillo, a Mexican citizen.

Opposition to direct rule from London has rippled across the region, posing a delicate challenge for Britain amid a growing reckoning over colonialism. The Caribbean Community cast the proposal as “retrograde.”

Authorities say one person has been killed and six others injured in shootings on a main boulevard in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Cancun

Shine As One The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games are bringing athletes from around the country and the Caribbean to compete in Orlando next month. (WFTV)ORLANDO, Fla. — The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games are bringing athletes from around the country and the Caribbean to compete in Orlando next month. 9 Family Connection presents “Shine As One” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday on Channel 9. Read: Meet the doctor in charge of caring for the athletes at the Special Olympics USA games in OrlandoIt’s the moment they’ve been waiting for: a time to shine as one. Read: Join 9 Family Connection and Volunteer for the 2022 Special Olympics USA GamesHere’s how to watch the special:Television streaming appsOur WFTV Now app is free on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV Stick.

Authorities on Mexico’s Caribbean coast have issued an alert for a missing Australian woman whose2-year-old daughter was found wandering alone in the resort city of Cancun

Authorities on Mexico’s Caribbean coast have issued an alert for a missing Australian woman whose 2-year-old daughter was found wandering alone in the resort city of Cancun. Prosecutors in the coastal state of Quintana Roo said Tahnee Shanks, 32, was last seen on Monday in Cancun. Aguirre Astudillo is also 32 and was also last heard from Monday.

U.S. authorities say the premier of the British Virgin Islands and the director of the Caribbean territory’s ports have been arrested on drug smuggling charges in South Florida.

The British overseas territory's premier, Andrew Fahie, is detained by agents posing as cartel traffickers.

MIAMI — (AP) — The premier of the British Virgin Islands and the director of the Caribbean territory’s ports were arrested Thursday on drug smuggling charges in South Florida, federal authorities said. Maynard's son, Kadeem Maynard, faces the same changes in the alleged scheme, according to the records. Governor Of The British Virgin Islands John Rankin released a statement clarifying that Thursday’s arrests in Florida were not connected to a Commission of Inquiry issued last year in the territory. That investigation was meant to focus on governance and corruption, not a criminal investigation into the illegal drug trade, Rankin said in a statement posted online. The British Virgin Islands, with a population about 35,000 people, is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean Sea, located east of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Dozens of well-known leaders in Jamaica including professors and politicians are demanding an apology and slavery reparations as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge prepare for a trip to the former British colony.

Prince William and Kate are embarking on a tour to Central America and the Caribbean, even as some countries in the region mull cutting ties to the British monarchy.

It has been a wild ride in Central Florida over the past six weeks.

Rihanna is backing her belief that climate change is a social-justice issue by pledging $15 million to the movement through her Clara Lionel Foundation.

By the weekend, high temperatures in Central Florida will flirt with 80 degrees.

Norwegian Cruise Lines is finally sailing from Port Canaveral this weekend.

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The insanely quiet October of 2021 continues in the Atlantic! There continues to be no threat to Florida or the entire U.S. at this time.

More than a year after Black Lives Matter protests launched a worldwide reckoning about the centuries of racism that Black people continue to face, reparations emerged — unevenly — as a high-profile issue at this year’s largest gathering of world leaders.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to leave questions of human rights and democracy to the United Nations, as part of his continuing criticisms of the Organization of American States.

MSC Cruises Divina made history when it departed Port Canaveral on its three-night inaugural sailing to the Bahamas and Caribbean.

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The dust could make it harder for tropical systems to get stronger.

Forecasters say tropical depression Fred is slowly strengthening and could regain tropical storm status on Saturday.

Fred is looking ragged after a date with the highest mountains in the Caribbean Wednesday.

Tropical depression Fred is heading for a drenching of Cuba and the Bahamas on a forecast track that would carry it toward South Florida as a tropical storm by Saturday.

Cyclones are nothing new.

Tropical Storm Fred has weakened to a tropical depression while sweeping over the Dominican Republic and dumping heavy rains that forecasters warn could cause dangerous flooding and mudslides there and in neighboring Haiti.

More rain is on the way.

Heavy rains are pelting the northern Caribbean as Tropical Storm Fred has formed just south of Puerto Rico following a quiet month of no named storms in the region.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continues to predict a busier than normal hurricane season.

A report released Wednesday shows philanthropic funding to promote global human rights reached a record $3.7 billion in 2018.

Elsa continues to get better organized again as it churns through the Caribbean Sunday morning.

With housing options dwindling, a cruise ship is hosting hundreds of rescuers pouring into South Florida from across the country as the search for victims continues at a fallen 12-story condominium building near Miami.

A lot of the weather attention is on Elsa, churning in the Caribbean, but there will also be storms around this holiday weekend. The storms that will be around this weekend are not associated with Elsa.

Where will Elsa go, and how strong will she be when she gets there?

Elsa has strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season and it's blowing off roofs, snapping trees and destroying crops in the eastern Caribbean, where officials closed schools, businesses and airports under the threat of flash flooding and landslides.

he National Hurricane Center is watching a disturbance in the southwestern Caribbean.

An 18th century burial ground has been discovered at a former sugar plantation on the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatius, officials, and archaeologists say it likely contains the remains of slaves and could provide a trove of information on their lives.

A UNICEF report says severe acute childhood malnutrition is expected to more than double this year in Haiti as the country struggles with the coronavirus pandemic, a spike in violence and dwindling resources.

The Cyprus-flagged oil tanker Berlina was drifting near the Caribbean island of Dominica when the safety signals it's required to transmit showed it stopping in its tracks and turning 180 degrees in just two minutes.

For the seventh consecutive season, we had an “early start” to the season. And it’s not just the last seven seasons that are setting the new normal.

The three scientists credited with helping save lives ahead of a volcanic eruption on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent are known to locals simply as Richie, Rod and TC.

The situation looks bleak on St. Vincent, where explosive eruptions by a volcano, La Soufrière, have forced thousands to evacuate their homes and dumped ash across the Caribbean island.

La Soufriere volcano has shot out another explosive burst of gas and ash and a cruise ship has arrived to evacuate some of the foreigners who had been stuck on a St. Vincent island by a week of violent eruptions.

Officials in St. Vincent say they are extremely worried about a COVID-19 outbreak given the lack of water and more positive cases being reported as thousands of evacuees fleeing the erupting volcano crowd into shelters and private homes.

Ongoing volcanic eruptions have displaced about 20% of people in the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent as a U.N. official warns of a growing humanitarian crisis.

Leaders of volcano-wracked St. Vincent say that water is running short as heavy ash contaminates supplies and they estimated that the eastern Caribbean island will need hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from the eruption of La Soufriere.

Loews Sapphire Falls Resort announced its reopening date at Universal.