
Barbados is ready to ditch Britain's Queen. For many in the country, the move has been a long time coming
CNN
Queen Elizabeth will have one less realm after this week, when Barbados severs its final imperial links to Britain by removing the 95-year-old as its head of state and declaring itself a republic.
The former British colony -- which gained independence in 1966 -- revived its plan to become a republic last September with the country's governor general, Sandra Mason, saying, "the time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind."
Mason, a 73-year-old former jurist, will be sworn in as the first-ever president of the island nation of just under 300,000 at a ceremony late on Monday night. The Barbadian parliament elected Mason last month.

The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.












