Barbados sheds allegiance to Britain
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Barbados stopped pledging allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday as it shed another vestige of its colonial past and became a republic for the first time in history. Several leaders, dignitaries and artists, including Prince Charles and Rihanna, attended the ceremony that began late Monday in a popular square in the capital, Bridgetown, where the statue of a well-known British lord was removed last year amid a worldwide push to erase symbols of oppression.