Things To Do In SW Florida

Port Canaveral has earned the title of world’s busiest cruise port for only the second time in its history.

The distinction became clear Tuesday because PortMiami, which traditionally has held that title, reported its passenger movements for fiscal 2025, falling short of Port Canaveral’s previously disclosed totals.

For the record: PortMiami had 8,564,225 cruise passengers get on or off a ship from Oct. 1, 2024-Sept. 30, 2025.

Port Canaveral had a record 8,602,047 passenger movements, making it No. 1.

The only other time that has happened was in the rebuilding year after the COVID pandemic, when Port Canaveral for fiscal 2022 had 4,071,891 passenger movements compared to PortMiami’s 4 million.

“We’ve got two great seaports in Florida, and we’re competitive with the number of passengers that are moving through our ports, and we’re very excited to be on par with Miami and Port Everglades isn’t far behind,” Port Canaveral CEO Capt. John Murray said Tuesday after learning the news. “It’s a great testament to cruising and what we do in the great state of Florida.” read more

By Zoe Tillman and Jaewon Kang, Bloomberg News

Costco Wholesale Corp. joined a fast-growing list of businesses suing the Trump administration to ensure eligibility for refunds if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the president’s signature global tariffs policy.

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The nation’s biggest warehouse club chain is among dozens of companies to file lawsuits in a U.S. trade court since late October challenging President Donald Trump’s use of an economic emergency powers law to impose the levies, according to court records. It’s one of the biggest corporate players to jump into a fight largely driven this year by small businesses and Democratic state officials. read more

By ISABELLA O’MALLEY and KIKI SIDERIS

Instead of hiring a florist for her October wedding, Emily Day decided to grow her own flowers in her front yard in Calgary, Canada — a creative challenge that turned into a lesson on the hidden climate costs of the global flower industry. She said her homegrown arrangements were just as beautiful as store-bought ones and cost a fraction of the price.

Day and her fiance built garden boxes out of wooden shipping containers in March and filled them with blooms like yarrow, feverfew, strawflowers and statice. They harvested and dried them in midsummer ahead of fall frosts. On her wedding day, her bouquets featured autumn shades accented by blue echinops from a local farmer and tansy she foraged from roadside ditches.

Because her flowers were dried, they’ll last far longer than a typical wedding arrangement. In total, she spent about 1,300 Canadian dollars ($925), a fraction of what many couples pay florists. Day said growing her own flowers made her think more about the environmental costs behind imported blooms — from the plastic packaging they arrive in, to the fuel used to fly them across continents. read more

By PAUL WISEMAN, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The world economy has proven surprisingly durable in the face of President Donald Trump’s trade wars, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday, upgrading its outlook for global and U.S. economic growth this year.

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The 38-country OECD now forecasts that the world economy will grow 3.2% this year, down a tick from 3.3% in 2024 but an improvement on the 2.9% it had predicted for 2025 back in June. The organization, which does economic research and promotes international trade and prosperity, expects global growth to slow to 2.9% next year.

The OECD also raised its forecast for U.S. growth this year – to 2%, up from the 1.6% it had forecast in June. Still, even with the upgrade, the American economy – the world’s largest — would have grown considerably more slowly than it did in 2024 (2.8%). read more

By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer

BANGKOK (AP) — Behind the hoopla over the promise of artificial intelligence lay difficult realities, including how such technology might affect people already disadvantaged in a data-driven world.

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A new report by the United Nations Development Program notes most of the gains from AI are likely to be reaped by wealthy nations unless steps are taken to use its power to help close gaps in access to basic needs, as well as such advanced know-how.

The report released Tuesday likens the situation to the “Great Divergence” of the industrial revolution, when many Western countries saw rapid modernization while others fell behind. read more