Protest shuts down ferry rides between Puerto Rico and Vieques, snarling travel plans

By The Associated Press
April 1, 2026 | 9:34 AM

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A protest over a rate increase forced Puerto Rico’s government on Wednesday to cancel ferry rides between the U.S. territory and the tiny island of Vieques that is popular with tourists.

The protest comes as Puerto Rico reports a surge in visitors this month, with many locals and tourists traditionally visiting surrounding islands during Holy Week.

Police said in a statement that some 12 trucks were blocking the boat terminal in Vieques.

A one-way ferry ride to the island for decades had cost $2, but officials recently increased it to $11.25 for anyone who doesn’t live on Vieques, prompting an outcry. The government also increased ferry rides to the tiny neighboring island of Culebra from $2.25 to $11.25.

The rate increases were delayed until May, but activists vow they will keep fighting them and are demanding that business owners and Puerto Ricans in general be exempt.

Iran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait following US strikes, threatens to end talks to end the war

By The Associated Press
June 28, 2026 | 1:26 AM

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” could come to negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks. Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas, without Iran's direct oversight sparked the crossfire now gripping the region. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran. Iran insists it alone must govern the strait after the war, upending decades of the world considering that the strait was international waters free for all, despite its sitting in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. Tehran has twice attacked vessels going through the Oman route, backed by a United Nations agency, in recent days. Early Sunday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning. That ship, the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the United States.

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