CHARLESTOWN, Nevis -- Head of a Regional Agency believes that the time has come for the region to transform its ways, to mitigate against the effects of climate change and an integrated energy and climate change approach, would be the most suitable method. This observation was made by Chief of the... read more...

---

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (Reuters) -- The Caribbean's small island states ride out hurricanes year after year, but they are fighting to stay afloat in a global economic storm that is battering rich and poor nations alike. Tiny nations like twin-island St Kitts and Nevis have felt the shocks of the downturn and credit crunch. read more...

---

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- A UN conference ended here Friday with broad consensus on the need to help developing nations cope with the global financial crisis but with the United States voicing strong reservations about key recommendations. A final document was adopted by acclamation at the end of a three-day debate. read more...

---

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica (JIS) -- A Casino Gaming Bill is to be tabled in Parliament next week, Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced on Thursday night. Golding told a Town Hall Meeting in Montego Bay that Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, will table the Bill in the House on Tuesday. read more...

---

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- Developing countries had a clear message for a UN meeting on the global financial crisis -- we need money. Although the meeting has been billed as a summit, no Western leaders are attending. Only a dozen presidents and prime ministers, mostly Latin American and Caribbean, showed up. read more...

---

LOOKOUT, Montserrat -- Thursday June 18 was an exceptional day here in Montserrat, and the culmination of years of planning and hard work. On that evening, the newly built St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church at Lookout was handed over, blessed and dedicated at a very special service. read more...

---

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- The Trinidad and Tobago Culinary Team has once again proven that they are the best in the region by taking home their fourth Caribbean Team of the Year title in five years, at the recently concluded Taste of the Caribbean culinary competition that was held June 12-19, 2009. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Studies on the Cuban population carried out late 2008 yielded that there will be 100,000 less citizens in the country by 2025. The research led by Cuban experts showed that population growth in the Caribbean archipelago is undergoing a period of stagnation that will give way to a decline. read more...

---

CHARLESTOWN, Nevis -- Premier Joseph Parry returned to Nevis early this week from Taiwan, where he received financial assistance for a Fine Arts Theatre, police barracks and sponsorship for local farmers.The Premier was accompanied by Minister of Agriculture Robelto Hector and Chief Protocol Officer, Angelica Elliott. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Cuba’s influence on American writer Ernest Hemingway’s literature, especially on his book “The old man and the sea” was highlighted this Thursday by one of his countrymen, Andrew Feldman, in this capital. Feldman has spent several months in Cuba researching on Hemingway. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Elvis Presley croons "All Shook Up" from the CD player as Florentino Marin wipes down his 1955 Buick Century sedan on a central Havana street. "It's always been said that Buicks and Cadillacs were the Kings of the Road," Marin says proudly, admiring the paint job on his two-tone, chrome-plated taxi. read more...

---

BRADES, Montserrat -- In a celebration of culture, creativity and music, the island of Montserrat will host the 4th Annual Calabash Festival, July 11-19, 2009. The week-long event offers a wide selection of festivities that highlight the hidden talents of local artisans and designers. read more...

---

NEW YORK, USA -- The Board of Directors of the Garifuna Coalition USA, Inc. has announced that final preparations are being completed for The Garifuna Reunion in St Vincent and the Grenadines on July 18th – 23rd. According to the Board of Directors,although the global financial crisis has had an impact... read more...

---

ST THOMAS, USVI -- St Thomas/St John/Water Island Chief of Police Rodney Querrard released the following message to the US Virgin Islands public on Tuesday in hopes of finding out who took a cell phone picture of eighteen-year-old Karence DeCosta, who was killed in a single-car accident. read more...

---

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) An international colloquium on renowned American writer Ernest Hemingway will begin on Thursday in Havana, where participants will discuss several topics such as the recovery and digitalization of some 10,000 documents of the prestigious writer by Cuban and American experts. read more...

---

NEW YORK, USA -- The Anguilla Tourist Board has announced the launch of its new website. Designed to capture and communicate the essence of authentic Anguilla, the new site tells the story of the unique Anguilla experience and highlights the destination’s offerings to travellers. read more...

---

BONN, Germany (Reuters) -- Climate change will aggravate natural disasters and people in developing nations such as Dominica, Vanuatu, Myanmar and Guatemala are most at risk, a UN-backed study showed on Thursday. It urged governments to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to curb mounting impacts. read more...

---

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Climate change has contributed to a flattening of the complex, multi-layered architecture of Caribbean coral reefs, compromising their role as a nursery for fish stocks and a buffer against tropical storms, a study shows. The biggest impact has occurred in the last decade. read more...

---

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados -- In this week’s episode of Focus on..., Wedding TV visits the luscious island of Barbados to discover all you need to know when planning your dream wedding in the tropics. Ruth Phillips of the Barbados Tourist Board, sheds light on some of the most romantic places to wed on the island. read more...

---

PARAMARIBO, Suriname -- A judge in Suriname on Tuesday acquitted a US-based tribute artiste on charges that she tried to pass herself off as six-time Grammy winner Toni Braxton during a concert in February. Prosecutors were seeking a twelve month jail term with a nine months suspension. read more...

---

ST THOMAS, USVI: The St Thomas Traffic Investigation Bureau in the US Virgin Islands is investigating a single car accident that happened at 2:15 am Monday, June 8 on Veteran’s Drive. Killed on impact was 18-year-old Karence DeCosta. A male passenger in the vehicle was not injured. read more...

---

LONDON, England -- A Trinidadian-born Royal chauffeur took one thousand pounds sterling as a bribe from undercover reporters to show them around London’s Buckingham Palace grounds and the Queen's limousines. The Trinidad Express reported that Brian Sirjusingh was a policeman in Trinidad. read more...

---

PHILIPSBURG, St Maarten -- Caribbean leaders who continue to resist the call to market the region as a single destination should be inspired by the nations of St Maarten and St Martin, which share an island and are successfully branding themselves by embracing the concept the sum is greater than the parts. read more...

---

CIEGO DE AVILA, Cuba (ACN) -- Mango harvesting in several Cuban provinces started this week and the fruit will be sent to the Ceballos Citrus Company for processing in this central region. Jose Ricardo Conde, the firm’s production manager, said that the factory is ready to press over 3,000 metric tons of mangoes. read more...

---

THE VALLEY, Anguilla -- Anguilla joins with the region and world community in the observance of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day on Sunday. World Telecommunication Day has been celebrated annually on 17 May since 1969, marking the founding of the International Telecommunications Union. read more...

---

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- The top stylish, innovative and trend setting Caribbean designers will be amidst the flashing lights of the 2nd Annual Fashion Week Trinidad & Tobago. From couture to prêt a porter, a variety of fashion genres from established and emerging local and Caribbean designers will be shown. read more...

---

NEW YORK, USA (Reuters) -- The midst of a recession might not seem like the best time for a luxury wedding at a Caribbean beach resort far from home but industry experts say a growing number of US couples are doing exactly that. A new survey forecasts the market for such weddings will grow. read more...

---

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- Veterinary Epidemiologists/Para-edpidemiologists (VEPs) who are part of a regional project aimed at strengthening the animal health surveillance and rapid response systems of National Veterinary Services in the Caribbean Region will meet in Trinidad, May 11 – 15, 2009. read more...

---

BRADES, Montserrat -- The Green Monkey Dive Shop with the support of the Montserrat Tourist Board and the Montserrat Tourism Challenge Fund will host the destination’s inaugural Montserrat Dive Festival from June 27 - July 4, 2009, held in conjunction with Montserrat’s bi-annual Reef Check Program. read more...

---

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- Earlier this year, the United States became the sixth country to sign the regional environmental agreement titled ‘Land Based Sources of Marine Pollution Protocol’, joining Belize, France, Panama, St Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago in their efforts to protect the Caribbean Sea. read more...

---

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (SKNIS) -- The Caribbean Region and Central America are better prepared to deal with natural or man made disasters, after successfully completing the latest round of training and evaluation under the Allied Forces Humanitarian Programme (FAHUM). The annual exercise is held prior to the hurricane season. read more...

---

NEW YORK, USA -- An historic bill that calls for Caribbean nationals to have their own origins category on the US Census form has been introduced by Caribbean American Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of New York's 11th congressional district in the US House of Representatives. read more...

---

HOUSTON, USA (Reuters) -- The mustached face of Sir Allen Stanford, the billionaire Texan accused of an $8 billion fraud by US regulators, can be yours for only $29.99.  A Fort Myers, Florida, entrepreneur has put Stanford's face on a "limited edition" commemorative tile that he peddles on eBay's auction site. read more...

---

WASHINGTON, USA: Veteran Washington-based broadcaster Von Martin joined thousands all across the Caribbean, North America, and elsewhere, mourning Eugene Godfried, the champion radio broadcaster, community organizer, music producer and ethno-musicologist, who died this past Sunday. read more...

---

BONN, Germany (Reuters): Small island states have sharpened their calls for the rich to make deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, saying low-lying atolls risk being washed off the map by rising ocean levels. A group of leading researchers last month projected a quickening pace of sea level rise this century. read more...

---

NEW YORK, USA: The current global economic crisis, which began with the severe strains on the financial and banking system in parts of the developed world, now risks triggering a human development catastrophe in the world’s poorest countries, as the leaders of the richest nations set off to London for the G-20 summit. read more...

---

LONDON, England: Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma has called on G20 leaders to look beyond their own interests as the ‘T20’: “the Trustees of the whole world's interests”. He called on them to pursue an inclusive agenda to ensure that the outcomes of the Summit benefit millions of people around the world. read more...

---

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: Ten regional countries will sign an agreement with the United States to make the tracing of illegal weapons easier. The Memorandum of Understanding signed with the regional governments will provide for the electronic tracing of illicit firearms under a system called eTRACE read more...

---

MEDELLIN, Colombia (Bloomberg): US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called on Caribbean and Latin American countries to help revive global growth by safeguarding free trade and stimulating their economies through “all available tools.” Geithner last week proposed bringing large hedge funds under federal supervision. read more...

---

KINGSTON, Jamaica: The European Union has joined the CCRIF’s 16 member governments, Canada, the World Bank, the United Kingdom, Bermuda, Ireland, France and the Caribbean Development Bank in donating to the facility’s reserve pool. The €12.5 million donation increased the tally to over US$65 million. read more...

---