WASHINGTON, D.C.– The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, has warned that health systems in the Americas, including some Caribbean countries, are overwhelmed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and she has urged nations with extra vaccines to donate them to the region.

NEW YORK,– Caribbean American Congresswoman, Yvette D. Clarke, has called on the Joe Biden administration in the United States to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to persons evacuated from the Red Zone on the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where the La Soufrière volcano has been erupting for more than a week.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent.– . The La Soufriere volcano is continuing to erupt explosively and has now begun to generate pyroclastic density currents, the Seismic Research Centre (SRC) of the University of the West Indies (UWI) said Monday.

WASHINGTON, D.C – Several United States lawmakers have sent a letter to the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken urging that Washington re-assess its policies towards the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country of Haiti.

Miami Florida –  With continuous recovery and cleanup underway from the impact of the recent La Soufriere volcanic eruptions and ash fall in St. Vincent, the Global Empowerment Mission, Janice Lyttle Foundation, and the US Caribbean Strong coalition is appealing for volunteers to assist with the assembly of family necessities kits for displaced families starting TODAY Sunday, April 18, 10am to 3pm and continuing this week, Monday-Friday, 9:30am-4:30pm at 1148 NW 72nd Street in Miami, Florida. Volunteers will gather under strict COVID-19 protocol to assembly care packages for shipment courtesy of the relief partners.

NEW YORK,– Clyde Jones, a prominent, award-winning, Brooklyn, New York-based Barbadian photojournalist, who worked for the Advocate and Nation newspapers in his native land, died on Saturday, his wife, Thelma, confirmed.

NEW YORK, NY– A community board in Brooklyn, New York has passed a resolution supporting a call by Caribbean American Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke that the United States grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to the people who were evacuated from the red zone of the erupting La Soufriere volcano in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, -Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe has announced his resignation with President Jovenel Moise saying that his departure “will make it possible to address the glaring problem of insecurity” in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

 WASHINGTON,  – Caribbean American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke has collaborated with Georgia’s newly-elected Democratic Senator, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, in introducing H.R. 2198/S. 032, a measure previously introduced in the 116th United States Congress by then Senator Kamala Harris and Clarke, to direct the Joint Committee on the Library to obtain a statue of late Caribbean American Democratic Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm for placement in the US Capitol.

WASHINGTON,– Two United States Congressmen on Wednesday sought the assistance of New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo in securing aircraft to airlift disaster relief supplies procured from private citizens from New York City (NYC) to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Kingstown, St. Vincent, - After months of effusive eruptions and volcanic tremors, the La Soufriere volcano entered a new and explosive phase on Friday morning. Lying dormant since its last eruption in 1979, it is now sending columns of ash as high as 29,000 feet into the atmosphere. The volcano has caused more than 20,000 residents in the surrounding areas to be evacuated. 

WASHINGTON,  – United States President Joe Biden has invited two Caribbean prime ministers to his “Leaders Summit on Climate” to take place virtually at the White House on April 22 and 23.