HAUT-DU-CAP, Haiti -- As he begins his third year in office, President Michel Martelly is adding a dose of reality to his campaign promises, telling the Haitian people he alone cannot transform their lives. Calmer and more mature in his rhetoric, Martelly is calling for greater social responsibility, describing his nation’s deep-seated social ills —hunger, joblessness and poverty — as problems that will not disappear overnight. But even while trying to temper expectations, the man who once promised sweeping change remains uncompromising.

(CARICOM News Network) St. John’s, Antigua- Prime Minister of St Vincent & the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves has offered his home nation as a possible location to host a meeting of an exploratory committee on reparations. “I am suggesting a special regional conference on reparations, including governments NGOs and distinguished personalities of relevance,” he said. “This conference ought to be convened and I am offering St Vincent and the Grenadines to host it,” he added.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, Express - US vice-president Joe Biden has come all the way to Trinidad and Tobago, via Bogota, Colombia, surely having been briefed on matters topping the agenda of US-Caribbean relations. The veteran US senator, now second in command to President Barack Obama, can be assured of a warm T&T welcome and hospitality during his visit, which will also be the occasion for a special regional summit.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer- ON Monday, the UK's leading Financial newspaper, the Financial Times (FT), had an article headlined "IMF bailout looks like last chance for Jamaica". The newspaper quoted what it described as a senior official involved in the talks as saying: "It's a high-risk programme, a last-ditch effort to avoid a massive adjustment, even a collapse." The article concludes by noting that "there is widespread pessimism over Jamaica's ability to enact fiscal cuts and economic reforms of the dimensions required".

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Advocate - Making wise food choices would help to prevent obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol and other chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs). This is according to the National Nutrition Centre who lays out eight easy to follow guidelines in “Food Based Dietary Guidelines for Barbados.” The first of these tells you that you can “enjoy a variety of food everyday” by encompassing all foods from the six food groups of staples, fruits, vegetables, foods from animals, legumes and nuts and fats and oils.