Archives for Tuesday, January 10, 2006:

Two Florida university staffers charged as Cuban covert agents

MIAMI, USA (AFP): Two Cuban-Americans have been charged with being covert agents for Cuba's communist government for almost three decades and were denied bail when they made their first court appearance in Miami Monday... read more...

US war veteran found dead in Trinidad forest

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad: FBI agents working along with local police in Trinidad have discovered the mutilated body of 62-year-old US war veteran, Balram Maharaj... read more...

Haitians strike to demand end to violence

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): Haitian business leaders led a general strike backed by politicians Monday to urge the UN stabilization mission to restore security in the violence-wracked Caribbean country... read more...

Caribbean slave descendants sue French philosopher

PARIS, France (AFP): Descendants of slaves from France's Caribbean islands are suing a leading French philosopher for making allegedly offensive remarks about the islands' black populations, a lawyer said on Monday... read more...

Suriname leaders discuss country’s future

PARAMARIBO, Suriname: More than 200 leaders from the public and private sectors in Suriname will meet to discuss the country’s future.  On Thursday, 12 January, leaders and officials from government, trade unions, religious organisations, women rights groups and other non-governmental organisations will attend the National Leaders Forum... read more...

Digicel's Caribbean expansion to continue in 2006

KINGSTON, JAMAICA: Digicel Group, the fastest growing mobile telecommunications operator in the Caribbean, announced on Monday its intention to aggressively grow and expand in 2006 to broaden its Pan-Caribbean wireless network into new regions and services... read more...

No state-owned land in Suriname for CARICOM nationals

PARAMARIBO, Suriname: Although CARICOM nationals within the framework of the CSME are granted almost equal rights as Surinamese nationals, they cannot apply for state-owned land. This also applies to companies throughout CARICOM... read more...

St Vincent PM looks for solution to cement supply problems

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent: The government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is taking steps to deal with the irregular shipments of cement reaching these shores occasioned by developments regionally and internationally.  Last week, hardware owners in the capital Kingstown were once again turning away shoppers... read more...

Jamaican police get Integrated Ballistic Information System

KINGSTON, Jamaica: The Integrated Ballistic Information System (IBIS) for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has arrived.  The equipment will enable the JCF to fingerprint firearms; build a database of bullets and spent shells recovered from crime scenes; link bullets and spent shells to crime scenes; and make connections between illegal firearms and gun crimes... read more...

CSME and MERCOSUR provide opportunities for Caribbean manufacturers, says St Kitts-Nevis PM

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS: St Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister, Dr Denzil Douglas says the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) as well as the soon to be completed trade negotiations between CARICOM and the MERCOSUR countries will be a big boost for Caribbean manufacturers... read more...

Cuba receives 12 Chinese locomotives

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cuba has received 12 locomotives and 80 buses from China as part of a government plan to improve the communist island's transportation service, the official daily Granma reported Monday... read more...

COMMENTARY

Two to tango: US Caribbean relations

Madeleine Albright, the former US Secretary of State in President Bill Clinton’s Democratic administration posed a pertinent question to President George W Bush on Thursday 5th January.  According to the New York Times, Ms Albright, asked the President whether his foreign policy team hadn’t let US relations with Latin America suffer... read more...

Law and Politics: Of immediate concerns - levy, budget, CSM

By the time you are reading this, the looming crisis surrounding the proposed five percent (5%) Government "Levy cum Income Tax," would either have cooled down, postponed to a later date, or reached alarming proportions.  The arguments on both sides have been forcefully and repeatedly put forward by the two sides... read more...

A little tsunami aid for Africans please.. or at least tell them you care!

This time last year, the entire world seemed grief stricken over the hundreds of thousands of lives that were washed away by the Asian tsunami. And governments from every corner of the earth were queuing-up to pledge funds from their national treasuries to help survivors recover.  Indeed, a few of our Caribbean heads of state made quite a show... read more...

Response to Anthony L. Hall - PART II

In his article of November 8, 2005, Mr. Anthony Hall lamented that the Caribbean would not just get on with it and form a single trading block. He added that the Bush administration is frustrated with Caribbean leaders for what appears to be their ingratitude for American resolve in problems (i.e. Haiti) they are themselves too “feckless” to solve... read more...

LETTERS

Barbados is close to over-pricing itself as a destination

It’s interesting to hear representatives from Standard and Poor’s, the financial rating agency reiterate what many of us in the tourism industry have been saying for years... read more...

Eat fast in Jamaica

It is ironic that you are running stories entitled "Jamaican jerk on list of 'food to eat before you die'" and "Jamaica is murder capital of the world"... read more...

Does money buy justice?

Jamaicans like to talk a lot and skirt around the real truth of an issue especially when that truth exposes the negatives and hypocrisy of an action or lifestyle that they love. The truth is the justice system of Jamaica is similar to that of the so-called democratic world... read more...