Good morning, and welcome to a new week. Today’s briefing opens in Antalya, on Türkiye’s Mediterranean coast, where nearly 200 nations gather from today for COP31, the United Nations climate summit. For small islands like ours, the talks begin under a cloud: scientists now warn that 2026 will almost certainly breach the 1.5°C warming threshold that small island states have long championed.
In the United States, President Donald Trump has told CBS’s 60 Minutes that his mass deportation drive may have been too tough, a notable shift in tone on his signature issue. Yet over the same weekend, federal agents announced new charges against Caribbean nationals, two of them Jamaicans, accused of voting illegally.
At home, three stories about the ground beneath our feet. Hoteliers in Negril say visitors are spending up to four hours on the road from Montego Bay’s airport, and they want the Prime Minister to come and see for himself. In Trelawny, a landowner says armed gangs are protecting squatters on 167 acres earmarked for a resort, while in St. Thomas, a municipal corporation is promising residents that a land sale will not cost them their homes. And in Clarendon, a lime company sitting on valuable limestone licenses has quietly passed into the hands of one of America’s biggest building-materials firms.
Our immigration section follows up on Saturday’s briefing about Stephen Miller’s appointment as White House chief of staff; we focus only on what is new. Here are today’s top five.
1. COP31 Opens in Antalya as Small Islands Warn the 1.5°C Line Is Slipping
What happened
The 31st UN climate conference opens today in Antalya and runs through November 20, Türkiye’s Anadolu Agency reported. The host country has built a 1.1-million-square-meter venue split into a Blue Zone for formal negotiations and a Green Zone for the public, and it has deployed nearly 28,000 police, gendarmerie and coast guard personnel, along with 630 low-emission buses, to move delegates around. The presidency has framed the meeting as a summit about delivering on promises already made rather than inventing new ones.
The German news agency dpa, in a report carried by Yahoo News, said tens of thousands of delegates from about 200 countries are expected. Türkiye’s environment minister, Murat Kurum, serves as COP president, while Australia’s Chris Bowen holds the unusual title of president of negotiations, charged with brokering compromise. The arrangement is the product of a deal under which Türkiye hosts and Australia steers the formal talks. Researchers cited by dpa warn that this year will almost certainly exceed 1.5°C of warming, and the UN projects about 2.8°C by the end of the century under current policies.
What is on the table
According to a pre-summit briefing by Climate Home News, the agenda centers on electrification, the transition away from fossil fuels, adaptation, climate science and trade. Türkiye is promoting a voluntary pledge to raise electricity’s share of global energy use from roughly 23–24% today to 35% by 2035. Brazil, which hosted COP30, unveiled a 182-page voluntary road map on November 3 setting out a timetable to 2033 for moving off fossil fuels. Other fights are brewing over the timing of the next major report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a proposed “Belém-Antalya Mechanism” for a just transition, and African requests for new agenda items on adaptation finance. World leaders are due on November 11 and 12.
Money will again be the sorest point. An analysis published by Eurasia Business News notes that the United States’ exit from the Paris Agreement took effect on January 27, 2026, and that developed nations agreed at COP29 to lead in mobilizing at least $300 billion a year by 2035, within a wider $1.3 trillion goal. Citing the Spanish agency EFE, the same piece reports that the European Union has ruled out new financing pledges at this summit.
The Caribbean’s case
Small island states arrive with a blunt message. Rueanna Haynes, deputy lead climate negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), told Trinidad and Tobago’s CNC3 that countries must commit to concrete steps away from fossil fuels, toward clean electricity and to deep cuts in methane. She warned that technologies that pull carbon from the air should supplement, not replace, emissions cuts, described the Loss and Damage Fund as badly undercapitalized, and cautioned that new climate finance must not deepen island debt. “Impending overshoot will worsen and accelerate deadly and dangerous impacts,” she said. She expects incremental rather than transformational results, given today’s geopolitics.
AOSIS chair Ambassador Ilana Seid set out the bloc’s demands in the Gleaner’s Earth Today column: faster emissions cuts, delivery on the agreed transition away from fossil fuels, grant-based rather than loan-based finance, and urgent replenishment of the loss-and-damage fund. She pointed to a strengthened El Niño that is cutting rainfall across the Caribbean and threatening fresh water supplies. “COP31 must be a reckoning with climate injustice,” she said.
CARICOM’s climate ministers struck a similar note in a declaration last week, first reported by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), via the Gleaner. They warned that “an overshoot of the 1.5°C limit is now likely within the next few years,” and highlighted the debt burdens and limited fiscal space that make recovery so hard for small states. Meanwhile, the Caribbean Development Bank says it is again financing the CARICOM Pavilion and will press for climate finance based on vulnerability rather than income alone, a long-standing grievance for middle-income islands such as Jamaica. Its session on financing Caribbean climate, energy and transport transformation, featuring CARICOM Secretary-General Carla Barnett and CDB President Daniel Best, is set for November 10.
Why it matters for Jamaica
For Jamaica, these are not abstract debates. The island is still rebuilding from Hurricane Melissa, and every dollar borrowed for recovery is a dollar not spent on schools or hospitals. The push to judge eligibility for cheap finance by vulnerability rather than per-capita income goes to the heart of why Jamaica often struggles to access concessional climate money. And the rainfall deficits Seid describes would hit farmers and water supplies in parishes already prone to drought.
What this could mean (analysis)
With Washington absent, Europe holding back on new money, and the host and the negotiations chair coming from different countries, expectations for Antalya are modest. The likeliest outcome is a set of voluntary pledges on electrification and resilience rather than binding new finance. For the Caribbean, a realistic win might be progress on easing access to existing funds and a clear plan to refill the loss-and-damage fund. The risk is that the 1.5°C goal quietly shifts from a target to a memory.
What to watch next
Watch the leaders’ segment on November 11–12 for any new finance announcements, whether the electrification pledge attracts major emitters, and how AOSIS responds if the final text softens language on fossil fuels. The Caribbean sessions on November 10 and 13 will show whether the region’s push for vulnerability-based finance gains allies.
2. Trump Says Deportations Were “Too Tough,” but Caribbean Nationals Still Face Charges
This section follows up on Saturday’s briefing about Stephen Miller’s appointment as White House chief of staff. We focus only on what is new.
What happened
In a 60 Minutes interview recorded after Tuesday’s midterm elections, President Trump acknowledged that his mass deportation policy may have gone too far for immigrants who have lived in the United States for a decade or more, CBS News reported. He said the crackdown had both helped and hurt him politically, claimed top marks for securing the border and removing dangerous criminals, but conceded that arresting longtime workers had cost him support. “I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs,” he said. He added that he would welcome an immigration deal with Democrats, who will control both the House and Senate next year.
Agence France-Presse, in a report published by the Jamaica Observer, noted that CBS released the excerpt on social media before Sunday’s broadcast and that the remarks came days after Republicans suffered heavy midterm losses.
Words versus policy
CBS itself cautioned that it is unclear whether the administration will actually change course. Only on Friday, the president elevated Stephen Miller, the chief architect of the crackdown, to chief of staff. CBS’s background reporting notes that border crossings have fallen sharply during Trump’s second term, while arrests inside the country and deportations have risen and immigration detention has reached record highs. Many of those arrested have no criminal record beyond immigration violations. Exit polls cited by the network found 58% of voters believe the administration’s immigration actions have gone too far, yet voters remain almost evenly split on which party they trust on the issue, 43% for Republicans and 41% for Democrats.
Supporters of the administration argue that enforcement has focused on public-safety threats and that a secure border was a central promise to voters. Critics, including some Republicans such as Representative Maria Elvira Salazar, have warned that the tactics have alienated Hispanic voters who backed the president.
Caribbean nationals charged over voting
Over the same weekend, the US government stepped up a separate campaign against alleged illegal voting by non-citizens. As first reported by CMC, via the Jamaica Observer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said its latest arrests involved nationals of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba and Haiti. Among them is Antonio Mitchell, a 54-year-old Jamaican and lawful permanent resident, accused of voting in federal elections between 2000 and 2022 and of denying on a 2025 citizenship application that he had ever registered or voted. Another Jamaican, Kadian Hohnson, is reportedly in custody over an alleged vote in the 2024 election. A Trinidadian, a Cuban and a Haitian national face similar accusations.
The Justice Department says 63 immigrants were charged in its latest round, 195 across 25 states over nine weeks, and 239 since the administration took office, including nationals of Barbados, Bermuda, St. Kitts and Nevis and the Dominican Republic. None of the allegations has been proven in court. “Voting in American elections is a right reserved for eligible voters,” said Micah Bock, ICE’s assistant director of public affairs, and Attorney General Todd Blanche pledged to keep prosecuting such cases.
A setback for sheriffs in New York
In New York, home to a large Jamaican community, a federal judge has left the state’s limits on police cooperation with ICE in place. According to a CMC report carried by the Jamaica Observer, Judge Mae A. D’Agostino in Albany refused a request from more than 15 county sheriffs to block a law barring local police from helping ICE with civil immigration arrests, as well as a companion law allowing Attorney General Letitia James to investigate sheriffs who cooperate. Governor Kathy Hochul signed both measures in May. The state is separately suing the Rensselaer County sheriff for refusing to end his formal partnership with ICE despite an August 25 deadline. The New York Immigration Coalition welcomed the ruling. “People are terrified, and it seems very un-American,” Hochul said, in comments cited in the report.
Why it matters for the diaspora
For Jamaican families in the United States, the weekend sent mixed signals. A president openly questioning his own policy could open the door to relief for long-settled immigrants, and a Democratic Congress may press for it. But enforcement machinery led by Miller remains in place, and the voting prosecutions show that green-card holders who registered or voted, even years ago, face serious legal exposure, including the loss of a path to citizenship.
What this could mean (analysis)
The president’s comments may be an early sign of a political recalculation after the midterms, or simply a softer tone for a television audience. The test will be concrete: fewer workplace raids, more discretion for long-term residents, or a negotiated bill. Until then, advocates are likely to treat the remarks with caution.
What to watch next
Watch for any change in ICE guidance, whether congressional Democrats move quickly on an immigration package, how the courts handle the voting cases against Caribbean nationals, and the next round of the New York sheriffs’ legal fight.
3. Negril’s Road Nightmare: Hoteliers Say Traffic Is Driving Visitors Away
What happened
Visitors heading from Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport to Negril can now spend up to four hours on the road when it rains, hoteliers told the Sunday Gleaner. Writer Janet Silvera reports that other operators put the trip at up to three hours, while a JUTA tour driver said one recent Friday run from Negril to Montego Bay took five. A trip that should be one of the island’s signature drives, along the coast through Hanover, is becoming a test of patience.
The Gleaner cites a study by Mozio that ranked 100 beach destinations by how easy they are to reach from the nearest airport. Montego Bay placed seventh. Negril came 91st. The ranking weights driving time at 60% and distance at 40%. Mozio’s chief executive, Nicole Kerr, said the journey from the airport deserves as much attention as the beach itself when travelers weigh a destination.
The hoteliers’ appeal
Veteran hotelier Lee Issa has invited Prime Minister Andrew Holness to visit Negril and meet stakeholders. He warned that some hotels may have to refund guests’ deposits and singled out pipe-laying on Norman Manley Boulevard, the resort town’s main beach road, during the winter tourist season, the industry’s busiest and most lucrative stretch. “Let’s see how we can rectify a bad situation,” Issa said.
The Gleaner links the congestion to several road and utility projects running at the same time, at a moment when the sector is working to recover from Hurricane Melissa. The stakes are considerable: the Jamaica Tourist Board reports 2.34 million visitors between January and August 2026, generating about US$2.5 billion. The newspaper did not report a government response to the hoteliers’ complaints.
Background
Negril sits at the western end of the island, and visitors flying into Sangster must make the journey by road. Any bottleneck along that single corridor ripples through the whole local economy, from taxi operators and craft vendors to small guesthouses that cannot absorb cancellations the way large resorts can.
Road and water works are, of course, necessary. Better pipes and wider roads are investments in Negril’s future, and residents have long called for both. The complaint from the industry is less about whether the work should happen than about when and how it is scheduled, and whether contractors, utilities and road authorities are coordinating to keep traffic moving in peak season.
Why it matters
Tourism is one of Jamaica’s biggest earners, as the Tourist Board’s figures show, and Negril is one of its engines. A destination’s reputation can be damaged quickly by a single bad review about a five-hour transfer, and travelers comparing options across the Caribbean have plenty of alternatives. For workers in Westmoreland, many of whom depend on tips and seasonal hours, slower business translates directly into lower household income.
What this could mean (analysis)
Practical fixes are often available: night-time work schedules, clearer diversions, temporary traffic management at known choke points, and public timelines so hotels can warn guests. In the longer term, the debate may revive questions about improving road links to the west or making better use of smaller aerodromes. None of these ideas is new, but the Mozio ranking puts a hard number on a problem the industry has described for years.
What to watch next
Watch whether the Prime Minister accepts the invitation to Negril, whether the agencies responsible publish completion dates for the Norman Manley Boulevard works before the peak season, and whether hoteliers report cancellations as the winter season begins.
4. Squatters, Gangs and the Law: Trelawny Landowner Sounds the Alarm
What happened
An attorney trying to develop 167 acres at Flamingo Beach in Trelawny says armed gang members from outside the area are protecting squatters on the property and blocking his efforts to remove them, the Jamaica Observer reported in its Sunday edition. Gordon Brown, who administers the estate of the late Carl Fei and became the registered owner on the estate’s behalf in November 2005, says the land is meant for an integrated resort, entertainment and residential project, and that plans have been submitted to the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Trelawny Municipal Corporation.
Brown told the newspaper that a private security firm turned down the job of securing the land after finding armed men in place to resist. He set out a six-year timeline: a request to NEPA in May 2020 to demolish illegal structures, notices to quit in January 2021, reports to the police that spring, an ambush on a caretaker in April 2021, and a lawsuit in May 2021 that produced an injunction, which has since been renewed pending a final ruling. He says the number of occupants has kept growing, that people who bought lots from third parties have given statements to police without anyone being charged, and that police support has been minimal. He also alleges that military equipment was seen being used on the site for illegal work.
“This débâcle bears all the portents of another Cooper’s Pen,” Brown said. The Observer’s report is based largely on his written answers, and it did not include responses from the police, NEPA or the government. Brown also blamed successive administrations for failing to provide affordable land and infrastructure, which he sees as the root of informal settlement.
The shadow of Cooper’s Pen
Brown’s comparison points to one of the year’s most painful land stories. On August 11, a pre-dawn demolition crew backed by police flattened about 20 mostly concrete homes at Cooper’s Pen, also in Trelawny, the Gleaner reported at the time. More than 20 men were detained. Some residents said they had lived there for over 30 years and that an ownership claim dating to 2009 had never been resolved in court. A local councillor, Garth Wilkinson, condemned the operation: “This is inhumane.” Families in about 40 houses still standing were warned that crews would return.
After touring the area in late August, Prime Minister Holness warned that he might use special security measures, such as a zone of special operations or a state of emergency, to stop newcomers from moving onto the land to claim relocation benefits, according to the Gleaner. “I may have to use emergency powers,” he said. He accused Opposition politicians of encouraging people to occupy land, and said the Ministry of Housing had already interviewed about 70% of the people on the property. He promised surveyed lots with roads, water and electricity, plus relocation grants, through lease, purchase or social housing.
A different approach in St. Thomas
In contrast, residents of Easington, St. Thomas, have been told they will not lose their homes when the St. Thomas Municipal Corporation sells off about 100 acres of land they occupy, the Jamaica Information Service reported. Chief Executive Officer Kevin McKindoe told a community meeting that applicants whose addresses are verified as being on the property will receive extra points in the evaluation. Recommended applicants will be reviewed by a land investment committee in Kingston and then approved by Minister Robert Montague, after which the National Land Agency will prepare sale agreements. “I don’t want anybody to listen to any noise,” McKindoe said, urging residents to ignore rumors.
Why it matters
Land is one of the most emotional and consequential issues in Jamaica. Many families have lived for generations on land they do not formally own. At the same time, owners and investors say they cannot build hotels, homes or jobs when titles are not respected, and when criminal networks profit from selling land they do not own. Both concerns are real, and they collide most sharply where tourism development meets informal communities, as on the north coast.
What this could mean (analysis)
The contrast between Trelawny and St. Thomas suggests two paths: enforcement after years of conflict, or regularization that gives occupants a fair chance to buy. The second is slower and requires public land and money, but it avoids the scenes of bulldozers at dawn. If Brown’s allegations of armed gang involvement are borne out, Flamingo Beach could also become a test of whether the state can separate genuine settlers from those exploiting them.
What to watch next
Watch for a response from the police and NEPA to Brown’s claims, the court’s final ruling in his case, progress on relocation lots for Cooper’s Pen families, and the timetable for the Easington subdivision.
5. A US Building-Materials Giant Takes Control of a Clarendon Limestone Company
What happened
The US building-materials giant Martin Marietta Materials now controls Clarendon-based Chemical Lime Company of Jamaica Ltd, the Jamaica Observer’s business writer David Rose reported. The change came through Martin Marietta’s US$12.9 billion purchase of Lhoist North America, completed on August 21. The deal, paid with about US$7 billion in cash and roughly US$5.9 billion in shares, also made Belgian-owned LNA Holding a major Martin Marietta shareholder.
Chemical Lime holds quarry licenses for limestone at Braziletto in Clarendon, along with mining licenses covering marble and bauxite. Jamaica appears among the operating locations of Martin Marietta’s specialties business in its third-quarter filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, dated November 4. The Observer notes that Chemical Lime was identified in 2015 as one of Jamaica’s four largest limestone developers. Company records show that Lhoist North America chief executive Mark Milner joined the Jamaican company’s board on July 1, replacing Lhoist Group chief executive Philipp Niemann; managing director Hugh Elliston and Mark Fanning are also directors.
The numbers
Martin Marietta reported strong third-quarter results. Revenue rose 28% to US$2.37 billion and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization climbed 21% to US$808 million, though net earnings from continuing operations fell 29% to US$256 million. The acquired Lhoist operations contributed US$216 million in revenue between August 21 and the end of September, and the company raised its full-year revenue outlook to about US$7.8 billion. “The third quarter marked a defining milestone,” chairman and chief executive Ward Nye said in the earnings release.
What we don’t know
The Observer found no disclosed plans to expand production or invest in Jamaica, and it is unclear how much the Clarendon operation contributes to the parent company’s results. For now, the Jamaican business appears to be a small piece of a very large deal. Martin Marietta’s stated priority is integrating the Lhoist operations and finding efficiencies.
Why it matters for Jamaica
Lime and limestone are not glamorous, but they are essential to construction, water treatment, agriculture and industry. Ownership by a well-capitalized multinational could bring investment, modern equipment and export opportunities to Clarendon. It could also mean decisions about a Jamaican mineral asset are made in boardrooms far away, based on global priorities. The licenses for marble and bauxite add another layer of interest, given bauxite’s long history in Jamaica’s economy and its environmental controversies.
What this could mean (analysis)
Communities near quarries will want to know whether jobs are secure, how dust, water and land rehabilitation will be handled, and whether any expansion would go through full environmental review. Policymakers may also ask whether Jamaica’s royalty and licensing framework captures enough value when mineral rights change hands indirectly through foreign mergers, without any transaction on Jamaican soil. These are reasonable questions for any new owner, and they are best raised early.
What to watch next
Watch for any statement from Martin Marietta or Chemical Lime about plans in Jamaica, filings with the Mines and Geology Division, and Martin Marietta’s fourth-quarter report, which may say more about how it sees its Caribbean assets.
Closing Reflection: The Earth Is the Lord’s
A reflection from cbeharie.com.
Read together, today’s stories are all, in their own way, about ground: the warming planet discussed in Antalya, the country that immigrants have made their home, a coastal road in Westmoreland, disputed acres in Trelawny and St. Thomas, and limestone beneath Clarendon. Each raises the same quiet question. Whose is it, and how should it be cared for?
The psalmist answered plainly: “The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof” (Psalm 24:1, KJV), and with it the world and all who live in it. That verse does not settle a land title in Trelawny, set a carbon target in Antalya or write America’s immigration law. Christians and people of good will disagree on all of those questions, and should be free to. But it does reframe them. If the earth belongs to God, then owners are stewards, not absolute masters, and the people who dwell on it, the settler, the investor, the hotel worker and the immigrant alike, carry a dignity that no title deed grants or removes.
Stewardship asks something of everyone: of nations that burned the most carbon, of governments that schedule road works, of companies that dig, of landowners and of those who occupy land without title. It asks for honesty, patience and a long view. This week, let us pray for the negotiators in Antalya and the island voices among them, for immigrant families living with uncertainty, for the people of Negril, Cooper’s Pen, Flamingo Beach and Easington, and for wisdom to care well for whatever small piece of the earth has been placed in our hands.
Walk good, and God bless.
Sources
- 1. COP31 in Antalya
- Anadolu Agency, “COP31 climate summit to kick off in Türkiye’s Antalya on Monday,” November 8, 2026.
- Yahoo News (dpa), “Climate summit to open in Turkey, amid fears of 1.5°C breach in 2026,” November 9, 2026.
- CNC3, “Island states call for emissions cuts, climate funding at COP31,” November 8, 2026.
- The Gleaner, “Earth Today | ‘A reckoning with climate injustice’,” November 5, 2026.
- The Gleaner (CMC), “CARICOM issues ministerial declaration ahead of COP,” November 3, 2026.
- Caribbean Development Bank, “CDB at COP31: Advancing Resilience, Climate Finance and Caribbean Solutions,” November 5, 2026.
- Climate Home News, “COP31 Briefing: What to expect from the Antalya climate summit?,” November 5, 2026.
- Eurasia Business News, “COP31 Opens in Turkey: Clean Energy, Climate Finance and U.S. Withdrawal Shape Antalya Summit,” November 8, 2026.
- 2. US immigration and the Caribbean diaspora
- CBS News, “Trump says his deportation policy might have been “too tough” in 60 Minutes interview,” November 8, 2026.
- Jamaica Observer (AFP), “Trump says deportation policy was ‘too tough’ — CBS interview,” November 8, 2026.
- Jamaica Observer (CMC), “Jamaicans among several arrested by ICE over alleged illegal voting,” November 8, 2026.
- Jamaica Observer (CMC), “Caribbean immigration advocates welcome US court ruling on ICE ban,” November 7, 2026.
- 3. Negril’s road delays
- The Gleaner, “Negril’s road nightmare – Traffic delays threaten Westmoreland town’s tourism appeal,” November 8, 2026.
- 4. Squatting and land in Trelawny and St. Thomas
- Jamaica Observer, “Armed gangs backing squatters,” November 8, 2026.
- The Gleaner, “Rude awakening – Demolition crew flattens 20 squatter houses in Cooper’s Pen; remaining families uneasy,” August 12, 2026.
- The Gleaner, “Holness puts squatters on notice there’ll be no ‘chopping the line’,” August 31, 2026.
- Jamaica Information Service, “Easington Residents Will Not Lose Homes Under Land Divestment,” November 7, 2026.
- 5. Martin Marietta and Chemical Lime Jamaica
- Jamaica Observer, “US building materials giant takes control of Jamaican mineral interests,” November 8, 2026.
This briefing was prepared with AI research and writing assistance under Colin Beharie’s editorial direction. Every fact links to its original source. Spot an error? See our Sources & Corrections policy.
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