Caribbean

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Palfrey Passes Halfway Point in Swim From Cuba to Florida

Penny Palfrey cruising along in warm waters

(Newser) - Endurance swimmer Penny Palfrey crossed the halfway mark today as she pushed through the Florida Straits, enduring jellyfish stings but otherwise encountering perfect conditions in her attempt to become the first woman to swim unassisted more than 100 miles from Cuba to Florida. A GPS tracking device on Palfrey's...

US Drones' New Mission: Caribbean Drug Traffic

Homeland Security will increase surveillance flights

(Newser) - No wonder the US has so many drone bases scattered about the country: The drones keep getting extra duties. In the latest development, the US plans to ramp up flights over the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico to catch drug smugglers, reports the Los Angeles Times . The move will "...

Justice Breyer Robbed at Machete-Point

Supreme Court judge faces robber in Caribbean home

(Newser) - A machete-wielding intruder robbed Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at his Caribbean vacation home last week, the AP reports. Breyer, 73, his wife Joanna, and guests were surprised to see the robber in their house on the island of Nevis at about 9pm last Thursday. The robber snatched about $1,...

Caribbean Resorts Battle Mysterious Seaweed Invasion

Mysterious hordes of algae shut down resorts

(Newser) - Gigantic piles of brown seaweed that reek of rotten eggs are piling up on beaches in the eastern Caribbean, forcing resorts to shut down and keeping swimmers from the ocean. The stinky, bug-infested algae—named Sargassum—has been creeping up shores in Antigua, St. Maarten, and other Caribbean hotspots since...

Kate Winslet Dishes on Dramatic Rescue

We saved what was important, she says of house fire

(Newser) - Kate Winslet, actress, plastic surgery disavower , and hero , has spoken out after rescuing Richard Branson’s mother from a fire at the Virgin tycoon’s Caribbean home. “I’m just so glad that everyone is safe. And this very easily could not have been the case,” she tells...

Caribbean Gains 2 Countries as Dutch Antilles Disbanded

Curacao, St. Maarten gain autonomy

(Newser) - The world lost one country but gained two new ones yesterday as the Netherlands Antilles officially ceased to exist. People on the Caribbean islands of Curacao and St. Maarten woke to find themselves in autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Reuters reports. Three smaller islands that had been...

Outer Banks Worries About Hurricane Earl

FEMA warns of possible evacuations along coast

(Newser) - Hurricane Earl threatened to sideswipe much of the East Coast just ahead of Labor Day, worrying countless vacationers who planned to spend the traditional last week of summer at the beach. FEMA warned people along the Eastern Seaboard to prepare for possible evacuations. Forecasters cautioned it was still too early...

Be a Good American: Eat This Fish

The lionfish may ruin us if you don't!

(Newser) - How to make Uncle Sam proud: Buy American, fly a flag, eat...lionfish? That third one is, indeed, what one government agency would like you to do. The voracious, aggressively invasive lionfish is wreaking havoc in the Caribbean, off the Florida Keys, and along the Atlantic as far north as...

Tropical Storm Expected to Miss Oil Spill (for Now)

Alex's path could change quickly

(Newser) - Cross your fingers: The first tropical storm of the season has formed in the Caribbean. Alex is expected to pass over the Yucatan Peninsula this weekend, and while current forecast models say it won't pass over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, its path could change once it...

Storm Could Stop Spill Cleanup for 2 Weeks

'Top hat' would have to be turned off, releasing 840K extra gallons

(Newser) - A looming hurricane could force workers scrambling to slow or stop the Gulf oil spill back to shore—and release even more oil into the water, the Miami Herald reports. A weather system in the west-central Caribbean has a 70% chance of developing into a tropical cyclone over the weekend....

Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands in Battle Over Captain Morgan

Caribbean rum war heads to Washington

(Newser) - A battle over rum has two US territories up in arms, with Puerto Rico accusing the Virgin Islands of a raid worthy of Captain Morgan himself. Diageo, the maker of Captain Morgan rum, is moving production from Puerto Rico to the US Virgin Islands, which offered the company $2.7...

Jamaica Bets 'Jewmaican' Past Will Draw Tourists
 Jamaica Bets 'Jewmaican' 
 Past Will Draw Tourists 
JEWISH PIRATES DEPT.
Mar 9, 2010 1:16 PM CST

Jamaica Bets 'Jewmaican' Past Will Draw Tourists

Today's population is small, but remnants abound; plus, Jewish pirates!

(Newser) - When the uninitiated look at Jamaica’s Jews, they might see a small but resilient community: around 200 faithful, an historic synagogue but no rabbi, few choices for kosher food. But if you’re the nation’s tourism director, you see a goldmine. Plans are afoot to launch a Jewish...

Baptists Charged With Kidnapping Haitian Orphans

US missionaries detained in Port-Au-Prince

(Newser) - Ten Americans detained in Haiti for trying to take 33 children out of the country after the Jan. 12 earthquake have been charged with child kidnapping and criminal association, their Haitian lawyer said. The Baptist missionaries, most of them members of an Idaho-based church group, were whisked away from the...

Geologists Warned of Haiti Earthquake

Calculations predicted temblor of up to 7.2 magnitude—but not timing

(Newser) - Scientists have known for years that the fault Haiti sits on was due for a large-magnitude quake—they just didn’t know when. A 2008 paper predicted a quake registering up to 7.2, but “it could have been the next day, it could have been 10 years, it...

Centuries of Fault Stress Unleashed Haiti Hell

Devastating 7.0 quake brewing since 1760

(Newser) - The catastrophic earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday had been brewing along a fault line for hundreds of years, experts say. Geologists believe the tectonic plates beneath the Caribbean had been pushing against each other along the fault ever since a major quake in 1760, finally rumbling into cataclysm yesterday. The...

Runaway Sailor Laura Dekker Found Safe in Caribbean

14-year-old disappeared from the Netherlands

(Newser) - Laura Dekker, the Dutch teen sailor who apparently ran away from home, has been found in St. Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles. Police on the Caribbean island have her in custody, and she is "safe and sound," a Dutch government spokesman tells the BBC . Dekker, 14, wants to...

RI Man Gets 25 Years for Wife's Scuba Murder

Former dive shop owner guilty of Caribbean killing

(Newser) - A former scuba shop owner has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for murdering his wife during a dive in the British Virgin Islands. David Swain of Rhode Island killed his wife by ripping off her mask and shutting off her air supply as the pair swam near a...

Aruba Resort Pays Guests to Make Babies

Resort's $300 'conception credit' inspired by coral reproduction, naturally

(Newser) - Getting knocked up really pays off, at least at one Westin resort in Aruba, USA Today reports. In honor of coral's spawning season, couples who shell out $399 for a daily package are eligible for a $300 “conception credit” toward their next vacation—if they conceive during their stay....

Paris' Island Getaway Won't Go Away on Twitter

Heiress offers details of vacation with boyfriend

(Newser) - Paris Hilton and boyfriend Doug Reinhardt had a blast on their recent Caribbean vacation. How do we know? She Twittered the entire time, letting her followers know when they were "Having a beautiful lunch on the beach" and "Playing some golf together." Hilton also posted photos of...

Endangered Frogs Flee Fungus by Airplane

(Newser) - Scientists are airlifting dozens of mountain chicken frogs off their Montserrat island home to save them from the deadly fungus overtaking their habitat, the AP reports. The 2-pound frogs are endangered, in part because locals once ate them as a delicacy. The frog is said to taste like—what else?—...

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