Archives for Saturday, April 17, 2004:

US slams Cuba for assault, intimidation at UN rights meeting

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP): The United States on Friday accused Cuba of mounting an "outrageous" campaign to harass and intimidate US diplomats and others at a UN human rights forum that culminated in a violent physical attack on an American opponent of Cuban President Fidel Castro... read more...

French-speaking countries to send contingents to UN force in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): The International Organization of French Speaking Nations (OIF) -- also known as La Francophonie -- said Friday it will urge its member states to send contingents to join a United Nations force in Haiti that is to take over on June 1 for the multinational force there now... read more...

Trinidad and Tobago woos Miami

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (GIS): A Trinidad and Tobago delegation headed by Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Knowlson Gift is heading to Miami to meet with the Governor of the State of Florida, Mr. Jeb Bush... read more...

U.S. businessmen return from Cuba smiling

ST. GEORGE‘S, Grenada: US businessmen, who attended four days of Cuba-US negotiations, return to their country smiling on Friday with 100 million dollars in contracts in their pockets and the commitment to continue working to lift the blockade... read more...

Regional forces begin “Operation Trade Winds”

ST. GEORGE‘S, Grenada: Caribbean and Latin American military and paramilitary forces have begun preparing for what they term "threats to the region" in an operation codenamed "Trade Winds"... read more...

New financial regulatory regime for Bahamas

NASSAU, Bahamas: In a recent interview with the Nassau Guardian, Governor of the Bahamian Central Bank, Julian Francis revealed that significant progress has been made on a draft proposal for the creation of a consolidated regulatory regime for the jurisdiction's financial services sector... read more...

‘No tax’ budget for Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Jamaican Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. Omar Davies, on Friday presented a no tax budget, and stressed that the government intended to exercise fiscal restraints while implementing stringent revenue collection measures to raise the funds needed to finance the $328 billion budget... read more...

Caribbean annexation not a priority for Canada

MONTREAL, Canada: Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham poured cold water Thursday on the prospect of Canada being linked with the Turks and Caicos Islands, CanWest News Service reports... read more...

TRAVEL NEWS

Summer savings at Atlantis, Paradise Island in the Bahamas

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas: Summer is already heating up at Atlantis, Paradise Island, with non-stop entertainment, thrilling waterslides and thousands of sea animals welcoming guests to the ancient lost city of Atlantis. And as thoughts turn to planning summer vacations, Atlantis is offering travelers even more incentive to visit their sandy shores, developing a summer package perfect for any getaway... read more...

SPORTS NEWS

Windies boost as Lawson cleared to play

ST JOHN'S, Antigua (AFP): West Indies received a much-needed boost on Friday when fast bowler Jermaine Lawson had his controversial action cleared... read more...

England warm-up for one-dayers washed out

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP): England's warm-up match against Guyana for the one-day series against West Indies had to be cancelled due to heavy and persistent rains here on Friday... read more...

Commentary: Lara provides fillip for sagging Windies spirits

Brian Lara’s declaration last month that he is now a better cricketer than he was in 1994 has proven to be no idle boast. Actually it may have been a gross understatement.  Having shared the honour with the late Sir Donald Bradman of being the only two batsman to score two career triple centuries in Test cricket, Lara went on to establish a new standard by becoming the first to score 400... read more...