Archives for Wednesday, December 1, 2004:

Antigua-Barbuda ministers set example with budget pay-cut

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua: Ministers of Government in the twin-island state of Antigua and Barbuda will join with all the people in "belt-tightening" measures as they work together in a bid to pull the country out of what Finance Minister Dr. Errol Cort called years of "cruising without a compass."... read more...

Cuba releases more dissidents

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cuba's communist regime on Tuesday set free two jailed dissidents including poet and journalist Raul Rivero, one of the most prominent critics of President Fidel Castro.  The move follows the release of three dissidents on Monday, all of whom were among 75 dissidents jailed in March and April... read more...

Catholic donations in Cuba thwarted

MIAMI, USA (UPI): A Miami Catholic delegation to Cuba was not allowed to bring medical supplies and religious artifacts into the country, members said...  read more...

Castro's biographer notes tie to Mexico

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (UPI): Cuban President Fidel Castro has always considered Mexico his second home, Reforma reported Tuesday.  "For Fidel, Mexico is the same as it was for Jose Marti: a second homeland," Castro's biographer Katiuska Blanco told the newspaper. "Both found close friends here."... read more...

Powell to visit Haiti this week to give interim government a boost

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP): US Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit Haiti this week on a brief trip aimed at showing support for the troubled country's interim government and the UN peacekeeping force there, the State Department said Tuesday.  Powell will make his second visit to Haiti in eight months on Wednesday...  read more...

UN mission in Haiti renewed for six months

UNITED NATIONS (AFP): The UN Security Council on Monday extended for six months the UN peacekeeping mission in the battered Caribbean nation of Haiti... read more...

Opening of new St. Kitts-Nevis National Assembly set for December 15

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts: According to Cabinet Secretary Mr. Joseph Edmeade, the Governor General, Sir Cuthbert Sebastian is to issue a Proclamation appointing Wednesday 15th December for the formal opening of a new session of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly, the sixth since Independence...  read more...

Guyana Assembly legislates to strengthen autonomy of central bank

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: A Bill that will amend the Bank of Guyana Act by increasing the number of members of the Board of Directors to not less than four nor more than six was passed on Monday by the National Assembly... read more...

Caribbean Development Bank President to visit Turks and Caicos

GRAND TURK, Turks and Caicos Islands: Dr. Campton Bourne, President of the Caribbean Development Bank will make an official visit to the Turks and Caicos Islands December 1-3, 2004. This will be President Bourne’s first visit to the Islands... read more...

Cousteau's boat Calypso headed for the Bahamas

BORDEAUX, France (AFP): The ship Calypso, from which Captain Jacques Cousteau conducted expeditions made famous in cinema and television documentaries, got a new owner and new lease of life on Tuesday when Loel Guinness sold it for a symbolic one euro.  The buyer is US company Carnival Corporation... read more...

Star Clipper cruise vessel to visit Montserrat

BRADES, Montserrat: Officials at the Montserrat Tourist Board are gearing for the visit on Thursday of the 'Star Clipper' with 130 tourists.  The boat, carrying German visitors, is scheduled to dock at Port Little Bay at 10.30 a.m.  Tourist Board officials will be on hand at the port to welcome the visitors... read more...

Minister urges increased investment in Jamaican industry

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Jamaican Minister of Industry and Tourism, Aloun Ndombet-Assamba, has called for increased investment in local industry, noting that the government had laid the groundwork to ensure that persons investing in the country could make profitable returns...  read more...

Airline used to set up drug route from the Caribbean

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: Seven people, including two directors of bankrupt airline Air Holland, have been arrested on charges they used the airline to set up a drugs route between the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname, it was reported Tuesday... read more...

BVI to enforce strict seatbelt and cell phone laws in January

ROAD TOWN, BVI: Traffic officials in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands will enforce new seat belt and cellular telephone regulations beginning next month... read more...

Antigua-Barbuda Government’s website hacked

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua: The website of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda has been corrupted by hackers who have replaced official government news and information with gross obscenities...  read more...

Analysis: Hurricane season ends

MIAMI, USA (UPI): Long-range forecasters say we may never again see a hurricane season like the one that ended Tuesday.  Deaths from the four storms totaled 117 in Florida, and it was much, much worse in the Caribbean, where at estimated 3,000 people were killed, more than two-thirds of them in Haiti...  read more...

LETTERS

Grenada’s political problem keeps repeating itself

It seems as though Grenada political problem keeps repeating itself over and over again, with the same old political tactics coming from opposition journalists and politicians...  read more...

LEGAL NEWS

St Kitts High Court orders opposition politician to pay EC$25,000 in libel damages

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts: A member of the opposition People’s Action Movement (PAM) in St. Kitts has been ordered by the High Court to pay a Labour Party Government Minister some EC$25,000 for libel.  Master Cheryl Mathurin has ordered Mr. Eugene Hamilton to pay Minister Dwyer Astaphan $20,000 in general damages and $5,000 in legal costs... read more...

St Kitts newspaper ordered to pay EC$95,000 for libeling ministers

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts: The Democrat newspaper in St Kitts, the official mouthpiece of the opposition People’s Action Movement (PAM), settled libel suits amounting to over EC$95,000 last week... read more...

Mandatory death sentence removed in Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica: A Bill to amend the Offences Against the Person Act was passed in the Jamaican Senate last Friday to remove the mandatory death sentence for capital murder... read more...

TRAVEL NEWS

Jamaica had strong showing at African American travel seminar

MIAMI, USA: The Jamaican Government’s efforts to attract the big spending black American market to the country’s shores, have been boosted by the island’s strong showing at the African American Travel Seminar held recently at the Miami Airport Hotel in Miami... read more...