Barbados: world’s newest republic | AFP

Fireworks filled the sky over Barbados as the Caribbean island nation declared itself the world’s newest republic, lowering Queen Elizabeth’s flag as it severed colonial-era ties to the British throne to the sound of jubilant gun salutes. “Vessel Republic Barbados has set sail on her maiden voyage,“ Dame Sandra Mason said in her inauguration speech as the first president of the country, recognizing the “complex, fractured and turbulent world“ it would need to navigate.