Ayshah Tull , News Correspondent

At the stroke of midnight, the Caribbean nation of Barbados became the world’s newest republic, swearing in their first President, Dame Sandra Mason, in front of an audience that included Prince Charles and Barbadian royalty, Rihanna. 

Removing the Queen as head of state is seen as the final step for Barbados in cutting ties with its colonial past, a past haunted by nearly 200 years of brutal enslavement. 

At midnight tonight, Barbados will inaugurate its first president, removing the Queen as the head of state and declaring itself a republic, beginning a new chapter in the country’s history.

Now Barbados, the former British colony, is on the eve of taking a momentous step. 

Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets in cities across the US, after a jury cleared a teenager who shot dead two people at an anti-racism protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year.

The claims of constant racism, bullying and cover up at Yorkshire County Cricket Club go to the very heart of British sport and echo the scandals around racism throughout the establishment, exposed by those who’ve had the courage to speak out and declare that ‘enough is enough’.

The first Black person, and the sixth woman to become president of the Law Society, Stephnie Boyce, ran four times before smashing through that glass ceiling and now represents some two hundred thousand solicitors in England and Wales. 

For anyone who’s tried travelling abroad during the pandemic, even when it’s been legal, it’s been stressful and complicated. But today the government said England’s rules would be simplified, doing away with amber list countries altogether.

According to the experts in these things, the holiday of the future could involve hurtling around the earth at a speed of 17,000 miles an hour. Sickbag included.

In Bristol, the statue of Edward Colston was dumped in the water, the catalyst for the protests that swept the country. 

We were joined by Michael Eboda, the founder of The Powerlist, the writer and activist Chardine Taylor Stone, broadcaster and presenter Zeze Millz and writer Jason Okundaye.

The Benin Bronzes aren’t the only artefacts up for discussion when it comes to this country’s relationship with its past.

The president of the Cop26 summit Alok Sharma has warned that the world is “dangerously close” to running out of time to tackle climate change – saying failure to limit temperature rises to 1.5 Celsius would be “catastrophic”. But critics have accused Mr Sharma of hypocrisy, saying he’s failed to condemn Government plans for more…

He was head of a group which helped people who’ve fled persecution in Belarus – now the leading activist Vitaly Shishov has been found dead in the city where he was living in exile.

A sprinter from Belarus has been offered a humanitarian visa by Poland, after refusing an order to fly home early from the Tokyo Olympic Games. Krystina Timanovskaya is now under police protection in the Polish embassy, claiming she feared for her safety after she had criticised the Belarus team coaches on social media. Belarus claims…