Archives for Friday, January 30, 2004:

At least five dead in two-day Dominican Republic general strike

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AFP): President Hipolito Mejia on Thursday called on labour leaders to end a general strike to protest the peso's sharp devaluation, soaring inflation and persistent power outages, in which at least five protesters have died by official count... read more...

Talks held on Nevis secession bid

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts: Nearly 100 persons representing the Federal Government, the Nevis Island Administration, unions, political parties and the social and economic partners were due to meet Thursday to discuss the future relationship between St. Kitts and Nevis... read more...

Cayman Islands Bar Association responds to Government Leader's comments

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands: The Caymanian Bar Association (CBA) has issued a statement in response to remarks made by the Leader of Government Business, Mr McKeeva Bush, branding as "politically motivated" the CBA's proposal to challenge, by means of Judicial Review, the actions of the Cabinet concerning numerous grants of Caymanian Status (belongership) last year... read more...

Turks & Caicos signs on to EU Tax Directive

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks & Caicos Islands: In a statement released on Tuesday, the Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Michael Misick, announced that the jurisdiction has committed to implementing the European Union's Savings Tax Directive, subject to the creation of a level playing field on the issue for all offshore and onshore jurisdictions... read more...

Jamaica suspends European ad campaigns

LONDON, England: Jamaica has suspended tourism advertising in Europe, a major source of visitors, because it is short of cash, according to Britain's Press Association... read more...

UK envoy says Guyana must probe 'hit squad' claims

LONDON, England: Guyana's government must investigate claims that a Cabinet minister led an extra-judicial hit squad blamed for more than 40 executions in the past year, the British High Commissioner in the country said Thursday... read more...

Tourism growth expected to continue for St Maarten in 2004

GREAT BAY, St. Maarten (GIS): Commissioner responsible for Tourism and Economic Affairs Theo Heyliger, says he expects international tourism growth to continue in 2004 and supports the analysis by the World Tourism Organization (WTO)... read more...

Prize-winning Cuban dissident pleads for rights abuses not to be forgotten

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Leading Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, who won Europe's Sakharov Prize for human rights last year, on Thursday congratulated UN chief Kofi Annan on winning the same honor, and urged the international community not to forget massive violations of human rights here... read more...

Guyana pushes for special treatment at Mexico Summit

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: A special plea for special and differential treatment was put forward by Guyana, at the recent Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico... read more...

Major conference of overseas Jamaican nationals to be held in June

KINGSTON, Jamaica: The Jamaican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT) is stepping up efforts to resolve some of the worrying concerns of Jamaicans overseas and to strengthen linkages among Jamaicans in the Diaspora... read more...

HEALTH NEWS

US to unveil allocation of new Caribbean AIDS funding next week

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP): The United States plans to announce next week how it will spend more than two billion dollars this year to stop the spread of HIV, targeted at 15 Caribbean and African nations, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday... read more...

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

iFreedom Communications opens new markets in Puerto Rico and USVI

LAGUNA HILLS, USA: iFreedom Communications, an emerging company in the Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) industry, that provides small business and residential customers flat rate calling, has announced the new additions of Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands for for the acquisition of distributors... read more...